The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1915-01-05

THEIR GODS FAIL
BY GEORGE VAN scHAIcK.
Copyright

The Indians, who looked upon 1t
with reverence, had always said that
the lake had no bottom. Its dark
waters reflected giant pines and frs
and mirrored the huge surrounding
mountains.
1t was always calm and black, for
the winds never reached it; but at
the outlet the still surface seemed to
awaken from a long sleep. and, roar
ing, lashed itself in sudden fury and
tore its way through a canyon from
whose rocky sides 1t bit out boulders
and spewed them out again to be
ground into sand hundreds Of miles
further on.
Many feet above the torrent the face
OF the cliff was grooved into a huge
shelf, and n day men had crawled
upon 1t, looking like puny insects.
Tons of dynamite had roared and
gnawed away insignificant specks
from the vastness of the mountain.
preparing a way upon which we're laid
ribbons of steel that seemed to run
endlessly toward the setting sun.
Above the line lowered giant peaks
spotted with the purplish wilderness Of
everlasting SHOWS. streaked by the
burrows plowed by avalanches and
maculated by the bare faces of cliffs
and rocks.
These rose so high that, from the
camping grounds at the edge Of the
lake, q fragment only OF the blue over
head could be seen. The remainder of
the world was but the vast play
grounds Of ancient gods who had up
heaved the world in sport and war.
Came the month of falling leaves,
with fiurriee of snow, and the men
abandoned their work for the time be-
ing, bearing away their drills and
blasting powder to other places where
they might continue the work with no
peril OF deep SHOWS and harsh weather.
After their departure some families
OF Indians passed on their way to far
Their hunting grounds. They beheld
the work of the white men and pom
dered over it, silently, stricken with
the W with which people see abomi-
nable dissertations of hallowed things.
The earthworks leading from the
shore of the lake to the great ledge
now covered the graves OF ancient
chiefs. The jetsam of many men, the
refuse Of their life, scattered over the
camping ground, insulted the spirits
OF the departed and stank in the nos
trils of the living.
Overhead the rasping bark of a great
eagle seemed raised in protest, and
the wondrous peaks of the huge noun
tsins were hiding their shame among
the clouds.
Women nursed their children and
toiled about the camp with heads
bowed down. while the men, wrapped
in their blankets, gazed with loathing
upon the polluted scene and wondered
how 1t had come about that the curses
Of their gods had not prevented this
evil.
Finally an old man turned to his
companions, pointing with uplifted
arm toward the west.
1T is the road we have heard of.
built for the fre-wagon," he said, and
the others nodded In assent.
They have covered the burial places
with earth and rocks; they have be-
fouled the waters of the lake and torn
the face of the mountain" he contin-
ued. Now the spirits that come to
the tombs are surely angered, as are
those that dwell beneath the lake, and
those whose voice is heard In thunder
storms and whose footsteps loosen the
rolling SHOWS"
The others looked at the old medi-
cine man, for their Manitou often
spoke to him, and within his lodge oc-
Cured mysterious things.
In the month of the Budding Moon"
said n man, Il have heard that the
~fre-wagon will come up through the
valley"
1T cannot be-" answered the old
man. THE rolling SHOWS will bury 1t
and the waters will rise and engulf it
and the mountains will shake and cast
it in the canyon"
In the month of May they returned
being again compelled to pass by the
little lake. The SHOWS Of winter and
the following foods had removed most
of the traces of the occupation by the
white men, but the line OF the railway
was still there.
Great poles had been planted during
their absence. upon which were strung
wires that vibrated and made strange
sounds.
ut is the talk of the white men"
yentured a youth.
Presently along the winding shore
of the lake arose an unwonted noise
and the Indians beheld a surprising
thing.
1t was a small platform mounted on
wheels. Men stood on It who WORKED
wooden bars up and down. and 1t shot
forward rapidly. When the men neared
the place where the Indians were gath
cred the hand car slowed and stopped.
"Bojou! bojou!" cried one of the
men, and the Indians answered sui.
lenly.
The men jumped on their car and
made their way down to the camping
ground, careless of the dogs that were
shifting at their heels. They made a
fire upon which they boiled water and
made tea, and while they were sup
ping the old medicine man came up
to them and squatted by their fire.
when does the fire-wagon conner"
he asked.
Comes tomorrow. old boy" an
swered ons Of the newcomers. First
trip over the line"
They hurried over their meal. hav-
ing far to go, and started off again,
pumping their car with renewed en-
ergy. The red men watched them as
they rose from the edge of the lake
over the high earthworks, and thence
upon the shelf where they appeared
to be suspended on the face Of the
cliff, crawling like flies. while the tor
rent ragged beneath them.
They will die" said the old man,
confidently, for that thing vas the
~fererunner of the outrageous wagon
that was going to disturb the peace
OF the gods and bring their wrath down
upon itself.
he ordered the tents to be raised,
and the women obeyed in fear and
trembling. He built himself a small
medicine lodge and entered 1t. where
upon strange voices and singular
sounds within. He remained
there long. only coming out when the
crimson of the sunset flashed between
the peaks and stained the world as
with the blood of many men.