Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1915-03-19
Romance Versus
Matter Of Fact
By OSCAR o

for the deficiency of words in i'm
agery. One summer Miss Susan Jones,
a matter of faet young woman as
ever trod the soil. took it into her head
to 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
l didn't get the name; Miss Jones
said it was Mime Something-or-Othe
Ito tell her one. Thereupon the Indian
told the following story:
'Abasca was the daughter Of a great
chief, who lived long, long g when
the first white man came to 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 to come was tall as the young
pine, straight as he arrow and his
eye was that of the eagle. Abasca
SAW him. aud her heart flew to him
like the bird.
"A ease of love at first sight. you
meant
".AllSca WAS loved by Stormwind.
the san df Il chief. Stormwind was
brave MS the water that leaps from the
rock. and his arrow could pierce the
leaf thai trembles at the top of the
tree
"a regular William Tell" Miss Jones
interrupted
He had not the heart to give way
to another. He was not born to know
that to love Abasca truly he should
give her TO the man she loved. The
white man might do that. not the In
dian. Stormwind learned that she had
given her heart to the white man. and
he resolved that the white man should
die.
"Stormwind made this vow at the
season when in this country the lamp
never goes u at night"
did they use kerosene or oil?"
For the winter had passed when
the sun at midday is small and cold in
the south. The white man was in the
wood where he hunted the fox and
the mink and the otter. Stormwind
followed the trail and came 10 his
enemy when the sun stood high above
their heads.
"'Trapper,' said ~Stormwind."
What a funny name! l like Storm
wind much better
The white man may come: the
white man may hunt the fox and the
mink and the otter; be may ride in 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 to his bow. 1t may be he
had never seen the white mans rifle:
1t may be he had never seen the white
man raise the rifle quickly to his shout
der and the deer far away drop dead.
bow and pointed it at his enemy the
white mans eye ran along the barrel
of his weapon"
"Trapper had the drop on him, hadn't
he? How thrilling. Go on"
"'Stormwind,' he said. put back
your arrow into your culver before |
sent the cad into your heart. Abasca
is yours. ! do not wed here in the for
est. The white man loves the white
woman. not the Indian squaw.'
From the woods came, a piercing
shrek. The white man lowered his
rife and The red man his bow. 1t was
a woman's voice they heard. From a
cliff near by 1t came again. fainter,
but more despairing than before. It
was the echo"
For heavens sake, what was it? A
spook?"
ut was the wall of Abasca. She had
seen Stormwind go away with the
look of an angry Manitou on his brow,
and she knew that he was going to
fight the man she loved. Selling a RI
fe from the tepee. she followed her
dusky lover and saw him when he
spoke to-
~"Trapper."
"She held her rife to her shoulder
ready when Stormwind was about to
send his arrow to his rivals heart or
when the white man raised his rife
" III tut iIidH H4C ulu uOt iOHe.
"She must have been awfully rat
tied"
when she heard the white man say
he did not love her she dropped her
rife, giving a cry that caused the white
cloud sailing in the heavens above to
tremble."
Il wonder she hadn't shot the BRUTE"
Then the white man and the Indian
went in the direction from whence the
sound came and saw on a high rock
the form of Abasca. She was on the
edge of a deep gulf beneath her, sway
ing here and there as the branch is
moved by the wind. Then slowly her
head bowed over the chasm, and as
the bird folds its wings and drops her
beautiful form descended to death"