The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1904-05-27
CHAPTER XXI
THE FALL OF PENSACOLA.

CHAPTER XXI
THE FALL OF PENSACOLA.
! slipped down the anchor chain
| without noise into the throbbing sea,
and swan ashore to a point some three
of four cable lengths away. Guided by
the singlevoice which still sang OF war.
of glory and of death, 1 pushed easily
into the ring of hideously painted saw
| ages who surrounded the singer. To
unacCuStOmed eyes this would have
been a fearful sight
Two hundred warriors sat motionless
| as bronze idols about their chief; two
hundred naked bodies glnted back the
pine knots fitful glow. In the center
of this threatening circle moved Tusk-
kahoma. two great crimson blOtchcs
upon his cheeks. treading that weird
suggestive measure the Indians knew
so well. Round and round a little pine
tree shorn of it's branches, and striped
with red he Crept, danced and sang.
His words came wild and irregular a
sort of rhythmic medley, now soft and
low MS the murmur of the summer
ocean, now thrilling every ear by their
sudden ferocity and fearful energy.
Now it was the gentle lullaby, the
mothers grooming, the laughter OF a
child; again. the bursting of the tenn
pest, the lightning's flash, the thunder's
rumbling roar
His arms raised to heaven like some
gaunt priest of butchery, he invoked
the mighty Manitou of his tribe, then
dropping prone upon the ground he
| craWled, a snuous serpent, among the
| trees.
| For awhile his listeners wandered
| away upon their chieftain's words 10
the waiting ones at home, to hunting
grounds of peace and plenty; melodi-
Gus as a maiden's sigh that song
| I, f,nI f,f I 4
walled for departed friends. extoled
| their virtues, and called down heaven
curses upon the coward of tomorrow's
| fight. Then the fierce CLEAN of shin
| ing steel, one wild warwhoop and all
again was still. His words faded away
In the echoless night till a holy hush
brooded DER the beach.
Then the solitary dancer wound
about the ring as the crouchnE pan
| Their steals upon her prey, while peal
after peal came the frightful cries II
barbaric conflict, the shrieks of the
wounded--a wild. victorious shout
blended with hopeless dying scream.
With q masters touch he played
upon their vibrant feelings: not key
of human emotion he left unsounded--
fame, pride, hate, love and death-his
song expressed them ALL
Thoroughly frenzied, warrior after
warrior now began to join him in the
81
dread refrain which terrorized the
trained soldiery Of Europe and filled
their imaginations with the nameless
horrors of unrelenting war.
High above the din Tuskahoma lift
ed now his ferocious battle cry; adj
vancing upon the blaZed sapling he
sank his tomahawk deep into the soft
white wood, then moved swiftly out of
the circle to his own fire. This was
the act by which he announced his as
sumption of supreme authority.
Frantic with excitement the Unbiased
throng rushed upon his fancied enemy,
and soon but the mangled fragments
and the roots marked where it had
stood.
And the forest slumbered and the
sentry paced his lonely path.
1t Is not my purpose to speak in
detail of those matters of history which
have been so much better described
by men of learning. l would merely
mention in passing such smaller af-
fairs as relate directly to my own mar
rative.
Short and sharp was the conflict
which, under Goa. gave our arms the
victory at Pensacola. Swarming over
the palisades or bodily tearing them
down, the Choctaws, led by Tuska-
homa, swept the Spaniards from their
works. 1t so happened that Tuska-
homa and mounted the fortincations
| together. AS 1 essayed to drop down
upon the inside my sword belt caught
upon the top of a picket, leaving me
dangling in midair an easy prey to
| those below had they only noticed my
| plight. Tuskahoma paused to sever the
| belt with his knife, and by this acct
dent l was first within the Spanish
works, sword and pistol In hand. Soon
a hundred were by my side.
The Spanish troops, Injured to civil
liked warfare, could not stand before
these yelling demons. springing here
and there elusive as phantoms, WELD
| ing torch and tomahawk with deadly
effect.
In the very forefront, shoulder to
shoulder. with laugh and a parry, a
Iilunge and jest. fought the Chevalier
| de la Mora. Merry as a lad at play.
resolute and quick. could but stop
betimes to wonder at the fellow. Gal
liant. gay and debonnair. he sang rip
pling little air from soft Provence. and
whirled his blade with such dainty
skill that even the stoical Indians gazed
in awe upon the laughing cavalier.
Fighting through q bystreet, he met,
steel to steel, Spanish gentleman,
within the sweep Of whose sword lay
half a dozen of our good fellows.
/ De la Mora glanced at this silent
tribute to the Spaniard's prowess; his
face lighted up with soldiers joy. He
4 planted one foot staunchly across a
/ PROSTATE corpse. and right jauntily
rang out the kissing music of their
/ steel. Instinctively I paused to watch
and as instinctiyely understood that
though pressed to his best, de la Mora
/ a gentlemans fight, and no odds, for
Hove and gIory's sake,7 though the Span
lizard might have had a whit the better.
faAs fought oN. ! heard the swift hurtle