Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1915-12-24

the babe that you bore me for owe
on your breast-and yet-yet-I have
you againl Did l dream, oh, my prin-
cess of the little tribe7"
"a dream" sobbed Siletz softly,
only a dream"
He looked long into her half-fright-
ened face.
Il have searched the world for you,
my maid of service with the gentle
feyes-eyes like a deer's for softness.
Oh, Kahwannai have chanted the
marriage service, that 1 never said
for you in the days of my youth, a
thousand times among the hillsi /
have mated you in heaven throughout
the years wherein | lost you'll 1 have
wept for the Primrose that l crushed,
at dawn and dusk! ! have tried to
atone"
There was a pathetic, eager justifi-
cation in the weakening voice and the
others, all ware that they witnessed
the last act in some forgotten tragedy
of the Preachers life, stood in silence,
unconscious of the d%arkening smoke
clouds, the n of the rising o
You bore on your face the sign of
the Siletz women-the three bars of
Bondage, of Faithfulness and of Serv.
ice-and yet you were not of their
blood, but of my own. Only Kolawmie
knew how you came among them, a
wee, dark child, how they took you
in and gave you a name, and he
told. You were red to me, Kahwan-
ma soft-eyed creature of the wild
and you were my woman. bought with
a white mans kiss!"
Here Sandry shrank as If at a blow,
drawing in his breath with a sigh.
But the Preacher hurried on, as if to
tell all that had lain upon his heart
these many years.
you would have followed me across
the world upon your knees, and you
served me like a slave. And II re-
paid you with a white mans coini
l left you to break your heart among
the dusky people who were kinder
than I! But the Winds of
God blew upon my conscience and my
ACd1t anu 4 I0LuIu0Qs IOuI ldOO anu
your faithful eyes, waiting, waiting,
brought m back from the far cities
only to see you die in the lodge of
Kolawmie with my babe on your
breast! Or-you say l but dreamed,
Kahwanna?"
With failing sight the speaker tried
to pierce the mystery, gazing at Siletz.
did / dream of death and retr1bu
tion-and of Kolawmie, who-bent
above the babe to put that sign upon
her face? l struck his hand away
when it had set but a fraction Of the
fatal bar-the sign that said you were
wild, that forbade you to the shallow
cities. that made you a white mans
toy! Observation-Disclosures, ]
have forgot. What is it l would re-
member" !.
The eagerness left the Preachers
eyes, they became suddenly calm and
mild.
With a cry that cut high above the
steady sounds of the wind and the
fires Siletz sprang up, a hand flung to
her lips, where the sign of the Siletz
stood out-broken in it's inception!
my father!" she cried pitifully, "oh,
my father!"
Sandry was breathing heavily, a
mist in his eyes and a sadness upon
his heart. His victory ove Hampden
had lost its SAVIOR
But the past with its pitiful shad-
ows had drifted away from the Preach
er forever and the look of gentle ten
derness had returned.
"My daughter" he said softly, "why
do you weep? Ah-the night closes
down and it is dark. I have lost my
way. What is the path?"
His fingers CROPPED blindly for the
flute.
What is the way out of the laby.
rinth of youth-and sin-and prim-
roses? All. I have forgot"
With a sudden inspiration Sandry
stopped and picked up the instrument
He had played a bit at college. Softly,
silverly, the joyous notes began, 'Je.
sus, Lover of My Soul" to go IN to
that ancient plea of trusting faith,
"Other refuge have l none, Hangs my
helpless soul on thee" a strange voice
of glory amid the death and danger,
the sin and stress of the moment.
A holy peace spread on the white
features.
why, certainly" whispered the
traveller of the hills, "how could l for.
geti That is the Way out"
And then, flush! The murmur OF
many wings. All, it is Gods hand!
/ go-de profundis! Gloria in ex.
celsisi"
With that last whispered word the
wandering player of hymns, the
preacher to the irresponsibles and the
lover CT humanity fumbled stifly at
his habits skirt. Sandry knelt, found
a deep pocket, felt therein and brought
out a small Bible of a long-past day.
IT'S edges were THU and frayed and