| Show AN EVIL EYE I It Bronsh Dnpsrcr Yet AVnrrtcd Off Disaster BY COXERS C CONVERSE The easily aroused suspicious nature of the simple superstitious savage once involved a friend of mine in a serious though at the same time ludicrous scrape Edward Reid was touring with a party of six through the stretch of western country known as the Cherokee Cher-okee Strip which President Cleveland opened to homeseekers September 16 1893 at 12 oclock noon At that time the Strips hills and dales were tenanted by bison deer and other large game with here and there a bunch of Cherokees Shawnees or Delawares mated of the many boomers boom-ers sooners and other prospectors that are now fast populating its best and most fertile parts in portable houses tents and quicklythrownto gether shelters Not however that there were many of the great herds of buffalo yet left the stampeding of which used to make the earth Vibrate and tremble for miles as in the days of 49 The advent ad-vent of the white man and magazine rifle was thinning the noble game toward to-ward speedy extinction Ed with the feeling of a true sportsman sports-man wished to decorate his den ati home with the head of a big bull bison j shot with his own rifle before the time should come when the accomplishment j of such an ambition would be next to impossible This desire led him to leave the others oth-ers of his party one afternoon to follow fol-low up a fresh trail which they had come upon It was the track of an unusually I I I W UP WEXT EDS RIFLE large bison one much too large to be a female This bison had doubtless been the head of a small herd and Ibeen rowed his life to the fact that other hunters had sought the more toothsome tooth-some flesh of his cows and calves for a target in preference to steaks which would very likely require the the teeth of a coyote to masticate I However the tougher and grizzlier I he might turn out to be the better pleased would ISa become if only the old fellow could be brought down So all these inferences made the hunter hurry along through valleys and over I plateaus after the old bull doubly eager to sight him xlt was not till the close of the afternoon after-noon that persistence and woodcraft brought Ed within sight of the bison Then however he found him to be quite as huge and ugly as he had imagined im-agined Up came Eds rifle He aimed for a I spot just back of the buffalos fore I shoulder and pulled i He heard the bull speed as the ball struck but he saw that he must have I i aimed a trifle too far back for the buffalo buf-falo gave a great snort and tore off i wildly r However Ed thought he would be I likely to overtake the wounded animal so with a shout he was off in pursuit The little bronco was as eager to close with the flying bison as was his I rider and he needed no urging The I i I wiry beast went through the broken I country like a singed cat I t Before long Ed came in sight of the old bull once more But just as he was i preparing for a flying shot down went his mount the little animals foot crushing into a gophers hole i I Ed nearly broke his own neck in the tumble The bronco he had to shoot In no wise daunted however he pushed on afoot until nightfall and weariness made further chase out of the question for the time at least Not in the best of temper Ed determined deter-mined to camp where he was until morning Fatigue soon brought on heavy slumber Toward midnight the solitary camper was roughly awakened A party of dusky Shawnees were standing about him and his gun and revolver had been coolly appropriated by one who was evidently the chief The Indians at the time were comparatively com-paratively friendly toward the whites Yet a white man had no really good excuse ex-cuse for trespassing in that part of their lands and Ed was not particularly particu-larly reassured by the somewhat sour way in which the old chief regarded him The horaes which were drinking eagerly at the small spring near which Ed had laid down was breathing heavily and there was too more than one sign that this particular party of red men was out for mischief Eugh grunted the big Indian in apparent indecision as to what to do with Ed Friend returned Ed to show his amicable relations towards the party Bacco Ed produced his tobacco pouch and extended It gladly The big chief accepted it with a somewhat softened look took a monstrous mon-strous chew and then absentmindedly put the rpouchinto his fire bog Then he spoke toliis men in a way which I Ed felt meant that they should < Lot r r > J > I > z H1 0 < harm their white brotherand Ed did not remind the chief of his absentmindedness absent-mindedness Moreover encouraged by the chiefs show of friendliness Ed sought to further ingratiate himself with the old Indian by admiring his horse which just then came up to its masters side from the spring This he could do sincerely sin-cerely for the animal really was a fine mount of which the old Shawnee was justly proud Speaking a word or two in praise of its good points Ed smoothed the ponys muzzle softly with his hand to the beaming approval of its owner when without warning the little animal ani-mal gave a low whinny of pain and sank to the ground There were a few moments of struggle strug-gle and then with a final shudder the pony lay dead Eugh eugh grunted the Shawnee in savage tones while he drew ms tomahawk menacingly and a cold chill traveled down Eds spinal column col-umn Eugh eugh have evil eye Ed felt that his time had come The favorable first impression he had earned for himself had been revets dIn d-In his best Shawnee he tried m vain i to convince the big scowling chief and his companions that the pony had died