The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1910-07-07

for the coming winter and spring. But
it was a forlorn country in which to
bring up children, and she was often
tempted to remove to Indiana or Ohio,
where she would have facilities for
giving them an education. Finally she
resolved one autumn that If no tidings
came from her husband during the
winter she would sell her plantation
and her negroes, keeping her horses.
and, mounting her children and her
self on them would go to some point
on the river bank opposite Ohio. cross
the river and make a home in one of
the villages Of that state.
The winter passed without the re-
turn of her husband or any news of
him. Friendly Indians came and went
to and from the settlement, and the
widow never failed to inquire If any
of them had knowledge of white
man she described to them. But none
of them could give her any news Of
him. In the spring she began her
preparations lOF removal.
One night when she had put her
children to bed she concluded to ride
over to the house of a neighbor to
whom she hoped to sell her plantation
1t was a stormy night, but she was
anxious to get an offer for the proper
ty and was not deferred by the wealth
er. During the evening a band Of
friendly Indians came into the settle
ment and were soon wandering about
in search of what they could steal
One of them appeared at the kitchen,
where Martha Mrs. Aborn's maid of
all work, was at work, and, turning,
she saw him standing in the doorway.
She was Wping a plate, which she
straightway dropped on the floor, and
it broke in pieces. The savage in a gut
tural tone peculiar to the Indian said:
me want bed Me good Indian. Me
no hurt anybody"
Martha got up enough courage to tell
the redskin that every room but one
was occupied by the children and that
was locked The Indian Mortified her
by walking into the kitchen, taking up
tallow dip and proceeding to exam
inc the house. Seeing the children
sound asleep in their beds, he held the
candle over each one of them in turn,
giving a grunt Of satisfaction at the
sight of their rosy faces. Martha fol
lowed him at a distance, her complex
ion wearing the sickly light yellow of
frightened negro. She saw him go
into her mistress bedroom, and when
he came out he had key in his hand.
Going to the empty chamber, he un-
locked the door and said to the wo-
man:
"Me sleep here. You no tell"
He accompanied his words with a
savage look that tied her tongue COM
pletely. She wished to tell of the In
dian who had gone into the only va
cant room, but did not dare. He would
surely know that she had told and
would tomahawk her. When her mis-.
tress returned it was evident that the
negro had experienced a great scare
but, though Mrs. Aborn tried to in
duce her to tell what had frightened
her, her efforts resulted in failure. AS
soon as Mrs. Aborn had gone to her
room Martha went out and reported
the Indians presence in the house
But she was either not believed OF
those she told, considering that the
group of red men who had come tC
the village were friendly, did not think
the matter worthy of their attention
especially as the Aborn house was
closed for the night
Oblivion finally reigned over the set
tlement. Martha slept in one of the
negro cabins and early in the morning
returned to her mothers abode, dread
ing to find both her and her children
murdered. Entering the kitchen, she
went from there into the other pOr
tions of the house, and, finding every
thing quiet. the older children ASLEEP
in their beds and her mistress slum
bering with the smaller ones. she made
up her mind that the savage was less
murderous than she had supposed him
to be and set about getting breakfast
Presently she heard a cry. Terri
fed lest the Indian, after all. was about
to tomahawk her mistress, she ran
out of the kitchen into passage
way. There she saw Mrs. Aborn in
the arms Of the Indian, whose face
had lost its coppery hue during the
night. Mrs. Aborn's head was hang
fng limp on the Indians arm, it being
evident that she had tainted, Martha
supposing 1t to have been from fright
sought support against the wall to
avoid collapsing herself
The Indian was none other than
John Aborn. And this was his story
He and his companion huntsman had
been set upon by Indians. Swift had
been killed and Aborn made Il prison
er. He was taken far to the south and
adopted into the tribe. No opportunt-
ty had occurred for some time to re,
turn north, and even then he had been
obliged to delay going to his home
Those with whom he had entered the
settlement were ignorant that he was
white man. and he did not wish
them to know 1t. He remained con-
cealed till they had left.
A Bismarck Incident.
1t used to be the privilege Of Aus
trials representative ut any conference
of representatives Of the German
states to smoke, the others refraining
This was supposed to be an acknowl
edgment of Austrla's supremacy. At tht
first conference that Bismarck attend
ed as Prussia's representative he be
gan to puff smoke across the confer
ence table as soon as the Austrian dip
lomat lit up. That set everybody pres
ent to smoking on equal terms, ant
Austria's supremacy got a blow.