Arizona republican., 1907-11-11

"who's here?' says I.
 He is here-Father Orloff.' and her eyes was round and scared so that l
 took her up and kissed her while she chung to me-she was such little girl. He spoke to me at the water hole. T have come for you I ran very fast.
 but he came behind. Where is George? :? he said
 T went out of the cabin down to the Mission and into the house of Father Barnum. He was there. "'Orloff, What do ye want?' I says Father Barnum speaks up - he's ! known for a good man the length Of
 the river George says he. Father Orloff tells me you stole the girl Metla | from her tribe Iris a shameful thing , for a white man to take a red girl for his wife, but it's a crime to live as you do'
 | "'What?' sa-s I.
 | I've can't sell you provisions nol
 allow you to stay in the village | "OrlOff grins You must go on.' ht | says. or give her up
 | No, I'll do neither And I shows
 the papers from the missionary at Nu- lato statin' that we were married l She's my wife says I, and too gooC for me. She's left her people and hel
 gods. and I'll care for her I saw how | it hurt Orloff, and I laid my hand or | his shoulder close to the neck. I dis 1 trust ye. and sure as Fate yell die thu
 shocking death if ever harm comes t' i the little one
 That was the winter of the famine
 though every winter was the sam' ! then, and I went to Anvik for grub l took all the strong men and dogs in thu village. I was afraid when I left, too | for twas the time I should have beer with her, but there was no one else t'
 go. r-. "'When you come back she said there will be another-a little boy and he will grow mighty and strong II like his father She hung her arm. around me, Cap. and I left her witt
 kisses warm on my lips.
 Tt was a terrible trip. the river we with overflows and the cut-offs drifteC 1 deep. so I drove back into Holy Cros:
 a week late, with bleeding dogs anC frozen Indians strainin' at the slet ropes.
 N 'J heard the wall of the old womer ! before I came to the cabin, and wher
 Metla had sobbed the story out in hel | weakness I went back into the darl I and down to the Mission. remember | how the Northern Lights flared ovel the hills above. and the little spruce: on the summit looked to me like head
 stones. black against the moon-and laughed when l saw the snow red ir the night glare, for it meant blood -an6 death.
 | Tt was as lusty a babe as evel
 crowed. but Orloff had come to the sick bed and sent her squaws away \ Baptism and such things he said he'C | do. The little fellow died that night. | They say the Mission door was l locked and barred, but I pushed through it like paper and same into Father Barnum's house. where they sat Fifty below is bad for the naked flesh
 broke in, bareheaded, mittenless. and | I'd froze some on the way down. He 1 saw murder in my eyes and tried tc
 run, but I got him as he went out oi | the room. He tore his throat loose from my stiffened fingers and went I into the church, but I beat down the
 door with my naked fists. mocking al | his prayers inside. and may never be | closer to death than Orloff was that night.
 Then a squaw tugged at my 'parka.'
 "'She is dying. Anguk,' she said, and
 I ran back up the hill with the cold | bitin at m-' heart.
 There was no death that night in Holy Cross, though God knows one naked soul was due to walk out onto
 the snow At daylight, when I came
 back for him, he had fled down the
 river with the fastesr dogs, and to this day I've never seen his face. though
 'tis often I've felt his hate. Hes grown into the strongest mis- sionary on the coast, and he never lets
 chance go by to harry me or the
 girl