Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1905-09-08

AT that che stood before him brave-
ly. and / saw hat all h time she had
had the Catawba's knife idden in the
folds of her gown. You have spoken
truth for once. Captain Falconnet; /
shall be free she said. Come and tell
me when you nave added these to your
other murders"
And Them"
Then she went back TO her prison
wigwam, walking through the rabble OF
redcoats and red skins as proudly as
the Scottish Mary went to the block"
she will do it, think your i queried,
fearful lest she would, but more fearful
lest her courage should fail at the
pinch.
Never doubt it. Good Catholic as
she is, there is martyr flood in her on
the mothers side, and that will help
her TO il. say l."
i said Amen" to that; and thereupon
we both fell silent, watching as con-
demned men on the gallows the busy
preparations for our talking off.
Again, as in the late battle, it was the
trivial things that moved me most.
Chief among them the grinning row of
lead Indians propped against the fallen
tree is the constant background for all
the memory pictures of that waiting
interval, and L can see those stiffening
corpses now, some erect, as il defying
us; some looping this way or that, as
If their bones had zone to water at the
touch OF the steel.
/ know not why these poor relics of
mortality should ave held me fasci-
mated as they did. Yet when / would
look away, though the vista to where
the light of the great fire in the sa-
wanna camp played luridly upon the
Indian lodges, or, nearer at hand, up
on the a gathering the wood to
burn us with, this CHASTITY file of the
dead drew me irresistibly, and / must
needs pass the fearsome figures
in review again, marking the star
Ing eyes and unnatural p~ostures, and
the circular blood-black patches on the
heads of the three peacemen whom
Yeates n the Catawba had scalped.
While they were making ready for
the burning, our executioners We're
strangely silent; but when the work
was done they formed in a semicircle
TO front the row of corpses and set up
a bowling chant that would have put
a band Of Mohammedan dervishes to
the blush.
otis the death song for the slain"
said Richard; and while it lasted, this
moving tableau of naked figures, keep
ing time in a weird stamping dance to
the rising and falling ululation OF the
chant, held us ~spellbound.
But we were not long suffered to be
mere curious onlookers. In its dismal
est flight the death song ended in a
shrill hubbub, and the dancers turned
as one man to face us.
l hope it may never be your lot, my
dears, to meet and endure such a hor-
rid glare OF human ferocity as that
these wrought-up avengers of blood
bent upon us. Twas more unnerving
than aught that had gone before, more
terrible, l thought. than aught hat
could come after. Yet, as to this, you
shall judge for yourselves.
The pause was brief, and when a lad
ran up to cut the thongs that bound us
from the middle up, the torture-play
began in deadly earnest. Whilst the
Indian youth was slashing at the deer
skin, Richard gave me my cue.
"'Tis the knife and Ratchet play;
they are loosing us to give us freedom
to shrink md dodge. Look straight be-
fore you and never finch a hair. as
you would keep the life in you from one
minute to the next"
Trust me-" said l.. I'VE must exc it
out as long as we can, If only to give
our dear lady time for another prayer
or two. Mayhap she will name us in
them; God knows, our need is sore
enough"
The lad ran back, and a warrior too
out, juggling his tomahawk in air. He
made q feint to cast it at Richard, but
instead sent it whizzing at me.
That first missile was harder to face
unfiinching than were all the others. /
saw il leave the thrower's hands; saw
it coming straight, as / would think, to
split my skull. The prompting to dodge
was Well-nigh maSterful enough to
override the strongest will. Yet l did
make shift to hold fast, and in mid
flight the twirling ak veered aside to
miss me by a hairs breadth, gashing
the tree at my ear when it struck.
Bravo! well nett" cried Richard:
and then, betwixt his teeth: Here
comes mine
AS he spoke a second tomahawk was
sped. L heard it strike with a dull
crash that might have been on flesh
and bone, or on oak hark-L could not
tell. l dared not look aside till Rich
ards haunting laugh gave me leave to
breathe again.
The ndian answered the laugh with
a yell, and now the marksmen stood
out quickly one after another and for
a little space the air was full of hurt
ling missiles. You will read in the ro-
mances of the wondrous skill of these
savages in such diversions as these;
how they will pin the victim to a tree
anu never HISS VI SllChIHB hille OF
Ratchet within the thickness of the
blade where they will. But you must
take these tales with Il dash OF allow
ance for the romancers' fancy. Truly,
these Indians Of ours threw well and
skilfully; tits a part OF the only trade
they know-the trade Of war-to send
a weapon true to its mark. None the
less, some of the missiles flew wide;
and now and then one would nip the
cloth of sleeve or body covering-and
the flesh beneath it as well.
Continued Next WeekN