TWO YOUNG HOMESTEADERS 
 
 BY MRS, THEODORA R, JENNESS 
 
 r:mo. Cloth, Illustrated, 1.25 
 
 " PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE " is a sequel 
 to the above book 
 
 LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY, BOSTON,
 
 PIOKEE 
 AND HER PEOPLE 
 
 A RANCH AND TEPEE STORY 
 
 BY 
 
 THEODORA R. JENNESS 
 
 Author of 
 " Two YOUNG HOMESTEADERS," and others 
 
 Bfogtratrti bg fHaria E. &trk 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 1894
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1894, 
 
 BY 
 LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY. 
 
 All rights reserved.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE. 
 
 I. PKAIRIE TELLS THE STORY ... 1 
 
 II. A WILD YOUNG SQUAW. . . . 13 
 
 III. COLD BLAST AND FAUQUA ... 21 
 
 IV. THE RANSOM 30 
 
 V. THE MOONLIGHT RIDE .... 41 
 
 VI. THE SHADOW GIRL 50 
 
 VII. THE HOMESTEAD CLUB'S REUNION. . 61 
 
 VIII. THE CHARIOT 69 
 
 IX. THE WOODEN WEDDING .... 75 
 
 X. THE BLACK HAWK INDIAN ... 88 
 
 XL IN THE MORNING 98 
 
 XII. AT THE PECAN CAMP .... 104 
 
 XIII. BEFORE THE COUNCIL . . . . 115 
 
 XIV. AN ESCAPED LUNATIC . . . . 122 
 XV. THE GHOST DANCE 128 
 
 XVI. THE YOUNG DANCER'S DOWNFALL . . 137 
 
 XVII. NAOPOPE'S FAME . ... . 148 
 
 XVIII. UP'S FREAK OF INDUSTRY . . . 159 
 
 XIX. THE LOST FOUND 166 
 
 XX. LETTERS . 173
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 XXI. THE SURPRISING LOAD . . . . 184 
 
 XXII. PIOKEE FINDS THE KEY. ... 191 
 
 XXIII. THE BOXES 197 
 
 XXIV. To THE RESCUE 208 
 
 XXV. BRUNO'S DISCOVERY . . . . 214 
 
 XXVI. THE HISTORICAL BABY . . . .224 
 
 XXVII. A NEW FRIEND 229 
 
 XXVIII. THE TRIMLY- APRONED MAIDS . . 241 
 
 XXIX. THE ENTERTAINMENT COMMITTEE . . 254 
 
 XXX. THE MOKOHOKOS 262 
 
 XXXI. DEPARTED GLORY . . . ... 271 
 
 XXXII. THE TRUE HEART 282 
 
 XXXIII. THE DOUBLE WEDDING . 298
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 "Are you a runaway?" he asked . . Frontis. 
 
 Piokee and Floy " Just for fun" . . . 17 
 
 Piokee and her violin . . . . . . 37 
 
 " I treat Piokee good" said Fauqua icistfully . 45 
 
 "Oh! you hateful, hateful thing!" she ejaculated. 77 
 
 Piokee took the small hands between her own. . 107 
 
 Piokee and Dr. Whistler watching the Ghost Dance 139 
 
 Piokee read the letters through and through . . 175 
 
 Piokee took off the topmost layer of the box . , 199 
 
 She was kneeling at the feet of Dr. Whistler . . 217 
 
 The cooking school 249 
 
 " Piokee, there is something I wish to say " . . 285
 
 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PRAIKIE TELLS THE STORY. 
 
 JOHN and Prairie Bowers were to have a wooden 
 wedding at their ranch. 
 
 Prairie was preparing the feast, assisted by her 
 willing helper, Sally Spratt. 
 
 Piokee's calm dark eyes were bent upon the work 
 of browning almonds in the skillet. She was stir- 
 ring the nuts with gentle shakes, keeping them on a 
 ceaseless hop above the fire. 
 
 Miriam, a charming morsel of humanity, four 
 years old, was seated in her high-chair by the pastry 
 table, joining in the cheerful bustle with supreme de- 
 light. Both tiny fists were filled with dough, and 
 spread before her on the table was a wide array of 
 patty-cakes, as yet unbaked her contribution to 
 the feast. 
 
 i
 
 2 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 " Sally, is the oven right to roast the turkeys to 
 a charm?" asked Prairie, as she laid the first of 
 several dozen lady-fingers on the buttered paper. 
 
 Collapsing beside the range and opening the oven 
 door, Sally stared with fixed attention at the pair 
 of big fat turkeys roasting side by side. 
 
 " Yes, 'tis ; bakin' like a house a-fire ; yes, 'tis." 
 
 " But we don't want it to bake like a house 
 a-fire," said Prairie, wheeling round with much con- 
 cern. " Gently, very gently, is the rule for fowls," 
 and dropping down by Sally's side she anxiously 
 peered into the oven. 
 
 "Oh! they're browning very nicely in fact, 
 de-lic-iously ! " with a girlish little gurgle of delight 
 as she sniffed the savory odor from the oven. 
 " Dear me ! that was a false alarm that fairly set 
 my heart on the jump." 
 
 " Yes, 'twas," serenely confessed Sally ; " a hue 
 an' cry 'bout nothin' ; yes, 'twas." 
 
 She left the fowls to sputter in the oven, and 
 began to pluck the feathers from a wild goose she 
 had scalded at the sink. 
 
 " Now for the next," said Prairie, returning to her 
 lady-fingers, her rosy face aglow with zeal to make 
 the wedding preparations a complete success. "I 
 hope that cranberry jelly won't run down into a 
 limp, disgraceful pool, instead of towering proudly 
 up as we have planned."
 
 PRAIRIE TELLS THE STORY. 3 
 
 "No, 'twon't," said Sally, stretching out her arm 
 to spring a latch and show the contents of a safe 
 within her reach. " Eisin' up as peart as ever ; 
 yes, 'tis." 
 
 Upon one shelf a mound of ruby jelly reared itself 
 aloft and shed a brilliant glow around the cut-glass 
 dish in which it stood. 
 
 " Well, that is lovely," Prairie said, with an ad- 
 miring nod. " Cranberry jelly isn't such an easy 
 thing to make just right that one can feel exactly 
 safe till it is firmly set." 
 
 " No, 'tain't," was Sally's ready answer. 
 
 Now appeared the brisk young ranchman on the 
 busy scene. 
 
 " Prairie, I've some welcome news for you," said 
 he. " Whom should I meet in town this morning 
 but Dr. Whistler, who had just come in on the train." 
 
 " 0, John ! that is the best news I've heard for 
 many a day," said Prairie joyfully. " I feared that 
 I)r. Whistler would be too busy with his patients 
 down there in the Indian Territory to accept our 
 wedding invitation. He has come for that, of 
 course." 
 
 " Yes," said John, " and he is also on his way to 
 Washington on business for his tribe. You know 
 a bill is pending for the Government to buy another 
 big slice of the Indian Territory to be turned 
 over to white settlers ? The present Oklahoma is a
 
 4 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 mere garden patch compared to the extensive tract 
 Uncle Sam now has his eye upon." 
 
 " Well," said Prairie, " highly as I esteem him in 
 most respects, I must say I am ashamed of our re- 
 vered uncle for his greediness in swallowing the 
 Indian possessions. He takes whole reservations at 
 one mouthful, and doesn't seem in the least to 
 mind that he's astonishing the world." 
 
 "That is an undeniable fact, though rather 
 strongly expressed," laughed John. "Dr. Whistr 
 ler will be detained in town on business a day or 
 two. He sent his compliments to ' Mrs. Sparkling 
 Eyes ' and will come out with Kearn and Rose when 
 Ebenezer brings them from the train to-morrow 
 afternoon." 
 
 " Grand old Whistler ! " burst out Prairie en- 
 thusiastically. " I can't begin to tell you, John, 
 how proud I am of him. He has turned out nobly, 
 even though he's not in Congress, as fourteen years 
 ago I hoped he would be by this time. That he 
 has had to stay outside is the fault of our Govern- 
 ment for keeping its heel on the downtrodden 
 Indians so long," she added, with an air of wise con- 
 viction that amused her husband. 
 
 The first batch of almonds was now ready to be 
 salted, and Piokee poured them on a plate, and sit- 
 ting down by Miriam began to shell more nuts. 
 
 " I must make thwee patty-cakes much bigger 'an
 
 PRAIRIE TELLS THE STORY. 5 
 
 'e west," planned Miriam. " One for Aunt Wose, 
 one for Uncle Kearn, an' 'e biggest one of all for 
 my dear Doctor, 'cause he bwought my Dewdwop 
 pick-a-back in a bag to mamma when she was a wee 
 papoose. You tell 'e stowy, mamma ; it's so inter- 
 westing I do love to hear it." 
 
 " Bless you, little one," said Prairie, " I've told it 
 so often you must know it word for word. But I 
 like to tell it more and more. No great wonder, 
 though ; for treasures like our Dewdrop don't go 
 riding every day on the back of a young Indian 
 chief, to be dropped off as a welcome gift into a 
 lonesome little claim girl's arms." Here Mamma 
 Prairie, as Piokee called her foster-mother, gave the 
 bonny red-brown maid of her adoption a very lov- 
 ing smile. 
 
 There was no record of Piokee's birthday, but 
 from the annals of her babyhood she was about 
 sixteen. 
 
 Her mother may have had a trace of white blood 
 from some generations back, else how explain the 
 curves and dimples of the daughter's finely molded 
 face, the serious little mouth that kept demure 
 guard of pretty teeth, the eyes, large, clear and 
 soft, whose dark calm gave no hint of the morose- 
 ness and unrest that blight her race ? 
 
 By no means talkative was our young Indian 
 girl, but at times she sparkled with enchanting mis-
 
 6 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 chief that dispelled her gravity and made her brightly 
 winsome. A reposeful voice and peaceful manner 
 indicated the content that filled Piokee's life. She 
 was not given to outbursts of affection, but for those 
 whose care had been a shelter since her friendless 
 infancy her devotion was unstinted. 
 
 Blue-eyed Miriam with her floating golden hair 
 and dainty exacting ways she regarded as a marvel 
 of perfection. The bewitching tot did not object 
 to being placed upon a pedestal as Piokee's ideal of a 
 model child, and adorned her high position with be- 
 coming grace, considering she had been petted by 
 adoring relatives all her life. 
 
 " I wasn't so old as Dewdrop is now when I helped 
 your Uncle Kearn hold down a claim while your 
 grandpapa went away to earn food and clothes for 
 us. A drouth had spoiled our crops that year and 
 we were very poor," began Prairie, gratifying Miri- 
 am's wish to hear the oft-repeated story of how 
 Dewdrop came to them. " There was no one but 
 myself to keep house, for we were motherless 
 your Uncle Kearn and I. Your great-aunt Abigail, 
 who afterward came West and settled on the claim 
 next ours, was then living in the East. 
 
 " "We hadn't many friends on that lonesome claim. 
 Your papa, who of course was a fine-looking, agree- 
 able boy, came over from the station twelve miles 
 off, every now and then, and our nearest neighbor,
 
 PRAIRIE TELLS THE STORY. 7 
 
 a nice old crazy gentleman named Mr. Welch, used 
 to visit us quite often. Then there was Miss Sally 
 Spratt, and Dr. Whistler who lived not far away. 
 
 " Whistler was then an uncivilized Indian boy, 
 but he was bright and manly, and I thought it a 
 pity that he didn't even know when P was standing 
 on its head, or that the world is round." 
 
 " Why don't you ever tell about 'e pwetty name ?" 
 asked Miriam. " Papa always has to tell me 'at. 
 Whistler oost to call you Sparkling Eyes." 
 
 Prairie only laughed, and went on with her story. 
 " Then, too, Whistler was quite rich for an Indian 
 boy, and I feared if he remained so ignorant he 
 would be cheated out of all the land and ponies his 
 shrewd old father left him. So I undertook to teach 
 him something. And a dreadful time I had of it. 
 But I worked away the best I could, and coaxed and 
 scolded him into learning his lessons, and now he's 
 Dr. Whistler, with a comfortable income from his 
 property which he is generously using in his work 
 among his people." 
 
 " Oh ! now you've come to 'e 'nagerie. Lots and 
 lots of pwitty animals, and a fwightful little wattle- 
 snake," said Miriam, who knew the story all by heart. 
 
 " Yes, I had collected a menagerie of small wild 
 animals that I was very fond of. Whistler helped 
 me hunt food for them, and I had my hands full 
 taking care of them and Uncle Kearn. But for all
 
 8 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 that I was sometimes lonesome, and I often wished 
 I had a little sister." 
 
 " Now my Dewdwop's coming," anticipated Miriam, 
 with breathless interest. " On day Whistler came 
 pwancing up you tell it, mamma." 
 
 "Yes, one day Whistler came prancing up on 
 horseback with Dewdrop on his back, snugly tucked 
 into a bag all but her head, and that was covered 
 with a blanket. I thought it was an animal for my 
 menagerie, and Whistler made me guess what it 
 could be." 
 
 " Oh, oh ! " cried Miriam, as she clapped her 
 hands and squeezed a patty-cake with wild delight. 
 " Didn't you feel tickled, Dewdwop, hiding in 'e bag 
 while mamma guessed you were a little bear ? " 
 
 " I was only eight months old, and didn't know 
 what a funny joke I was helping Dr. Whistler play," 
 replied the heroine of the infantile exploit, smiling 
 demurely while she cracked a nut and dropped out 
 the kernel. 
 
 " The poor abused midget," resumed Prairie, " was 
 strapped to a board inside the bag, and her face was 
 not so clean as our dainty Dewdrop now loves to 
 have it." 
 
 "Oh! how dweadful; but you couldn't help it 
 and you needn't feel one bit ashamed," said Miriam, 
 and she gave Piokee's face a pitying pat that left a 
 funny daub of dough on the tip of her clear-cut nose.
 
 PKAIRIE TELLS THE STORY. 9 
 
 "Well, I adopted the cunning waif, as Whistler 
 said she had no parents, and called her Dewdrop, 
 which is the meaning of her Indian name, Piokee. 
 I brought her up the best I could with the help of 
 Mother Grabendike, a dear Quaker lady, who had 
 been a friend to me and who kept our Dewdrop 
 four years while I was away at school. And here 
 she is, a credit to the family." Prairie beamed 
 again on Piokee, who smiled back and by a sudden 
 impulse seized her foster-mother's hand and rubbed 
 her cheek against it in a soft caress. 
 
 " But, dear me ! I'm done with the lady-fingers, 
 and it's time to stuff the goose," heeded Prairie, 
 " so I must cut the story short. 
 
 " Your lovely Aunt Rose, whom your papa called 
 Sweetbrier because she had some pretty, willful 
 ways that he compared to naughty little thorns 
 once came to see us and was carried down into a 
 deep creek by a fiery pony she was riding. Whist- 
 ler saved her life and also fished Uncle Kearn and 
 me out of the watery deep, for of course we both 
 plunged in to rescue her. We were escorting Aunt 
 Rose home to Grandmamma Bowers's where she 
 was visiting. We had left the baby with Miss Sally 
 Spratt, who was very fond of her. 
 
 " A bad man, who, I grieve to say, was our honest 
 Ebenezer's father, tried to jump our claim, but 
 failed. He robbed a railway train and went to
 
 10 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 prison, where he died before his term expired. He 
 had a swarm of very naughty boys we called the 
 Yellowjackets, they were so much like troublesome 
 wasps. Three of them especially, were simply dread- 
 ful. I'm happy to relate, however, that Daniel has 
 turned out to be a very respectable young preacher, 
 much to the surprise of every one, including his fel- 
 low Yellowjackets. Jacob is now a Choctaw squaw- 
 man in the Indian Territory, and if they have the 
 ghost dance there, as they are having in Dakota, 
 I'm very sure he will be foremost in the mischief." 
 
 With this conclusion Prairie turned her attention 
 to the goose, which Sally held dangling and dripping 
 at her side, so absorbed was she in the revival of 
 the old memories. 
 
 Some years after Mr. Wilde secured the claim 
 that Prairie helped " hold down," a sudden rise in 
 real estate enabled him to sell his property for a 
 very high price. 
 
 Seized with the same speculative spirit that at- 
 tacked her brother, Aunt Abigail sold her farm 
 adjoining his for a large profit. 
 
 John and Prairie were then newly married, and 
 were waiting to settle on a ranch in a good location. 
 After viewing well the prospect, Mr. Wilde, Aunt 
 Abigail and John bought a large tract of land in 
 Southern Kansas near the Indian Territory, of which 
 each took one third. Prairie's father and Aunt Abi-
 
 PRAIRIE TELLS THE STORY. 11 
 
 gail combined to make one home, and John and 
 Prairie in their pleasant, roomy ranch house were 
 their nearest neighbors. 
 
 John's mother did not live to share her son's 
 home, into which she would have been most fondly 
 welcomed, for a few weeks after John and Prairie's 
 marriage she had a sudden illness that closed her 
 gentle life. Kearn had gone through college, had 
 married Sweetbrier Rose, and was now a rising law- 
 yer in a thriving young city of the State. 
 
 Whistler had also gained an education. He had 
 taken his diploma at a medical college of repute, 
 and was now a missionary doctor among his people 
 in the Indian Territory. 
 
