Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-11-29

| shadow of the log wall. There he waited. Two warriors had left the lodge of Brown Mink and were ross ing the pen. He knew them. The shorter was Canada John, the eldest of the four condemned. The other was n Sioux who had been captured that day and cast into prison at sunset. He was a 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 calls?" It was the bass of the stran- ger.
 Perhaps only another," answered Canada John.
 There was a great laugh, like the cry of 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 reward"
 "Ho, ho. And whatr'
 Canada John halted close to Squaw Charley. There is cottonwood lodge beyond the river" he said. Tt should belong to the Double Tongue. He is kept out. An old paleface and his two daughters seized it in the moon of wild cherries, and they would not go."
 An old man, you say?"
 But he 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 1t is withered."
 "They live alone?"
 "The squaw guards"-
 "Wuffv'
 And the Man Who Buys Skins. May he be struck by the zigzag fire!'
 "Who is to have the women?'
 Canada John scratched his nose. "The medicine giver says, He that first reaches them."
 Big OK shook his head in doubt "The swiftest may yet fail to keep"
 Should any pursue, the women will be killed. The soldiers will think them bit by rattlesnakes."
 Again Big OK burst forth with laugh ter.
 Ssh"
 A hammer clicked from the stockade top. A sentry began to bawl angrily.
 "Git, you pup eaters," he declared and slanted his gun to them. Casting dignity aside, they ducked into the nearest lodge.
 Squaw Charley dragged himself back to the shingle roof. There he fell prone, resting his forehead against the ribs of dog. The strength was gone from his body, the light from his eyes. The wind of that others nostrils had blasted him. He was like the scatter ing ash heaps of the evening smudges where the last bit of fuel was crum- bled and the last red coal was dead.
 Long he stayed upon his face. When the first numbness was past and his brain was rallying slowly very scourge of sorrow visited him--sorrow for the fate of the'shack, where he had warmed himself so often, relieved his hunger and known a kindly smile. With sorrow came remorse. He had not done his part for the little home. He had not guarded as he ought. And he had helped by bringing rattlesnakes which he had been told were to be used for medicine-in the plot for its destruction. When sorrow and re- morse had their turn a stronger pas sion gnawed and racked him. It was the yearnir~ f~~ rnins+a tement.
 Gro be Continued).