Beadle's Dime Library, No. 149 — page 6: what you’re looking at

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6 heart in his breast; Black-deer will speak to him as a brother toa brother. Three moons ago the chief was following with his friend the elks and the deer on the prairies of the Missouri, when a Pawnee war- rior arrived at full speed, took the chief aside, and spoke with him privately for long hours; does my brother remember this?’ “Perfectly, chief; I remémber that after the conversation Blue Fox, for that was the name of the chief, set off as. rapidly as he had come, and my brother, who till then had been gay and cheerfu became suddenly sad. In spite of the questions addressed to my brother he could not tell me the cause of this sudden grief, and on the morrow, at sunrise, he left me, giving me the meeting here for this day.”’ ‘Yes,’ the Indian said, ‘that is exact. Thin happened so; but what Icould not then tell, lw now impart to my brother.” ‘*My cares are open,” the hunter replied, with a bow. “I fear that, unfortunately, my brother has only bad news to tell me.”’ ‘My brother shall judge,” he said. ‘‘ This is what Blue Fox came to tellme, Oneday a pale-face of the Long-knives of the West arrived on the banks of Elk river, where stood the village of the Snake Paw- nees, followed by some ae ip ag a of the. pale- faces, several women, and large medicine lodges, drawn by buffaloes without humps or names. is pale-face halted two arrow shots’ length from the village of my nation, on the opposite lit his fires, and camped. My father, as brother knows, was the first sachem of the tribe. He mounted his horse and, followed by several warriors, crossed the river and presented himself to the stranger, in order to bid- him welcome on the hun grounds of our nation, and offer him the refreshments he might have need of. “This pale-face was a man of lofty stature, with harsh and marked features. The snow of several winters had whitened his scalp. He began laughing at my father’s words, and replied to him—*‘ Are ay on the chief of the red-skins of this village?’ ‘ Sr: said my father. Then the pale-face took from clothes a great necklace, on which strange figures were drawn, and showing.it. to m ‘Your Pale Grandfather of the United States has given me the property in all the land stretchin rom Antelope’s Fall to Buffalo Lake. This,’ he ad- ded, as he struck the necklace with the back of his hand, * proves my title.’ ‘My father and the warriors who accompanied hin burst into a sate > ‘**Our Pale Grandfather,’ he answered, ‘cannot give what does not belong to him. The land of which zu speak has been the hunting ground of my nation ever since the great tortoise came out of the sea to support the world on its shell.’ ‘**T do not understand what you say to me,’ the pale-Fece continued. ‘I only know that this land as been given to me; and that, if you do not con- sent to withdraw and leave me to the full enjoyment of it, I possess the means to compel you,’ ” “Yes,” Tranquil interrupted, ‘such is the system of those men—murder and rapine.”’ “My father retired,” the Indian continued, ‘‘ under the blow of this threat. The warriors immediately took up arms, the women were hidden in a cave and the tribe prepared for resistance. The next morning,at daybreak, the pale-faces crossed the river and attacked the vi . The fight was long and obstinate, It lasted the whole period contained be- tween two suns. But what could Indians do against pale-faces armed with es? They were conquered and forced to take to flight. Two hours later, their village was reduced to ashes, and the bones of their ancestors cast to the four winds. My father was killed in the battle.” “ Oh!’ the Canadian exclaimed, sadly. “ That is not ” the chief went on. “The ple faces discovered the cave where the women of my tribe were sheltered; and nearly all—for about a dozen contrived to escape with their ses--were coldly massacred, with all the refinements of the most horrible barbarity.” After uttering these words, the chief hid his head on his buffalo robe, and his comrades heard the sobs he tried in vain to stifle. “Such,” he went on a moment later, “was the yey ae Fox grey tome. “My anes $ arms, leaving vengeance as m - heritance. My brothers, pursued like wild beasts by their ferocious enemies, and compelled to hide themselves in the most impenetrable forests, had elected meas chief. I accepted, making the war- riors of my nation swear to avenge themselves on the pale-faces, who had seized our village and mas- sacred our brothers, Since our parting, I have not lost a moment in collecting all the means of revenge. Toway all is ready. The -faces have gone to sleep in a deceitful security, and their awakening 8 be terrible. Will my brother follow me?”’ “Yes, by Heaven! I will follow you, chief, and help you with all my ability,’’ Tranquil answered, yo ng “for your cause is just; but on one con- ition,’ , ‘My brother can speak.” “The law of the desert says, ‘Eye for eye and tooth for tooth,’ itis true; but you can avenge your- self without dishonoring your victory by useless barbarity. Do not. follow the example given you, but be human, chief; and the Great Spirit will smile on your efforts and be favorable to you.” “Black-deer is not cruel,” the chief answered. ‘‘He leaves “at to the pale-faces. He only wishes to be. just,”’ “What you say is noble, chief; and I am happy to hear you speak thus; but are your mvasures well taken? Is your force large enough to insure suc- cess? You know that the pale-faces are numerous, and never allow one aggressor to pass unpunished, Whesener may happen, you have to expect terrible reprisals. The Indian . smiled. disdainfully. _‘“‘ The Long- knives of the West are cow dogs and rabbitr. The squaws of the Pawnees will make them petti- coats,” he answered, ‘ Black-deer will go with his tribe to settle on the t prairics of Coman- ches, whe will receive them as brothers, and the faces of the West will not know where to find em,”’ “That is a good idea, chief; but, since you have been driven from your vege have you not kept Spies around the Americans, in order to be informed — father, said, : The Border Rifles. ee Oe ee e+e eC of their actions? that was important for the success of your further plans.”’ lack-deer smiled, but made no other answer, whence the Canadian concluded that the red-skin had, with the ara og aud prudence which charac- terize his race, taken all the necessary precautions to insure the success of the blow he was about to deal at the new clearing. Tranquil, ow to his semi-Indian education, and the hereditary hatred which, as a true Canadian, he bore to the Anglo-Saxon race, was perfectly well in- clined to help the Pawnee chief in taking an exem- plary vengeance on the Americans for the insults he ad received at their hands; but with that correct- ness of judgment which formed the basis of his character, he did not wish to let the Indians indulge in those atrocious ‘cruel]ties, to which they only too often yield in the first intoxication of victory. the determination he formed had a double object— in the first place, to insure as far as he could the success of his friends, and, secondly, to yaa Ho all the influence he possessed over them,to restrain them after the battle, and preyent, them satiating their vengeance on the conquered, and, above all, on the women and children. , As we have seen he did not attempt to conceal his object from Black-deer, and laid down as the first condition. of his co-operation, which the Indians would be de cruelty should be committed, Quoniam, for his part, did not make any stipula- tion: a natural enemy of the whites, and especially of the North Americans, he pagerly seized the occa- sion of dealing them as much injury as possible, and avenging himself for the ill-treatment he had ex- perienced, without taking the trouble to reflect that the people he was about to fight were innocent in the matter of his wrong; these individuals were North Americans, and that reason was more than sufficient to justify, in the sight of the vindictive negro, the ene he proposed to carry out when the moment arrived, : After afew minutes the Canadian spoke again. “Where are your warriors?” he asked the chief. **I left them three suns’ march from the spot where we now are; if my brother has nothing to keep him longer here, we will set out immediately, in order to join them as soon as possible, for my re- turn isimpatiently expected by the warriors.” ‘* Let us go,”’ the Canadian said; “the day is not yet far advanced, and it is needless forus to waste our time in chatting like curious old women.” The three men rose, drew on their belts, walked hastily along the path formed by the manada through the forest, and soon disappeared under its covert. CHAPTER VI. THE CLAIM. WE will now leave our three travelers for awhile, and employing our privilege of narrator, transfer the scene of our story a few hundred miles away, to a rich and verdant Yeo! of the Bpper Missouri, that majestic river, with its bright an pid waters, on the banks of which now stand so many flourishing towns and villages, and which siaguthoote steam- boats furrow in every direction, but which, at the period when our story opens, wasalmost unknown, and only reflected in the mirror of its waters the lofty and thick frondage of the gloomy and myste- rious virgin forests that covered its banks. At the extremity of a fork, formed by two rather large affluents of the Missouri, stretches out a vast valley bordered on one side by abrupt mountains, and on the other by a long line of wooded hills, __ This valley, almost entirely covered with thick forests, full of game of every description, was a favorite gathering place of the Pawnee Indians, a numerous tribe of whom, the Snakes, had estab- lished their abode in the angle of the fork, in order to be near their hunting-grounds. The Indian vil- lage was rather large, for it. counted nearly three hundred and fifty fires, which is enormous for red- skins, who usually do not like to collect in any con- siderable numbers, through fear of suffering from famine. But the position of the village was so well chosen that in this instance the Indians had gone out of their re course; in fact, on one side the forest supplied them with more game than they could consume; on the other, the river abounded with deliciously tasted fish of every description, while the surround rairies were covered through- out the year with a close grass that supplied ex- tra pasturage for their horses. For several centuries the Snake Pawnees had been settled in this happy valley, which, owing to its sheltered position on all sides, enjoyed a soft climate,exempt from those great atmospheric pertur- bations which so frequently disturb the high eri- can latitudes, The Indians lived there quiet and un- known, occup themselves with hunting and fish- ing, and sen annually small bodies of their young men to follow the war-trail under the most renowned chiefs of the nation. All at once this peaceful existence was hopelessly disturbed; murder and arson spread like a sinister winding heet over the valley; the village was utter- ly destroyed, and the inhabitants were pitilessly massac The North Americans had at length gained know!l- edge of this unknown Eden, and, in their usual way announced their presence on this remote nook of the earth, and their taking possession of it by theft, rapine and assassination, e will not repeat here the story Black-deer told the Canadian, but confine ourselves to the assertion that it was in every point true, and that the chief, in telling it, far from rendering it more gloomy by em- nab exaggeration, had, on the con , toned it own with uncommon justice and impa pa We will enter this valley three months. r the arrival of the Americans, Which proved so fatal to the red-skins, and describe, in a few words the way in which they formerly had established themselves on the ig pee | from which they had so cruelly ex- pelled the legitimate owners. : Hardly had they become uncontested owners of the soil, than they commenced what is called a clear- e government of the United tes had, about forty years ago, and probably still has, a habit of the services of old officers by making them concessions of land on those frontiers of the repub- lic most threatened