 " The eggs have given out and the chocolate 
 cakes are not frosted," said Prairie to Piokee shortly 
 after dinner. "You might saddle Chipmunk and 
 go after those five dozen that Priscilla Winslow 
 promised. I expected Floy would bring them over, 
 but something must have happened to prevent her. 
 You can stay with Floy a while. Frosting the 
 cakes will be the last work of the day, and the eggs 
 will not be needed for some hours." 
 
 It was a delightful afternoon in autumn. Piokee 
 was rejoiced to take a ride across the sunny prairie 
 and through the squirrel-haunted wood to Mr. Win- 
 slow' s, and Floy was a lively young friend whom 
 she dearly loved to visit.
 
 12 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 Mr. Winslow was a minister from New England 
 who preached on Sunday at the schoolhouse where 
 his daughter Priscilla taught school through the 
 week. 
 
 The Winslows lived on a farm, and Priscilla had a 
 hennery that her younger sister, Floy, who studied 
 with her father, cared for while Priscilla was at 
 school. 
 
 Mounted on her sleek bay pony, Chipmunk, 
 Piokee rode off with a basket on her arm. She 
 had gone about half-way to Mr. Winslow's when 
 she espied a girlish figure on a large black horse 
 racing toward her at a reckless pace across the 
 prairie.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A WILD YOUNG SQUAW. 
 
 ON meeting Piokee the rider jerked her horse's 
 rein and checked his speed with such a sud- 
 den lurch it seemed as if she must have bounded 
 from the saddle ; but she kept her seat with steady 
 poise and laughing unconcern. 
 
 " Well, Dewdrop, now I've met you I must stop 
 the race ! " exclaimed the madcap rider, Floy Win- 
 slow. " You see, Bub Merrill, our new chore boy, 
 just declared I couldn't ride over to your house in 
 less than thirty minutes and a half. I've only been 
 let's see twelve minutes and three quarters, 
 and see how far I am ! " triumphantly inspecting a 
 watch she had brought along to time herself. 
 
 Floy's curly yellow hair was cut short and parted 
 at the side, and she wore a sailor hat, a shirt waist 
 and a reefer jacket, which gave her the appearance 
 of a jolly, handsome boy. 
 
 " That is the quickest time I ever knew a minis- 
 is
 
 14 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 ter's horse to make," replied Piokee, with a smile. 
 "But were you bringing eggs to us?" glancing with 
 much apprehension at a basket perched before Floy 
 on the saddle, and then at several ominous yellow 
 streaks oozing down her short blue riding skirt. 
 
 "Yes, here they are," said Floy. "Why, some- 
 thing must have happened to them ! " uplifting the 
 basket in amazement. " Dear me ! here is a hole 
 in one end that I didn't notice, and most of them 
 have slipped out on the way and the rest are 
 mashed to jelly. How careless I have been to 
 bounce along at such a pace, and Mrs. Bowers with 
 a lot of wooden-wedding cake needing to be frosted 
 with these eggs. 0, dear ! what will Priscilla say ? " 
 
 "Well, you didn't mean to do it," said Piokee 
 comfortingly. " Haven't you more eggs that I can 
 get if I go back with you ?" 
 
 " I gathered all there were at dinner time, but I 
 suspect there is a stolen nest or two up in the hay- 
 mow of the barn, that Bub Merrill might search if 
 you could wait for him. He's very slow, but pretty 
 sure." 
 
 Having explained that she had ample time to 
 await Bub's leisure movements, Piokee pursued her 
 way to Mr. Winslow's with Floy. 
 
 " Priscilla pays me for taking care of the hennery, 
 and I shall have the eggs deducted from my wages," 
 said Floy conscientiously. " But it will cripple me
 
 A WILD YOUNG SQUAW. 15 
 
 in money matters, for eggs are twenty cents a dozen 
 now," she added with a rueful laugh. 
 
 "I suppose the hennery keeps you pretty busy 
 out of study hours," Piokee said. 
 
 "Yes, it does. Pris thought she'd like to have 
 spring chickens next winter, so she's set the incu- 
 bator and I have to watch the lamp." 
 
 " That must be a dreadful care," observed Piokee, 
 trembling for the tender lives at the mercy of well- 
 meaning, but careless Floy. 
 
 " 0, dear ! there's no describing it," sighed Floy. 
 " So much depending on the way you turn a wick. 
 Too far up, the eggs are cooked; too far down, 
 they're chilled to death. Bub Merrill faithfully 
 agreed to watch the lamp while I'm away, but he 
 has such a mania for making experiments I'm just 
 afraid he'll try to find out how much heat the chicks 
 could stand and still come out alive. If he does, 
 he'll roast them in the shell as sure as fate." 
 
 The girls rode faster and soon reached the hen- 
 nery, where, to their relief, they found the lamp 
 burning at the proper temperature. 
 
 Floy's fear of Bub's experiments was partly real- 
 ized, however, for he had pulled the egg drawer 
 out, exposing the contents to a perilous draught of 
 air, and was on his knees peering through a paper 
 funnel to inspect an egg, which he was holding 
 hazardously near the lamplight.
 
 16 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 "I'm candlin' 'era ter see if they're alive an' 
 well," said he. " This yer's goin' ter hatch. Kin 
 see him squirmin' in the shell. But this yer's bad. 
 So's this yer. An' this yer," holding up three more. 
 " Am afraid you're reck'nin' on a lot o' chicks that'll 
 never hatch," was his discouraging announcement. 
 
 "I don't believe they're far enough along to 
 squirm yet, and you must be only guessing whether 
 they're alive or not," was Floy's correct surmise. 
 " There ! now you've dropped an egg though to be 
 sure that happened to be spoilt and you mustn't 
 touch another one," whereupon she promptly shut 
 the drawer. 
 
 "Hum! 'tain't the fust egg that's been smashed 
 to-day, I reckin," Bub retorted, with a gleeful glance 
 at Floy's bespattered skirt. 
 
 " Not by several dozens," candidly admitted Floy. 
 " But you must find at least one nest brimful of 
 eggs to make up for the mischief you did by daring 
 me to try a race while carrying eggs to market." 
 
 Bub obediently strolled off to begin the hunt, 
 while Floy gathered all the new-laid eggs in the 
 hennery for Piokee's basket. 
 
 "I'm glad you can stay a while," said she. 
 "Papa's holding a meeting in another neighbor- 
 hood this afternoon, and except Bub Merrill and 
 myself there isn't any one at home but mamma, 
 who is sleeping off a headache in her room, and my
 
 A WILD YOUNG SQUAW. 19 
 
 double cousin Ellery Winslow just out from Boston 
 this week." 
 
 " Is he a young boy ? " asked Piokee. 
 
 " 0, no ! you'll think him very much grown up," 
 said Floy. " He's a Harvard freshman, but his 
 optic nerve has given out, so he's dropped his 
 Greek and Latin a while, and is taking a vacation. 
 He means to improve his time while out of college 
 studying the Indian question. That is all the 
 fashion now." 
 
 "Well," said Piokee, "I'm afraid he'll find that 
 far more trying to his optic nerve than working 
 over Greek and Latin. My people have a long, sad 
 history," she added thoughtfully. 
 
 "That is true," said Floy, growing thoughtful 
 too. " Ellery is an Indian rights man. He has 
 already made a prisoner of himself in papa's study, 
 pondering over broken treaties. But he has never 
 seen an Indian, to speak of, and I don't believe he'd 
 know one from a copper statue. You're so proud 
 of being a little red girl, Dewdrop, would you mind 
 meeting Ellery and showing him how a real live 
 Indian looks ? " 
 
 " But I've no feathers in my hair. I should dis- 
 appoint him," said Piokee, with a smile. 
 
 " Yes, I suppose you would," frankly agreed Floy, 
 with a critical eye on the neat little tailor-made 
 girl. " Of course he'd like you better if you were
 
 20 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 a blanket Indian. Oh! you might pretend to be 
 one, just for fun. I've got a lot of gorgeous feathers 
 that our roosters shed. You might unbraid your 
 hair and stick them straight up all around your 
 head, and we've a bed blanket of the brightest red, 
 that you could wrap round yourself." 
 
 Floy's mischievous plan was irresistible, and al- 
 most before she knew it Piokee was carrying it out. 
 Floy smuggled the feathers and blanket from the 
 house, and the grain-room of the hennery was made 
 the dressing-room. 
 
 Presently a wild-looking young squaw left the 
 hennery and sought a latticed corner of the front 
 piazza to wait for Ellery Win slow, whom Floy con- 
 ducted from the study.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 COLD BLAST AND FAUQUA. 
 
 ELLERY was a straight, slim youth of nineteen, 
 with blond curly hair like Floy's. Indeed, if 
 he had been her brother he could hardly have re- 
 sembled her more closely. Somewhat formal of 
 speech was Ellery, but he had a pleasant voice and 
 a gentlemanly manner. On account of his affected 
 optic nerve he wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses 
 which gave him quite a scholarly air. 
 
 " Ellery, here's an Indian girl you'll be glad to 
 meet," was Floy's introduction of her cousin to the 
 statuesque little figure in the gay red blanket. 
 
 "Ah! is this really one of the Nation's Wards as 
 yet entirely untamed ? " was Ellery's rather bookish 
 salutation. "What a novel sight. But I beg 
 your pardon," recovering from his curious surprise 
 enough to lift his hat and bow politely to the little 
 squaw, who returned a dignified nod. " I believe 
 you didn't give the name of this young 1-lady, 
 21
 
 22 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 Floy," he reminded his cousin, searching his mem- 
 ory in some confusion for a rule of etiquette to aid 
 him in the rather trying situation. 
 
 " Her name is Piokee," said Floy. 
 
 " I suppose she hails from over in the Indian Ter- 
 ritory, and of course she doesn't understand the 
 white man's language. But she bows like a Beacon 
 Street girl, and is as self-poised as a young princess. 
 I don't feel free to treat her with the curiosity one 
 usually bestows on the untutored savage." And 
 the self-possessed young gentleman from Boston 
 actually grew fidgety beneath Piokee's calm gaze. 
 
 "I think she'd understand swapee," suggested 
 Floy. " It might help you to break the ice." 
 
 " Ah, yes ! an Indian always likes to trade, and I 
 would like to have some of those gorgeous feathers 
 in her hair. They must have been the plumage of 
 some curious bird." 
 
 At this mistaken fancy concerning the rooster 
 feathers Floy's eyes danced, and Piokee almost 
 spoiled her wild Indian tableau by allowing a de- 
 mure smile to flit across her face. But Ellery was 
 detaching from his watch chain a brightly enameled 
 charm, the badge of" his college society, which he 
 was recklessly prepared to sacrifice for a portion of 
 Piokee's feathers. 
 
 " Swapee," said Ellery, holding out the charm in 
 one hand, while with the other he began to pluck
 
 COLD BLAST AND FAUQUA. 23 
 
 his curly crown, as a sign that he wished to bargain 
 for her resplendent plumage. 
 
 " Um ! swapee," assented she, accepting the 
 charm and bending her head to let him choose the 
 feathers he admired most. 
 
 He took some shining green ones flecked with 
 white and gold, and pinned them to his coat as 
 carefully as if they were a bouquet of the choicest 
 flowers. 
 
 "Thanks," said he, "I shall prize them very 
 highly, as a souvenir of my introduction to a charm- 
 ing young Indian princess." Then aside to Floy, 
 " Of course that compliment is wasted, as she 
 doesn't understand a word I'm saying, but on the 
 other hand I'm safe from the risk that she will 
 regard my sincere opinion as flattery, after the 
 manner of pale-faced girls." 
 
 Piokee was now suddenly seized with a desire to 
 depart, and with another Beacon Street bow to 
 Ellery she turned and walked away. 
 
 Ellery watched her till she disappeared, with the 
 impression that the graceful wild Indian maid de- 
 scribed in romance existed in real life, and had not 
 been overpraised. It was with renewed interest 
 that he went back to the perusal of the broken 
 treaties. 
 
 On their way to the hennery the girls were over- 
 taken by Bub Merrill, who had found a perfect
 
 24 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 treasure of a stolen nest, and had his cap well filled 
 with eggs. 
 
 " Now, Bub," said Floy, " of course you know 
 just who this is, but you mustn't breathe a word to 
 Mr. Ellery Winslow before to-morrow night. I 
 want him to see two tableaux one of Miss Dew- 
 drop as she might have been, and the other as she 
 really is. I know all about her lovely wooden- 
 wedding dress, and won't he be astonished at the 
 contrast ? " 
 
 Bub agreed, and returning to the grain room 
 Piokee hastily threw off the blanket, braided up her 
 long thick hair, donned her hat and jacket and 
 became her civilized self once more. 
 
 Wrapping the eggs in scraps of paper, to guard 
 against another accident, she packed them in the 
 basket and took quick leave of Floy, lest Ellery 
 Winslow saunter out and discover the disguise. 
 
 Piokee was not given to playing pranks, and 
 some doubt assailed her whether she had done right 
 in imposing the ideal Indian maiden on the unsus- 
 pecting youth from Boston. 
 
 Following this thought there came a thrill of 
 gladness that she was a civilized girl, and not the 
 wild young squaw she might have been had not her 
 lot been changed in infancy. 
 
 Although raised above the miserable condition of 
 her people, Piokee had for them a very loyal feel-
 
 COLD BLAST AND FAUQUA. 25 
 
 ing. Mamma Prairie was a warm supporter of In- 
 dian rights, and had the deepest sympathy for their 
 misfortunes. Many chapters of their pathetic his- 
 tory had Piokee learned from Dr. Whistler, who 
 had made occasional visits to the little red-brown 
 girl who had taken the romantic ride to fortune on 
 his back, and in whom he claimed an equal interest 
 with Mamma Prairie. 
 
 Piokee had her dream of going to her people, 
 when she was older, to teach them something of 
 the new life in which she had been reared. Cook- 
 ing classes flourished in her fancy, with rows of 
 dusky, trimly-aproned maids waging war on dread- 
 ful Indian messes, and skillfully concocting the 
 dainty, healthful dishes she had been taught to 
 make. 
 
 So absorbed was she in her favorite dream for the 
 uplifting of her race that she did not observe that 
 she had reached a lonely quarter of the timber until 
 her pony gave a sudden start and waked her to 
 a consciousness that she was in a most unusual 
 situation. 
 
 Looking up she saw two Indians, a man and 
 woman, riding very close to her, one upon each 
 side. They had emerged from a cross road, and 
 suddenly hemmed her in, almost jostling against 
 her in the narrow road. They were wrapped in 
 blankets and the man was decked with grotesque
 
 26 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 ornaments, among which was a ghastly row of 
 naked little china dolls dangling in halters from his 
 scalp-lock. 
 
 The man caught hold of Chipmunk's bridle, look- 
 ing up and down the road to see that no one was 
 approaching. " Little tame squaw name Piokee ? " 
 he asked in English quite unusual for one so wildly 
 dressed. 
 
 " Yes ; that is my Indian name, but they call me 
 Dewdrop," was her wondering reply. 
 
 " Young chief carry wild papoose to white man's 
 cabin ? Grass grow many times, papoose now little 
 tame squaw ? " 
 
 " Why, yes," with still more wonder. 
 
 The Indian gave a grunt of mingled satisfaction 
 at his own sagacity in tracing Piokee's history, and 
 disapproval of the " tame " system by which she had 
 been reared. 
 
 His next movement heightened the alarm she had 
 begun to feel ; indeed, it transfixed her with actual 
 fright. Still grasping Chipmunk's bridle he whirled 
 about and led him galloping down the cross road, 
 the squaw fast bringing up the rear. This was a 
 byway seldom used, except when wood was hauled 
 from the timber that extended in a wide belt by 
 the river. 
 
 Having hurried down the cross road some way, 
 the Indian let go of Chipmunk's bridle and turned
 
 COLD BLAST AND FAUQUA. 27 
 
 into a narrow path, beaten by cattle going to and 
 from a watering-place. Piokee and the squaw fol- 
 lowed, single file, until the three alighted at an old 
 log hut, once used as a wood chopper's shelter, but 
 now deserted. 
 
 Here the Indians appeared to have set up a tem- 
 porary camp. A slab of bacon and a bag of meal 
 were hanging from a spike inside the hut, and smol- 
 dering brands were lying in the rude rock fireplace. 
 The three sat down, Indian fashion, on the floor, 
 and the talk that had been dropped so suddenly in 
 the road began again. 
 
 " Big Injun name Cold Blast. Old squaw, Fau- 
 qua," said the man. " I have one squaw more, long 
 time back, name Dancing Feet, Piokee's mother." 
 
 "But," said Piokee, with a quick-drawn breath, 
 " Dr. Whistler always thought my father was killed 
 by accident while hunting in the Indian Territory 
 just before my mother died." 
 
 " Cold Blast, Piokee's father," the man insisted, 
 with a nod that set the hanging dolls bobbing in 
 an agitated circle round his scalp-lock. " Get big 
 wound pull through no kill. Dancing Feet die 
 when I far off. Feel sad. Go off be white soldier's 
 scout. Learn talk like white man, feel like wild In- 
 jun all same. Marry Fauqua, feel heap more sad." 
 
 The meek little squaw, who bore the name Fau- 
 qua, kept an unobtrusive silence while she strung
 
 28 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 the beads she had taken from a gayly ornamented 
 bag suspended at her side. 
 
 " Piokee think Cold Blast lie," went on the man. 
 " I tattoo oak leaf high up on wrong arm when she 
 one-moon-old papoose." 
 
