White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1931-04-23
The Plains of Abraham

dWarhsh kind grown for the oil which
was extracted from their seeds.
When the season was good, Chenufsic
lived in comfort during the long win
ter months. The granaries were full
large quantities of dried fruits were
in the storehouses, and underground
cellars were stocked with apples
pumpkins, potatoes, and squashes
When the season was bad, Chenufsio
drew belt tightly about its stomach
for five months of the year. For three
OF these months it Starved.
This was bad season. Spring
frosts had killed the early vegetation
and had blackened the buds Of apples
and plums The corn was so Door
that, after roasting time, only enough
was left for the next years planting,
and beans and potatoes had suffered
, until there was less than a third of
crop. But the people OF Chenufsio
wore no appearance of gloom on the
day when Tiaoga and his triumphant
| warriors were to arrive from the east.
T4aoga's messenger had brought the
news that not man had been lost In
their invasion Of the territory Of their
enemies. This was unusual, and 1t put
fresh courage into the hearts Of those
who had seen the year go against
them. Tiaoga's homecoming with the
spoils Of war was an augury which
more than discounted empty cellars
and granaries.
AS a part Of these .spoils, they knew
Tiaoga was bringing daughter to
take the place of Silver Heels
This convinced them that fortune
was bound to smile on them again.
They had loved Sol Yam Makwun.
With her death had come bad times.
Now the spirits would give them an
easy winter, and next year would see
the earth Towering with good things.
Chenufsio made ready for the feast.
There were still plenty of earthly
things and supply of late green corn
packed away in husks and kept for
this occasion.
The last day was long for Toinette.
It had begun at dawn, and though
Tiaoga halted his men at intervals to
let her rest, 1t had not ended with
DUSK Darkness came before they
reached plain on the far side Of
which was hill. Beyond this hill
/ was Chenufsio. They could see the
glow Of great fire lighting the sky.
Toinette forgot her exhaustion at
this sign of the end of their journey.
She observed that some one took from
Jeems the scalp of the man he had
killed, which he had tried to conceal
from her eyes under a flap Of buckskin.
Then she saw all Of the scalps taken
by the Senecas fastened like dangling
fish to slender pole which was car
ried on the shoulders of two men, the
hair Of one of these scalps reaching
almost to the ground With. the scalp
carriers in the lead, they came to the
hill at the edge of the plain and looked
down on the valley of Chenufsio.
At Tiaoga's command the men bear.
ing the scalp-laden pole had gone
ahead, and now Tiaoga followed with
his men in single file. Toinette and
Jeems were midway in the line. Wide
placed about their necks, and Jeems
was stripped Of his weapons. The
warriors did not hurry. Their step
was slow and steady, and not man
broke the silence with whisper or
word. A sea Of torches advanced. It
rolled in and out of hollows like
flood, then came to q level place and
formed two streaming lines of fire.
The scalp bearers reached these
hundred yards ahead of Tiaoga and
his men. Toinette could see them Ell.
ter the light of the torches, and in
these moments the voices of the saw.
ages rose to the heavens Tiaoga
paused, and not until the scalp bearers
had paraded their grisly burden the
entire length Of the gauntlet of flame
did he proceed again.
Toinette felt stealing over her
strange faintness Of body and limb.
Stories which she had forgotten.
stories she had heard of the Indians
from childhood, stories that had sent
shivers through the hearts of thou.
sand homes along the frontiers all
crowded upon her at once. Wild tales
Of appalling torture and vengeance,
Of stake and fire and human suffering.
She had listened to them from her
fathers lips, from passing voyageurs,
had heard them in the gossip of the
seigneurie. And she remembered by
name this ordeal which awaited them.
1t was LIE Chemin de Feu-the Road
of Fire-through which they must
pass. Others had died in it. Roasted
by pitch-filled torches. Blinded. Killed
by inches. So she had been told.
(To BE CoNTINUED.)
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