Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1911-05-19

WHICH SANDY Smith first
saw MIN. he was about three years old
and was in trouble. He was about as
dirty an any member of the tribe
which harbored him, and save for oc.
casional light spots, where his skin
accidentally broke through the crust
ana save for his top shock Of straw
colored hair. II would have been rather
ulmcult to recognize him as white.
he was standing outside a teepee at
u sa1e distance-where things couldn't
De thrown at him-gritting his teeth.
soDeing and kneading his eyes with
TWO very dirty, very pudgy fists.
Sandy had been ON kind of yaca.
ton. the kind that suited him best. BY
selling some timberland In the Olym-
pics and reinvesting in a mining
claim. he stood In pretty fair way to
get rich. That is, almost everybody
In the district thought SO. So he'd been
making a little trip over into Idaho.
But that hasn't much to do with Mods.
Coming back to him-Sandy happen
Cd to ride through this camp lust
at the time when Mods was feeling
pretty bad.
II the angel Trouble had a lob on
hand. he must have felt like pulling a
gun when Sandy Smith came around;
because that was Sandy's weak point.
Couldn't bear to see anybody, let alone
q child, in sorrow.
Seeing Mods crying, out In front of
the teepee, Sandy pulled up his horse,
swung over into the side Of his saddle,
and took look at such an amazing
thing as little white boy In an Indian
village a hundred or so miles from any
where: and, naturally, Mods recipro-
Gated the attention.
The pudgy fists came away about
foot from the tear-stained face and then
stopped. The eyes, which looked Just
like gentian flowers, opened wide, and
Mods sized Sandy up for all he was
worth. Then. either because he hadn't
forgotten white folks or because there
was something about Sandy that went
to his baby heart, he twisted his face
Into a smile that was like big burst
of sunshine over q rain-swept meadow.
Now all this time Sandy had been
watching him with kind of paralyzed
look. When Mods gave him that smile,
he couldn't help giving 1t back. Sandys
face, with Its long, struggling mus
tache, was one of the set, steady kind
that seldom changed; but If any one
ever saw him laugh, it was sure to be
n surprise. 1t was 50 unexpected, and
made you think there we're things in
Sandy that you never knew be-
fore.
Mods saw this, aRd without delay
trudged up alongside the pony and
held up both hands. Wanted to be
taken up and away from that village;
to go to some place with some one
who had kind word instead of kick
for him. Sandy fairly fell of his
horse. dropped down on his knees,
and put his big, long arms around
Mods, and that's how 1t began. How
Sandy and Mods became acquainted.
Mods gave a sigh big enough for a
full-grown man, and. soon as he could
get room, put his two little arms
around Sandy's neck, smuggled his
face right up against Sandy's. and
held 1t lnere. And from that on Sandy
could have died for him. It wasn't
anything he was used to. He had,
In his time, loved and been loved by
lots of things. but not by a small chap
like this
So Sandy was crying and laughing,
when he felt something looking at him,
turned round, and saw three or four
blanketed bucks. But In all the crowd
there wasn't anything white. They
didn't look as though they liked Sandy
much.
A powwow brought out the fact that
this youngster had been left with an
Did squaw by a man who claimed to
be his daddy. Said he was coming
back in a week, but a year had slid on
INTO the nowhere. The squaw was too
bid to do much camp work; but she
wasn't too old to think heap OF Mods
Awana. And probably about all the
kindness the little shaver ever knew
In all that year had been from her.
The old woman, being not much use,
mad to subsist OF the camp ptckings,
30 there may have been times when
10th she and Mods went pretty hum
cry. II was easier for her to stand
abuse, though, than It was for Mods.
she was more used to 1t, having lived
longer.
The minute Sandy showed signs OF
wanting Mods, the chief valued him
highly. 1t took day and nights
trading to get him, but Sandy won out.
being the kind of fellow that never
quits. Once or twice he decided he'd
end the difficulty by going to war with
the whole Nez Perces nation, grab
Ding Mods and riding off, trusting to
God and his Winchester to pull him
through.
AS he was getting ready to go and
Mods was waiting. Sandy heard
kind of moaning noise in the tepee
where Mods lived. SO took look in
side. There, with her blanket over
her head and rocking to and fro with
her hands clenched in front OF her,