 " Yes, my left arm is tattooed in that way ; of 
 course you are my father as you know so much 
 about ine," said Piokee, dismissing all suspicion that 
 the Indian was deceiving her. 
 
 But she could not feel the gladness natural to a 
 daughter who has found a long-lost father, for Cold 
 Blast had a stern face and forbidding manner that 
 impressed her with unspeakable dread. However, 
 she resolved to face the situation bravely, and strive 
 to cultivate a warmer heart for this unwelcome 
 stranger who had come to claim her as his child. 
 
 "You must go home with me both of you," 
 said she, "and see Mamma Prairie and good Mr. 
 Bowers, whom you will want to thank for having 
 been so very, very kind to me. And you can see 
 our little Miriam, who is oh ! so sweet and cunning, 
 and be introduced to Dr. Whistler, the young chief 
 who took me to the white man's cabin. There's to 
 be a wooden wedding at the ranch to-morrow even- 
 ing and of course you'll be invited." 
 
 Piokee said the words slowly, thinking of the ludi- 
 crous unfitness of Cold Blast and Fauqua for even 
 the simple entertainment in prospect at the ranch.
 
 COLD BLAST AND FAUQUA. 29 
 
 But in response to this Cold Blast scowled and 
 shook his head so fiercely the dolls went off into 
 another agony, and nearly broke their halters with 
 spasmodic writhing. 
 
 "Not tell white people, not tell young chief 
 Piokee find father. They say I wait long time, not 
 have little tame squaw. Piokee keep sly, hide here. 
 Night come, steal off, ride fast. Go where Injun 
 live, be wild squaw." 
 
 At this proposal Piokee' s brain fairly reeled. She 
 now realized that Cold Blast had laid a plan for her 
 abduction, by which she was to be snatched off from 
 those who were so dear to her.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE RANSOM. 
 
 ^ T)UT surely," pleaded Piokee, "you don't want 
 
 -I-J to carry me away from Mamma Prairie 
 when I arn so well taken care of and so happy here ? 
 The Indian is so very poor, you would have no food 
 to spare for me." 
 
 "Piokee help old squaw hoe corn," said Cold 
 Blast. " Camp out in timber, pick pecans. Earn 
 heap money." 
 
 " Oh ! I've never worked out doors except to 
 weed the flowers. And those pecan camps I have 
 heard of them," shudderingly. " The pickers suffer 
 so from cold, and go hungry very often. Indeed, it 
 is too terrible to think of." And the poor little 
 " princess " clasped her slender hands above the 
 basket in her lap and sat like one bereft of hope. 
 
 The part of the uncivilized young squaw she had 
 playfully acted for Ellery Winslow's entertainment 
 now seemed a mockery, and her romantic dream of 
 so
 
 THE RANSOM. 31 
 
 flitting to her people as an enlightening spirit had 
 lost its charm. 
 
 Between herself and that deplorable race whose 
 blood was in her veins there now appeared a great 
 gulf which it seemed impossible to cross. On one 
 side was the sweet, contented life she had always 
 known, on the other want and misery, to which she 
 was a stranger. Mamma Prairie, Miriam, her happy 
 home she must go back to them at all events. 
 
 Suddenly a new hope seized Piokee, and she 
 eagerly proposed to pay a ransom to her father, 
 strange as that may seem. 
 
 "I have thirty dollars so many gold pieces," 
 holding up six fingers. " They are Christmas gifts 
 from dear Mr. Bowers, but I can use them as I like, 
 and I am sure he would be glad to have me give 
 them to you, if you are in need. Will you take 
 the gold, and go away and leave me with Mamma 
 Prairie ? " 
 
 Cold Blast gave a meditative grunt and sat as if 
 considering the offer, while Piokee waited in sus- 
 pense, feeling that her fate for life depended on his 
 answer. 
 
 " I take money, go off visit Pawnee Injun, make 
 medicine," he said at last. " Make good medicine, I 
 come back get Piokee when round moon dark. 
 Piokee keep sly, watch sharp watch every day. 
 Find bush hanging down on big tree got no insides
 
 32 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 on wide road, steal off in dark night, come here. 
 Ride very fast go where wild Injun live. Make bad 
 medicine, maybe little tame squaw's hair turn white 
 old father never come back." 
 
 Piokee felt a sting of conscience at this pathetic 
 ending of her sire's speech, but such was her anxiety 
 to escape sharing his condition that she strove to 
 steel her heart against him. 
 
 It was only a provisional ransom, after all, but it 
 was the best that she could do, and there would be 
 a few precious days before the parting, if it must 
 come then. She solemnly agreed to keep the secret, 
 and to bring the money to the hut next morning, 
 before daybreak, if she could steal away, and thus 
 avoid all chance of being seen. 
 
 It was almost five o'clock when she reached home. 
 In the sweet-smelling kitchen the cheerful prepara- 
 tions were going on. Aunt Abigail was there, dis- 
 patching whatever work her hands could find to do. 
 
 " Am I very late with the eggs ? " Piokee asked, 
 setting her basket on the table. 
 
 " Just in time," said Prairie cheerfully, " though 
 Sally is a little more than ready to begin the frost- 
 ing. She has been churning the empty air with 
 the egg-beater for something like two minutes, I 
 believe," she added with a smile as Sally seized the 
 eggs and dodged into the pantry. 
 
 Piokee sank into a chair, overcome with a re-
 
 THE RANSOM. 33 
 
 action of the nervous strain and fairly shivering with 
 suppressed emotion. 
 
 " Why, dear child, how cold and blue you look ! " 
 said Prairie with concern. " You should have worn 
 a warmer jacket than that light spring cutaway. 
 The wind has changed into the west, and the air is 
 very raw." 
 
 Ah ! how Piokee longed to seek the shelter of her 
 foster-mother's loving arms, and tell her what had 
 happened in the wood. If she could only fall 
 asleep and wake to find it all a dream this vision 
 of the grim barbarian who had come to claim her 
 as his child, and against whom she was so undutifully 
 rebelling ! 
 
 " It's a shakin' chill," said Ebenezer, on his way 
 toward the wood-box with his long arms twined 
 about a load of hickory. " I ust ter hev 'em fit to 
 kill." 
 
 " Yes, 'tis," said Sally, bursting into sight again 
 to show her sympathy. She came in square col- 
 lision with Ebenezer' s tall, gaunt form, but by a 
 dexterous feat of strength on the part of both, 
 Ebenezer kept his grip on the wood and Sally saved 
 the eggs. " Yes ; 'tis a shakin' chill. Chair's a-f airly 
 dancin' under her." She vanished like a flash once 
 more, and banged the pantry door behind her. 
 
 "Looks to me more like hysterics," said Aunt 
 Abigail. " Did you come across a rattlesnake, or
 
 34 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 any other dangerous creature on the road ? " trans- 
 fixing Piokee with a keen glance through her 
 spectacles. 
 
 Piokee shook her head and made a desperate 
 effort to control her chattering teeth. 
 
 " Calls back ole mem'ries of how I ust ter shake," 
 said Ebenezer, backing to the door when he had shed 
 his load, his mild eyes still regarding Piokee with 
 reflective pity. " Remember how you cured me, 
 Mis' Bowers ? " 
 
 " Yes ; with some ague root that Whistler gave 
 me. But I haven't had a bit of that for years, and 
 don't know where to get it," said Prairie, with an 
 anxious eye on Piokee. " How strange to think 
 that Whistler is a regular physican now, prescribing 
 civilized pills and powders instead of ' medicine bush.' 
 That is what he called the ague root. How fortu- 
 nate, too, that he's in town to-night, for Dewdrop 
 really seems to need a doctor, and I think you'd 
 better go for him at once." 
 
 "No, no," protested Piokee, much dismayed at 
 having made herself the object of so much attention. 
 " I'm not ill, indeed I'm not. Please don't send for 
 him," she begged, thinking of her errand to the hut 
 next morning, and desiring that above all others 
 Dr. Whistler might not come till it was done. With 
 this she started from the chair and escaped upstairs. 
 
 " If it is hysterics, it's an Indian quirk," observed
 
 THE RANSOM. 35 
 
 Aunt Abigail. "As for that young quack Dr. 
 Whistler I haven't a speck of confidence in his 
 ability. An Indian can't be trusted out of sight, 
 and more than likely he has ground that very root 
 you thought was such a cure-all years ago into 
 powders, mixed it up in pills and steeped it for a 
 juice to fill the vials of that medicine case he car- 
 ries round with such an honest air." 
 
 " Charitably, more charitably ! " laughed John, 
 emerging from the dining-room with little Miriam. 
 " That's rather hard on the medical school of which 
 Whistler is a member in good standing, but perhaps 
 that is the root of his success in curing stubborn 
 ailments." 
 
 "Well, Prairie," said Aunt Abigail, tying on her 
 bonnet to go home, " Dewdrop had better take a 
 thorough sweat to-night. Of course you can't sweat 
 out the Indian, but if she's taken cold a sweat may 
 do her good. I wonder if the child was warm 
 enough this afternoon ; you've coddled her so much 
 'twould be a marvel if she didn't sneeze at every 
 breath of air. I didn't like her look of misery, and 
 maybe it would be as well to send for Dr. Whistler 
 if she doesn't chirk up by supper-time. Perhaps a 
 red-skinned humbug is no likelier to kill a patient 
 than a white one." 
 
 The doctor was not sent for, for Piokee came to 
 supper outwardly calm, and quietly attentive to the
 
 36 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 wants of Miriam, whose place was next hers at the 
 table. Prairie thereupon concluded that she was 
 not really ill, and that the west wind must have 
 caused the shivering spell. 
 
 " Reckon 'twarn't a shakin' chill 'pears like we 
 was all mistaken. She's a playin' on her fiddle," 
 noted Ebenezer, dropping in to have a chat with 
 Sally. 
 
 " No ; twarn't," agreed Sally, as a plaintive strain 
 of music floated down from Piokee's chamber. " 'Tis 
 that there gypsy song, i I dreamed I Dwelt in Mar- 
 ble Halls.' Plays jes' like a angel, don't she ?" 
 
 " Yes, but I'd ruther hear li vely music. l Skip ter 
 my Lou ' suits my taste. Reckon that's a fav'rite 
 tyune with all the boys. Don't seem ter be onpop'lar 
 with you girls." 
 
 " Yes, 'tis," said Sally, warding off the sentimental 
 turn Ebenezer was inclined to take. " Yes, 'tis on- 
 pop'lar with us girls. ' Skip ' don't suit our taste 
 not by a long jog." 
 
 More than thirty years had spread their coats of 
 tan upon the amiable faces of this honest pair of 
 helpers, but being in a state of single blessedness 
 they were still numbered with the boys and girls in 
 Western phrase. 
 
 "Wa-al, I'd like ter ask a faver, Sally," ventured 
 Ebenezer, not without great fear and trembling. 
 " Nex' time we're at a party an' air playin' ' Skip
 
 PIOKEE AND HER VIOLIN.
 
 THE RANSOM. 39 
 
 ter my Lou,' I'd be mightily obleeged ef you would 
 skip ter me a leetle of'ner than ter the other boys." 
 
 Sally dodged behind the cupboard door to hide 
 her pleasure at these words, and then came back 
 with an air of cool indifference. 
 
 " Wa-al, ef pardners is skurser than persimmons 
 in the spring mought be I will," she said. 
 
 Piokee loved her violin how fondly none but 
 she herself would ever know. It had a song for 
 every mood. She had taken lessons of Priscilla 
 Winslow, who had had good musical training in the 
 East, and she played with more than ordinary skill 
 the simple airs which she had learned. 
 
 " My Dewdwop's violin is cwying. I must go 
 and see what ails it," said Miriam, who was enjoy- 
 ing a good-night frolic with her father when the 
 wail of music reached her ears. 
 
 With her tiny terrier, Frisky, in her arms she 
 stole upstairs. 
 
 Piokee stood before the window gazing out on 
 the moonlit lawn and wondering if the pecan pickers 
 had begun to camp out in the timber, and if they 
 were cold when night came on. Before long she 
 might be among them, and who would care like 
 dear Mamma Prairie whether she were warmly 
 clad or not when the shrill wind whistled through 
 the forest? 
 
 Miriam climbed a chair and squeezed herself be-
 
 40 PIOKEE AND HEK PEOPLE. 
 
 tween Piokee and the window-sill, claiming the 
 attention that was never denied her. 
 
 " Don't cwy, poor music," she commanded gently, 
 laying a caressing hand on the bow. "What ails it, 
 Dewdwop ? I fought your violin was always happy," 
 in a puzzled tone. 
 
 No answer from the sad musician. She laid aside 
 her violin and dropped her cheek on Miriam's golden 
 head and clasped the little girl and little dog tightly 
 in her arms. 
 
 " Oh-h ! you hug me so hard. 'Cause you love 
 me so much ? " panted Miriam, struggling for breath 
 while Frisky barked a sharp objection to the double 
 squeeze. 
 
 " Yes, precious one," thought Piokee, still silent. 
 " I love you so much it would break my heart to 
 leave you. Oh! that dreadful man who wants to 
 carry me away. But I mustn't have such wicked 
 thoughts of my father. I must not break my prom- 
 ise. But how can I keep the secret from Mamma 
 Prairie and from Dr. Whistler ? He says an Indian 
 who has the bad heart is very sly and treacherous. 
 If I am hiding something I shall be sly and treacher- 
 ous, and I wonder if he'll find it out and think I 
 have the bad heart, too ? "
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE MOONLIGHT RIDE. 
 
 LONG before the break of day, Piokee was step- 
 ping noiselessly about her room, getting ready 
 for her errand to the hut. She had no need of 
 groping in the dark, for a full moon cast a flood of 
 light into the room and made the world outside too 
 bright, by far, to suit her stealthy purpose. 
 
 Slipping down the back stairs, she* unlocked the 
 kitchen door; and going to the stable, she led her 
 pony out into a shadowy angle of the building, 
 where she saddled him in breathless haste. 
 
 At this uncanny hour, when none but those still 
 things that flit about at night were stirring, she sped 
 across the prairie to the cover of the wood. Within 
 its shadowy ambush was the brooding silence that 
 precedes the gray dawn of an autumn day. 
 
 Piokee started at the turbulent beating of her own 
 heart, and wished the woodpeckers were awake to 
 keep her company.
 
 42 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 It was with the greatest dread that she looked 
 forward to another meeting with her father, and her 
 conscience was upbraiding her in two ways ; both 
 for her undutiful thoughts of him, and for the con- 
 cealment that had brought about her secret ride 
 from home. 
 
 She was haunted with the fear that he would 
 change his mind, and after she had paid the ransom 
 would insist on carrying her away then and there. 
 It was a thick wild stretch of timber further on, in 
 which pursuit might be eluded, even in the daytime, 
 until they had crossed the border of the Indian 
 Territory. Over there she could not be retaken 
 from her father, for Mrs. Bowers had no legal right 
 to claim Piokee, although she called her an adopted 
 child. 
 
 Piokee was about to turn into the narrow path, 
 when Chipmunk all at once drew back and shook 
 with fright. There was a dark misshapen-look- 
 ing object crouching at the entrance of the path. 
 Piokee also trembled when she saw it. 
 
 It was Fauqua, sitting there asleep, closely muffled 
 in her blanket with her head upon her knees. The 
 sound of Chipmunk's hoofs awoke her and she 
 started up, and, stepping out into the cross road, 
 greeted Piokee with a soft-spoken, " How ? " 
 
 "Cold Blast sleep sound, snore loud. Old Injun 
 scare little tame squaw. Stay here," she murmured.
 
 THE MOONLIGHT RIDE. 43 
 
 Piokee felt an instant liking for this friendly lit- 
 tle step-mother who had stolen out to meet her and 
 allay her fears. 
 
 " Oh ! and you've been waiting here for me 
 how good you are." She breathed her thanks in 
 deep relief. " You can take the money, and I 
 needn't wait a minute." 
 
 The gold was in a little iron box, the image of a 
 frog, which Fauqua cautiously eyed by the light of 
 the moon, but would not touch. 
 
 " Rich toad spit money bad medicine," she said, 
 shrinking back in childish fear as Piokee shook a 
 coin from its mouth and dropped it back again. 
 
 " No ; it's only a make-believe frog. See ! its legs 
 don't wiggle, and you needn't be afraid of it," 
 Piokee said ; " you might lose the money if I took 
 it from the bank." 
 
 The superstitious squaw could hardly be convinced, 
 but at last Piokee was allowed to drop the bank into 
 the bag at Fauqua's side. The wearer tied the bag, 
 however, with the wariest care. 
 
 "Rich toad crawl out bad medicine," said she. 
 
 " I hope the gold will be of use to you as well as 
 to my father," said Piokee ; " you can buy some 
 better food than meal and bacon, and you'll need 
 new blankets for the winter." 
 
 Fauqua shook her head. "Cold Blast buy new 
 gun, swapee pony, pay big boot," said she.
 
 44 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 Piokee sighed to think her treasured Christmas 
 coins would not be spent for comforts, but she hardly 
 had expected it would be otherwise, knowing as she 
 did that the uncivilized Indian values guns and ponies 
 more than food and clothing. 
 
 Fauqua laid her hand on Chipmunk's mane as if 
 she wished to hold some further conversation, and 
 though intensely anxious to return home in the 
 greatest haste, Piokee staid another minute. 
 