by the Indians, m had the double advantage of gradually extending ence - hted to receive, that no unnecessary , a the limits of the American territory by driving back the Indians into the desert, and of not aban in their old days soldiers who during the ter rtion of their life had shed their blood nobly for heir igen? & ames Watt was the son of an officer Captain who distinguished himself in the war of Indepen- dence, Colonel Lionel Watt, aide-de-camp to Wash- ington, had fought by the side of that celebrated founder of the republic in all the battles ainst the English. Seriously wounded at the siege of Boston, he had been, to his great regret, com- pelled to retire into private life; but, faithful to his principles, so soon as his son James reached his. he ai year, he made him take his place under the flag. At the period when we bring him on the scene, James Watt was aman of about five-and-forty, al- though he appéared at least ten years older, owing to the incessant fatigue of the exacting profession in which his youth had been passed. He was a man of five feet eight, powerfully built with broad shoulders, dry, muscular, and endowed. with an iron:health; his face, whose lines were ex- tremely rigid, was im orinted with that expression of energetic will, blended with carelessness, which is. peculiar to those men whose existence has been onl one continual succession of dangers surmount His short gray hair, his bronzed complexion, black and piercing eyes, his well-chiseled mouth, gave his’ face an expression of inflexible severity, which was not deficient in grandeur. Captain Watt, who had been married for two years: past to a charming young lady he adored, was father’ of two children, a son and daughter. His wife, Fanny by name, was a distant relation of his. é was a brunette, with exquisite blue eyes, and was most gentle and modest. Although much youhger than her husband, for she was not yet two-and-twenty, Fanny felt for him the deepest and sincerest affection. When the old soldier found himself a father, and began to experience the intimate joys of a family life, a revolution was effected in him; he suddenly took a disgust to his profession, and only desired the tranquil joys of home. James only one ~ from the conception to the execution of a plan. from the service occurred to him than he at once carried it out, resisting all the objections and remon- strances his friends raised. Still, although the captain was inclined to retire into private life, he did not mean to put off military harness and assume a citizen’s coat. .The monoto- nous life of Union towns had nothing very seductive for an old soldier, for whom excitement and move- ment had been the normal condition almost from his birth, Consequently, after ripe reflection, he stopped half-way, which, in his opinion, would remedy the excessive simplicity and peace a citizen life might have for him. This was to be effected by asking fora claim on the Indian border, clearing it with the help of his servants, and living there happy and busy, like a medieval lord among his vassals. \ This idea pleased the captain the more, because he fancied that in this way be should still be servin his country, as he would lay the foundation of future p rity, and develop the first traces of civ- lization in a district still given up to all the horrors of barbarity. The captain had long been engaged with his com- a, in defending the frontier of the Union — 3 he incessant depredations of the red-skins, and pre-- venting their incursions; hence he had a knowledge —superficial it is true, but sufficient—of Indian man- ners, and the means he must employ not to be dis- turbed by these restless neighbors. During the course of the numerous expeditions which the service had compelled him to make, the captain had visited many fertile valleys, and many territories, the appearance of which had pleased him ;. but there was one above all, the memory of which had been obstinately engraved on his mind—a deli- cious valley he had seen one day as in a dream, after a hunting expedition, made in company of a wooc-ranger—an excursion which lasted three weeks: and had insensibly taken him further into the- desert than ever civilized man had gone before. Though he had not seen this valley again for- more than twenty years, he remembered it as if he had seen it but yesterday—recalling it, as it were, in its minutest details. And this obstinacy of his memory in constantly bringing before him this nook of earth, had ended by affecting the captain's imagination to such a degree, that when he resolved to leave the service and ask for a claim, it was to this place and no other that he was determined. to go. [ ihe Watt had numerous friends in the offices. of the Presidency; besides, the services of his father and himself spoke loudly in his favor; hence, he- ‘experienced no difficulty in obtaining the claim he requested. ’ veral pana ys ae “a va up by order of government, and he was ted to select th territory that suited him best. 7 ‘ But the captain had chosen the one he wanted long before; he rejected the plans shown him, pro-- duced from his pocket a wide slip of tanned elk hide, unrolled it, and showed it to of aims, telling him that he wanted this, and no er, The Commissioner was a friend of the captain, and could not refrain from a start of terror on hear- ing his request. This claim was situated in the heart of the Indian territory, more than four hun miles from the American border. The captain wished to commit an act of madness, of suicide; it would be impossible for him tohold his ground among the warlike tribes that would surround him on all sides; a month would not elapse ere he would be piteously mas- sacred, as must be his family and those servants who were mad enough to follow him, To all these objections, which his friend piled up oes pi of the other, in order to make him change , the captain o that ad ; At length, the Commissioner be riven into his last tute enchants told him watnt Hhaie i Ss att was one of those men with whom it is’ ence, no sooner had the idea of retiring’ é Commissioner ° ‘ : nly replied by a shake of that it was: (E(0) GOmicooo