I I from colic or cramp induced by drinking drink-ing the ice cold water of the spring I when it was overheated as he saw it was The Shawnees fairly bristled with I scalping knives and tomahawks and about him apparently wait j passed up I ing for their chief to have the honor I and satisfaction of striking the flit blow Ed on his part never argued so earnestly ear-nestly in his life Eugh was the answer The Indians I In-dians used the one exclamation yetI expressed yet-I any number of different I meanings by slight inflections I Other horserun run rundHnk I an not kill the old chief grunted towards the with a sweep of his arm i other steaming mounts a statement whIch was only too true Unfortunately only the pony which EU had touched had died This fact demonstrated that Ed had the evil responsible for the eye and was death of the chiefs pet horse Ed regarded the other horses anxiously anxi-ously He wished devoutly that they and would all fall dead from cramps but not sustain his defense I one thereby of them seemed to be so charitably inclined us an There was no such possibility l circle of escape by a dash through thi frowning savages hief > maintaind a solemn eg silence He was evidently diding upon up-on where he would strike ma Ed for an instant felt inclined to shut his eyes and wait for the blow Suddenly however up went Eds head and he stared the old Shawnee so fiercely in the face that the man started start-ed back involuntarily An idea had flashed upon Ed which he determined to put to a practical testeven though it was a desperate resort admit itI have the evil eye he exclaimed Eugh grunted the old Indian dubiously du-biously but he stepped back a trifle disconcerted at which Ed took heart to proceed You see what I have done Ed continued con-tinued with an expressive posture toward to-ward the dead horse at his feet Shall I cast my terrible eye upon you and he paused dramatically The younger braves whispered among themselves and looked askance while the old chief shifted about uneasily You do not know the white brother whom you disturb He is big medir cine Ifjie should care tcfflhe could look upon you with his evil eye and send every one of you to the happy hunting groundEd ground-Ed harangued them trembling inwardly in-wardly yet putting on a bold face outwardly out-wardly for he well knew he was talking talk-ing for his life As he went on he saw with a thrill of hope several of the young Indians made strenuous efforts to dodge with dignity behind others of the party whenever he looked in their direction They would gaze intently toward the horses or into the tops of the trees almost anywhere rather than toward him Even the old chief seemed to be interested in-terested in another quarter when Ed attempted to look him in the eye All the same Eds heart beat so heavily that he almost feared the old Indian might hear it and have his suspicions aroused again Then Ed tried a new tack and tried i ito Ito i I-to reassure the wavering Shawnees White man your friend he exclaimed ex-claimed earnestly and with as patronizing pa-tronizing a tone as he could call up In his dry throat If you had not disturbed him he would not have destroyed the horse he addedwhich was not far from true 1 I i II II I I I I1 LP A YELL WENT UP F ROM THE INDIAXS I I Again that exasperating Eugh and a redoubled whispering I But the men appeared as undecided as before They regarded one another II interrogatively however putting up their arms I If they would only let down the hammers of those muskets wished I Ed but vainly The most effusive I declarations of his regard for red men in general and this little party in particular par-ticular had not the slightest apparent effect in that direction I Perhaps the Indians kept their arms in their hands as a possible protection I against his evil eye I Ed argued with them still further but all the time he was calculating as to which one of the two ponies near by was the faster and fresher mount I Ive got to make a break for It was his silent conclusion t And then the big chief turned his head and was off his guard for an instant in-stant It was the moment Ed had i been waiting for Out went his fist in true American style and down went I the old scarred and paint bedaubed Shawnee I There was a momentary hanging I back of the others of the party some of them fearing perhaps that this great chief had been felled by the evil l eye j eyeAt any rate Ed was given time to spring astride the best looking of the two ponies The > guiding rein of moose i skin was still fastened to the muzzle of the little beast Ed seized it and i driving hIss heels into the sides of the startled animal was off into the thicker thick-er growth of chapparal like an arrow A > yell went up from the madderieL Indianswhichwaeanything > but pleas < ant fo the ear A straggling fire was discharged after the flying horse and rider and the bullets cut the twigs about his head but fortunately not one of the shots found Its mark The Indians pursued Ed for same distance but his sturdy little mount finally distanced the others proving to have been a lucky selection In the early morning Ed reached our camp in safety He felt justified in keeping the pony on which he had made his escape in exchange for the rifle and revolver of which he had been robbed Of course he never saw his stolen arms again But in scouring for the party of Shawnees in the hope of regaining re-gaining them and Incidentally giving the savages a lesson we did jome upon up-on the body of a bull buffalo that he had hit Ed now has the buffalo head in his library as a decoration and also as a reminder of the adventure I have narrated nar-rated I |