 " Cold Blast make good medicine, Piokee come 
 soon where wild Injun live?" Fauqua wistfully 
 asked. 
 
 "Oh! don't speak of it how could I?" said 
 Piokee, breaking into a convulsive moan. " I love 
 Mamma Prairie and my beautiful happy home so 
 dearly O, so dearly ! And Miriam, our sweet, 
 sweet baby it would break my heart to leave 
 her." And the low wail ended in a sob. 
 
 " I treat Piokee good," said Fauqua still more 
 wistfully. " Up-a-tree and Nanno feel proud ; say 
 tame sister know heap much. Learn wild Injun 
 many things." 
 
 " Oh ! are there are there two children ? 
 No ; surely, I haven't a little half-brother and sis- 
 ter?" grasping Fauqua's meaning, but feeling that 
 she could not bear this added test to her resistance 
 to be torn from home and loved ones, 
 
 Fauqua nodded yes.
 
 THE MOONLIGHT RIDE. 47 
 
 " Up-a-tree so old," holding up ten fingers. " Hunt 
 game, ride wild pony. Heap brave boy. Nanno 
 outgrow papoose. String beads, watch fire boil 
 meat. Good little girl. Young Injuns stay with 
 old squaw Keotach while I come here." 
 
 " Oh ! do forgive me, but don't tell me any more 
 about them," begged Piokee wretchedly. " It is 
 all so sudden and so hard to understand." 
 
 Fauqua said no more, but turned and walked 
 away, and Piokee hurried back along the cross road. 
 
 Those little wild things over there across the bor- 
 der what were they to her, compared to Miriam ? 
 she argued to herself while rushing homeward like 
 the wind. She did not need them, and since they 
 had never known her they could never miss her as 
 would Miriam, if they two were torn apart. 
 
 But Up-a-tree the reckless little boy who cared 
 for nothing but to hunt and ride wild ponies 
 would he never learn to read and work ? And 
 Nanno, the good little girl who strung the beads 
 and watched the fire beneath the kettle had she 
 never, never seen a picture-book nor hugged a blue- 
 eyed dolly in her arms ? Well, that was one of life's 
 sad happenings that could not be helped, lamented 
 Piokee, while pitying tears for Up-a-tree and Nanno 
 dropped into her lap. 
 
 She must fly back home, and if the medicine 
 proved good, and she found the broken bough on
 
 48 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 the hollow tree why, she must try another ran- 
 soin. Chipmunk was entirely her own, and dearly 
 as she loved the little creature she would tie him 
 to a tree out on the prairie in the night, and let her 
 father take him as the price of her continued freedom. 
 
 Having laid this plan she suddenly remembered 
 that it would not work, for her determined sire 
 could carry her away and have the pony, too, as 
 she must make the journey to the reservation on 
 his back. Well, there was a little time to wait, and 
 something might occur to free her from the bondage. 
 The medicine might be bad, although she had a 
 strong suspicion it would be as Cold Blast willed. 
 Perhaps who knew the strongest lives are some- 
 times suddenly cut off she checked herself in 
 horror at the wicked wish that he might die and she 
 become indeed the orphan she had thought herself. 
 
 The dreaded errand over, she alighted at the 
 stable as a light gleamed forth from Mrs. Biddle's 
 window at the tenant house a few rods distant, 
 where the hired men were quartered. Very soon 
 they would be out, she knew, to feed the sheep and 
 cattle in the yards. 
 
 With a rush she put her pony in the stall, hung 
 the saddle and the bridle on their nails, locked the 
 stable door and laid the key beneath the beam out- 
 side, where it was kept at night, then flew toward 
 the house.
 
 THE MOONLIGHT RIDE. 49 
 
 As she was stealing upstairs, an alarm clock sud- 
 denly went off: in Sally's room, and on the instant 
 Sally bounded out of bed .with a resounding thump. 
 
 Piokee did not stop to breathe till she was in her 
 room. 
 
 The moonlight was now merging into daylight, 
 and there was a stir throughout the house. Miriam, 
 who was an early bird at all times, now awoke to 
 greet the dawn, and hopping from her downy nest 
 went chirping downstairs with her mother. Pre- 
 sently Piokee joined the family in the dining-room. 
 
 There she found Aunt Abigail with shawl and 
 bonnet laid aside, unfolding a tale that puzzled all 
 except Piokee, who was inwardly dismayed.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE SHADOW GIRL. 
 
 T CALLED your father up to eat his break- 
 J- fast long before the roosters crowed, so that 
 I could hurry over here to see about that ice cream 
 you were going to make by sunrise, Prairie. The 
 salt box danced a jig before my eyes all night and 
 I took it for a warning that you'd sweeten the ice 
 cream with salt instead of sugar if I didn't make 
 haste to prevent it." 
 
 " Oh ! " cried Miriam, " did 'e dancing salt box have 
 a pair of legs and arms ? And was it dwessed up like 
 a dancing monkey, and was vere a hand organ and 
 a wagged man 'at played a tune for it to dance by ? 
 0, Auntie oh ! it must have looked so fat and 
 funny." And she fairly screamed with laughter. 
 
 "Mercy ! what a queer child," said Aunt Abigail, 
 forced to smile at this amusing picture drawn by 
 Miriam's fertile fancy. "You can jump at the con- 
 clusion that it would have been no laughing matter 
 
 50
 
 THE SHADOW GIRL. 51 
 
 had there been a dancing burglar in this house. It 
 was enough to make a whole gang dance for joy the 
 way I found the back door stretched wide open, 
 Sally scurrying around upstairs to dress, and all 
 those tempting victuals in the pantry, and that silver 
 teaset perched up on the sideboard." 
 
 Piokee gave an inward start, wondering if she 
 could have failed to lock the door when she came 
 in. Yes, she had thought she heard a footstep in 
 the yard, which must have been Aunt Abigail's, and 
 in her flurry she had fled upstairs and left the door 
 ajar, no doubt, and it had been blown open by the 
 wind. 
 
 " Why, that is very strange," said Prairie. " I 
 am sure I locked the door myself after all the rest 
 had gone to bed, last night." 
 
 " Well, the oddest part is yet to come," resumed 
 her aunt. " As I was walking through the lane be- 
 tween this place and ours, I saw some one ahead of 
 me on horseback. I am positive it was a girl 
 about the size of Dewdrop." Here the sharp eyes 
 underneath the spectacles were turned upon Piokee, 
 sitting breathless on the couch with Miriam at her 
 side. 
 
 " She was riding like a whirlwind, and I thought 
 it was some neighbor's girl, come to borrow pare- 
 goric for a baby in a fit, or something of the sort. 
 I'm sure she turned in here. She seemed to swing
 
 52 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 the gate without alighting from her horse ; but a 
 cloud must needs go scurrying across the moon just 
 then, and I lost sight of her while she was on that 
 winding road below the maple wind break." 
 
 " 'Twarn't nobuddy after nothin' here," protested 
 Sally. " I'd hev heerd 'em if they'd pounded on 
 the kitchen door or rung the bell in front." 
 
 She was scudding round to set the table while de- 
 vouring the mysterious report with a prodigious 
 appetite. Aunt Abigail had given her a taste of it 
 before the others came downstairs, but she swal- 
 lowed every detail with unabated relish. 
 
 "No, 'twarn't 'twarn't nobuddy after nothin' 
 here," she reiterated for the twentieth time. 
 
 " Well, I saw no one as I came up, but where 
 that rider vanished, like a streak of -nothing, is a 
 nut too hard for me to crack," Aunt Abigail re- 
 sponded w r ith a staggered air. 
 
 All at once a new thought dawned on Sally, and 
 the knives and forks which she was scattering round 
 the table slid from her disabled grasp and clattered 
 to the floor. 
 
 " I hope it warn't a shadder girl," she specu- 
 lated, shying to one side, as if to dodge the spook. 
 
 " What is a shadow girl ? "asked Miriam, snuggling 
 close to Piokee. 
 
 " Somethin' that folks sees a-flittin' right afore 
 the'r eyes, an' nobuddy never ketches up with/'
 
 THE SHADOW GIRL. 53 
 
 answered Sally, in a grewsome tone. " It kin onlock 
 doors without a key." 
 
 " Fudge and fiddlesticks ! " exclaimed Aunt Abi- 
 gail, with such contempt that Sally gave a bound 
 and fled the room in sore disgrace. 
 
 Aunt Abigail could have her own impressions, as 
 forsooth the dancing salt box, but she could not 
 tolerate a grain of superstition in another. 
 
 "Did 'e shadow girl scare Sally, or what made 
 her talk so far down in 'e bottom of her f roat ? " 
 still questioned Miriam, while she took possession 
 of Piokee's hand, that trembled in her soft warm 
 clasp. 
 
 " There isn't any shadow girl. Don't think about 
 it any more, dear," answered Prairie, picking up 
 the knives and forks. " That girl on horseback 
 must have seen a light at Mrs. Biddle's and have 
 ridden over there, as we were wrapped in darkness. 
 But I can't imagine what would call one out before 
 daylight, except a case of life or death or a danc- 
 ing salt box," looking merrily at her aunt. 
 
 Mrs. Biddle presently came in, and being ques- 
 tioned by Aunt Abigail, said that there had been no 
 caller at the tenant house that morning. Hence 
 the mystery of the shadow girl remained as deep 
 as ever. 
 
 "Chipmunk must be sick," said Ebenezer, enter- 
 ing the kitchen after breakfast. " He was in a reek
 
 54 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 o' sweat this mornin', when I went ter feed an' water 
 him, an' Mr. Bowers has led him out ter see if he 
 don't need some doctorin'." 
 
 Piokee, who was helping Prairie wash the break- 
 fast china, slipped a cup into the scalding water she 
 had poured into the pan, and deliberately plunged 
 her hand in after it. This was torture, pure and 
 simple, but like the antidote of causing pain to cure 
 pain, it was keen delight compared to all that she 
 was suffering in her mind. 
 
 " Why, Dewdrop, how you must have burned your 
 hand ! " Prairie said with pitying surprise. " You 
 were thinking of the pony and forgot to cool 
 the water. My dear child, how could you be so 
 careless ? " 
 
 " I don't mind it," said Piokee, with a wan smile 
 nickering on her lips. 
 
 " I do," said Prairie, tenderly examining the reck- 
 less hand. " There, run away and get the liniment. 
 You'll find it on the top shelf of the closet in the 
 dining-room. You must nurse your hand to-day or 
 it will be too sore to play the violin to-night. We 
 should be sorry not to hear the pretty piece you 
 have been practicing so faithfully." 
 
 Piokee left the room without another word. 
 
 " 0, poor, poor hand ! I must go and pity it," said 
 Miriam, trotting after her. 
 
 " No, little dear, don't come just now. I'd rather
 
 THE SHADOW GIRL. 55 
 
 be alone awhile," Piokee said, kissing Miriam in the 
 closet and then turning hastily to mount a chair she 
 placed beside the shelves. 
 
 " Why, ven, I'll go wight back ; but I was des 
 sure you couldn't do wivout me," said Miriam. 
 
 Returning to her mother she announced in puz- 
 zled tones, " My Dewdwop doesn't want me. She has 
 always wanted me till now, and I don't understand it." 
 
 " Well, don't mind it, Pet," said Prairie. " Dew- 
 drop's hand is smarting, and perhaps she wants to 
 have a little cry all by herself, to ease the pain. 
 There comes papa, leading Chipmunk," looking 
 from the window. " Get your cap and run and pat 
 the pony's nose, and ask him if he'd like a dose of 
 peppermint on a lump of sugar." 
 
 Miriam skipped away to lavish sympathy on the 
 pony, as Piokee was in no mood to accept it. 
 
 " The Indian is cropping out in Dewdrop with a 
 vengeance," said Aunt Abigail, heaping up the white- 
 of-egg froth she was beating for the ice cream in a 
 snowy pile, to see if it would stand alone. " It has 
 always seemed as if she'd fling herself beneath the 
 Car of Juggernaut for Miriam's sake, and now a 
 freak has seized her not to let the child come near 
 her. Then, too, I was watching Dewdrop like a 
 hawk when Ebenezer spoke about the pony, and if 
 she didn't plunge her hand into that scalding water 
 purely on purpose, I'm mistaken."
 
 56 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 " Why, Auntie, how impossible ! " said Prairie in 
 amazement. "Dear me! what has caused you to 
 imagine that ? " 
 
 " I've heard that Indians take a barbarous delight 
 in torturing themselves to ease a guilty conscience 
 if they ever have a conscience and perhaps 
 there's something preying on her mind that is de- 
 veloping the mania in her. She is as silent as a 
 sphinx this morning. Not a word escaped her in the 
 midst of all the buzz about the back door being open 
 and the antics of the shadow girl as Sally so ab- 
 surdly calls that horseback vanisher." 
 
 " But she is often silent, especially when you are 
 here. I think she doesn't understand you, Auntie, 
 and is half-afraid you are in earnest when you look 
 so stern and make such startling speeches," said 
 Prairie, with a placid smile. 
 
 " Well, goodness knows I aim to do my Christian 
 duty, free of prejudice, to every human being, re- 
 gardless of the color of the skin," replied Aunt 
 Abigail, with somewhat less asperity. " But I have 
 always looked upon the Indian as a riddle which the 
 good Lord only, who created him for some mysterious 
 purpose, has the key to. I'm afraid you will rue 
 the day you ever took one of the race to pet and 
 pamper. I predict you'll have a tug to manage 
 Dewdrop after this. I wouldn't trust her too far 
 with the care of Miriam."
 
 THE SHADOW GIEL. 57 
 
 " 0, Auntie ! you can't think how strange it seems 
 to think of managing our gentle Dewdrop," Prairie 
 said. " Why, she has seemed to grow up in her 
 sweet still way without the slightest need of being 
 managed. And with whom, pray, could we trust 
 the precious baby if not with our devoted red-browir 
 girlie who has always been completely wrapped up 
 in the child ? " 
 
 Aunt Abigail shook her head three times, but 
 made no further answer. 
 
 The liniment was hidden in the farthest corner 
 of the top shelf, and Piokee had been scanning label 
 after label on the bottles standing guard about it- 
 Aunt Abigail's voice, distinct at all times, reached 
 her where she stood upon the chair and pierced 
 her like a two-edged sword. Prairie's softl} 7 spoken 
 words in her defense she did not hear, and they would 
 but have added to her misery had she heard them. 
 
 Yes, the Indian was cropping out in her she 
 knew that to be true ; and though she felt that she 
 would willingly lay down her life for Miriam, if 
 need be, like Aunt Abigail she began to doubt if 
 Mamma Prairie's precious baby could be safely 
 trusted in her care. 
 
 Dropping from the chair she hastily replaced it 
 in the dining-room, and went upstairs without the 
 liniment. What matter if she played the violin 
 with fingers tingling with torture as they touched
 
 58 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 the strings ? In being born an Indian she was 
 doomed to pain and misery, and the sooner it began 
 the sooner she would cease to strive against it. 
 
 " How is the pony?" Prairie asked, stepping to 
 the door as John was leading Chipmunk past with 
 Miriam on his back. 
 
 " His appetite is quite as good as ever, and I can't 
 discover that he's ailing in the least," said John. 
 " Strange, however, that he should have been in 
 such a sweat. If it were not unlikely, I should think 
 he had been ridden very fast this morning ; but the 
 stable door was locked as usual, and not a man about 
 the place appears to have been out before daylight." 
 
 " Perhaps his halter wasn't fixed just right, or 
 there was something else to fret him in the stall. 
 Dewdrop will be glad to know he isn't sick," said 
 Prairie, much relieved. 
 
 As John passed on and Prairie shut the door, 
 Aunt Abigail took off her spectacles and polished 
 them with care, then put them on again, absorbed 
 in puzzled thought. 
 
 Brusque Aunt Abigail had little difficulty, as a 
 rule, in managing her powers of speech, but as she 
 looked at Prairie, briskly finishing the breakfast 
 dishes, something made her hesitate to deal out fur- 
 ther what was in her mind. 
 
 " I am afraid," began she, drawing near to Prairie, 
 " that there is a grist of circumstantial evidence to
 
 THE SHADOW GIRL. 59 
 
 prove " she paused abruptly. Not for all the 
 world could she express her firm conviction that 
 "he child whom Prairie had so loved and trusted 
 was the rider that had caused the mystery of the 
 morning. What had called Piokee out so secretly 
 at such a time surpassed Aunt Abigail's vaguest 
 guess, but she would wait and watch, and for the 
 present say no more about it. 
 
 " What is that ? " asked Prairie, turning in some 
 wonder at the sudden pause. 
 
 " That cream that Sally's skimming in the milk- 
 room will turn sour before she gets it off," whisked 
 aside Aunt Abigail. " To see her scud about, dodg- 
 ing here and there and nowhere, one would think 
 she was a world-wide wonder in the way of turning 
 off quick work. She is a bright and shining proof 
 of the old saying, ' Grasp the world and catch a 
 grain of sand.' " 
 
 " And the circumstantial evidence to prove that 
 Sally's cream is souring is that she and Ebenezer are 
 enjoying a confidential chat upon the milk-room 
 steps," said Prairie merrily. " Those chats have 
 been in progress ever since you first had Sally for a 
 helper on the claim, some fourteen years ago. And 
 has the cream been souring all that time ? Patient 
 Auntie and persistent Ebenezer ! " 
 
 Sally's milk was skimmed, and she had started for 
 the kitchen with the cream, when Ebenezer met her
 
 60 PIOKEE AND HEK PEOPLE. 
 
 on the way. Fleeing backward several paces, Sally 
 gained a random foothold on the milk-room steps, 
 and sinking down upon them, nursed her crock of 
 cream with an abstracted air. 
 
