| Show ERSKINE DAlE PIONEER I by ty TT 1920 Vy by Il liEU TODAY ERSKINE DALE PALE captured In infancy by bythe bythe bytho the tho redskins of ot Kentucky is adopted by the chief of the Shawnees and given the name of White Arrow lIe He Is la told that his mother was captured with him but was later killed Maltreated by an Indian brave Erskine Erakine flees to a settlers' settlers stockade and is recognized reco- reco by his mortally wounded father DAVE YANDELL a pioneer acts as guardian and sends tho the boy to Red Oakes the great Dale plantation on the James occupIed occupied occupied oc oc- oc- oc by COLONEL DALE DArE younger brother of ot Er- Er father Erskine Erakine Is kindly received by his cousins BARBARA and 1 J HARRY HAnRY Soon ho quarrels s with Dane Grey and threatens to stab him Later LaterI I Erskine Is ashamed of ot hit his outburst and lees flees to the wilderness Dave Yandell Harry and Hugh Willoughby another cousin start in pursuit GO OV OX WITH STORY STOnY At Sunset Dave knew know that they were not tar far behind him but when darkness hid the lads lad's tracks Dave stopped for forthe forthe I. I th the night hl Dave Davo laughed aloud the next fore fore- I noon hes he's hesI Hes seen us tracking him and doubled on us and is tracking us I ex exPect expect expect ex- ex I hes he's looking at us from somewhere around here Ho halloo hallooed d at the top of 01 his voice A answered almost in their II ears that made the blood leap in both the boys Even Dare wheeled with cocked rifle and the lad stepped from behind a bush bih Sh scarcely ten feet behind I them Veil Well by gum shouted Dave fooled us after all l A faint taint grin of or triumph was on the lads lad's lips but in his eyes was a waiting inquiry directed at Harry and Hugh They sprang forward Vere Were sorry On Firefly Harry buckled the boys boy's saddle and motioned for him to climb up lIes Hes your horse cousin said Harry My father sent him to you and says say his home is yours whenever you please And Barbara sent her love At almost the same sarno hour Inthe great greathouse greathouse greathouse house on the James Jales the old was carrying to Colonel Dale a kingly deed that the lad had left behind him It was a a. rude scrawl on a sheet of or paper signed by b the boys boy's Indian name and his I totem mark a mark a buffalo pierced by an anI I arrow It make me laugh I have no use I I give hole hele dam Barbara Thus r read ad the scrawl I I IX Three days later the they reached the broad beautiful Holston river passing over the pine crested white rocked summit of Clinch mountain and came cameto cameto cameto to the last outlying fort of ot the Western Vestern frontier Next day they started on the thelong thelong thelong long long wilderness trail toward the Cumberland range On the third day the gray wall of 01 the Cumber Cumberland Cum- Cum ber berland nd gathered its flanks lanks into steep gray cliffs and dipped suddenly Into Cumberland Gap Up this they climbed On the summit they the went into camp and next morning Dave swept a long arm toward the wide expanse expanse to the west I Four more days he cried and well we'll I be there I Toward sunset Dave through a sixth was sense e n not had d only ony the ry uneasy being g fei feeling followed fro v that at b but he i watched the cliffs alongside and anA I he observed that Erskine too too had more his than 1 nc eyes once ces searchingly turned in I his to saddle adt the 1 or shaggy lifted I flanks of ot the hills i Tho trail was broad enough next i morning for tor them to ride two abreast i Dave Dave and Erskine In advance The They had scarcely gone a hundred yards when an Indian stepped into the path I twenty yards ahead Instinctively Dave threw his rifle up but Erskine caught his arm The Indian had hrad lifted his hand palm palm upward Shawnee said the lad as two more appeared from the tIe bushes The eyes of the two tidewater boys grew large and both clinched their guns convulsively I The Indian spokesman esman paid no heed ex except except ex- ex to and and only from the i lad lads lad's s face in which surprise was succeeded succeeded succeeded suc suc- by sorrow and then deep thoughtfulness could they guess what the guttural speech meant until I Erskine Er Er- r- r turned to them They were not on the warpath against the whites he explained His foster father father the big chief the was was very ill and his message brought by them was that Erskine should come comeback comeback comeback back to the tribe and become chief as the chiefs chief's only daughter was dead and his only son had been killed by the palefaces The They knew that In the fight at the fort Erskine had killed the Shawnee his torm tormentor fo for they knew the arrow arrow arrow ar ar- ar- ar row which Erskine had not had time to withdraw The dead Shawnees Shawnee's brother broth broth- er Crooked er Crooked Lightning was Lightning was with them He it was who recognized the boy the day before and antI they had nad kept him from killing Erskine from the bushes He lie sat on his hor horse e like a king and spoke as a king He lie thanked them for holding back Crooked Lightning's evil hand but contemptuously