Show the ah A h plains a i ral s 0 of r abiri abraha ma h 0 z idill ba james oliver curwood i CU t zad B dmu amu TW irim aca S SERVICE CHAPTER IX continued ed 18 and his bis warriors moved slowly low lv they were like bronze men without flesh or emotions their heads bends were high their bodies straight their heir jaws set hard bard as they stalked at a death march pace between the columns of their people jeems fell into this rhythmic movement as the mouth of the torch monster began to swallow them arid and then with eyes that flint became flame lit pools poola of fear and exhaustion ha houst lon tobnette Tol nette saw that not a hand ban gave gae a sign of rising against them the torches coughed and flared but riot not a spark touched their skins shins in passing no eyes gleamed hatred at them no ingers fingers clenched no hand was raised the things she had heard beard in the land of her people were lies the indians killed hilled in war but they did not torture they did not pull out eyes ees and thrust sticks through quivering flesh they were men and women and children like all other men and women and children these truths she thought she had bad discovered for herself but one thing slie site did not fully know she might have learned it had bad slie she caught the low voiced whisperings which followed the passing of the warrior she Is daughter she ls Is the spirit of sot sol yon tan returned to us in the flesh now our good fortune will return chesun the sun will shine light and laughter will come for sol yan Is here out of death to live with us aga again lill t they crossed a field of darkness darL ness toward the fires and when they cams came among them was marching in jeems place and jeems had bad disappeared she had not sensed his going or Tia ogas presence and before she knew that jeems was no longer among the warriors she found herself standing alone with the seneca chief the people gathering in a circle around them began to speak nis ills voice renewed her confidence as she searched for jeems lie ile was describing the success of their godsin gods in restoring silver heels to her people it did not take long for to tell his story ills his voice rose nis ills scarred and bitter face assumed a strange gentleness and tobnette Tol nette knew that jeems was safe though she could not see pee him she waited trembling and at last was finished and stood for a moment with upraised hand amid a great husli hush then spoke a single name A girl the thrush s sprang prong forward and as she came took the slave collar from throat and crushed it into the earth with his moccas ined foot A murmur ran through the circle stood with his arms folded across his breast and tobnette Tol nette felt the hands bands of the thrush drawing her aw away ay they paused at the edge of the circle and for a little while no one amov moved ed or spoke then there was a break in the ring behind the seneca chief and through it came jeems escorted between and another warrior tobnette Tol nette gasped and almost cried out there was on an amazing change in jeems lie ile was stripped to the waist and painted in stripes of red and yellow and black his face appeared to be cut in crimson gashes ills his thick blond hair was tied in a warlock from which streamed a feather showing lie he had bad killed a man at command there ad advanced danced from the circle an old man with a w wizened face and white hair and a younger man whose form was bent at almost double because of a deformity behind these two came a little girl the old man was the cloud the younger was his son hokana or gray cray pox fox a name of which he had been proud in the days before a tree tell fell on his tepee and crooked his back when he was the fastest runner in the tribe spoke again he Ile exulted in the fortune which had bad sent another son to a son with a white skin akin and a strong body who would care for him and who would be a brother to gray cray fox with ills his thin and quivering b hands ands took the slave collar from jeems neck and stamped it joyously into the ground while the broken gray fox raised it hand in brotherhood and friendship there was something so wistfully sweet in the big dark ey eyes a of the little indian maiden that jeems drew her to him and put an arm about her it was then tobnette Tol nette left the thrush and ran to him so that all saw her held in his painted arms with wanonah Wan the wood pigeon a happy partner in the moment when tobnette Tol nette proudly and a bit defiantly told and through it the whole seneca nation that this was the man to whom she belonged like a floal burst loose from a dam tile night ol of feasting and rejoicing began it was wa preceded by a combat among the dogs in which odd established nis his right to a n place among t the four footed citizens of after a thill he found a lic scent t on t the beaten ground that led h him m to the e v tepee which bad been prepared for or toinette Tol netto nette here he found toinette Tol nette and the thrush whose name a long time ago had been mary Dag dagelen Da ghlen blen 0 4 0 0 0 it seemed to seems jeems that from tile the bigl beginning ling his bis freedom among the ahe was as great as if he had been born of their blood gray fox took him to the tepee of his father which was to be his home and food and drink were brought to him then he was left alone for even the delighted old man whom had honored by the gift of a son could not be kept away from the celebration which was in progress the thought came to sterna jeems that no impediment had boon been placed in his way it if he chose to steal off into the night light and disappear the ease with which he might ah ic V she found herself standing alone alona with tha chief have set out on this adventure wai was proof of his helplessness like the others he was a captive forever forc ver thero there was no escape from unless one accepted death as the route he did not think of escape because its desire possessed him ile he was measuring his world and adjusting himself to its limitations with emotions eions s IT litcy were far from unhappy with wit b tobnette Tol nette t e he could find here all that lie wanted in life and knew that she belonged to him and the p people ople of were now aware of 0 f lt it ills his heart exulted a L nd d ills his ro rose se with the