The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1918-10-17


| 'tWhen my shadow covered a
line which they had marked on
the sand the night before, they
lceascd their din, and one of them,
who was to perform the surgical
operations prescribed for me,
stepped forward and ordered me
to put out my tongue. | did SO.
He took hold of it with a corner
of his burnous and, with his other
hand, drew his dagger from its
sheath.
II shall never forget the fer
ocity, coupled with ingenious de-
light, of his expression, which was
like that of mischievous boy
amusing himself by breaking a
birds wings and legs (. Nor shall
ever forget the man S stupefac-
ton wehen he saw that his danger
no longer consisted of anything
but the pommel and a harmless
and. ridiculously small stump of
the blade, just long enough to
keep in its sheath. His fury was
revealed by a splutter of curses
and he at once rushed at one Of
his friends and snatched his dag
ger from him.
1.-The same stupefaction follow
ed: this dagger was also broken
off at the hilt. The next thing
was general tumult, in which
one and all brandished their
knives. But all Of them uttered
bowls of rages
There were 45 men there; and
their 45 knives were smashed.
The chief flew at me
as if holding me responsible for
this incomprehensible phenome-
non. He was tall, lean old man,
slightly bunch backed, blind Of
one eye, hideous to look upon.
He aimed a huge pistol blank at
my head and he struck me as so
ugly that I burst out laughing in
his face. He pulled the trigger.
The pistol missed fire. He pulled
it again. The pistol again missed
fire.
FAN of them at once began to
dance around the stake to which
| was fastened. Gesticulating
wildly, hustling one another and
roaring like thunder, they leveled
their various firearms at me !:
Imuskets, pistols, carbines, old
spanish blunderbusses. The ham
clicked. But the muskets, pistols,
carbines, and blunderbusses did
not go off!
1t was a regular miracle. You
should have seen their faces. I
never laughed so much in my life !;
and this completed their bewild-
erment.
Some ran to the tents for more
powder. Others hurriedly re-
loaded their arms, only to meet
with fresh failure, while l did
nothing but laugh! The thing
could not go on indefinitely,
There were plenty of other means
Of doing away with me. They had
their hands to strangle me with,
the butt ends Of their muskets to
smash my head with, pebbles to
stone me with. And there were
over 40 Of them
The old chief picked up a bulky
stone and stepped toward me, his
features distorted with hatred.
He raised himself to his full
height, lifted the huge block, with
the assistance Of two Of his men,
above my head and dropped it
in front of me, on the stake i
was staggering sight for the
poor old man. | had, in one sec
ond, nnfastered my bonds and
sprung backward; and l was
standing at three PAGES from him.
with my hands outstretched be-
fore me, and holding in those out
stretched hands the two revolvers
which had been taken from me
on the day Of my capture!
What followed was the bust
ness Of a few seconds. The chief
now began to laugh as / had
laughed, sarcastically. To his
mind, in the disorder of his brain,
those two revolvers with which /
Threatened him could have no
more effect than the useless weap-
ons which had spared my life. He
took up large pebble and raised
his hand to hurl it at my face.
| His two assistants did the same.
And all the others were prepared
/ TO follow his example.
Hands down.! I cried, or
iI fire! The chief let fly his
A A Il 49, ~ a.