but he spat toward the huge savage savage savage-ho he was not to die by that hand He lie was a paleface and the Indians Indians' had slain his white mother He had forgiven that for tor he ho loved the old chief and his foster mother moth moth- er and brother and sister and the tribe had alwa always s 's been 1 kind to him Then they had killed d his white father tather and andI he ho had gone to visit his kindred by the big waters and now he loved them themI I I will come when the leaves fall tall he ho concluded conclude 1 but Crooked Lightning must pitch his lodge in the wilderness and be an outcast from the tribe until he can show that his heart Is good I And then with an imperious gesture he wave waved 1 his hand toward the west I Now go go It was hard even for Dave to realize I that the lad lad- to all Purposes was actually then the chief chef of a powerful tribe and even he wa was a little aw red awed d by the instant obedience of the savages who without a word melted into the bushes bushes' and disi dis- dis appeared i nf It Sas was nearing s sunset and from a lI little Ue hill Dave pointed to a thin blue wisp of ot smoke rIsing far ahead l from the green expanse expanse Theres the fort tort boys bors he cried X The peen green of the wilderness dulled and burst V L Into the yellow scarlet and the i russet This glory in turn dulled and the leaves lII like e petals of withered withered ed flowers flow flow- ers era began to drift to toi the earth Through the shower of them went Erskine and Firefly I v From romi his coonskin cap the bushy tall tail hung hune ill like a plume his deerskin hunting S. S shirt made mado by old oid Mother Sanders was beaded and nd fringed fringed fringed-fringed fringed across the breast breasH at the wrists and at the the- hem and ad girded by a belt from which the horned handle M bf a scalping knife showed in front and the head of ot a tomahawk behind behind be- be hind ind hIs Powder-norn Powder swung under one shoulder and his pouch bullet-pouch wadding runt flint and steel under the other his long rifle across his saddle bow For food he ho carried only a little sack of salt for his rifle would bring him meat and the forest forest for for- est eat would give him nuts and fruit truit t Four more days and well we'll be there On the fourth day clay he reached the river I and swam it it holding rifle and powderhorn powderhorn powder- powder horn above his head On the seventh he I was nearing the village where the s sick ck chief lay and when he caught sight of ot the teepees In a little creek creel bottom he fired tired his rifle and putting Firefly into a gallop and with his right hand high swept Into the village The flaps of the chiefs chief's tent parted and his mother foster-mother started toward him with a sudden stream of tears and turned tufted quickly back The old chiefs chief's keen black blackeyes blackeyes eyes were waiting for her and he spoke e before she could open her lips White Arrow It Is well Here Here Here-at at once ErsKine Ersline had swung from his horse and anti followed The old chief measured him from head to foot slowly and his face grew content content- You must ride north soon to carry the white wampum and a peace talk And when you go you jou OU must hurry huriy back for when the sun Is highest on the day after you return my spirit will pass He turned his face tace and anti went back Into sleep The lad saw an aged Indian emerge from one of the two tents that sat apart aparton on a little rise Who Vho Is that h he ho asked The new prophet said his foster foster- mother An armful of pine fagots was tossed on the blaze and In a a leap of light he saw the face of a woman at the other tent Startled he caught his mother by bythe bythe the wrist I And that A paleface bought her and I adopted her but the but the old woman gave a little cluck of triumph she triumph she dies tomorrow will burn her Burn her burst out the boyThe boyThe boyThe boy I The palefaces have killed many ot of kin V little later when he was passing near the tho white womans woman's tent a girl sa sat In front of it pounding corn In a mortar She looked up at him and staring smiled She had the skin of ot a half-breed half and he stopped startled by that fact and her beauty and beauty and went yent quickly on He lie turned to find rind his mother foster-mother watching him Who Is that girl The old woman looked displeased Daughter of the white woman I What is her name Early Morn Mom He would like to know more of ot those two but hut the old Indian Indian- woman caught him by th the arm You will only make more trouble Ho He followed the flash of her eyes to the edge of the firelight where a young oung Indian stood watching and scowling Who Is that Black Wolf Volt son of Crooked Light Light- ning Within the old chief called faintly and andI I the Indian woman motioned the lad to go within I Talk he be commanded 1 I have been with my people said the thead j I lad ad simply They are many and strong and rich They have big houses of ot stone 1 such as I had never leen seen een and they plant I more corn than than all the the- Shawnees and Iro- Iro I Continued ed In O Our r Next Issue |
