The daily Alaskan., 1914-02-18
The Case of
 Peter Grant
By ELLA WHEATON

! GLGA SA0AlA ShAAssAttANA " e4-N
 when hundreds of thousands of buffa- loes were tramping over them, and he went there to hunt them. His oldest boy, Oscar, was nearly grown, and the two together collected the buffalo hides, that were tanned into robes, which at that time were largely used in win ter in place of the present more ex- pensiYe skins.
 The father of the family, being poor sleeper, was accustomed to sleep in a room built as an addition or wing of his house, where he would be undis- turbed by any sound. Since he was accustomed to come and go at will the key to the door of his room was kept under the doorstep, that whenever he wished to go to bed he might do so without awakening the rest of the household.
 The Grant dOmicile wass located not far from the foothills of the Rockies near where now stands the city of Denver, which was then village. The Indians inaa&it!nE that region were the Utes and the Arapahoes. Both these tribes, especially the latter, ,;were friend ly to the whites. but were not very kindly disposed to each other. AS late as 1868 the Utes sallied forth from their hunting grounds In the noun tainS on the warpath tonight their cop per cOlOred enemies.
 One autumn Peter Grant went on a hunting expedition to get meat for the family use during the winter. He said that he would be gone not over q week. and his destination was that beautiful region since called the Gar den of the Gods, in which Colorado City now stands. The week passed, and every day the Grant family eX- pected its head to reappear. But day after day passed. and nothing was heard from him.
 When two weeks from the time of his appointed return had passed and he did not turn up his son started southward to look for him. Oscar traced his father to the foot of Pikes peak, where be lost track of him. But, hearing from settlers that tribe of h. Y dians from New Mexico had raided that part of Colorado while his father was hunting there. the boy was forced to believe that bis father had been captured. He went on southward as far as Pueblo and, hearing nothing of a captured white man, returned north ward.
 Oscar knew that it was the habit of the Indians on capturing a white man to torture him and then kill him, so he said nothing to his mother of what he had learned. He simply told her that he had heard nothing of his father and hoped that some day he would return to them.
 The winter passed without Grants reappearance. Oscar continued to hunt the buffalo. He desired to complete the amount of money his father had fixed upon before returning to the east, and his mother would not leave the 1 place so long as there was any hope that her husband might be restored to her. A year passed, during which Os- car added considerably to the family assets by the sale of buffalo skins, and he suggested that they go back to the east. The children needed to be edu- Cated, and the older girls were now of an age when 1t was not best that they should remain on the frontier. But l Mrs. Grant had faith that her husband would return, and she could not bear to think of his doing so to find his for mer home deserted. So she kept put ting or her children from month to month, from season CO season. Finally, when two years had gone by since Grants departure and there was no news of him, her children persuaded her not to spend another winter on the plains.
 The family were preparing for their departure when one day a tribe of h. dians from the south came up on a foray. They were not hostile, had no revenge to take on the whites of the region and seemed bent only on apprO- priating to themselves what they could ma. 1utN eLNdllptu uGtl LuS NlliL home and stole everything that was not under lock and key, cleaning out all the outhouses, especially the smoke house. in which hung considerable smoked game, consisting of antelope and venisOn.
 The Indians remained but one day and night and then turned to retrace their steps to their southern camping grounds. During the night that they were about the place Mrs. Grant thought she heard a sound in the lit tie wing of the house in which her hus- band used to sleep. The key to the door remained where it had always been kept and she wondered if any of the prowling redskins had found it and gone into the room. If so, doubtless all the bedcIothing and smaller ar ticles would be appropriated. In the morning after the Indians had gone she looked for the key, but 1t was not there. She tried the door and found it locked. While she stood wondering at the meaning of this, she heard voice say:
 "WhO's thereW