The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1915-03-19
|RomanceVersus
Matter of Fact
By OSCAR cox

There is little Indian girl up on
Hudson bay who has never been out
Of her native woods. She speaks poet
ically. AS all aborigines do. Her vo-
cabulary is small. but she makes up
for the deficiency OF words in inn
agery. One summer Miss Susan Jones.
matter OF fact young woman as
ever trod the soil. took IL into her head
10 spend her vacation in upper Canada.
These two met in the Indian girls
home on the banks OF the Little Whale
river. Miss Jones said she had heard
much OF Indian legends and asked
didn't get the girls name: Miss Jones
said IL was Mime Something or Other
to tell her one. Thereupon the Indian
told the following story:
"Abasca was the daughter OF n great
chief. who lived long. long ago when
the first white man came 10 this coun-
try. She had never seen any man ex.
cept "a
Indian" suggested Miss Jones.
"She had only seen the dusky men
OF the forest like herself. The first
man 10 come was tall as the young
pine. straight as the arrow aud his
eye was that of the eagle. Abasca
saw him, and her heart flew TO him
like the bird"
"A case of love AT first sight, you
meanT
"Abasca was loved by Stormwind,
the son of chief. Stormwind was
brave AS the water that leaps from the
leaf that trembes at the top OF the
tree
"A regular William Tell" Miss Jones
interrupted.
''He had not the heart 10 give way
to another. He was not born 10 know
that to love Abasca truly he should
give her 10 the man she loved. The
white man might do that, not the In
dian Stormwipd learned that she had
given her heart 10 the white man. and
he resolved that the white man should
die.
"Stormwind made this VOW nj the
season when I'm this country the lamp
never goes out NJ night
"Did they use Kerosene or 0il2'
"For the winter had passed when
the sun Mt midday Is small and cold I'm
the south. The white man was In the
wood where he hunted the fox and
the pink and the otter. Stormwind
followed the trail and came 10 his
enemy when the sun stood high above
their heads.
"'Trapper.' said Stormwind."
"What funny name! like Storm.
wind much better"
1.-The white man may come: the
white man may hunt the fox and the
mink and the otter; he may ride I'm his
boat over the waves Of the great bay.
but he shall not take the maiden from
the Indian
"When he said this Stormwind fitted
an arrow 10 his bow. II may be he
had never seen the white mans rife;
II may be he had never seen the white
man raise the rifle quickly To his shoul.
der and the deer far away drop dead.
Before he had fitted his arrow 10 his
bow and pointed II at bis enemy the
white mans eye ran along the barrel
of his weapon"
"Trapper had the drop on him, hadn't
he? How thrilling! Go onr'
Gt..r a H.. s..,.t In. A.
your arrow into your culver before |
send the lead into your heart. Abasca
IL yours. do not wed here I'm the for.
est. The white man loves the white
woman, not the Indian squaw.'
"From the woods came n piercing
shrek. The white man lowered his
rifle and the red man his bow. II was
woman's voice they heard. From a
cliff near by IL came again. fainter,
but more despalring than before. II
was the echo"
"For heavens sake, what was f.? A
spookY"
1T was the wall of Abasca. She had
seen Stormwlnd 90 away with the
look Of an angry ManitOu on bis brow.
and she knew that he was going 90
fight the man she loved Selling RI
ie from the tepee. she followed her
dusky lover and saw him when ne
spoke to-
''Trapper."
"Sbe held her rife 90 her shoulder
ready when StUrmwind was about 20
send his arrow 10 his rivals heart or
when the white man raised his riff"
10 kill the man she did not love"
"She must have been awfully rat
tied"
"When she heard the white man say
he did not love her she dropped her
rife, giving cry that cansed the white
cloud sailing In the heavens above 20
tremble."
81 wonder she hadn't shot the brute"
''Then the white man and the Indian
went I'm the direction from whence the
sound came and saw on n high rock
the form Of Abasca. She WAS on the
edge of deep gulf beneath her. sway.
svo H.r. thay. 30 branch "a