 " Heered Mr. Bowers tellin' Mis' Bowers 'peared 
 like Chipmunk had been racin'. Do you reckon 
 that a shadder girl would ride a reel flesh an' blood 
 boss ? " she said to Ebenezer, who pursued her to 
 the steps. She had told him of the mystery before. 
 
 " Wa-al, I should say a sperrit girl would need a 
 sperrit boss ter go a-junketin' through the air an' 
 vanishin' inter nothin', as you reckon this one did. 
 But I don't take much stock in sperrits, nohow. 
 Bone an' muscle girls air onaccountable enough fer 
 me," with a reproachful look at Sally, " an' it wouldn't 
 be surprisin' if I hedn't got no grit ter be a-chasin' 
 after shadder girls." 
 
 " Yes, 'twould," contradicted Sally; "you'd chase 
 a shadder girl as quick as any buddy, if you reckoned 
 you could ketch her." 
 
 " Wa-al," said Ebenezer, sighing hopelessly, " I 
 mought say I've been chasin' somethin' of the sort 
 fer fourteen year or more, an' I expect ter keep on 
 ter my dyin' day, though 'tain't a bit o' use." 
 
 " Yes, 'tis 0, goodness me ! what hev I said ? 
 No, 'tain't, no, 'tain't ! " And Sally scampered to 
 the kitchen, spilling cream at every bound.
 
 CHAPTEK VII. 
 
 THE HOMESTEAD CLUB'S KEUNION. 
 
 IN the middle of the afternoon, Uncle Kearn, 
 Aunt Rose and Dr. Whistler alighted from the 
 carriage on the sunny lawn. 
 
 " Your choice : sweetbrier rose, spring-beauty or 
 chrysanthemum ?" said Kearn, delivering his flower- 
 like wife into Prairie's arms and capturing two huge 
 bouquets Rose held in her hand. 
 
 " Oh ! sweetbrier and spring-beauty both in one," 
 was Prairie's laughing answer. " You dear pink 
 and white rose, are you a day over sixteen ? " hold- 
 ing Mrs. Kearn at arm's-length with wondering 
 admiration. 
 
 " You dear middle-aged lady, are there crow's-feet 
 at the corners of your eyes?" retorted Sweet- 
 brier, inspecting her rosy sister-in-law with mirthful 
 scrutiny. 
 
 " Well, this really is an interesting gathering," 
 said John, appearing on the lawn and cordially 
 
 61
 
 62 PIOKEE AND HEE PEOPLE. 
 
 shaking hands all around. " The Homestead Club 
 is having a reunion after fourteen years." 
 
 " With one new member," added Kearn, transfer- 
 ring Miriam from Dr. Whistler's shoulder to his own. 
 
 " Let's play we're all back again on the claim 
 just for one happy little minute," Prairie wistfully 
 proposed. 
 
 " But wouldn't it be impossible to put Piokee to 
 sleep in the new pig-trough you confiscated for her 
 cradle ? This little girl has grown tall," said Dr. 
 Whistler, drawing Piokee to his side and measuring 
 her height against his sleeve. 
 
 " Dear me, yes ! our baby has outgrown her primi- 
 tive cradle," said Prairie, smoothing Piokee's hair with 
 a regretful little sigh. " And I see that our young 
 Indian chief has forgotten to put on his splendid 
 scarlet tunic, and his wampum belt and eagle-feath- 
 ered cap," surveying, with a glance that also looked 
 into the past, the lithe, straight doctor, faultlessly 
 attired in black, with a red rose in his button-hole. 
 
 " But I've remembered the bow and arrow," said 
 Dr. Whistler, and he took a handsome set of arch- 
 ery from the carriage, waiting on the driveway to 
 shed the baggage tucked away beneath its ample 
 seats. " To Mrs. Sparkling Eyes, in memory of 
 Auld Lang Syne," bowing with respectful ceremony, 
 and presenting it to Prairie as a wooden wedding 
 gift.
 
 THE HOMESTEAD CLUB'S KEUNION. 63 
 
 " Oh ! the pretty treasure," Prairie cried admir- 
 ingly. " I shall place it in the curiosity corner with 
 the other Indian relics. It is very like the bow we 
 used to hang on the oak-tree near the claim-cabin, 
 with the firm resolve, hands off while we held a 
 spelling bee below the tree. Don't you remember, 
 Dr. Whistler, how we sat there on the ground with 
 the blackbirds chattering overhead and the rabbits 
 scudding all about us, and how hard it was to fix 
 attention on the stupid book, when target shooting 
 was so much more to our taste ? " 
 
 Dr. Whistler gave a retrospective smile. " That is 
 one of the memories that cling to us through life," 
 said he. " I have that very book in which I learned 
 the A B C's, with the little claim-girl for my 
 teacher ; " and he took a tattered, coverless primer 
 from his pocket, viewing it as if it were a treasure 
 of great value. " Now, then, shall we set up the 
 target and review the scene of spelling-book versus 
 bow and arrow, in real earnest ? " 
 
 " Dear me ! I should be completely worsted in the 
 trial," Prairie laughingly replied. "I've scarcely 
 fired an arrow since I was a girl of fourteen, but 
 you have worked away at letters till you wouldn't 
 be appalled to be confronted by a spelling-book in 
 several languages." 
 
 " Not to speak of all the medical research by which 
 you've gained the title of M. D./' said Lawyer Kearn.
 
 64 PIOKEE AND HEK PEOPLE. 
 
 " The hardest work of all was right here on the 
 pages of this simple book," said Dr. Whistler, open- 
 ing the primer musingly and turning its leaves with 
 tender care. 
 
 " How did you feel when you were toiling over 
 it ? Do tell us," said Sweetbrier Rose with interest. 
 
 " Well, as nearly as I recollect, I felt that I must 
 ' mind my teacher,' as the children say, and not 
 disgrace myself too badly in her view, however 
 great my agony to master ABC. Strange to say, 
 I didn't care a whit for all the learning in creation 
 till the little claim-girl thoroughly convinced me by 
 her missionary zeal that she was deeply interested 
 in my welfare. Her approval was the sugar coating 
 to the pill of application, which I swallowed with a 
 wry face and much savage grumbling. I suspect, 
 too, that the tomahawk cookies that she used to 
 bake for me did much toward awakening my dor- 
 mant intellect," he added, with a smile that showed 
 his strong white teeth. " Do you remember, Mrs. 
 Sparkling Eyes, how they increased in size as I pro- 
 gressed in knowledge ? The longer the word I 
 spelled correctly, the longer the handle to the toma- 
 hawk and the more murderous the blade." 
 
 There was a hearty laugh all round at this delight- 
 ful reminiscence of the learned physician's boyish 
 struggles with the dog-eared spelling-book. 
 
 " Ah me ! I fear I was a very inconsistent mis-
 
 THE HOMESTEAD CLUB*S REUNION. 65 
 
 sionary," answered Prairie, as the merriment sub- 
 sided ; " I should have chosen a less warlike symbol 
 than a tomahawk in which to put my ' sugar and 
 spice and everything nice ' for a wild Indian boy's 
 reward of merit. It is a wonder that I didn't start 
 you on the warpath, Dr. Whistler, instead of luring 
 you into the peaceful paths of study." 
 
 Miriam had alighted from Ream's shoulder to 
 seize the bow with rapture, and her eagerness to 
 speed an arrow could no longer be restrained. 
 
 " Please show me how to fire 'e pwetty shooter, 
 Mr. Doctor," she implored. 
 
 " Well, wee yellow hair," said Dr. Whistler, drop- 
 ping on one knee beside her, " will you aim your 
 arrow at the sun, or at a bird upon the wing ? " 
 
 " I fink I'll aim at my dear papa," was her safe 
 conclusion. " I mustn't hit him for 'e world, but 
 I must miss him near enough to make him jump." 
 
 John hid behind a tree in mock alarm, and Miriam, 
 wild with glee, let fly the arrow. It missed the 
 tree by several yards, but papa jumped into the air 
 to carry out the programme, and executed several 
 frantic leaps thereafter, as if the arrow still pursued 
 him. Miriam screamed with laughter, enjoying the 
 archery sport as hugely as her mother used to when 
 she was the little claim-girl. 
 
 After Miriam was satisfied, the bow and arrow 
 went the rounds, and all except Piokee tried their
 
 66 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 skill in firing at the target. She did not touch the 
 bow, but, standing somewhat separate from the rest, 
 watched the sport with an abstracted gaze that Dr. 
 Whistler did not fail to notice. 
 
 The senior member of the Homestead Club, Grand- 
 papa Wilde, had now come over from his farm to 
 welcome Kearn and Rose and Dr. Whistler, and the 
 meeting on the law r n adjourned. 
 
 On their way toward the house, Dr. Whistler 
 dropped behind the rest and waited for Piokee, com- 
 ing slowly up the walk alone. 
 
 " Piokee used to like the bow and arrow. Can it 
 be she has lost interest in the sport ? " he asked 
 with some surprise, falling into step beside her. 
 
 " Yes, my chief," she answered listlessly. " I 
 think T shall never care for any kind of sport again." 
 
 Piokee had a quaint, respectful way of calling Dr. 
 Whistler " my chief." This Prairie had taken care 
 to teach her just as soon as she was old enough to 
 lisp the words. It was in recognition of the tribal 
 title that had vanished with the scattering of his 
 father's band. 
 
 No sooner had Piokee made this answer than she 
 wished she could recall it, for Dr. Whistler stopped 
 abruptly and, wheeling round before her on the 
 walk, looked at her with a professional air, saying 
 very gravely : 
 
 " I think you need some liver powders, or per-
 
 THE HOMESTEAD CLUB'S REUNION. 67 
 
 haps a tonic for your nerves. It is something new 
 for you to be low-spirited." 
 
 " 0, no, indeed ! There's not the slightest need 
 of any medicine," replied Piokee, startled by his 
 searching gaze that seemed to look into her mind 
 as if to read the cause of her disquietude. " I'll 
 play all sorts of games and exercise all day, if you 
 won't go to doctoring me," she promised, with a 
 frantic effort to shake off the mopes. 
 
 " I must inquire of Mamma Prairie about the 
 books and music," he went on, regardless of her pro- 
 test. " She is too wise to let you overtax yourself 
 with study, under her tuition, if she knows it ; but 
 I am inclined to think you need a long vacation." 
 
 Piokee shuddered in heart, thinking of the long 
 vacation whose beginning might be near. There 
 rose before her mind a picture of the Indian village 
 she had flitted through while on a wondering, half- 
 frightened visit to her people, years before, and she 
 saw herself as one of its inhabitants : the men and 
 boys strolling listlessly about, or lolling in the sun, 
 the girls and women working stolidly, or chattering 
 empty tattle, all without one bright inspiring thought 
 of books or the society of chosen friends. 
 
 Surely there could be no peaceful study hours, 
 no self-improvement in the midst of such surround- 
 ings, even if the precious books and violin went- 
 with her when the loved teachers were forsaken.
 
 68 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 The quick dissolving vision vanished in mid-air, 
 and left her standing on the sunny lawn with Dr. 
 Whistler. 
 
 " Oh ! please don't speak to Mamma Prairie ; it 
 would worry her," she begged, more and more dis- 
 mayed that she had given Dr. Whistler a hint of 
 her distress. "I'm going very slow in everything ; 
 Caesar is only at war with the Belgians in Latin, 
 and Cleopatra has just been bitten by the asp in 
 history. I'm scanning the Lady of the Lake in 
 English poetry, and am stuck fast not half-way 
 through the algebra. I'm in the third position on 
 the violin, and have been practicing a piece I am to 
 play to-night the best I can." 
 
 "That is not so bad as I expected," answered Dr. 
 Whistler, with a smile, " unless the quagmire in the 
 algebra has caused too great a mental strain. I 
 feared that you were too ambitious to be ready for 
 the Eastern school, and were taking long lessons in 
 too many books. The school must wait till you can 
 enter it without taxation. You will need a vigor- 
 ous mind and perfect health to fit you to become a 
 missionary to our people. That is your chosen life- 
 work, is it not ? " 
 
 She was saved from answering, for " Little Annie 
 Rooney " burst upon the ear in airy strains just 
 then, and Ebenezer hurried from the stable, taking 
 long strides toward the house.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE CHARIOT. 
 
 TT'S the Tan-an'-freckle Soap-an'-di'mon' char- 
 JL lot, that's travelin' through the country ; 
 Sally's got my money under lock an' key," was the 
 information Ebenezer flung out in passing. 
 
 There now appeared in sight a gayly decorated 
 but extremely dusty chariot, whose pair of fagged- 
 out horses plucked up sudden energy in coming 
 through the gate, bearing down on the tenant house 
 like capering colts, and rattling the chariot like a 
 charge of musketry. The musicians, an accordion 
 girl and banjo boy, bounced upon their throne, 
 clutched the pillars to the canopy for a support, 
 and "Little Annie Rooney," with a few expiring 
 squeaks, was choked off in the middle of the chorus. 
 It chanced to be a caucus day throughout the 
 county, and the chariot was decked with a bewilder- 
 ing array of stars and stripes that charmed the pa- 
 triotic eyes of quite a cavalcade of farmers' boys,
 
 70 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 who had been falling into line behind it all along 
 the way. 
 
 There was an instant ripple of excitement on the 
 ranch, for a peddler's wagon of such smart preten- 
 sions was a novel sight in this locality. Stout Mrs. 
 Biddle waddled out to meet the show with flurried 
 wonder, thither Ebenezer escorted Sally, and the 
 hired men, just home from voting at the caucus, 
 gathered round it. 
 
 " Oh ! please take me over to 'e pwetty circus, 
 Dewdwop quick ! quick 1 " cried Miriam, dancing 
 down the steps of the piazza. 
 
 " Well, run along, but keep to one side, and be 
 careful not to let the elephant toss you up," laughed 
 John. 
 
 When Piokee reached the spot with Miriam, the 
 peddler was setting forth the merits of the Tan-and- 
 freckle Soap. 
 
 " The Tan-an '-freckle Soap, ladies an' gentlemen, 
 is the wonder of the age. Why, gentlemen, if I 
 was in the habit of exaggeratin' I might say 'twould 
 take the spots off of a bird's-eye maple door, sayin' 
 nothin' of the blemishes on the sun an' wind-kissed 
 faces of yer most admired young lady friends with 
 otherwise beautyous complexions." 
 
 Here Ebenezer glanced at Sally, who tossed her 
 head and turned away to hide a conscious blush ; 
 and the accordion girl, whose thickly spattered
 
 THE CHARIOT. 71 
 
 freckles were so many wondering little " o's " ex- 
 claiming at the peddler for daring to impart such 
 merit to the soap, fixed her twinkling eyes on 
 Piokee and smothered an uprising giggle. 
 
 " Only twenty-five cents a cake, an' a prize pack- 
 age with a piece of rare Eureky di'mon' jewelry, 
 throwed in ! Wake up, gentlemen, an' buy a pres- 
 ent for yer lady friends. If yer so unfortunate that 
 you hain't got no lady friends, you can use the soap 
 to keep yer heads an' whiskers thick and shiny." 
 
 The soap found ready sale, notwithstanding the 
 accordion girl's complexion, for the " diamond jew- 
 elry " was a tempting bait that allured many 
 nibblera. 
 
 " We'll give ye some more soul-stirrin' music per- 
 resently," remarked the peddler, while dealing out 
 the soap. " You must excuse the absence of a 
 fiddle ; I'm on the lookout fer a girl-performer to 
 jine our or-ches'try an' be comp'ny fer my daugh- 
 ter. These yer musicians air my son an' daughter, 
 ladies an' gentlemen. We're a trav'lin' fambly, as 
 it ware." 
 
 " Ye oughter hear Miss Dewdrop play the fiddle," 
 said Ebenezer, pointing to Piokee with the silver 
 dollar he was handing up for four cakes of soap and 
 the included prize packages. 
 
 The peddler turned his glance on Piokee with an 
 instant eye to business.
 
 72 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 " Look here," said he, with animation, seeing that 
 she was an Indian girl. " I'll offer you a good big 
 salary to travel South with us dressed up in Injun 
 toggery as a fiddlin' ghost dancer." 
 
 ' Oh! " said she, "I couldn't be a ghost dancer, 
 for I don't believe in the Indian Messiah. But I 
 could wear an Indian costume and play the violin," 
 thinking for an instant that in this way she might 
 earn enough to pay her father another ransom. 
 "Though of course I couldn't go they would 
 never let me Mamma Prairie and the rest," she 
 immediately bethought herself. 
 
 "No, no!" cried Miriam in alarm. "My Dew- 
 dwop couldn't go off wiv 'e circus no indeed." 
 
 " Wa-al, don't be too sartin," said the peddler. 
 " We're goin' on beyond, an' shall be back in some- 
 thin' like two weeks. You can talk with them that 
 has the say so, an' may be we can strike a bargain. 
 But it must be fair an' square. I don't incourage 
 no e-lopements like some travelin' charioteers," and 
 he again became absorbed in the disposal of his 
 wares. 
 
