The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1916-03-23

wonder. Then a great JOY broke Gu
his face with a shining smile. and he
struggled TO ralse himself on an arm.
"Kahwanna!" he cried, "Kahwan-
na!"
1t was a call from a far-distant past.
1t thrilled that little company of listen
ers with its ecstasy.
"Why-why- What have l dreamed.
my princess of the hills, that you have
seemed so far away? What was it
All, | have forgot! But you are here
at last"
He raised palsied, trembling arms
to the girls neck.
You are back from the gates Of
death that | fanCied had closed upon
you, You are back. . And there
is forgiveness in your dark eyes. Oh.
my love. there is forgiveness"
His lips quivered a bit and he went
on.
Did l dream of the great wrong l
did you, Kahwanna? Oh, have you for
given?"
The blue eyes were tragic in their
puzzled wonder, their shining Joy, and
the voice was desperately earnest.
For a moment Siletz checked her
anguish and strove to understand.
Then something, some divine instinct,
seemed to give her wisdom and she
smiled TREMENDOUSLY.
"All is WELL" she said pitifully, Il
have forgiven"
Thank God!" cried the old man
sharply, ooh, God, | thank thee! The
way is light at last"
He tried to raise himself on an ell
bow again.
But how does 10 happen? l saw
you die in the lodge Of Kolawmie with
the babe that you bore me for love
on your breast-and yet-yet-I have
you again! Did | dream, oh, my prin-
cess of the little tribe?"
"A dream" sobbed Siletz softly,
"only a dream"
He looked long into her half-fright-
ened face.
Il have searched the verdi for you,
my maid of service with the gentle
eyeS-eyes like a deer's for ~softness.
oh, Kahwanna! | have chanted the
marriage service, that | said
for you in the days of my youth, a
thousand times among the hills! /
have mated you in heaven throughout
the years wherein | lost you! | have
wept for the Primrose that | crushed,
at dawn and dusk! | have tried to
atone"
There was a pathetic, eager %justiti-
cation in the weakening voice and the
others, all aware that they witnessed
the last act in some forgotten tragedy
Of the Preachers life, stood in silence,
unconscious of the darkening smoke
clouds, the menace of the rising roar
you bore on your face the sign Of
the Siletz women-the three bars Of
Bondage, of Faithfulness and of Sery-
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 never
told. You were red to me, Kahwan~
ho q COlI Vi LIZ lAN
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 coin!
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
heart and l returned. Your face and
your faithful eyes, waiting, waiting,
brought me back from the far cities
only to see you die in the lodge OF
Kolawmie with my babe on your
breast! Or-you say ! but dreamed,
Kahwanna?"
With failing sight the speaker tried
to pierce the mystery, gazing at Siletz,
did I dream Of death and retrlbu-
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! You-you-Kahwanna-ah, |
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 its 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 over Hampden
had lost it's SAVIOR.
But the past with it's pitiful shad-
ows had drifted away from the Preach
er forever and the look of gentle ten
derness had returned.