The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1905-07-21
CHAPTER NIN.
HOW a STUMBLING HORSE
pnEnu TJnNrS

| llelOS tIlo iIldkll6 Il WIZ circuit AROUND
the manor house and the quarters
where the blacks We're already stirring.
to come out to the river and so to
cross in our canoe.
The morning. soft and warm enough.
threatened now to break the fair
Weather promise of the starlit night.
Away in the east a heavy cloud bank
curtained off the sunrise. and in the
fields the few maize blades left by the
partizan barriers were whispering to
the gusts.
In the great forest all was yet dim
and shadowy, n silent as the grave
but for the whispering murmur of the
rising wind in the higher tree tops; a
sound so like the babbling of brooks as
most cunningly to deceive the ear and
make it set the eye at Work to look
tor water where there vas none.
Not to take a certain hazard for the
sake of better speed. we stunned the
road, and for the first hour or so We're
not greatly hindered by keeping to the
forest paths. In vast areas this virgin
wood was free of underground, open
and park like as a we'll kept grove.
Fireside tradition on the border tells
how the ndian kept the forest clear
by yearly %burnings of the smaller
growth; this for the better hunting of
the deer. l vouch, not for the truth of
this accounting for the fact. but for the
A'SN vi ~ SIiNiiSSo liiiiSS
the watercou-ses these park like
stretches covered hill and dale; a vast
mysterious temple of Gods W build
Ing. its nayes inc choirs and transepts
columned by the countless trees. with
all their leafy crowns to interlace and
form the groined arches overhead.
Through these pillared aisles we
tramped abreast. stunning the road. as
1 have said, yet holding it parallel with
our course where it's direction served.
IN he open Nistas we had frequent
glimpses of it, winding, at feud with
all the points of the compass. among
the trees. But farther on we came into
here a thickset underground robbed us
Of any view n made the march a toll
some struggle with the bushes.
1t was in the densest of this under
wood, when we could hear the purring
OF the stream ahead. that Jennifer
stopped suddenly and began to sniff
the air.
Smoke" he said, briefly, in answer
to my query. "a camp fire. with meat
abroil. Never tell me you can't smell
it."
L said I could not-did not. at all
events.
Then you are not as sharp set for
breakfast as I am. Call up your wood
craft n We'll stalk it." And, suiting
the action to the word, he dropped
noiselessly on hands and knees to inch
his IA cautiously out of the thicket.
l followed at his heels, marveling at
his skill in threading the maze with
never a snapped twiG to betray him.
For though 1 have called hin a youth
ling, he came of great. square-should-
cred English stock, and was we'll upon
fourteen stone for weight. Yet upon
occasion, as now, ne could be as 1.-the
and cat-like as an Indian, stealthy in
approach and tiger-strong to spring.
In due time our creeping progress
brought us out of the thicket on the
brink of the higher creek bank Just
with shelving banks Of clay, II on its
hither margin was a bit of grassy in
tervale big enough for a horse to roll
upon. Though it was sadly out of
season, the carcass of a deer. fresh
killed. hung upon q branch of the near
est tree, with a rifle leaning against the
trunk as If to guard 1t. In the middle
Of the bit Of sward a tiny camp fire
burned; and at the fire, squatting with
their backs to US and each toasting a
cut Of the deer's meat on a forked stick.
were two men.
One Of these men would pass by
courtesy as a white. His hunting shirt
and leggings were of deer skin. we'll
grimed and greasy, with leather fringes
at the seams of leg and sleeve. For all
the summer heat, he wore a cap fash
toned Of raccoon skin with the fur on:
n for this great cap his iron gray
hair, matted and unkempt, served as a
fringe to keep the other tasselings in
c~ountenance. The hunting shirt was
belted at the waist. and in the belt was
thrust a sheathless knife huge enough
to serve a butchers purpose. From two
leather thongs crossed upon his should
ers hung the powder horn and bullet
pouch; and these. with the knife and
rifle, summed up his accoutrements.
The other was a red man, and his at
tire was simpler. Like all our southern
Indians, he went naked to the waist;
blu the savage's love of ornament
showed forth in the fringe of colored
porcupine quilts On his %leggings and in
his raven hair bestuck with feathers.
For arms he had an arsenal ip his belt;
two great pistols. q tomahawk. n the
scalping knife, this last smaller than
the white mans carving tool, but far
more vicious looking.
For a momen or two we crouched ir-
resolute on the brink of the ravine.
neither of us recognizing the two men
below. Then my young rashling must
needs let out a yell.
Now, by all that's lucky" he cried.
and would have leaped to his feet. But
at the instant the earth edge gave way
under him, and he was sent tumbling
with the small landslide Of clay down
upon the twain al the fire.
1t went within a trembling hairs
breadth Of a tragedy. The two at the
fire sprang up as one man; and the
bound that set the hunter afoot brought
his long rifle to his shoulder. But that
the Indian was the quicker. Richards
life would have paid the penalty of his
slip, I think. AT the trigger pulling
instant the Catawba thrust the thick
of his hand between stone and steel.
and the flint bit. harmless for %Jennifer.
into the palm of the Indian.
"Wah!" he calculated, in his soft
cultural. N want kill Captain Jen-
nif', hey?"
Ephriam Yeates lowered his weapon
and released the pinched hand held
fast by the gun-flint.
well, I'm daddled, fair and square,
Cap'n Dick!" he declared. Jest one
more shake Of a dead lambs tail, and
I'd "a a ye on my mind. sartaln sure!
I allowed We knowed better than to
come whammling down that-away be-
hint a man whilst he's a-cooking his