Show the T kp k plain P of hanx 4 by james oliver 4 CHAPTER VIII continued Continue a 17 he was heavy with doubt when the march was resumed for lie he so saw W tile the bitter souls hidden in the breasts of the warriors hepsibah adams had ade him see tile the truth and lie knew these men owed nothing to the people of his race race except loss arid shame many times lie h e had thought that if fate had placed his fortunes among them he would have hae hated with the grimness of their hatred atred li the freedom and pride which were once the heritage of their wide domains were ft ere no longer the controlling factors in their existence their wars had teased ceased t to 0 he be wars which gave gae birth to forest gods and epics of unforgettable heroism their star was setting and with its ita decline tile the white roan man had transformed them into common killers and la in this new calling it made small difference to them v whether liet lier they slew enemies or those who nho posed pos ed as friends me ds as long as the skins were white so the nobility which tobnette Tol nette saw in their captors was poisoned for jeems by what was concealed within their hearts the greatest of all hates w wis is not tile the hate bate of a man for a man but the hate bate of a race for a race and lie he knew that at a word from the men about him would be turned into fiends most alost of all lie he feared Til loga for had told him that Tl father in ther had been killed by a white mun man and his son by an english mohawk whatever their fate was to ile be this day would bring it ile iio was sure tobnette Tol nette could not keep beep 1 up the pace much longer and lie he strengthened himself fo for r the moment when nithe the seneca chief would find hims himself elf compelled to give it decision that had claimed calmed her for ills his daughter gave bt him M hope but if in her frailty tobnette Tol nette was condemned to die ho he was deter mined that she should not die alone it was not long afterward that the warriors observed tiaona limping slightly this sign of physical difficulty difficult cult increased I 1 in ills his walk wali until furious because of tits his weakness he drove his hatchet head bead deep into a tree and paused to bind a piece of buckskin tightly about the ahe ankle he had wrenched progress lyhs was slower after this it continued to slacken as tile the afternoon waned until the hand of a spiritual guidance seemed to be work ing for tobnette Tol nette it was useless to attempt a concealment of her condition her strength was gone iler her body was racked as if it had been beaten another mile and she would have sunk to the ground glad gand to have an end to tier her torture but fate and hurt huit intervened to save her they came at last to co a hardwood plain in which was wai a pigeon roost spoke to Sh Indas we nave been a long time lime without apat nip at broken felther lif in a few hours there will be plenty here we nye will least feast and then sleep sl ep and will not travel again until morning ra aning I 1 i then knew iia he truth but his countenance did not change ile he soon had a chance to speak to jeems 1 tor F or the first time I 1 have discovered ray ny uncle to be a great liar lie he sald ills ankle Is as sound as mine it ibi Is I 1 for the ittle fach he has li a pretenses pre bret tenSed enned a hurt and stops here for meat she Is safe cafe lie will not kill her when jkems translated this tobnette Tol nette bowed her head an and d cried softly I 1 saw her crump crumpled led on the ground with jeems arm around abound her she ahe looked like sliver silver heels with her long black braid falling over her shoulder no one was conscious of tho strain at hla his heart as lie he came toward her warrior s wide eyed saw that he did not limp and in his bla attitude was a defiance of what whai they might think he paused before the girt girl and dropped tits hla blanket at her feet tobnette Tol nette looked up through tears and smiled again as a strange softness stole over the savage face ile he gazed at her steadily as if he were seeing a spirit and sat said the soul of sol yon tan makwam has come to abide abad e in yo youl u 11 sol yon yan was silver heels turned away and his warriors knew that ills his decision had been made there would be no haste after this in tle the direction of hidden town on a couch made of the beav erskin aad of balsam boughs which jeems had carried from the creek bottom tobnette Tol nette rested while the indians prepared tor for the evening even rig feast j site she smoothed and re braided her hair as she watched them and although every bone in her body seemed to have nn fin ache of its wn own she felt feit a sensation I 1 of complete relaxation rela bation stealing lover over her for the first time since the tragedy at manor the men ajtal aal ease which came to soften her en i 11 viron ment embraced