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Show NO FAITH IX INDIANS. PERHAPS HE WAS PREJUDICED, HOWEVER. A Very 1)1 aTee:ille Ktorjr ma Tola by a Koiiiuuc.ht to an liiiprratlnnable Newiaitr Writer A lta.il Cowboy. 'Perhaps 1 am naturally prejudiced against Indians; but it is my opinion that it is mighty hard to make a white wan out of an Indian," said a western roniiincist to a New York Tribune writer. writ-er. "You see, "he went on, straightening straighten-ing up suddenly as he became interested nnd his eyes flashed, "I can't very easily forget a case I know of. They were all a pretty rough lot. but good fellows of that kind went in those days. There were four of them, and they had picked their horses and were all around the camp fire. "Jack' Wellen was making coffee, and no doubt it was good coffee, for I have tasted his coffee many a time and I never knew it to disappoint me. He was bending over the coals and the others were lying there smoking when it happened. It didn't take long. There was a rush. The embers were scattered' to the winds. A half-dozen shots, a hand-to-hand clinch, a struggle over the saddles sad-dles and on the ground, and the fight was muled. Only one of tho boys got away, and a pity it was that any of them went down like that. "A party of fifteen went over the prairie at a hard gallop the next day, Winchesters across their saddles mid carefully loaded colts in their belts. They rode three days after the assassins, and when they found them they were worse than the Indians had been. They caught the red devils in camp and shot them down faster and surer than their friends hud met their end. Only one of the Indians got out alivo, and she was a young squaw. Now the rest of this story isn't nice, but it's till gospel truth and carries its own moral. One of tho boys swung his lariat around her neck. He drew it up taut and led her behind him. You see it was vengeance with him. Ho was in tho saddle and lie trotted over tho lands for hours. I don't think he knew what he was going to do with her finally, but his blond was hot and lie hated the whole race. She was ready to drop when ho took pity on her, and, slipping off hissaddlo, knotted tho nooso around her throat and lifted her into tho Baddle. Ho wai only a barbarian himself, you see, but ho couldn't kill a woman that way in cold blood. Well, when they got back to the ranch he got a collar and fastened it on her nock and tied her so she could not escape. She was a handsome woman, not a bit copper-colored, and had clear eyes and a dazzling skin. He kept her tied all the time, feeding her : m as if she were a wild panther, and she "." ;rot"so tamo that she followed him ,',- around as far as her tether would let her go. She used to pine when he was out of her sight and crouched at his foot when ho was around. Thut is tho way with squaws, you know. "His heart softened in tho end, and one day ho took off the collar and told her to go. She wouldn't move. He couldn't drive her away. Ho offered to send her back to her tribe, but she sat right down and refused to move an Inch. Ho didn't know what to do. Ho coaxed her, and begged her. and threatened her. She just groveled there on tho ground and hung to his hoots. So one day ho put her behind him on his broncho and rode sixty miles to a settlement. He married her there and came back to tho ranch. "It was loss than six months after this that tho devils came down on us again. Ho was in tho cabin with "nor, Bitting before tho lire. When ho heard tho ilrst yell he jumped to his toot, and seizing his rille, started to bar the door. There was an axe on tho wall and she pulled it down and followed fol-lowed him, ready to die for him. They . came bursting into tho cabin before . either of thorn could reach the door. They were all around him, yelling like demons and brandishing their tomahawks toma-hawks ubovo his head. He jumped into in-to a corner, drawing her behind him to ;protect hor. There was lighting in the .door, for the other boys had come over on the run when they heard the noise. .Hor eyes were blazing and she was in a tremble then. But when she heard the yells as the Indians went down bo-fore bo-fore the revolvers she turned like a ti-j;or ti-j;or on her husband. He was lighting like a madman, shooting with one hand and clubbing with tho other. Ho was defending her when she raised the axe and killed him. She got away with those who survived tho fight in that room. I don't know whatever became of her, but when I saw him go down with a groan of surpriso and grief at her treachery I said: "An Indian once and an Indian always.' And, mind you, wo were all fighting for our lives. This isn't a pleasant story and I'm sorry I told it, but you can understand mo now when I say that I believe in the old saying about the only good Indian." |