 Slipping down from her position on the dry-goods 
 box that formed the throne, the accordion girl 
 dropped into a vacant niche below the dashboard, 
 where she drew Piokee to her by a telegram from 
 her twinkling eyes, while the soap was being dealt 
 out from the rear.
 
 THE CHARIOT. 73 
 
 " Don't you go a single step. It's horrid," whis- 
 pered she, bending over till the tassel of her red 
 cap brushed Piokee's head. " The customers would 
 stare at you, an' you would have to eat cold beans 
 an' camp out like a gypsy, when we couldn't strike 
 a town in time. Then, too, Sammy sometimes has 
 a spell, right while he's playin' the banjo, an' leaps 
 clear out of the chariot, an' scares the customers, 
 an' spoils the trade." 
 
 " Poor boy ! does he have fits ? " Piokee asked, 
 with a pitying look at the youth upon the throne, 
 who leaned his elbows on his banjo in an absent- 
 minded way, and seemed to search the firmament 
 with his eyes. 
 
 " Only trances. He's in first-rate health," re- 
 sponded the accordion girl. " Nothin' ails him but 
 his second sight. He's a mind reader Sammy is. 
 Some folks thinks he makes it all, but if anything 
 was worryin' you distracted, I reckon he could tell 
 exactly what it was by lookin' at you." 
 
 " Oh ! don't let him how dreadful ! " said Pio- 
 kee, turning her back on the hawk-eyed banjo boy, 
 in conscious dread that he might ferret out her 
 secret. 
 
 " No danger now ; Sammy can't do anything un- 
 less he has a spell," the accordion girl composedly 
 assured her. " He goes by fits an' starts, you see. 
 Pa says if he could be depended on, there'd be a
 
 74 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 fortune in that second sight of hisn. Well, I like 
 your looks, and you'd be company for me, but pa is 
 apt to make big promises he can't carry out. If he 
 should invest in you, an' pay you, 'twould eat up 
 all the profits an' there'd be nothin' to send home 
 to ma an' the other six children, down in Texas. 
 If he didn't pay you, pins an' needles would be 
 stickin' me to think how you was bein' cheated." 
 
 " Please don't let 'e music girl whisper in your 
 ear," begged Miriam, clinging to Piokee's dress in 
 wonder at the stifled interview. " Is she coaxing 
 you to go away wiv her ? " wide-eyed with terror at 
 the thought. " Oh ! I must take my Dewdwop 
 home. I'm afwaid to twust her wiv vis kind of 
 circus," and she bore Piokee off in trembling haste, 
 while the accordion girl, with a farewell nod, 
 remounted the throne.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE WOODEN WEDDING. 
 
 "TTERY early in the evening, before the wedding 
 V guests began to gather, Piokee came down- 
 stairs with restless feet to hie away into her favorite 
 nook in a wing beyond the parlors, where were kept 
 the books, some mineral cabinets, and a store of 
 Indian curiosities. 
 
 Piokee wore a gown of yellow silk, with ribbons 
 of the same bright color fluttering down the skirt, 
 from beneath a silver girdle round her waist. There 
 were coils of silver on her arms, and several strands 
 of silver beads around her neck. A frost-work ar- 
 row pierced her braided hair, and there were filigree 
 buckles on the dainty slippers on her slender feet. 
 These rather barbaric but becoming ornaments were 
 a gift from Dr. Whistler, who liked to see his dusky 
 little friend as brilliantly attired as came within the 
 bounds of civilized taste. 
 
 " Hum ! " observed Aunt Abigail, who was in the 
 
 75
 
 76 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 dining-room with Prairie, and saw Piokee as she 
 flitted downstairs ; " a brown alpaca would have 
 been more suitable for this occasion. I wonder, 
 Prairie, that you'll gratify a craving for such savage 
 finery. You should make an effort to subdue the 
 Indian in Dewdrop ; though of course that is as 
 fixed as the eternal hills, never to be blotted out." 
 
 " 0, Auntie ! don't," begged Prairie softly. " She 
 looks so pretty like a brightrwinged bird. I hope 
 she didn't hear you ; it would spoil her pleasure in 
 the lovely costume." 
 
 Pursued by the penetrating voice, that all too 
 surely pierced her heart, Piokee fled across the 
 empty back parlor to the curiosity room, and drew 
 the drapery across the doorway with a sweeping 
 rush, as if to shut the whole world from her view. 
 
 She stopped before a mirror hung between two 
 cabinets, and viewed herself from head to foot. 
 She felt as if she had awakened from a life-long 
 dream to find that she was not herself, but some 
 one else whom she abhorred. And there was her 
 rebellious image looking at her from the glass, 
 haughtily erect, with a defiant frown beneath the 
 straight black bangs, with curling lips and burning, 
 coal-black eyes. 
 
 " Oh ! you hateful, hateful thing ! You are an 
 Indian, and I despise you," she ejaculated in a vehe- 
 ment undertone. " It doesn't make one bit of dif-
 
 ! OH ! YOU HATEFUL, HATEFUL THING ! " SHE EJACULATED.
 
 THE WOODEN WEDDING. 79 
 
 ference if you have been loved, and taught, and 
 prayed for all your life, just as if you were the 
 dearest white girl ; you're a savage Indian, all the 
 same. Why, don't you know an Indian's nature is 
 as fixed as the eternal hills, and you must be sly, 
 and treacherous, and selfish, and revengeful, how- 
 ever hard you twist and turn and try to run away 
 from it ? Oh ! you can't escape the doom of all 
 your race, and you needn't look so fierce, as if 
 you'd like to jump right out of there and kill me on 
 the spot for saying so. If you were to die for it 
 you couldn't be true to Mamma Prairie, nor loyal 
 to your own people ; and if you would deceive the 
 dearest, sweetest friend that ever took a starving 
 baby to her heart, and hate your own flesh and 
 blood, what wouldn't you do, I wonder ? You pre- 
 tend to fairly worship darling little Miriam, but I 
 shouldn't be at all surprised if you'd just love to 
 torture her yes torture Miriam ! And worst 
 of all, you look as if you didn't care one bit if you 
 are made of stone, you hard, hard Indian." 
 
 Piokee paused for breath, still viewing her rebel- 
 lious image with a merciless gaze. 
 
 Another figure, stepping from a curtained alcove, 
 suddenly appeared beside hers in the mirror. It 
 was Dr. Whistler, who had been visiting the curi- 
 osity corner, and adding to it some new relics. 
 
 He stood quite still awhile, surveying the now
 
 80 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 startled little image in the yellow gown with flutter- 
 ing ribbons in a half-amused, half-puzzled way. 
 
 " Piokee does quite well at amateur theatricals," 
 he presently remarked. "I should say, that her 
 original drama is entitled i The Soliloquy of the 
 Indian's Bad Heart.' " 
 
 " Oh ! did you hear it all ? " said she, shrinking 
 hastily aside and drawing her reflection from the 
 mirror. " No ; I wasn't practicing theatricals," she 
 faltered, the red blood surging over her dusky face. 
 "I meant it, every word. I really had the bad 
 heart when I talked that way." 
 
 Dr. Whistler knit his brows as if confronted by a 
 problem he was at a loss to answer. 
 
 "So that is the cause of the low spirits that I 
 fancied called for liver powders and a tonic for the 
 nerves. Poor little girl ! " he took Piokee's hand in 
 a protecting way ; " what cruel blow has fallen on 
 your bright young life to teach you what I learned 
 so long ago, that it is no happy fate to be an 
 Indian ? " 
 
 She could not carry her confession further, and 
 tell him all that had transpired within the last two 
 days, and he was left to wonder at the change in 
 her. 
 
 " I see," observed he as she did not speak, but 
 stood with downcast eyes, " that Piokee's soul is 
 in revolt against the poor Indian. She has joined
 
 THE WOODEN WEDDING. 81 
 
 hands with the white man, and would hunt him 
 down and drive him from the face of the earth." 
 
 " Yes," she owned, almost in a whisper ; " you 
 will think me dreadfully disloyal to our race, my 
 chief, and I used to think I was so proud to be 
 an Indian ; but I wish, oh ! I wish so much that I 
 were a white girl. I'm ashamed to be an Indian," 
 she burst out impetuously, thinking of the terrible 
 father, with the ghastly row of dangling dolls about 
 his scalp-lock. 
 
 " Nevertheless, the Indian is a fixed fact, and you 
 will have to make the best of it," said Dr. Whistler 
 very gravely, almost sternly. After a little pause 
 he said, more gently : 
 
 " It is one of life's hard questions we must bravely 
 face, Piokee, why you and I are destined to belong 
 to that unfortunate race whom all except a few 
 good men and women, called humanitarians, regard 
 as utterly incurable vagabonds. And worst of all 
 is this mysterious Indian nature, which requires 
 harder fighting than the most merciless white man 
 that has ever been our foe. You have confessed to 
 me, Piokee, that you are ashamed to be an Indian, 
 and I will return the confidence by saying that I am 
 at heart as great a vagabond as any of those reck- 
 less scamps who are to-night engaging in the ghost 
 dance in Dakota." 
 
 "What, you, my chief ? " exclaimed Piokee, look-
 
 82 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 ing in amazement at the civilized doctor, standing 
 victoriously erect, but smiling gloomily, as if review- 
 ing a doubtful conquest. " I didn't think you ever 
 wanted, for a single half-instant, to be like those 
 dreadful men." 
 
 " I don't want to, and, God helping me, I never 
 will be," was his solemn answer ; " but I sometimes 
 feel I must. Like you and your reflection in the 
 mirror you were so emphatically denouncing, there 
 are two of me. My counterpart is a Black Hawk 
 Indian " 
 
 " 0, Dewdrop ! here you are," cried Floy, who 
 swept aside the drapery at the door, and burst into 
 the room, a radiant vision in pale blue. 
 
 She stopped with some embarrassment on seeing 
 Dr. Whistler, w r hom she had never met. She had 
 fancied she should stand somewhat in awe of this 
 peculiar combination of a " real live Indian " and a 
 civilized doctor. 
 
 Finding him a grave but cordial gentleman, whose 
 smile was most attractive, and whose " eagle eyes," 
 as she had pictured them, were stern or gentle as 
 the case demanded, she was soon at ease and chat- 
 ting merrily away with him. 
 
 " My cousin Ellery is here, all on tiptoe to be in- 
 troduced to you," she presently announced. "And 
 my sister Priscilla wants to hear you talk. She says 
 she means to keep within a listening distance of you
 
 THE WOODEN WEDDING. 83 
 
 all the evening ; but, dear me ! I shouldn't have 
 told you that," and Floy blushed brightly. " Please 
 don't feel annoyed if we buzz around you asking 
 ever so many curious questions. Of course we shall 
 know better, but I'm afraid we just can't help it, we 
 are all so interested in the Indian problem. Later 
 in the evening, when we are all together, we'd like 
 to hear about that Black Hawk Indian you were 
 speaking of when I came in your partner, I think 
 you called him," was her startling request. 
 
 " You would not care to know him," Dr. Whistler 
 said evasively. " I avoid him all I can, but owing 
 to our peculiar relations I am sometimes forced to 
 meet him face to face." 
 
 And with an odd smile, that increased Floy's in- 
 terest to hear about the Black Hawk Indian, he dis- 
 missed the subject, and escorted the girls to the 
 parlors, where the company were now gathering. 
 
 They were pleasant, well-dressed people from the 
 neighboring farms and ranches and the little town a 
 few miles distant. Priscilla, Floy and Ellery were 
 the only young guests, as the party was for older 
 ones. Priscilla was a slender, brown-haired girl, 
 whose dress of silver gray well became her dove-like 
 face. 
 
 In joining the company, Piokee strove hard to 
 forget her trouble for the evening, and was as calm 
 as usual, and apparently as cheerful.
 
 84 PIOKEE AND HEK PEOPLE. 
 
 The bouquet of feathers audaciously peeped from 
 beneath the lapel of Ellery's dress coat, and tucked 
 into a fold of Piokee's gown, beneath her girdle, 
 was the college badge ; but there appeared to be no 
 mutual recognition as the two were introduced. 
 
 Ellery was vastly more at ease with civilized Pio- 
 kee than he had been with the wild young squaw, 
 and betrayed no curiosity when face to face with 
 this new, interesting type of Indian girl Prairie had 
 developed from the vagabond race. 
 
 When Piokee played the violin, drawing out of it 
 the sweet old-time strains of " The Blue Juniata," 
 Ellery turned her music in the most attentive man- 
 ner, and watched her graceful bowing with well-bred 
 admiration, but without surprise. 
 
 At last he said, " I met Bright Alfarata yesterday." 
 
 " Did you, really ? How could she leave the Blue 
 Juniata ? " said Piokee, with a gleam of mischief. 
 
 " The Government has broken another treaty, and 
 driven her away," said Ellery, with responsive mis- 
 chief. " Never more will she paddle her i light 
 canoe adown the rapid river/ She has come West 
 to settle on a new reservation." 
 
 " ' Loose were her jetty locks, 
 In wavy tresses flowing,' 
 
 when I was introduced to her on Uncle Fred's piazza. 
 She wears them in a braid to-night, and her wild-
 
 THE WOODEN WEDDING. 85 
 
 wood costume is exchanged for a bewildering even- 
 ing dress; but I know her by her unmistakable 
 self-poise and her Beacon Street bow. That was a 
 merciless joke you perpetrated yesterday, Miss Dew- 
 drop, on a trusting Freshman, pining for a glimpse 
 of the untutored savage." 
 
 " Do forgive me, and swapee back again," begged 
 Piokee, holding out the charm. 
 
 " Yes, and no," was Ellery's laughing answer. 
 "I will try to cultivate a forgiving spirit, but it 
 was a fair trade, and I shall insist on keeping my 
 bouquet. Priscilla has a Houdan rooster wearing 
 feathers very much like mine, but for all that I con- 
 sider him a curious bird," amiably acknowledging 
 the playful fraud of which he was the victim. 
 
 Floy came back to find the charm attached to 
 Piokee's necklace, and the two ensconced in the bay 
 window, engaged in interesting conversation. 
 
 " Oh ! then he did know you all the time ; you 
 have settled scores," said she, taking in the situation 
 at a glance. " Did you suspect before you came 
 here, Ellery, that the wild young squaw was Piis- 
 cilla's pet violinist she had told you so much about ? " 
 
 " Well," said Ellery, " in pondering on the sub- 
 ject, I could but wonder if the rage for russet shoes, 
 such as I observed Bright Alfarata wore, had struck 
 the reservation, and if a barber trimmed the bangs 
 of all the wild young squaws. Then the Houdan
 
 86 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 rooster's plumage, and my singular uneasiness be- 
 neath Bright Alfarata's civilized gaze, which she 
 could not disguise, also helped enlighten me." 
 
 " I see you're learning something more about the 
 Indian problem every day," laughed Floy. " Now, 
 then, Dr. Whistler is in the curiosity room, talking 
 with Priscilla all alone, and if we make a raid on 
 him, I'm sure we can persuade him to tell us about 
 that Black Hawk Indian." 
 
 " Oh ! don't ask him," said Piokee, greatly startled. 
 "He would be displeased, and you can't imagine 
 how he'd frighten you if he looked stern." 
 
 " No ; I can't imagine Dr. Whistler as a frightful 
 monster," answered Floy composedly. " But why 
 should he look stern about the Black Hawk Indian ? " 
 opening her eyes with wonder. 
 
 " Because," said Piokee, hesitating whether she 
 should say it, but intent on stopping Floy at all 
 events, " it is the other side of himself." 
 
 Floy looked puzzled for an instant ; then she burst 
 into a merry little peal of laughter. 
 
 "Well, the right side is so splendid the wrong 
 side must be noble, too," she said. " I mean to find 
 out if he's like a three-ply carpet good to turn, 
 when one gets tired of the same thing over and 
 over." And away she flew. 
 
 Piokee and Ellery remained in the bay window. 
 Presently Floy came back triumphant.
 
 THE WOODEN WEDDING. 87 
 
 " Come, I've won him over," she announced. 
 
 They found Priscilla looking shocked at Floy's 
 audacity in dragging the Black Hawk Indian from 
 his ambuscade, but Dr. Whistler looked simply 
 amused, and did not seem so averse to humoring 
 Floy as Piokee had expected. 
 
 " I warn you, Miss Floy," said he, " that you will 
 recoil in horror from the Black Hawk Indian ; but 
 since you have a strong desire to meet him, it may 
 be the surest way to cure you of your interest in 
 the revengeful fellow by bringing him before you 
 for one minute."
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE BLACK HAWK INDIAN. 
 
 ~l\/" Y counterpart's first memory," began Dr. 
 
 JLV_L Whistler, " is of his mother's lullaby, 
 
 soothing him to sleep with a recital of the brave 
 
 deeds of his ancestor, the great chief Black Hawk. 
 
 " i Go to sleep, my boy,' ran the lullaby, i your 
 great forefather was a mighty warrior. He told his 
 young men. that the Indian's war-path is a long way 
 through a thick wood, where the trees are like the 
 stars in number go to sleep, my boy. On every 
 tree is marked a picture of a white man's bad deed 
 to the Indian. For every wrong the Indian must 
 take a white man's scalp go to sleep, my boy. 
 When there are not men enough to pay the debt, 
 the pale-faced women must be seized as captives ; 
 and the frightened children torn from mother's 
 arms go to sleep, my boy. 
 
