Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1904-02-26
.-rhen you're a spaniard." said

Then you're a Spaniard?" said
Dick.
I'm not Spaniard!" denied Peg
gy, facing down the accusation vehe-
mently I'm white!"
''Spaniards are white"
''I'm like white folks in New Salem,''
insisted Peggy, repudiating the vague
foreign taint She saw the young Rut-
lodges and Mahala Cameron and
Martha Bell Clary looking at her sus-
piciously. Spanish governors cut no
figure in the imagination of New xa-
lemites
II suppose you are of mixed blood
and really ought to be called Creole.
pursued Dick, interested in the case.
That's kind of a pullet." whis-
pered Martha Bell to Mahala.
"I'm not of mixed blood!" cried Peg
gy, unable to bear any more.
why, everybody here is of mixed
blood!" asserted Dick, and that was a
comfort. 1t gave her the chance to
look back at her antagonists.
"Have you never told her that she
was SPANISH" Dick inquired of Shick-
shack.
The silent Indian shook his head.
His impassive face glowed in the fire.
light. Young Yates seemed to have
cast spell on him. From the con-
tents of his heavy game-bag, which he
had unslung as he entered and left be-
side his gun, to the secrets of his
past, he was ready to lay everything
he owned at the young chiefs feet.
"How did the Sac brave come to
adopt the Spanish child?" inquired
Dick.
Shickshack silently admired his
knowledge of how to address Sac
brave without extensively shouting out
that braves name in public.
mo father. No mother. Me hunt
with her father on the Platte Me love
white men since that time. Never in
my life me shed white mans blood.
When he die he give his child to me-
WAS Peggy lame from the start?"
inquired Ann.
Shickshack looked at her steadily
without replying. Then he shook his
head.
me love white men. Ne marry
dropped his face.
Does he mean that Sally lamed
herr" whispered Ann to Lincoln.
sally is a mighty energetic wom-
an" admitted Lincoln, smiling, from
the hearth corner. A huge mole
showed in the crease made under his
cheek by smile.
will the young chief be here to-
morrow" Shickshack asked Dick
Yates.
"No. We must go back to Jackson
willie Tomorrow"
Sticky Green added that it was not
vacation time. The two had begged
day off on account of his extreme
homesickness and would have to ride
early next morning.
me like to talk" said the Sac, fix
ing his gaze on Dick. "Me have some
thing for the young chiefs ear
1--WE can take walk together now,"
suggested Dick.
Shickshack rose up at once The
sheath of a long hunting-knife hung
down his side by leather strap. He
had kept Peggy's crutch in his hand
He stood it against the wall beside the
chimney, and Dick stepped over the
bench to follow him.
"Hello!" shouted a cheerful voice.
Two horses were brought up abreast,
facing the door, their hoofs at the very
step. Light shone out over them and
their riders, revealing the weekly mail
carrier with the post-bag from Spring
field bulging ON each side of his sad
die, and his leggins splashed with
mud. and stranger having black eyes
and hair and mustache. whose entire
equipment was foreign.
Shickshack stood while he drew one
breath and looked at the stranger.
For the first time q Sac war-whoop
was heard In New Salem. and as he
yelled he snatched his hunting-knife
f~ov,o shaokA