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Show && i& i? ft ft ft & ft ft ft ft ft ft ft ft ft 80 ?ft ft ft I Judith of (he j I rM&irftC MLAWE MANNING, f J JJfcJLJIJIU Aad.rof"Lr4AlUnibaai.Bakrlnr X ft CaTrllil, I90J. by Harper BrolKcrt I ft f.ffftfwtft Her ilntiglitcr. Hinging Stream, ttuo knew no wont of lngllti, but who couM do twtlor liciidwork than any (iquaw In the tribe, went to live with WaiTCii Itodney wbcii lie Ilnlhed Ills cabin on Klder creek. 'Hint wan before tho gold fever reiiehed the Hlnck UI1I, nnd Ilodney built (lie cabin that he might lluli nnd limit und forget the eaut nifd why he left It. There were rensoim why he wnnted to forget Ills Identity n n white mini hi hln jilny at lelng an Imllnii. In the llrst Mure of youth mid the Joy of having come Into her wnninu'K kingdom the hnlf breed qunw wns pretty. She wnn proud, too, of her white man, the Iioiikc he had hullt her nnd the girl pnpooxe with blue eyes. Furthermore, she hud been taught to nerve man meekly, for he wan the lord of creation. Itodney talked Hloux to her. He had nil but forgotten he wiih n white man. The girl pnpoose ran about the cabin brown mid bare but for the bend Jacket Singing Strenin had made for her In the pride of her maternity. Itodney called the little girl "Judith." Her Indlnu mother never gueed the Rlgnlflcnncn of the Ktrnuge nmiie that she could not ny. but made nt least ten oft Kinging pylluhles of, In the Indian In-dian way. The little .ludlth greeted her fnther In Mrange Unplug; Warren Itodney wn far from unhappy In piny-lug piny-lug nt primitive uinn. Thin reccnslonal Into condition primeval endured for "wu'ii !now." an tho Indlnu tongue hnth It. Then the squaw began to break, after the manner of the women of her father's people. She had begun her race with time n decade after Warren Itodney, and sho had outdistanced outdis-tanced hi 111 by 11 decade. And then the Tumlliis came from Tennessee to the Itlack Hills They came In an ox cart, nnd the days of their Journey were more than two years. They had stopped In Ohio nnd again In Illinois; thoy had traveled on mid on across half a continent In the wake of 11 vanishing sky line. The vague westward Impulse was luring them to California, but they waited In Dakota thnt their starved stock might fatten, ami while they rested themselves them-selves from the long Jouruey Warren Itodney made the aciiualutance of Sally Sal-ly Tumlln, who rallied him on being a "sipiaw man," Warren ltoduey hud almost forgotten the sorceries of the women of his people; peo-ple; ho had lived so long with n brown woman, who spread no silken sinirea. Halllo's blushes stirred a multitude of dead tilings the wiles of palo women, all strength In weakness, fragile llow-era llow-era for tender handling the squaw had crown as withered ns a raisin. aim ninu ii in it MUllVll (li llliniM, Now, Sally Tiiuillu had no convictions convic-tions about life but thut the world owed her "n home of her own." Her mother had forged the bolt of this particular maxim nt nn early date, and SHlly saw from precocious nliM'i'vn-tlou nliM'i'vn-tlou that the business of women was homo getting, to which end they must be ueat and sweet uud spurlug of speech. After the home was forthcoming forthcom-ing then Indeed might u woman take ease In hllppers and wrapper, and It Is surely u wife's privilege to speak her mind. Sally knew that she hated traveling westward after the cruwllng oxen. Her father and oatKh brnlhir loved the makeshifts of the wagtiii life. The cabin on Klder creek hail a tight roof; Warren Itodney had niiiney tu tin- liMiilc. He had had uiicuiiiukiii luck lit trapping. His t.ill; to Sail) was largely of his prospectk Sally knew that the world owed her "a homo of her own," and why should shu let a squaw keep her from It? Sally's mother giggled wheu consulted. She plainly regarded the squaw as a rival of her daughter. The ethics of tho vase, ns fat- us Mrs. Tiuiilln was concerned, was merely a qtiestiuu of white sklu against brown nud which should carry tho dn. Singing Stream know not one word of thu talk, much of which occurred In her very presence, pres-ence, that threatened to pull her home about her ears, but she knew that Sally was taklug her man Trom her. The white fUnmcil woman wore white rutlles nbout her neck and calico dresses that were the color of tho wild roies that grew among the willows nt tho creek. Sally Tunillu's pluk calico gawus sowed n crop of nettles In the mind of the squaw. It was the rainbow rain-bow things, she felt, that were robbing rob-bing her of her man, All her barbaric craving for glowing colors asserted Itself It-self as a means toward the one great end of keeping him. Sluglug Stream began to scheme schemes. One day Itodney was splitting wood at tho Tumlln c.imp, though why he should split wood where there weio two women wo-men puzzled thu squaw, but tho ways of the palefaces were beyond her ken. She only knew that sho must mako herself beautiful In the eyes of Warren War-ren Ilodney, like this devil woman, nnd then perhaps tho papoose that she expected with the llrst