 " ' Go to sleep, my boy your great forefather 
 and his braves no longer tread the war-path. Their
 
 THE BLACK HAWK INDIAN. 89 
 
 sons and grandsons have been conquered by the 
 white man, who has slain the deer and buffalo, and 
 robbed the Indian of his hunting grounds go to 
 sleep, my boy. Your father is no longer chief. 
 His head is bowed with shame that you, his strong 
 young son, will have no band to rule, and will be 
 powerless to avenge the wrongs that you have suf- 
 fered from the white man go to sleep, my boy.' 
 
 " Thus ran the lullaby, on and on, until the boy 
 fell asleep to dream of the glories of the war-path, 
 and of wreaking vengeance on the red man's foe. 
 
 " When he was still a little lad he saw his people 
 driven from their lands in Kansas, as they had been 
 driven from another reservation across the Missis- 
 sippi years before. The little Black Hawk Indian 
 staid behind with his rebellious father, who clung to 
 the old reservation, refusing support from the Gov- 
 ernment, and sold a herd of ponies to buy a portion 
 of the land his people had relinquished by a treaty,, 
 
 " The lad retained a bitter memory of the blue- 
 coated soldiers with their bristling bayonets, who 
 formed a guard to move the quelled, dejected rem- 
 nant of a once proud tribe into another little corner 
 of the universe which the white man had not yet 
 begun to covet. 
 
 " As the lad grew older he panted to become a 
 warrior, and deplored the lack of spirit in his tribe 
 that made them peaceable while Northern Indians
 
 90 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 were on the war-path, struggling to match with 
 cunning cruelty the cool, relentless discipline of the 
 Government soldier. 
 
 "As a man, he heartily admires the pluck and 
 daring of those Modoc braves who fought like tigers 
 in the Lava Beds of Oregon, and glories in the for- 
 titude of the Nez Perces, who could still battle for a 
 hopeless victory in the howling wind and driving 
 snow at Bear Paw Mountain, and does not condemn 
 the treachery of the outraged Sioux, who lured Cus- 
 ter and his slender band into their death trap at 
 the Little Big Horn. 
 
 " When he hears of the Indian Messiah, who, his 
 people wildly hope, is coming to relieve their suffer- 
 ings, redress their wrongs, sweep the white man 
 from existence and bring back the deer and buffalo 
 to the old hunting grounds, his heart exults, and in 
 his dreams he joins the orgies of the ghost dancers, 
 whets his scalping knife, and holds himself in readi- 
 ness to spring to arms on instant warning to defend 
 the last forlorn hope of his dying race." 
 
 As Dr. Whistler's speech increased in vehemence, 
 his face grew black with vengeance, and his eyes 
 were quite appalling in their sternness. 
 
 Unconsciously, Ellery moved a step back, and 
 Floy and Piokee held their breath, and nestled close 
 together with their arms around each other. 
 
 The speaker paused a minute, wrapped in thought.
 
 THE BLACK HAWK INDIAN. 91 
 
 " 0, Dr. Whistler ! you frighten us," Priscilla 
 murmured, with a scared look in her gentle eyes. 
 
 The spell was broken in an instant, and a strong, 
 sweet smile dispelled the gloom of Dr. Whistler's 
 face. 
 
 " I gave you fair warning," reminded he, " that 
 you would better not meet this revengeful fellow. 
 He is the inevitable Indian, who, like Banquo's 
 ghost, ( will not down at my command.' " 
 
 " But he is rather splendid, after all, if he is re- 
 vengeful," said Floy romantically, "and I wouldn't 
 quite put an end to him, poor fellow." 
 
 "Now let's hear from the other man," said Ellery. 
 " Dr. Whistler, from your view as an educated 
 Indian, what shall we do with the Nation's Wards ? " 
 
 " In the first place, try to understand that they 
 are not wild beasts, needing only to be fed with raw 
 meat and kept in cages, very carefully barred, lest 
 they break loose and create a panic. Consider that 
 the Indian is a human being, with a soul in his 
 peculiar make-up, that may be found with patient 
 search. Adopting this opinion, try the humani- 
 tarian system ; treat him fairly ; even take him by 
 the hand and surprise him with a dose of brotherly 
 love, as our Lord has commanded us to love all 
 men." 
 
 " But," said Ellery, " the exterminators would de- 
 clare the Indian would scalp you with one hand,
 
 92 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 while you were grasping the other in brotherly 
 love." 
 
 "Well," said Dr. Whistler, "I don't deny that the 
 experiment is dangerous in some degree. The old 
 King Philip Indian still lives, and it will take a cen- 
 tury of brotherly love to cure him of his revengeful 
 instincts. But that the experiment can be success- 
 fully made, has been proven by the brave mission- 
 aries, who have gone to work with our most savage 
 Indians. There are tender girls among these teach- 
 ers, who have left luxurious homes to brave the 
 dangers of the frontier, and who stand as smiling 
 messengers of peace and goodwill in the very war- 
 path of the Messiah-crazed ghost dancers of the 
 North. It is a rare atonement for the wrongs the 
 Indian has suffered from the white man, and I ven- 
 ture the opinion that the wildest of those reckless 
 savages is not wholly insensible to the sacrifice." 
 
 Piokee caught her breath, and drew away from 
 Floy. The missionary girls had made the sacrifice 
 for an alien race ; she could not make it for her 
 own. Their hearts had reached out to strangers; 
 hers had turned against her own flesh and blood. 
 But the conditions were far different. They could 
 live in their own way, even though surrounded by 
 the Indians ; but how could she help sinking to the 
 level of her people, if her lot were cast with'theirs ? 
 And then, the missionary girls were not so young as
 
 THE BLACK HAWK INDIAN. 93 
 
 she. Years hence she, too, would go and work in 
 her appointed way. 
 
 " The education of the children seems to be the 
 only hope," said Ellery. 
 
 " Yes," said Dr. Whistler ; " if the children can 
 be kept from growing up in ignorance and idleness, 
 when all the older ones have passed away no doubt 
 the Indians will be peaceable and useful citizens of 
 the United States." 
 
 " If the babies could only all be adopted by white 
 people, just as Dewdrop was, the question would be 
 settled very soon," said Floy. " If the Government 
 must rob the Indians of something, why not leave 
 their land and take their babies ? They could be 
 scattered round by lot, and every family of good 
 standing, and enough means to support it, should be 
 liable to draw a baby. When the children were too 
 old and well brought up to ever grow uncivilized, 
 they might go back to their people and begin a big 
 reformation." 
 
 " But the going back would be too dreadful," 
 said Priscilla. "And then their foster parents 
 wouldn't give them up, if they were in the least 
 like Dewdrop," slipping a fond arm round her pu- 
 pil, little dreaming of the conflict in Piokee's heart. 
 
 "The going back of an Indian student is like 
 walking through a fiery furnace," said Dr. Whistler, 
 sadly remembering his own experience. "That is
 
 94 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 why, as far as possible, the children should be 
 taught at day schools on the reservation, or at the 
 agency schools. Thus they will not be wholly 
 weaned from home, and may shed the influence of 
 their work upon their parents." 
 
 " But Dewdrop says you have a young step- 
 brother, Naopope, who is at a white boys' school, 
 and never comes back to the reservation, even at 
 vacation time," said Floy, in something of a wonder 
 why the doctor did not practice what he preached, 
 and try his theory of home education on the brother. 
 
 " Nao's case is one of the impossibilities," he an- 
 swered, while a slight shade crossed his face. " He 
 is too fond of reservation life, and I have hoped to 
 cure him, in a measure, by these years of absence." 
 
 He did not pursue the subject, and Floy dropped 
 it, perceiving that he did not care to dwell on it. 
 
 " But if there is any other way, must they all go 
 back, however much they dread it ? " asked Piokee, 
 speaking for the first time, with trembling lips. 
 
 " They must if they have parents," was the iron- 
 clad reply. " Their mission is to work right there 
 in the tepee or hut, and though a host of them be 
 sacrificed, it is the only hope of bettering the for- 
 lorn condition of our race. The education of the 
 children will be all in vain, if it robs them of their 
 fortitude to share their parents' lot, whatever that 
 may be."
 
 THE BLACK HAWK INDIAN. 95 
 
 Her piteous appealing look went by unmarked, 
 for Sally now came scudding in, a shining messen- 
 ger from Ebenezer's gift of soap and " diamonds," 
 to call the little party to refreshments in the 
 dining-room. 
 
 The guests departed at a seasonable hour; Dr. 
 Whistler last of all. He wished to take the east- 
 bound train at dawn, and borrowing a horse of Mr. 
 Bowers, rode into town that night. 
 
 " Did you really mean that there is no escape ? " 
 pursued Piokee, drawing him aside while the few 
 remaining guests were taking leave. " Need they 
 all go back every one ? " 
 
 " You needn't," answered Dr. Whistler, smiling 
 down at her uplifted, anxious face. " You are a 
 rare exception to our race, in being a truly fortu- 
 nate Indian girl, Piokee. You can rest in happy 
 ease with Mamma Prairie for the present, since 
 there are no family ties drawing you to the tepee 
 or hut." 
 
 " But if there were," persisted she ; " if there 
 were a little brother and sister, growing up in the 
 old wild way, while I was learning more and more 
 of the beautiful new life, and going through the 
 Eastern school could they wait whole years for 
 me to come to them ? " 
 
 " Well, no," replied he, speaking seriously, though 
 with a spark of laughter in his eyes; "if you must
 
 96 PIOKEE AND HEK PEOPLE. 
 
 prepare your conscience for an unnecessary sacri- 
 fice, Piokee, I should say that the imaginary little 
 brother and sister would need prompt attention ; 
 that you should fly to them in haste, lest they be- 
 come too set in the old wild way to ever be tamed." 
 
 Blind Dr. Whistler ! Where was his usual dis- 
 cernment, that he did not see the step he was 
 advising her to take ? 
 
 She asked no further questions ; the wise strong 
 friend had said that she must go, and she rebelled 
 no longer. 
 
 There were days of silent waiting, while she kept 
 about her work and lessons just the same as ever, 
 petted Miriam in her still, soft way, and watched for 
 opportunities to wait with loving care on Mamma 
 Prairie, and Aunt Rose whom Uncle Kearn had left 
 to make a few weeks' visit at the ranch. 
 
 Dr. Whistler had advised more exercise, hence 
 Piokee could ride out on Chipmunk every day, 
 watching for the signal without awakening wonder. 
 
 Too soon she saw the broken bough, and made 
 her hasty preparations for the flight. 
 
 A few articles of clothing, warm and strong of 
 texture, her little workbox and a package of her 
 precious books were rolled up in a bundle, then the 
 doll and picture-book for Nanno relics of her own 
 happy childhood were laid beside the violin 
 within the case, to which she strapped the bundle.
 
 THE BLACK HAWK INDIAN. 97 
 
 In another roll were two Navajo blankets Dr. 
 Whistler had sent her as an Indian treasure. They 
 were of the softest, brightest colors, and were woven 
 with great skill and durability. She and Miriam 
 had been fond of playing Indian with these blankets, 
 and had often stretched them on a frame of poles 
 on the lawn, for a tepee of tiny size, but striking 
 elegance. In this they had encamped like gleeful 
 gypsies, with delicious messes simmering in a little 
 porcelain kettle hanging from crotched poles above 
 a fire outside the tent. 
 
 With heroic fortitude Piokee had played Indian 
 with Miriam on this last sorrowful afternoon, when 
 she returned from riding to the wood. Then she 
 had borne the blankets to her room, and bound 
 them with a shawl strap, ready for the flitting when 
 the ranch was wrapped in sleep. 
 
 " Dear little room, you are so sweet and white, 
 and you have been my very own so long so long," 
 she moaned in heart, sinking on her knees beside 
 the bed, to pray that she might be forgiven for 
 stealing forth like a thief at night from those to 
 whom she owed so much. 
 
 Then she crept out into the darkness, leaving the 
 little white room still and empty.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 IN THE MORNING. 
 
 , dear!" groaned Ebenezer, when the 
 flight had been discovered in the morning. 
 " It's all because I told the peddler that Dewdrop 
 was a fiddler. 'Tis a perfeck wonder that I hain't 
 been shet up in an idjut asylum long ago." 
 
 " No, 'tain't," soothed Sally, deluging the table- 
 cloth with coffee she was pouring while she looked 
 askance to keep from dropping tears into his cup. 
 "Don't take on so, Eben; 'tain't ev'rybuddy that 
 kin hev the best o' sense, an' ef you ain't sharpened 
 on both edges you ain't quite as dull as some poor 
 
 tools." 
 
 This compliment, the first that Sally had bestowed 
 on Ebenezer in the fourteen years of their acquaint- 
 ance, would have given him great joy, had not the 
 honest fellow been so staggered by the grief that 
 filled the house. 
 
 When Piokee did not come to breakfast, Miriam 
 
 98
 
 IN THE MOKNING. 99 
 
 was sent to call her, and came back reporting that 
 she was not in her room. 
 
 " I spect she's had an invitation out to bweakfast," 
 was the tot's conclusion ; " and has taken her violin 
 to make some music for her fwends. Her bed is 
 all made up nice, and evwy fing is spick-an'-span." 
 
 And at that moment Ebenezer sent in word by 
 Sally that Chipmunk was not in his stall. 
 
 Prairie wonderingly arose and went upstairs. She 
 was gone so long that Aunt Sweetbrier followed her, 
 with Miriam by the hand. 
 
 " What is it, dear ? " asked Rose, alarmed at find- 
 ing Prairie sitting in the little white room with a 
 stricken face. 
 
 " I don't know," said Prairie, in a far-off voice. 
 " It is so very strange. Some of her clothes and 
 things are missing. 0, Sweetbrier ! she must have 
 gone away to stay." 
 
 " Oh ! oh ! 'e music girl was whispering in her 
 ear, and now my Dewdwop's gone off wiv 'e circus," 
 Miriam cried, remembering the peddler's offer to 
 Piokee to engage her as a violinist. And she threw 
 herself face down upon the snowy bed Piokee's care- 
 ful hands had left in trim array, and broke into a 
 sorrowful wail. 
 
 A little later, the remorseful Ebenezer, who ac- 
 cused himself of having brought about the whole 
 calamity, was hurrying down his breakfast in the
 
 100 PIOKEE AND HEE PEOPLE. 
 
 kitchen, to start with Mr. Bowers to pursue the 
 peddler. The latter had passed through the neigh- 
 borhood again within a day or two, and it was sup- 
 posed Piokee had been lured from home to join his 
 orchestra. 
 
 " Here, don't slight the buckwheats, if you be in 
 sech a rush ; an* help yerself to pickles," flustered 
 Sally. She had managed to direct the flow of coffee 
 into Ebenezer's cup, and was now on the bound to- 
 ward the table from the stove with a bunch of pan- 
 cakes pinioned on a fork. 
 
 " No pickles, thank ye," he dejectedly declined. 
 " I'm in enough of a pickle now, lettin' cowcumpers 
 tee to tally alone." 
 
 " Wa-al, then, hev some scrambled egg an' maple 
 syrup, an' chirk up," she urged, peppering his 
 second cup of coffee and sugaring his egg, to help 
 along the rush. " 'Tain't a-goin' ter kill Dewdrop 
 to be fiddlin' round the country in that scrumptious 
 star-spangled chariot a day or two ; no, 'tain't. 'Tis 
 a picnic that most any girl would jump at, 'specially 
 an out an' out gypsy, sech as her." 
 
 " But Dewdrop ain't the kind o' girl ter jump at 
 picnics, and that's what makes it so tremenjous 
 strange," said Ebenezer, swallowing his peppered 
 coffee with distracted gulps. 
 
 " Little foster-sister, you and Mamma Prairie did 
 your very best. If you have failed with Dewdrop
 
 IN THE MORNING. 101 
 
 after all your care, how can there be the slightest 
 hope for any of her race ? " said John, taking Miriam 
 in his arms to comfort her before he left home on 
 his fruitless search. 
 
 " But it cannot be that we have failed/' trusted 
 Prairie, while she mourned. " I was so sure of 
 Dewdrop, John, I used to smile securely and say, 
 ' 0, yes ! why not ? ' when people doubtingly in- 
 quired if our red-brown girlie was contented in her 
 civilized home, and if she was truthful and sweet- 
 tempered, quick to learn, nice in her ways, and fond 
 of books and work. All this our little Indian maid 
 must be, however white girls miss perfection, be- 
 cause the world was looking on, expecting me to 
 fail in my experiment with a daughter of the out- 
 cast race. My little loving Dewdrop ! Why did 
 she wish to leave us ? " 
 
 "Why, because she is a born barbarian," said 
 Aunt Abigail, coming in with Prairie's father. The 
 tidings of Piokee's flight had burst upon them at 
 the breakfast-table through a herder from the ranch, 
 and they had dropped their knives and forks to 
 hasten over. " 'Tisn't to be wondered at one jot or 
 tittle, and the child herself is not to blame for want- 
 ing to become a wandering minstrel, if she has joined 
 the peddler's orchestra. What else can be expected 
 of the offspring of a race that has been gadding back 
 and forth from Dan to Beersheba ever since the
 
 102 PIOKEE AND HEK PEOPLE. 
 
 family of Noah were let out of the ark ? An Indian 
 would rather live on pounded acorns and be free 
 to roam the universe, than eat plum pudding from 
 a china saucer as a prisoner within four walls. I 
 hope she took her overshoes and winter flannels, 
 and some salve and liniment in case of accident. It 
 stands to reason she didn't take a trunk, if she stole 
 off horseback in the night." 
 
