The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1915-01-23
HEIR GODS FAIL
By GEORGE VAN scHAIck,
(CopYright.l

ountains.
| If was always calm and black. for
winds never reached it; but at
! cutie. the still surface seemed to
kahen from a long sleep, and, roar.
lashed itself in sudden fury and
e its way through a canyon from
hose rocky sides it bit out toulders
spewed them out again to be
ound into sand hundreds of miles
tther on.
MANY feet above the torrent the face
the cliff was grooved into a huge
elf and one day men had crawled
ION it looking like puny insects.
hons of dynamite had reared and
awed away Insignificant specks
bm the vastness of the mountain.
eparing way upon which were laid
|bons of steel that seemed to ruiz
ilessly toward the setting sun
Above the line lowered giant peaks
btted with the pufplish whiteness of
prasting SHOWS, streaked by the
rows plowed by avalanches and
culated by the bare faces of cliffs
rocks.
these rose so high that, from the
hping grounds at the edge of the
e. a fragment only of the blue over
ID could be seen. The remainder Of
world was but the vast play
bunds of ancient gods who had up.
Bved the world in sport and war.
came the month of falling leaves,
IN furries of snow, and the men
bndoned their work for the time be
bearing away their drills and
sting powder to other places where
by might continue the work with no
iii of deep SHOWS and harsh weather
hitter their departure some families
Indians passed on their way to far
" hunting grounds. They beheld
work of the white men and pom
red ovHr it, silently, stricken with
awe with which people see abomi-
bic dissertations of hallowed things.
The earthworks leading from the
Dre of the lake to the great ledge
W. covered the graves of ancient
iefs. The jetsam of many men, the
fuse of their life, scattered over the
mping ground, insulted the spirits
the departed and stank in the nos
Is Of the living.
Overhead the rasping bark of grea,
gle seemed raised in protest, ant
wondrous peaks of the huge noun
hs Sere hiding their shame among
clouds,
Women NURSE their children ant
led about the emp with heads
we'd down. while the ms wrapped
their blankets, gazed with lo>,' INNS
pn the polluted scene and wondered
it had come about that the curses
their gods had not prevented THE
inally an old man turned to his
ppanions, pointing with uplifted
toward the west.
il is the road we have heard of,
for the fire-wagon," he said, and
others nodded in assent.
They have covered the burial places
earth and rocks; they have be.
Jed the waters of the lake and torn
face Of the mountain" he contin-
Now the spirits that come to
tombs are surely angered. as are
be that dwell beneath the lake, and
BE whose voice is heard in thunder
ms and whose footsteps loosen the
ing SHOWS"
he others lool: I'd ct the old medi-
man, for their Manitou often
ke to him, and within his lodge &C.
Ted mysterious things.
n the month of the Budding Moon
one man, Il have heard that the
wagon will come up through the
ey"
cannot be-" answered the old
THE rolling SHOWS will bury it
the waters will rise and engulf 1t
the mountains will shake and cast
the canyon"
the month of May they returned,
g again compelled to pass by the
lake. The SHOWS of winter and
following floods had removed most
ne traces of the occupation by the
te men, but the line of the railway
still there.
eat poles had been planted during
absence. upon which were strung
Is that vibrated and made strange
DDS.
is the talk of the white men,
fured youth.
esently along the winding shore
he lake arose an unwonted noise
the Indians beheld q surprising
&.
was small platform mounted on
els Men stood on it who worked
uen bars up and down, and it shot
arc rapidly. When the men neared
pace where the Indians we're gath
Inc hand car slowed and stopped
Po!ou! bojou!" cried one of the
and the Indians answered sui
pe men jumped off their car and
{ their way down to the camping
NJ careless of the dogs that were
!, ing at their heels. They made a
upon which they boiled water and
tea and while they were sup
Tie old medicine man came w
sm and squatted by their fire.
men does the fire-wagon Conner
sked
ouies Tomorrow, old boy" an
u ne Of the newcomers. "Firr'
'f7 tie line"