chanting of the savages what difference did it make that tant they were burled buried in the heart of the forests tor for all time timet ile he had tobnette Tol nette site she loved him chenuz would not be a sepulchre their love would transform it into a paradise ile he was eager to see tobnette Tol nette again and began to seek for a place where he could clean himself of the colored clay plastered on ills his face and body with ills his clothes he went to th the river and after a thorough scrubbing returned fully dressed with the eagle feather still in his hair nis ills weapons had been given to him and these he carried boldly when he joined the indians the triumphal fire was bla blazing and as soon as aa the tha hungry town had fed itself the scalp dances wo would id begin the scalps were already sui suspended on the victory pole I 1 in its light children were playing about ab 01 t theta them the fine cne dark hair of one w was a so long that they could reach the tresses with their fingers and when they did this they shrieked with ecstasy among them was a white skinned boy of seven or eight who laughed and shouted with the others jeems found an opportunity to have we a word with and learned that tobnette Tol nette and were together could not tear himself fro from m the martial dignity which was expected of him until the warriors had told of their exploits in the scalp dance so 80 jeems went alone and fo found u nd flaog as tepee and the smaller one near it in III which were toinette Tol nette and the thrush it was wag lighted by a 11 torch and he drew back among the dark holes bolei of the trees and waited at the end of 0 half an hour tobnette Tol nette and came out into the illumined forest for a little while they stood under the gnarled limbs limbo of the trees which cast shadows from over their heads he did not reveal himself until ahls a form disappeared among the pools of light and darkness as she ha went toward the fires then he advanced calling name softly her appearance surprised him she was not the ragged and disheveled young woman who had arrived with men mary the thrush hadl bad dressed her in the prettiest raiment left by silver heels there was wa something about the the long yellow feather the filet of scarlet cloth and the boyish closeness of her dress which made jeems give a wondering cry it was as if they halcome had come to her ber from an obscure and distant past and had bad always belonged to he her r he had bad dreamed of this lovely wilderness princess through years of boyhood hopes and he had built up w worlds about her and in those worlds he had bad fought for her end and had adventured with her where he alone was wa her champion and her hero ile he had carried gifts of feathers to her ber feathers and fawnskin and a piece of cloth like that which she now wore anil in a crimson agrimson bendabout band about her forehead 1 to him lt it wits was the precious red vel vet there to in the glow of the moon lie ile opened his bis arms and tobnette Tol netta nette came into them CHAi CHAPTER iTER X for half an hour was alone alona with tobnette Tol nette then mary dagelen returned and with her came a messenger who took him back to the dances which were beginning about the scalp fire are he was not embarrassed by the critical eyes upon him the wildness of the night entered his blood a heat set blazing by the joy of his possession and as he chanted the seneca victory songs with the others tot tol nette was vas in his heart and words she had whispered to him under the oaks repeated themselves until they dulled his senses and blin blinded ded his eyes to everything but their import As soon as god would let them bring it about she would be his wife she mil said that I 1 so he danced he shouted at side tobnette Tol nette horrified at first taw saw him in his madness then she began to understand but not until he took his turn among the wari war giors and danced alone in the light of 0 the fire chanting his story in the lani lan guase guage of his adopted people did translating what he said let her know fully the daring of het her lover jeems story began with his hl earliest thoughts and memories of her lie ile told ot of their homes in the country of the richelieu of his dreams and hopes ile he described the passing of 0 moons and the growing of his love and how death had come with the mo MN hawks from the south then he came cama to the finding of tobnette Tol nette their flight the triumph of his love his fight with the 8 scalp ca ap hunter at cussans Lus sans place and t their heir capture by and his hl warriors wan lors lie ile praised these warriors they were not like the mohawks Mo hawks who were sneaks in the night the were clean and swift and brave ile ha was proud to bo be a brother and a son onion among g them tie ile wanted this people to respect him and he wanted them to ta love tobnette Tol nette whom had hon ored by taking as his daughter bov toinette Tol nette belonged to him she wanted anted W to be his wife she wanted to boat bear hs children among the Se ile he stopped at last and than th ankel keI god that hepsibah adams had madg made it possible for him to do this thing lq III the light of the fire at A murmur of approbation stirred tha th people it rippled and died out as an other warrior took his place long after midnight the revels ended and grew quiet quiel poo foi a time he looked at the stars and tha changing shadows of the moon through the open door of koos tepee ile H entered sleep as if going into a long avenue of golden colors colom only happl ness rising like a flower from me th ashes of a torture that was gone could have made it like that ilia his mathei seemed a part of it her voice a glat melody ere in the radia radiance w which aich embraced him in the avena 0 of f gold he saw wood pigeon smiling happily between hla his mother and tot toll tiette nette then he sank into deeper sleep this was tile the beginning of thil th strange life of jeems and tobnette Tol nette iq which colonel boquet after ward major general and commands com mandex mandes in chief of his maje forces in th southern department of america do se abed as an episode of tact fact which Is difficult of belief and astounding iq the new viewpoint which lt it and other of a similar klud kind give us of life TO XIO BE |