The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1907-12-31
65e -
PIOw Woman
By ELEANOR GATES.
Author of The Biography Of =
Prairie Girl
Copyright, 1906, by McC1ure. Philips d
COmpanu
CContinued)
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l. 10
sat on his heels. about him the few
NANCY dogs that had not found the
dinner pot. One Of these stirred. Half
rising he gave It a kick, just as one OF
his brothers might have done. Then
be squatted again. and through the
ragged strands of his bang his black
eyes sparkled eagerly, for of late ev-
cry warriors lodge had seen secret
flesh painting Under every warriors
blanket were hidden gaudy tracings OF
vermilion, scarlet, orange and blue.
and was he not painted too?
He had sought in an ash pile for
Goals, found beef bone and snapped
1t for marrow. next taken from his
worn pouch a lump of red earth. He
had rubbed the Goals to powder in
square Of rag, after which he had
mixed the powder and the grease to
make paste. Then he had pulled off
his mourning blanket and his sauaw's
shirt and barred his body to the waist.
yerTnilion, orange, scarlet and blue
these colors had been laid in stripes
circles and figures upon the braves
They were colors that he an outcast
might not use, but there was one poor
privilege In flesh painting that even he
could claim. Kneeling again in clout
and squaw's skirt he had smeared the
black and red In rude signs upon his
chest The braves, his brothers, had
painted themselves for battle, but he.
the pariah, had painted himself in the
c0iors of death.
Suddenly he forsook the roof for the
shadow Of the log wall. There he
waited. Two warriors had left the
lodge of Brown Mink and were cross
Ing the pen. He knew them Thee
shorter was Canada John, the eldest Of
the four condemned The other was n
Sioux who had been captured that dav
and cast into prison at sunset. He
was giant in stature, wore full war
paint and dress and belt that testified
his valor, for it hung thick with scalps.
some jetty and coarse, taken from
heads of his own kind, some brown or
fair, with the softness that belongs to
the hair OF white women and children. |
The two were talking low together. |
Presently, as they strolled near. the
outcast heard the deep murmur of their
voices, then their words. He leaned
toward them, all ears
How many sleeps before the dove
callsY 1t was the bass of the stran-
ger.
Perhaps only another" answered
Canada John.
There was a great laugh like the cry
of a full fed loon Surely Big OK
stays not long! But how can my friends
be sure that the Double Tongue will
have horses ready?"
He claims a reward"
"Ho. no. And what?"
Canada John halted close to Squaw
Charley. There is cottonwood lodge
beyond the river" he said. ct should
belong to the Double Tongue. He Is
Kept out. An old paleface andlhis two
daughters seized 1t In the moon Of wild
cherries, and they would not go"
An old man, you say"
But be hunts the white buffalo.
Only the daughters are there"
Are they young?"
Young and sleek. One is called the
Plow Woman. She is tall, and she
watches like the antelope The youn-
ger has hair like the grass when it is
withered"
They live alone?"
The Squaw guards
"Wufv
And the Man Who Buys Skins.
Day he be struck by the zigzag fire."
Who is TO have the women?'
Canada John scratched his nose.
The medicine giver says. He that
irst reaches them"
Big OK shook his head in doubt.
The swiftest may yet fail to keep" s
Should any pursue, the women will |
oe killed. The soldiers viii think |
hem bit BY rattlesnakes' I
Again Big OK burst forth with laugh |
ter
''Shr +.
hammer clicked from the stockade '
op. A sentry began to bawl angrfly. a
6It' you pup eaters" he declared O
IND sianted his gun to them. Casting
hgnity aside. they ducked into the i
learest lodge !
Squaw Charley dragged himself back
0 the shingle roof. There he fell n
rome resting his forehead against the s
lbs OF a dog. The strength was gone
rom his body. the light from bls ewes D
he wind of that others nostrils had b
lasted him. He was like the scatter O
lg ash heaps Of the evening smudpes 81
fhere the last bit Of fuel was crum-
led and the last red coal was dead .,
Long he stayed upon his face When
De hrst numbness was past and his "
rain was rallying slowly very q,
couTge of sorrow visited him-sorrow h,
or the fate of the shack. whe-e he had
armed himself SO often. relieved his h,
unger and known a kindly smile n
18th sorrow came remorse. he had ~
ot done his part for the little home ~
e had not guarded as he ought. And
; had helped BY bringing rattlesnakes
which he had been told were to be ~
ed for medicine-in the plof for i+S -