The Green Forest tribune., 1908-10-23

A$ I kees, and Blackeoat
 :::: $5. s:' wi; s:. :s ;;5;;5 s':Ss:n: :s :, .s; - .a5R s terrible punishment. s-- -4s7;~s The pipe of peace had -->-3 y -ss been put aside and the az-~----zu.~,S ring of friendship cast ] Se<S8 into the dust. The sSmahawk was being frightened and the surest arrows and sharDest arrow points were being selected, while the swiftest-footed ponies were waiting lh 4he corral. The yermillion was wet III the earthen saucer where it had been mixed to stain the cheek of the war rior.
 It was even as Ta-Kad-To-Kuh, the greatest of all their chiefs, had said. The Osages were a nation of liars. It was only waste of time to make a treaty with a nation Of liars. The treaty had been in all good faith. Together the men of war had met; together they had east their toma- hawks in the dust. They had eX- changed gifts of enduring friendship and smoked the pipe of peace around the lodge-fire.
 The Cherokees had started on their way to their own camp, glad of the friendship of neighboring tribe and proud of their skill in treaty making. But even as they thought on their success the moccasined foot of the Osage was logging their way
 In the shadows, behind the forest growth that bcrdered the smoothly flowing Arkansas, swifter than the hare and silent as the sunshine, they had followed until the friendly Ghero- kee had gone far Then with Whoop that rang far through woods and hills, the silent enemy fell upon the un- suspeeting victim and soon finished the terrible slaughter they had planned, 1. When it was over the bloody scalp of the Cherokee brave dangled from the belt of the Osage chief, who returned to his camp well pleased with his spoil.
 And now as the Cherokee squaW 
 parched corn into skin pouches, the warriors danced around the fire, quiv- ering with passion from the tip of the eagle-quill that nodded stiffiy in his hair to the pendant of the rattlesnake that rasped about his ankle.
 When all was ready, with a war cry that shook the still valley of the Ozarks into reyerberations of echoed wrath, the infuriated warriors gal loped away in the direction of the Osage camp, their black hair stream ing and their blankets falling loose.
 Mighty in number and fierce in wrath, they thought to take the Osage by storm. Before the wild ride of the sullen braves the dust from the ponies flying feet rose to meet the foam on their neeks; the deer fled in terror, the red fox crept farther into cover
 On and on they sped. nearer and nearer the enemy, and when the last stretch had been covered, rounding a bluff. with a curdling whoop they rushed down to wipe out the camp.
 But the Osage was not there. In- stead of the camp they found few poles and some caches of corn.
 Like the ancient Hebrew, whose in strCction from Jehovah were to burn the spoil of the Perrizite and Hivite, so the Cherokee burned the spoil of the Osage, after which they turned to- ward the West, for they knew the enemy had gone on the buffalo hunt.
 The wild ride was now quieted into the long canter that must cover many days.
 When they at last struck the trail of the unsuspecting enemy they sent scouts who came creeping back through the grass to tell them that the victims of their wrath were just ahead.
 It was in a sheltered pass made by the sloping Ozarks that the Cherokee came riding like a fury upon the surprised Osage, and here with tom ahawk and scalpknife they executed swift and terrible vengeance for the wrong that had been done them.
 After the last red brave had been made to bite the dust, Blackcoat tar ried for a moment to look over the valley of death, where the Osages lay like mangled dogs. Under his foot was the bloody ground Over his head, far against the blue, fioated a bug gard with keen eye already upon the lifeless bodies.
 His revenge vas complete. His enemy lay at his feet, past supplica- tion. The squaws and little ones were captlyes.
 While he stood, his attention was attracted by a child's cry, which came from a nearby brush
 Turning, he saw the child, who lift cd a tear-stained face and held up her hands.
 Under the impenetrable calm of peace and the fury of war, the mighty Blackcoat had a kind heart which the waii ot he child touched.
 She, to, was his captive. Her father no donbt lay on the bloody field.
 The hard lines on his copper face