Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-02-14
Evening Story
THE CLAWS OF MooNEYE
BY June Gahan


Literary Press.)
Piebald Pete found out he owned an
internal agitator the night Minnie
Mooneye shot Yellow Puffs through
her wrist.
He stood at one side of the ring,
watching the two go through their
act. Four oil torches flared in the
darkness Of the tent. The faces on
the benches were blurred and motion.
less. For the instant the whole place
was held in a spell Of silence, wait
ing for the Indian girl to do her
famous trick. She was shooting with
a revolver, backward over one shout
der at card held by Yellow Puffs,
taking aim from a hand mirror.
The girl did not shrek when the
bullet struck her wrist. She looked
at the face Of the other and smiled,
white Tipped. Mss....
The band started to play at a warn
ing from Pete's megaphone. Then he
made for the side tent while they
hustled on another act to cover tho
accident. ....s ..-.
"I'm sorry, girl" he gasped, huskily,
bending over the shattered wrist.
"The cat She's never missed that
shot"
Mooneye stood near, watching them
with unblinking eyes, brown and soft
as sealskin.
cts all right. Maybe she didn't
mean to- Get doctor, will you, Pete?
l need that wrist"
She drew it back quickly. Pete had
stopped and kissed her arm.
"Say, you amt got any heart at all.
have you?" he demanded.
Puffs looked at the figure OF the
! Indian girl just visible In the tent en-
trance. .a..
You're ringing the wrong bell.
Pete" she said, slowly. why don't
you take notice of that little Indian
kid yonder?" ...
"Who? Mooneye? Why"
Don't you know?' She smiled up
in his face. II do ...u
Pete was silent, but bewildered.
Therefore, he swore vaguely to him
self, and went back to the ring after
seeing the girl cared for.
He didn't know what she meant.
He had never noticed Mooneye espa-
cially until that night. But then,
Puffs had also escaped notice. Stand
ing back at the side of the ring, with
his megaphone held in readiness to
announce the acts, Piebald Pete faced
his destiny, and knew he was in love
with Puffs. ..H
When any one became a working
member of Piebald Pete's show, he
received a new name just as u IT
were a New Jerusalem citizenship.
It was q token of comradely interest,
professional accolade.
Minnie Mooneye had been named
the first day bunch Of real Indians
struggled into the half built camp.
She was the last in the procession.
They were not fresh from the far
west, these red brothers and sisters.
For years they had upheld the pa
thetic and thrilling traditions OF a
vanishing race, according to the
barkers. in little one-ring western
shows. They danced, fought, whooped,
howled, and kept the passing race
from becoming extinct.
Mooneye was half breed. She
carried couple Of suitcases, ant
walked lightly in her heeled boots.
She was a delicate saffron tint, with
dusky, slumberous eyes, wide, child
like, with tantalizing uplift at the
corners Her dark hair was bound
about her head in close braids Az
she passed, lanky, staring cowboy
threw out her new name to her.
"Hello, there, Mooneye. Step
high"
So with Yellow Puffs. To be ex-
act, she was a lady cowboy. That
was what the female portion of the
audiences called her.
She was not tall. neither was she
lovely. Her eyes were keen and
merry and usually half closed as
one who takes a squint at long dis.
tances. Close inspection showed
them to be rather green. Her chin
was one no man need have been
ashamed of: likewise her jaw line.
Most women do not care for an APP
parent jaw line. Yellow Puffs &C
centuated hers by persistent
outlook on life with dash Of the
aggressive when anyone tried, as she
said, to put one over on her.
After she returned to the show,
even Mooneye was made to see that
she had committed social error
Trouble is with an Injun girl,