snowfall would be a man child, and she hoped great things of this happening. With such primitive reasoning did Singing Stream put tho horsps to tho light wagon and, taking the little Ju-dlth Ju-dlth with her. drove to Ueadwood. u mutter of 200 miles, to buy tho bright calicoes that were to mako her like rt white worn ntij I tne y eroeeiirjedj o J) i nwgmn-ajiCT-i ', ai Km- -tf-i r rtJ' frli, 1 . liafF breed wom'nn to mnke known hor plans to Wnrren Itodney. In circumventing circum-venting Snlly Tumlln the mini becmnn the spoils of war, and It Is not the Indian In-dian way to tell plan on the war trail. So the squaw left her kingdom In the hnnds of the enemy without a word. Sully Tumlln and Warren Itodney looked upon the disappearance of the squaw In the light of a providential solution of the dlnicnltles attending their romance. They admitted It was square of her to "hit tho trail," and they decided to lose no time In going to the nriuy post, where a chnplHln, an Indian missionary, happened to he staying at the time, and have a real ' wedding, with 11 ting and a fee to ths parson. The wedding party started for the post, old mother '1 mill 1 11 fluttering nbout the bride as complacently as If the (-('lemony had been the culmination of the most decorous courtship. Tho onllsh brother droe the bridal party, making crude Jests by the way to the frank delight of the prospective groom and the giggling protestations of the bride. The chaplain nt the post was disposed to ask few questions. Par-nous Par-nous made queer marriages In those tumultuous days, nnd It was regarded as a patent of worthy motives that the pair should call In the man of tho gospel nt all. To the question whether or not he had lieen married before Itodney answered: "Well, parson, this Is the first time 1 have ever stood up for a life sentence." sen-tence." And the ceremony proceeded. Some of the Indies nt the post, hearing hear-ing thnt there was to he n weddlug, dropped In and added the smiles and tluttcrlngs to the rather grim party, among them Mrs. Atkins, who had Just come to the post as a bride. They even added a tritlo or two from their own store of pretty things an presents to Sally. And Miss Tumlln left tho poat Mrs. Warren Itodney, with "a home of her own" to go to. hinging Stream did not hasten In her quest for bright fabrics with which to stay the hand of fate. To the half breed wouinn the Journey to town was not without a certain revivifying pleas-tiro. pleas-tiro. The Indian in her stirred to the call of the open country. As she drou through the foothill country she told the solemu eyed little Judith the story of the Sioux 11111T what a great tlglitlug people they had been before Itoduey's people droe them from their land. Judith was not quite four when shu took this memorable drive with her .mother, but the Impression of thes.e things abided through all her years. And when they had come within a mile of Warren Itoduey's cabin on El- ,ll.l f.l-tMtl.- Ulm-ltm Utwinni I. ilt.wl n.i.t (ler creek Kinging stream halted and prepared for the great event of reinstatement. rein-statement. First she made a splendid toilet of purple calico torn Into strips and tied about the waist to simulate the skirts of the devil woman. 'Over these she wore a shirt of buckskin broldered with beads of many colors and a necklace of elk teeth wound twice about the throat. On er feet she wore new moccasins of tanned elk hide, and thes, too. were beaded lu many colors. Her hair, now braided with strips of senrlet tlnnnel, hung below be-low the waist. And she walked to Itoduey's Itod-uey's cabin not as nn outgrown mistress, mis-tress, but ns tho daughter of a chief. The little Judith held up her head nud clung tight to the doll. She knew that something of moment was about to happen. The gala trio, Singing Stream, Judith and Judith's doll, presented themselves at Rodney's house, before which tho bride was washing clothes, the day being be-ing Hue. Sally, as usual, wore one of tho rose colored calicoes with tho collar col-lar turned well In and the sleeves rolled nbovo the elbows. She washed vigorously, vigor-ously, with a steady splashing of suds. Sally enjoyed this home of her own nnd all tho household duties nppertnln-lng nppertnln-lng to It. Sho was singing, and a strand of palo brown hair, crinkly ns seaweed. JiuHfh wis her ttiijj 0 itflcc. uatUjUmiuusjMijvjjojijQLer Cin-'. 