The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 25, 1901, Page 5

robe great at, or who t wn of birds their lon bed low over e in braids - w hest hues, = gy . rt s, made of ’ s, from which beads in pro- d, covered the wunpainted s stood ¢ eagerly assed from the o the radiant light re they arranged rcle and then began a d and round, earth and again the quiet evening the tips of their broke the 2 vell of diabolical triumph ire crowd of painted aidens vanished and hand vage partici- ration stood ps upon their foreheads. The s of their ngs while one by the ground in ut- be replaced by Noiselessly they s of the evening knowledgs the hands of . while he watched ance, that it was chapter of hor- ut with the daw Providence, in from the tor- pedient of the savages to test the nerves t with the severest proofs eagerly to watch for some sign of 1g, when, instead of eir vict ess or yield g the severity of their infernal de- redou them and sh delight at their victim's Knowing this and that es- impossible, their prisoner de- th the courage of the o die wi han disgrace his color. bearing a piece of and the other a ers instead of a towel, etood before him end motioned him to wash, & feasted him in the best barous custom al- lowed. When this was completed it seemed to be the signal for the ferocious passions of the tormentors to spend their force The night was intensely dark, but the fagots were plled higher and higher upon the brig! blazing campfire, which lighted up the little valley with its redéened glow and scattered the shadows upon the mountain sides. The prisoner bound with Topes of bark and fastened to a tree but a short dis- tance fr e blazing fire, where he was left to the mercy of the females, it being & common practice for the women to throw their victim into an ungovernable rege by their taunts and then suddenly turn him over to the fiercer members of se in & frame of mind unable to h heroic fortitude the agonies of pain. All the names of the lower £nd least respected of the animals were hurled at the fettered captive, and all that y and ignorance could frame into ing toward effecting their from the lips of the excited ut any apparent result. The greater indifference Jack manifested the more greatly enraged became the savage hags. The voices of the maidens, soft us as they usually were, be- came and discordant sounds min- gled with the menaces of the older ones. In their excitement they did not motice Wailla as she passed and repassed again and o close to Jack that her low were unheard and her end melo ections unheeded 1shed into the circle and were drawn nearer to ck was bound; fresh gathered, and the ch were to be thrust into the of the victim and then lighted when ger fire became al- tolerable we collected and laid near by. The flames began to forked tongues in close prox- the countenances around the i neither sympathy nor e Warriers scattered brand: the tree tc the 1z whil erer expre: mercy. He looked in vain for the face that had but once that evening shone with kin but she, too, expressed by her manner only indifference to the fate feom wh for a few Lrief moments he had expected to be liberated. Nearer crept the heated air until it seemed that physical fortitude could bear no more then ready hands reached for- ward and pierced the tender flesh with the cruel burning brands. Several had been thrust into his limbs when he felt the thongs that bound his wrists suddenly cut and a knife slipped into his closed palm. A moment later a shriek of the keenest agony rent the air, and a short distance away Wallla rocked back and forth, her face distorted with pain. The critical moment had come. While the at- tention of the tormentors was turned to- ward the shrieking girl Jack severed the binding cords and bounded away with the speed of a frightened deer. Nearly a hundred yards were gained before the Umatillas were whoeping, leaping and running in his wake. Up the acclivity, which was not steep, but which proved painfully oppressive to one contending for life, he sped until he reached the sum- mit of the hill, where for a moment he stood while the savage yells of his pur- suers rent the air.” Then one desperate leap and twenty yards below his feet were buried in the soft, yielding sand. Rank sagebrush grew in profusion, and beneath its low branches he crept several rods until he reached a small opening in the rocks described by his dark-eyed rescuer. As he looked into the gloom he drew back with a feeling of superstitious dread, but the fierce hoots coming nearer over- came his momentary feam and he quickly smoothed the marks left upon the sand znd entered the opening. A fire burned low in a far recess of ¢he cave and over it was a small caldron that gave forth a savory odor. Dried fuel was piled near and some corn bread lay within ireshly ‘picked leaves. Jack threw himself upon @ large bear skin covering the rocky floor THE SUNDAY - CALL. and heara the savage cries grow fainter and fainler as the warriors one by one ascended the hilltop and descended in an- other direction; the trail was lost. Mingled emotions cafised his strong frame to tremble like a tiny leaf before the summer’s breeze and the lonely howl of a coyote or the call of a passing Lird made him spring to his feet in terror. A ray from the morning sunlight, penetrat- ing the darkened cave only aggravated his fears lest his savage pursuers in re- doubled numbers should trace him to his hiding place, in which case he dared not think to what torture their ferocious in- stincts would subject him. Thus, hour after hour passed in a sleepless vigil until the light faded and in place the moon- Iight, in silvery cadence, breathed® forth peace and security and closed the tired eyelids in repose so sound that Walilla and her dusky companion, Song Bird, en- tered the cave and waited with impa- tience his awakening. Fearing lest ths dawn would reveal thetr absence Waiila touched Jack lightly upon the arm, at the same lime saying, “Be no 'fraid—Indian gal no tell not’ing ‘all. Warrfor in dark— no no not’ing—paleface safe.” “Wailla,” said Jack, springing to khis feet and grasping the sun-browned hand that trembled within his own, “how can I ever thank you for what you have done? You are an angel of light to me, even though you have been reared in darkest savagery and belong to yonder blood- thirsty tribe.” “Song Bird no understand,” replied ‘Wallla. “’Tis well. She no like you talk #0. ‘Her people—my, too—but me feel dii- ferent. Paleface sorry for—no like scalp.” “Are you sure Song Bird can be trust- ed?"” asked Jack hastily. “You mean no tell?” “Yes, no tell warrior where I am and that you visit me.” “Song Bird die first. She loves, too. In- dian nature