her in bucl a stealthy way that she 4 was wan unconscious lot of the moment when her eyes dosed closed aln in complete com surrender to the exhaustion which was claiming clat lin ing tier her jeems returned from one rt the feres nearing bearing a stick on oil which a dozen of the cooked pigeons were g spitted ile he did not awaken tobnette Tol nette but after lie he had haa finished his meal hg he f broiled another dozen of the pigeons until they were as brown as chestnuts and stored them away with a doai roasted ted lily illy root and a few artichokes for two hours the cooking continued and when it was finished with the tha nights kill eady for future use maggas warriors warr ors wrapped in their blankets and lay down to sleep the camp was soon in silence anti and for a long tine time jeems sat meditating apoi the changes which had come came into tits his life within the space apace of two days and nights taint that every C by doubleday dornn doran Q cx ino Ser service vico thing was artus gone and that ahn tie lie and tol nette wore were the only ones left of those who hail had so BO recently made up tip their world seemed a mons monstrous exaggeration of fact tobnette Tol nette sleeping quietly forced the truth upon him anti anil from tile the rocking nicking visions of ills his thoughts lie turned to tier her with ft ath yearning to hold tier her closely lu in ills his aim her face ace wits was ot of childlike loveliness loneliness in tile glow of the stars so complete was her fatigue that hint dark dr dreams eallis did not mar the solace other of her un consel ness when tile the night light was half gone lie he made a 0 pillow of balsams and before lie fell asleep lie drew Tol Tolu ettes liand to him gently and hn hla lips it dawn another day then night again the journey was no lie longer liia in possible for tobnette Tol nette when she rahe neared exhaustion ehaust lon camp was made and when she awoke the marli march mar li was resume resumed d called tier her sol and the warriors regarded tier her with kindlier eyes ees As the days das continued and they witnessed tier conrage cov ewi rage their hearts grew warm to toward vard tier her and at times their glances revealed repealed un admiration and friendly friend li ness which were never neer in Ti Tia ogas liogas these lays days served also as the bridge across which hectus and tobnette Tol nette were passing into a future that was alt all their own and the poignancy of the loss they hai had suffered was mellowed by these newer aspects so vital to themselves he world they lind had known was wag a fabric which had crashed in rut ruin about them a desolation out of which another existence was building itself As the deeper sol of the wilderness claim claimed e d them this feeling became a bond which nothing could break wherever they went and whatever happened they would belong to each other for death might separate but auf it could not destroy anthe on the fourteenth day claora sent a messenger ahead that evening he sat on the ground near tobnette Tol nette and jeems translated what he said tomorrow they would reach hidden town and ills his people would be expecting dekl ng them there would be great rejoicing because they had taken many scalps and had not lost a roan man they would honor her and jeems accepting them as flesh of their flesh and bone of their bone would live as tits his daughter silver heels heart would live in her song she would be of the forests forever that was the word lie he had sent ahead to was coming with ills daughter lie ile stalked into darkness and for a time jeems and tobnette Tol nette were afraid to sp speak ettic the thought which was wag choking fit et their hearts your children and your childrens children T that ht night robnette Tol rol nette I 1 lay a y staring ing tit at thea W ay iy w aft sg eyes CHAPTER IX guarded like a precious jewel ou on nil all sides a hidden town literally as well as in name was wai one of iffie the greatest of the strange social centers centera of the indians to which prisoners with white skins were brought to ve be adopted fay by their captors that such places existed wits was a fact which had but recently gained credence in both the english and french colonies coloni ea not until IM 1704 was colonel boquet to free the white population in the first of these mystery villages and then the deliverance which lie he brought about resulted in less of happiness than of tragedy for the life and asso cla clat tlona lons which he disrupted in the name and claim of the colonies hail had their roots as far back as the third rind and fourth generations hearts and homes were broken as well as prisoners shackles afo was tile the rome of a wide domain in that period of its history when jeems and tobnette Tol nette came with and his warriors in it were thred hundred people and at full streng strength tl 9 jt numbered