1 wlien s e fell r.il ler Than saw n shad-ov shad-ov fall ( c. 1 ( r path, and, glancing up, she saw fnilng her the woman whom she had supplanted and the solemn sol-emn eyed little girl holding tight to her doll. Now, nellherHOUian knew n word I of the. other's speech,' but-Sally was . proficient In the language of femininity, feminini-ty, uud she was not nt a loss to grasp the significance of the purple calico, the beaded buckskin shirt and tho necklace of nlk teeth. The half breed walked as a chiefs daughter to the woman at the tub, and Sally grew sick .and chill despite her white akin and the gold ring that made Warron Ilodney her man In the face of the law. The dark woman held Judith proudly by the hand ns a sovereign might carry 11 pcepter. Judllli was her staff of office, her emblem of nttthorlty In the house of Warren Itodney. Singing Stream held nut ber hands to Sally hi a gesture of appeal nud blundered. blun-dered. Of the chief's daughter, walking walk-ing proudly, Sally was afraid; hut n supplicating half breed In strips of puiplc calico, not even hemmed, was n matter for merriment. Snlly put her hnuds on her hips, arms akimbo, and laughed a dry cackle. The light In the brown woman's ryes ns she looked at the while was like pialrle tires rolling forward through, darkness. There was no need of a common speech between them. The whole destiny of wuman was In the laugh and the look thnt an-sweied an-sweied It. And the man they could have murdered mur-dered for came from the house, an mi-heroic mi-heroic figure with suspenders dangling nud a corncob pipe lu his mouth, sullen, sul-len, angry and withal abjectly frightened, fright-ened, us mere man Inevitably Is when he sniffs a woman's battle In the air. The bride, at sight of her husband, too'.; to hyiterlcs. She wept, she laughed and down tumbled her hair. .She felt the situation demanded a scene, ltod-nej ltod-nej with a matitnt brevity hardly td be expected so soon, commanded Sally to go Into the house and to "shut up." Then he fuccd Singing Stream and said to her lu her own language: "You must go 11 way from here. The pain faced woman Is my wife by the white man's law ring nnd Bible. No Indian marriage alxnit this." But the brown woman only pointed to Judith. She asked Itodney had she not been a good squaw to him. And Itodney, who at best w'as but 0 poltroon, could only repeat: "Yon got to keep uway from here. It's the whlto man's law one squaw for one man." From within came the sound of Sally's Sal-ly's lamentation ns she called for her father and brother to take her from the squaw and contamination. Warren War-ren Itodney wus a man of few words. It had become his unpleasant duty to net, and to act quickly. He snatched Judith from her mother nnd took her Into the house, and he returned with his Wludiesler, which was not loaded, to Singing Stream. "You got to g3," he said, and, leveling lev-eling the Winchester, he repeated uiu command. Singing Stream looked at htm with the dumb wonder of a forest thing. "I was a good squaw to you," she said nud did not even curse him. And, turning, she ran toward thu foothills foot-hills with all the length of purple calico cal-ico ti ailing. Now, Mis Itodney, nee Tumlln. was hut hiimun. nud her cup of happiness ns the wife of u squaw man was not tho brimming beaker she bad anticipated. antici-pated. The expulsion of her predecessor predeces-sor at such a time to make room for her own home coming was. It scorned, open to criticism. "The neighborhood" (It included perhaps fivo families living liv-ing In a radius of as many hundred miles) felt that the Tumllns had established es-tablished a bad precedent. A squaw man driving out n browu wife to make room for 11 white Is not n heroic figure. It had been done before, but It would not baud down well In tho traditions of the settling of this great country. Trespass of law and order, with their swlrt, red handed reckoning, wus but a move of tho great gamo of colonization, coloniza-tion, but to shove out n brown woman for a white wus a mean more, row-stopped row-stopped at the Rodneys' ranch, though it marked the first break In the Journey from town to the! gold mining couutry. Itodney had fallen from his estnte as a pioneer; his political opinions wero unsought in tho conclaves that sat nnd spat at the stovo when business brought them to tho Jolut saloon and posfofllco. Tho Women dealt with the question more openly, scorning fern-Inlno fern-Inlno subtlety at this pass us Inadequate Inad-equate ammunition. When they met Mrs. Rodney they nulled aside their skirts nud glared. This outrage against woman It was woman's Work-to Work-to seide. Tim Tumlln family did not remain long enough In tho lMnek Hills country to witness Sully's failure us tho wife of a pioneer. Tho restlessness of the "settler," If tho paradox be permissible, permissi-ble, waa In tho marrow of their bones. Tlio makeshifts of the wagon, the adventures ad-ventures of the road, were tho only homo they craved, ihe spring after Sally's marriage they set forth for California, tho year following for New-Mexico, New-Mexico, nnd still sighed for now worlds to visit. Rodney's squaw wife wus taken in 'by some neighbors, good folk who were conversant with nil phases of the ro-tnnnce. ro-tnnnce. They stood by her In her hour of trial and afterward continued to keep her ns a servant. Her son Jim grow up with their own children. When ho was four years of nge his mother, tfluglug Stream, died, nnd Sully Sul-ly persuaded her husband to takp young Jim Into their own home, partly ns u sop to neighborly criticism, partly as n salve to her own conscience Sally Sal-ly had children of her own nnd looked at things differently uow from tho tlrao when sho fought tho Squaw for Rod-neis,.j'uvoj:w Rod-neis,.j'uvoj:w To be continued |