The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1905-06-23

10 Lynds. -----@
standing so near he could have pricked
me with his scaiping knife.
It was Gods mercy h a by some
swift intuition I knew him for the
friendly Catawba. 1t is an Ill thing to
take q frighted man
"Cncanoola? ?" said /.
He nodded. Where bouts Captain
Long-kntfe going?"
I told him briefy;swhereat he. shook.
his head.
No find Captain Jennif' this way:
ind him that way" pointing back along
the path.
he seen him?" Though my long exile
had well-nigh cost me the trick of It,
i made shift to drop into the stately
Indian hyperl,ole.
"Wah! Uncanoola has seen the
Great Water: that make him-have long
eyeslsee heap things
VIII the Catawba tell the friend
whose life he saved what he has seen?'
.Uncatoola see heap things" he re-
peated. See Captain Jennif' so"-he
threw himself fiat upon h ground and
pictured me a4fugitive, crawling snake
like through h underwood. 'Bime-
by. Gomez to river and find canoe-tump
sAnAA D 60Atts Sup
padding sandslaugh and shake flst this
way. and say .God-damn.'"
Byfthis I knew that Jennifer had es-
capped; nay. more; had somehow
Learned OF my escape n was seeking
me.
Ugh! See heap more things: see
one thing white squaw o let him tell
Captain Long-knife. Maybe some time
tell. anyhow
The white squaw 9" said 1. who
10 she o.
The catawba laughed. an Indian
shaking of the ribs.
~ an tell that, neither, too" he
said. Then. with a swift dart aside
from the subject: Captain Long
knife care much bout black dogs yon-
der.?'
I'knew he mean the negroes at the
hunting lodge.
1.-The white man cares for the black
az a kind master should" I returned.
The Indian spat upon the ground in
token OF his hatred and contempt for
all the black skins in his fatherland.
[ never understood this bitter race an
tipathy between the red and black. but
tbs a tale well. written out In many a
bloody massacre of hat earlier day.
The wolves will kill all the black
dogs and drink their blood before n
moon is awake. Uncanoola has spok-
en-"
! sheathed my sword and turned to
take the backward trace.
Captain L~ong-knife will go and
fight for his black dogs with wool on
their heads? q. he queried.
II need be-" I asserted.
Wah!" he calculated, and at the
word was gone as II the eartha had
swallowed him.
lBEYT1Nu< 80 {-.4 - az1f.az.a cf---
Jennifer was abroad. I had no business
at h plantations; n IL Tomas and
the other refugees were like to come.
to harm, / could do no less thai hasten
back to warn or help them.
So y retraced my steps. hurried1y. as
the bustness urged; and IA no more
shadows in h ancient wood-in truth,
had much 'ad to see the single step
ahead. SO thickly did the darkness
gather in those skyless depths.
! was breasting h last low hill. was
come SO near that I could hear hi
murmur OF the river, when in the far
thest hazy vista OF the tree-tops a soft
to green n then to- red. Twas like
the childish Africans, I said. to draw a
secret sentry line for safety's sake, and
then to build a fire to advertise 1t far
and wide. Truly. the Catawba's wolves
might find an easy
a chattering scream OF agony sent
shrtll n sharp upon the stiffness of
the night halted me and broke the glib
ing comment in the midst. I stood and
listened. The cry ang out again: then
I loosed the Andrea In it's scabbard and
fell a-runnfng, though the h~alf-healed
wOun d scanted me sorely Of the breath
III wanted.
The cabin clearing; or rather the
t~hinned-out grove which stood in lieu
thereof, was but a niggard acre
hemmed in on every side. save that
toward the river, by the virgin forest.
For cover there were holly thickets
here and there, and into one of these I
plunged, creeping on hands and knees
to gain a hidden viewpoint.
The scene in the little clearing was
one to brand itself in lasting shapes
upon the memory. "A brush heap new
" kindled gave out a dusky glow fiar-
ing in " OF smoky red against the
over-archtng foliage. The open space
around the cabin was alive with half
naked savages running Il M fro; and
In the gloom beyond the fire / saw q
shadowy horseman backed by others
still phantom-like.
There was no mystery about It. NY
enemy q come with sleuth-hound In
dams at his back to ruin me down. The
feaNoDeeAwere, no doubt, that band Of
over-mountain Chsrokeesi pledged by
Itnelf Schler 70 ptsotHthe powder convoy;
and by their help h sbaronet had
tracked me-.
THE vas the hrst thought. caught at in
passing; but when I came to look again ]
saw what had been done SPRAYED on
the ground before the burning brush pile,
his wrinkled face . hideous mask Of suf-
fering, with the eyeballs starting from
their sockets In the death-wrench, lay my
faithful Darius.
BY what inhuman tortures they had
made him point the way, or how or why
they slew him at theslast, i know not,
but I made sure II was his death-scream
i that had halted me and, set the stiffness of
the forest alive with ghastly echoes.
At sight OF the stlfenins body of the
faithful slave you may suppose my blood
ran cold mi hot by turns. and that his
blood cried out for vengeance from the sod
THAT soaked 1t up. With ten years more
OF youth and less Of age I might have
tried to hew my way to Falconnet's stir
run. and 80. to square account with him.
But had ! been a-mind to rush upon the
stage without my cue, another climax in
the CHASTITY tragedy forbade 1t.
This climax turned upon the capture. of
my horse boy, Tomas. The other blacks.