sixty fighting men it nestled at the edge oka of a large meadow which the pie river embraced in a ho horseshoe reshoe curve and its center was a stronghold with long houses storage buildings cabins arid and tepees sufficient for the entire population in times of strass the had vineyards and fine orchards of apples cherries and plums and they also grew taa tobacco co and potatoes on a considerable scale in tho the b cornfields anti and growing from tho the same hills were pumpkins rind and benns beans and were sunflowers sun flowers of n dwarfish kind grown gron for or the oil which was extracted from their seeds when the sonson season was rood good cled in comfort during tile the long ions winter months tile the gra granaries narles were full large IRMO quantities of tried dried fruits were tn 11 tile the storehouses and underground collars cellars were stocked with tipples apples potatoes anti squashes when the lie season was bad dreim drewa a belt tightly about its ston stomach lach for ne alve months of the he year for three of these months it starved this was a n bad season spring frosts had biad killed the early carly vegetation and hail blackened the balds of apples and plums the corn was so poor that int after roasting time only enough was left for tile the next years planting and beans and potatoes had suffered ercil until there wits was less than a thard ot of a crop but tile people of wore no appearance of gloom on tile the day clay when alaoen and tits triumphant warriors were to arrive from the east messenger had brought the news new a that atiat not it man had been lost in their invasion of the territory of their eno enemies niles this was unusual and it put fresh courage into the he hearts of those who hail had seen the year go against them homecoming with tile the spoils polls of war was an augury which more than discounted empty cellars anti and gra granaries narles As a part of these spoils they knew was bringing a daughter to take tile the place of silver heels tills this convinced them that fortune was bound to smile on them again they had loved sol yon yan with tier her death had come bad times now the spirits would give them an easy winter and next year would see the earth lowering flowering with good things made ready for the feast there were still plenty of earthy things and a supply of late green corn packed away in husks and kept for this occasion the last day was long for tobnette Tol nette it had bad begun at down dawn and though halted his men at intervals to let tier her rest it had not ended with dusk dark darkness came before they reached a plain on tile the far side of which was a hill beyond this hill was Chenu felo they could see the glow of a great fire lighting the sky tobnette Tol nette forgot her exhaustion at this sign of the end of their journey she observed that some one took from jeems the scalp of the pan man he had killed which lie he lind had tried to conceal from tier her eyes under a flap of buckskin then she saw all of the scalps taken by tile the fastened like dangling fish to a slender pole which was carried on the shoulders of two men the haimof 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 at command the men bearing tile the scalp laden pole had gone ahead and now followed with ills his men in single file tonnette Tol Tot nette and jeems were midway in tholene thol the line lne wide slave collars of buckskin had been placed about their necks and jaems beem was stripped of ills ilia weapons the warriors did not hurry their step was slow and steady and not a man broke the silence with a whisper or a word A sea of torches advanced it rolled in and out af f hollows like a flood then came to d 0 level place and formed two streaming lines of fire the scalp bearers readied reached these a hundred yards ahead of alao tiaona a anti his men Tp luette could see them enter the light of tile torches and n these moments the voices of the savages rose to the heavens paused and not until the scalp bearers had paraded their grisly burden the entire length of the gauntlet of flame did he proceed again tobnette Tol nette felt fell stealing over her a strange faintness of body and llroy stories which slie she had forgotten stories she had heard of the indians indian 11 from childhood stories that had sent shivers through the hearts of a thousand homes along the frontiers all crowded upon tier her at once wild tales of appalling torture and vengeance of stake and tire and human suffering she had bad listened to them from her fathers lips from passing voyageurs voya geurs had heard them in the gossip of the seigne urle and she remembered by name this ordeal which awaited them it was le cheman do dc feu the road 0 of f fire through which they must pass others had died billed in it roasted by filled torches blinded killed by inches so slie she had been told TO BE CONTINUED u u v y l |