love friend, hate enemy. You make friend Song Bird. Umiwa h strike at—you take blow—between" come. Made Umiwahtah hate—Song Bird love. Me go now,” she added hastily, “stay long—miss. Wait, me come night—ne go out ’all. Me tell when go away—no aa ger here—red man watch no get way yet. As the days passed Jack grew to watch with impatience for the coming of his nightly visitors and to miss the eager, broken sentences of the one and the silent companionship cf the other. The low, soft voice of Wailla became as sweetest musio to his ears, and he looked forward with regret to the time when his captivity fhould end. Wailla had often drawn Song Bird into conversation by repeating in the Indian dialect Jack’s messages and giving him hers In return, but gradually this ceased, and the once light-hearted maiden was forgotten as she crouched at the far end of the cave, with eager jealous eyes not- ing every movement of her companions and listening to the sounds which shs Lonud to interpret yet could not. One evening Song Bird came alone at an earlier hour than had been their cus- tom, and with motions made Jack un- derstand that she wished him to follow her. Thinking that some accident had befallen Wailla, he eagerly set out. It was hard to keep up with the fleet feet of the girl as she steadily followed an up- ward course, but her excited manner and hasty steps served as a stimulus, and in fear and trepidation Jack hurried ehward. Song Bird stopped suddenly, and with horror depicted upon her countenance pointed downward over a jagged wall of rocks. Jack drew nearer until his feet rested upon the very edge of the chasm; then he stooped forward to penetrate its depths and shuddered as he thought of what his eyes might rest upon. Noiselessly Song Bird stepped forward; one push from her strong, sinewy hands and Jack fell forward, while a wild, ex- ultant laugh rang in his ears and echoed amoAg the mountains ere it died away into silence. The Indian girl had kept her trust of silence, but her wild, uncon- trollable love for the paleface captive could not endure the fierce pangs of jeal- ousy-that rankled in her heart. Jack's feet struck the hardened earth and it was with difficulty he kept from falling. On every side rose the rocky walls, from whose crevices bright tangled vines had taken root and trailed careless- ly over the loosened stones. Nestled among leaves of the glossiest green thera seemed to be gems of the rarest bright- ness, piercing and beautiful, growing larger and more lustrous as the eyes of Jock became fixed upon them, held as by a magic spell. A subtle, burning, fasci- nating gleam seemed darting directly into his eyes from every direction and formed a cloud of brightly hued colors that lulled to sleep the senses of di ination and confused that of perception. He felt dizzy: and sick, his blood seemed to run cold through his veins, and yet he stood irreso- lute, unable to even cast a glance upward toward the blue canopy of heaven. Pow- erful eyes shot forth fatal darts of fas- cination, malignantly bright, paralyzing with terror and denying their victim ths pcwer of flight even if the rocks had parted and opened a way of escape. A single cry above him awakened his con- sclousness but to the realization that his feet rested in a cave that had long been the nest of monstrous rattlesnakes. He strove to scream, but his voice died away like a feeble echo from afar off, and he sank senseless upon the rocks, while flat heads, distended mouths and curving necks threatened with instantaneous death; the long, tubulated fangs, charged with venom, were ready to plerce the flesh, while the audibly articulated ring announced the nature of the danger- ous presence by which he was surround- ed. When Jack opened his eyes the cool evening breeze gently fanned his brow and above him bent the form of Watlla, while at his side lay a lasso of twisted bark. He shuddered as memory returned to him, but the dark eyes gazing into his with love mirrored in their dusky depths stilled the frightened heart and served as a soothing balm to the overwrought nerves. Again his eves closed and the power of sense was lost while Wailla ‘Wrapt him closer, lest the air, too raw, Should reach his blood; then o’er him, sty as deatn, Bent, with hushed lips, that drank his scarce drawn breath. “Wailla,” Jack sald, softly, “again you have saved my life. With all possibie haste now I must get back to the settle- ment, for it will not be long befors yon- der hounds are upon my track and further efforts upon your part would be futile. Girl, can’t you go, t00? I cannot leave you here. Some way you are different. I had a sister once, a tiny, laughing tot, ‘whom we all fairly worshiped. She was stolen when but 5 years old. My mother has never recovered from the loss and my father still mourns the child who would now be a woman grown. Come back with me to that home, Wailla. My parents will never forget the preserver of their only remaining child, and all that loving hearts can do will be done to make you happy."” Wailla could not understand all that Jack sald, but her knowledgs of English enabled her to comprehend his meaning. She grew deadly pale as Jack continued speaking and then, tearing from her neck a tiny locket, she thrust it into his open palm. To his utter amazement Jack found within the closed cases the pic- tured face of his mother. “Floss, my stolen sister,” he ecried. “Come, for the love of heaven, come, be- fore it is too late.” The remainder of our story is briefly told. Wailla proved to be Floss Kennei- worth, who had been stolen by the Uma-~ tillas and brought up as one of their own. The locket she had been permitted to re- tain, as the Indians supposed it to be a charm against evil. The child grew to young womanhood, often looking at the mirrored face, little dreaminz it was that of her mother. She had a dim recollec- tion that her surroundings in early life had been different. The palefaces cap- tured by the tribe always aroused her deepest sympathy, and the wild, savage scenes enjoyed by them were but vislons of horror to her white nature. As Jack related the story of his lost sister mem- ory seemed to return to her of earler days and she wanted but the proof of the picture to vefify the relationship her heart told her existed betwcen them. After several days of traveling without shelter or food, excepting a few herbs, Jack and Floss reached a colony of emi- grants who provided them with donkeys and the necessary provisions to carry them farther eastward, whers anxious parents welcomed their long-lost child. Home surroundings and the advantages of education soon obliterated all traces of the years spent with those of another racs and color.