 " There seems to be the deepest mystery about 
 the whole affair," said Prairie's father. " I have 
 looked on Dewdrop as a model girl in all respects, 
 my daughter, and have thought your marked suc- 
 cess with her a singular triumph over race and 
 antecedents. Has she shown in any way of late 
 that she was growing tired of her quiet life ?" 
 
 " I have thought, within the last two weeks, that 
 she seemed a little restless," answered Prairie j " but 
 I didn't once think she was tired of home. Only 
 yesterday she came and stole her arms about my 
 neck, and said it was the sweetest home in all the 
 world, and asked me if I truly loved my red-brown 
 girlie. Then she went out riding, and came back 
 so still and strange I thought she must be ill." 
 
 " Meddlesome old maids don't need a spyglass to 
 discern a mountain from a molehill," said Aunt Abi- 
 gail, shooing down the kitten that was crawling up 
 her back, and straightening her spectacles to hide 
 her agitation ; " I was sure there was something
 
 IN THE MOKNING. 103 
 
 wrong, and if this family hadn't been as blind as a 
 whole nest of bats, you might have set a watch upon 
 the child and saved the whole calamity." 
 
 Aunt Sweetbrier, who had gone upstairs directly 
 after breakfast, now came back with a slip of paper 
 in her hand. 
 
 " Here, dear," she said to Prairie, " is a little note 
 we overlooked. I found it pinned to her pillow, on 
 the under side." 
 
 Prairie seized it eagerly, and with a tremor in 
 her voice read the parting message, written in a 
 clear, round, girlish hand : 
 
 " ( The Lord watch between me and thee, when we 
 are absent one from another.' ' : 
 
 There was silence in the room. Then the old 
 secure smile came back to Prairie's face. 
 
 " Dear child ! I'm glad I haven't had a doubting 
 thought. There's something we can't understand ; 
 but the Lord, who will watch between my poor lit- 
 tle wanderer and me, knows all about it, and we 
 shall know in time."
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 AT THE PECAN CAMP. 
 
 THE Navajo blankets saved Piokee actual suffer- 
 ing on her journey to the Reservation. Fau- 
 qua spared one blanket from her scanty camping 
 outfit, and with this she made a tiny wicki-up in 
 which Piokee, wrapped in the Navajo blankets, 
 curled herself night after night, the parents sleeping 
 near her in some leafy hollow sheltered from the 
 wind. 
 
 Fortunately for the wayworn girl, the breast of 
 Mother Earth, on which she laid her tired head at 
 night, was tender with the warmth of sunlit days, 
 and thus the long hard jaunt of scores of miles, 
 which occupied well-nigh a week, was made with 
 less discomfort than Piokee had anticipated. 
 
 Scattered through the timber were the pecan 
 gatherers, girls and women crouching on the ground 
 in odd fantastic groups, vigilantly searching for the 
 nuts among the leaves. 
 
 104
 
 AT THE PECAN CAMP. 105 
 
 To the younger boys belonged the task of climbing 
 to shake down what nuts were on the trees ; but 
 like their sires and elder brothers idling by the 
 camp fire over in the semicircle of the tents, most 
 of them disdained to work, and roamed the woods 
 at will with squirrel club and bow and arrow. 
 
 Up-a-tree, who was a champion climber and had 
 thereby gained his name, was shinning up a syca- 
 more trunk, clinging like a treetoad to the slick 
 white bark. The resemblance was the more com- 
 plete as Up was dressed from top to toe in gunny- 
 sacks, from which Piokee had evolved a shirt and 
 pair of trousers in great haste on her arrival at the 
 Reservation, to clothe the almost naked little fellow. 
 
 " If Up would only climb the pecans, instead of 
 sycamores and cottonwoods, he might shake down 
 the nuts, and risk his bones for something useful," 
 sighed Piokee, watching with fear and trembling 
 the wiry little acrobat performing perilous evolu- 
 tions in the tree-top. 
 
 " Up-a-tree say he not work like girl. Grow up 
 big Injun," Fauqua said. 
 
 She was balancing against a pecan-tree a rough 
 precarious ladder she had made by whittling notches 
 in two long slim poles, and winding grape-vines 
 back and forth across them for a brace. Up this 
 she was about to crawl, with crotched pole in hand, 
 to shake the lower branches of the tall pecan.
 
 106 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 " We must try to te.ach him better," said Piokee 
 patiently. " Up will have to change his ways and 
 go to work like smart little Nanno, or he'll never 
 make a truly great Indian whom Nanno and I will 
 be proud to call our brother." 
 
 Nanno was squatted in a queer round heap on the 
 ground stirring up the leaves for nuts. Dropping 
 down beside the little worker, Piokee took the small 
 rough hands between her own soft palms and held 
 them tenderly. The child looked up as if in wonder 
 at this marvelous new sister, so unlike in speech 
 and manner any being she had ever seen. 
 
 " What are you thinking, tiny still-tongue ? " 
 asked Piokee, studying the weirdly solemn little 
 face. " Are you wondering what makes a truly 
 great man red, or white, or black no matter 
 w r hat the color of his skin ? Feeling big doesn't 
 make him so, for the bigger he feels the smaller he 
 is sure to be. He needn't have a tall form, nor 
 strong muscles, nor swift feet though my chief 
 has all those but he must be strong, and wise, 
 and beautiful inside not too grand to think of 
 tender little ways for helping others, yet grand 
 enough to never dread to do the very hardest thing 
 himself. My chief is a truly great Indian, Nanno." 
 
 Piokee had grown talkative since coming to the 
 reservation. The placid silence she so often kept 
 at home amid the cheerful chit-chat of the house-
 
 AT THE PECAN CAMP. 109 
 
 hold was no longer possible, and she must bravely 
 fight against the dull despair that would have held 
 her voiceless in the presence of this dreary people 
 who had called her back to them. Since she could 
 no more hear the dear familiar language from the 
 lips of those she loved, she talked it to herself and 
 Fauqua, and, taking hold of Nanno with a yearning 
 grasp, she told the child her inmost thoughts, and 
 sometimes fancied that the little shy still creature 
 understood her meaning. 
 
 " Trees cry," said Fauqua, coming down to shift 
 the ladder to another spot, and standing still to 
 listen to the rising wind. " Storm come." 
 
 " Well, let it come," Piokee answered ; and she 
 set her teeth against the wind. "Up can hover 
 round the tent fire, as he has no shoes or jacket, 
 and has lost the cap I made him. I'm thankful 
 Nanno has a warm long coat and hood and leggings." 
 
 With the help of Fauqua, who was really skilled 
 with the needle, though like many civilized women 
 she had plied it hitherto in fancywork alone, Piokee 
 had comfortably clothed her little sister from a half- 
 worn blanket she had cleansed and made into a suit. 
 
 Nanno rubbed her hands upon her red coat, gazing 
 at another little girl near by, whose only garment 
 was a tattered calico frock. Was Nanno wishing 
 that this child, with all the other little reservation 
 gypsies, had a civilized elder sister to invent new
 
 110 PIOKEE AND HEE PEOPLE. 
 
 ways to keep them warm, to gently wash their 
 hands and faces, comb their tousled hair, and kiss 
 and cuddle them at unexpected times ? 
 
 " Poor little shivering thing ! " exclaimed Piokee, 
 following Nanno's glance. " And there are so many 
 more like her because their mothers haven't learned 
 the way. It seems as if the whole world, if it only 
 knew, would go to work to help them. And I 
 thought you wouldn't miss me, Nanno, because 
 you'd never known me. I wonder which we miss 
 more, what we've had and loved and lost, or what 
 we've never had and have so sadly needed ? " 
 
 The only answer to this query was a sharp whoop 
 from above, and with a whirl of arms and legs, Up 
 parted from a sycamore branch, and alighted on the 
 ground. With an elfish grin peculiar to himself, he 
 seized his squirrel club, and darted off in search of 
 new exploits. 
 
 " Dear me ! " Piokee said, " I thought wild horses 
 couldn't tear those canvas trousers, but Up has left 
 a piece of one leg hanging to the tree. I shall have 
 to patch it with a flour sack, and he will have a 
 ( Best Flour ' label running round his leg in red, 
 white and blue. Won't that look too funny, Nanno ? 
 If you don't laugh at that, I shall surely have to 
 shake and tickle you until you do." 
 
 Nanno kept her eyes still fixed reflectively on 
 Piokee's face.
 
 AT THE PECAN CAMP. Ill 
 
 " I care," she murmured, in a curiously unchildish 
 tone, finding her speech at length. 
 
 Of Nanno's few intelligible words, gathered from 
 her parents' broken English, " I care " came oftenest 
 from her lips. 
 
 " Poor little soul ! " exclaimed Piokee, catching 
 Nanno in her arms. "You needn't care you 
 mustn't care you are too young to care! Dear 
 me, I'd like to be a fairy with the power to whisk 
 you out of life a single instant, and bring you back 
 a happy, laughing little girl, like Miriam and the 
 other children in that lovely world you've never 
 seen." 
 
 Piokee almost lost her voice ; but swallowing the 
 big lump in her throat, she fell to work picking up 
 the nuts that Fauqua had brought down. 
 
 While thus engaged, she felt that she was being 
 pelted on the back with nuts, but looking round 
 could not at first discover whence they came. 
 
 There was a group of girls beneath a tree not far 
 away, from which a half-grown boy, more gallant 
 than his fellow youngsters off upon the hunt, was 
 shaking nuts. 
 
 Despite Piokee' s friendly smiles, the girls had 
 kept aloof from her thus far, staring, some in half- 
 shy wonder, some in open envy at her neat attire 
 that had not yet begun to show the wear and tear 
 of roughing it.
 
 112 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 This bright-faced, soft-eyed girl of their own race, 
 with gentle voice and manner, clad in civilized gown 
 and jaunty outing cap and ulster, was a revela- 
 tion to these gypsy maids. They themselves were 
 dressed in calico short-gown skirts and leggings, 
 having faded shawls or blankets hugged about them 
 for a wrap, and covering their unkempt heads. 
 
 As Piokee glanced toward them, one and all 
 seemed gravely occupied in gathering the nuts and 
 dropping them into the bags suspended from their 
 necks. 
 
 No sooner had she turned back to her own em- 
 ployment, however, than the nuts again began to 
 pelt her. One sharply struck her cheek. 
 
 Looking round a second time, she saw the un- 
 kempt heads turn quickly from her, and a sly smile 
 skip from face to face. 
 
 She now felt sure these girls had thrown the 
 nuts ; she was startled at the thought that they had 
 done this in a spirit of petty persecution which 
 might soon become more open. 
 
 The youngster in the tree appeared to be enjoy- 
 ing the mischief with the girls, and was peering 
 down on Piokee, slyly curious how she would 
 receive the challenge. 
 
 He was surprised to see her smilingly walk over 
 to the nutters, and flitting lightly round among 
 them, open each one's bag with a caressing little
 
 AT THE PECAN CAMP. 113 
 
 movement to drop therein a handful of her own 
 nuts as a good-will offering. 
 
 The girls made no resistance ; but in returning to 
 her tree Piokee heard a low ejaculation and a short 
 laugh, whether in derision or good nature she could 
 not determine. 
 
 The pelting ceased, however, and the pacified be- 
 siegers held a muttered parley. After some demur 
 from their companions, two of them came shyly 
 over to return the offering with a double handful of 
 their nuts. 
 
 They knew no word of English, nor could Piokee 
 speak the Indian language, but the friendly, help- 
 ful spirit of the civilized girl, reaching out to these 
 less fortunate young sisters of her tribe, needed no 
 interpretation. 
 
 Meantime, over in the semicircle of the tents, 
 where the old and young men smoked their pipes 
 before the camp fire, something of the deepest 
 interest was going on. 
 
 A party of wild-looking strangers had arrived in 
 camp that afternoon, to be received with most un- 
 usual ceremony. Other visitors in noiseless, hurry- 
 ing squads kept riding in, until the camps were 
 outnumbered thrice over. 
 
 Boys were sent the rounds to call the women to 
 the tents to cook a feast w r ith reckless hospitality. 
 
 "Injuns hold big council. Talk ghost dance,"
 
 114 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 said Fauqua, hauling down her ladder, and hoisting 
 it upon her back. 
 
 "Oh!" said Piokee, with a thrill of dread, "I 
 didn't think there was any danger of our tribe 
 joining in the ghost dance. They have not been on 
 the war-path for so many years." 
 
 " War-path still there. Messiah lead Injun on," 
 was Fauqua' s ominous reply. 
 
 Now came Cold Blast, stalking through the wood, 
 and beckoning to Piokee. Wondering what he 
 could desire of her, she went with him. 
 
 She did not fall behind him, as did Fauqua when 
 she walked with her liege lord no servile Indian 
 customs for Piokee but with a quick, light step 
 kept even pace beside him. He led her to a place 
 between the camp fire and the inner row of council- 
 ors, where she stood before the dark strange faces 
 and stern watchful eyes of the assembled braves, 
 with beating heart, but calm courageous mien.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 BEFORE THE COUNCIL. 
 
 HANDING Piokee a newspaper, Cold Blast said 
 to her : 
 
 " Messiah runner bring white man's paper. Lit- 
 tle tame squaw read ghost dance news. Wild Injun 
 not know how." 
 
 A confusion of strange thoughts rushed upon Pio- 
 kee as she realized that she only, of all those in the 
 camp, could read the printed words. 
 
 She glanced about the silent, waiting audience, in 
 whose melancholy faces was a smoldering resent- 
 ment of long-harbored wrongs, wishing she might 
 be inspired to make a glowing speech in their own 
 tongue, and convince them that the Indian Messiah 
 was but a myth to lead them to disaster. 
 
 " Read," again commanded Cold Blast, vexed by 
 her delay. 
 
 Looking through the paper hurriedly, she found 
 the latest tidings from the Northwest, and began to 
 
 115
 
 116 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 read. First came official news from Pine Ridge 
 Agency. 
 
 "'The Indians here are suffering for food. I 
 have nothing to give them.' " 
 
 Cold Blast interpreted the gloomy tidings to the 
 men in council, and a deep resentful murmur spread 
 among them. One commanding brave of the party 
 of wild strangers rose, and made a speech of some 
 length, emphasized with vehement gestures. 
 
 Just as she began to read, Piokee saw a most pe- 
 culiar-looking youth, who seemed to have arrived in 
 camp that minute, take his station right behind the 
 outside row of men, and standing with his back 
 against a tree, survey the scene with keenly curious 
 eyes. 
 
 This newcomer wore a civilized garb, but much 
 ashamed of it did he appear to be, for he had turned 
 his coat and vest and trousers inside out, and was 
 bristling with inverted seams, and hems and pockets, 
 and an odd display of airy linings. 
 
 There was a rakish dent in one side of his Derby 
 hat, and sticking through the holes with which the 
 crown was riddled, was a furious array of buzzard 
 quills, that pointed fore and aft and upward, in a 
 comically distracted way. 
 
 When the brave ceased speaking, Piokee read on 
 at a signal from her father. 
 
 " ' Plenty Bear, an old-time friendly Indian, who
 
 BEFORE THE COUNCIL. 117 
 
 lives at Wounded Knee, twenty -five miles northeast, 
 comes into Pine Ridge Agency with an alarming 
 report. He says the Indians at Wounded Knee, 
 numbering over tw r o thousand, have resumed the 
 ghost dance, with many war-like accompaniments. 
 They have taken the oath to resist interference, if 
 it costs the last drop of their hearts' blood.' " 
 
 An exclamation of applause arose from one and 
 all, and several of the men leaped up together and 
 began shaking hands with one another, as if joining 
 in the oath of their Dakota brethren. This brought 
 the rest upon their feet, and the youth in inside-out 
 apparel was also seized with the enthusiasm. Dart- 
 ing forward, he joined with gusto in the ceremony, 
 and did not fall back to his station by the tree till 
 he had wrung the hand of every brave. 
 
 While this was going on, Piokee glanced still 
 farther down the column, and saw that there was 
 far more thrilling news to come. Indeed, she feared 
 that, should she read it all, it would set the men, 
 already so excited, fairly wild. 
 
 She had heard a startling rumor that the first out- 
 break in Dakota was to be the signal for the gathering 
 of the red warriors North and South. Remembering 
 this rumor she decided to omit the lines reporting how 
 the Indians in the vicinity of Wounded Knee were 
 pillaging and burning the cabins of the white settlers, 
 who were fleeing for their lives ; how the Indians
 
 118 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 were all well-armed and full of courage ; were fa- 
 miliar with the places where the troops were being 
 sent and knew where was the best place to strike, 
 when the time for a general outbreak should come. 
 
 This, and much more, she passed over, and when 
 the hand-shaking ceased and the men sat down 
 again, she was ready with the part she chose to 
 read. This told how General Miles was hemming 
 the insurgents in on every side ; how the troops 
 were sleeping in their uniforms, with arms and 
 horses ready for an instant move, and nothing 
 would be left undone to make the charge on the 
 big bands at Wounded Knee and Porcupine an 
 overpowering success. 
 
 " ' It looks like a move that means utter extermi- 
 nation to the red warriors, if, when the military 
 close in on them, they refuse to lay down their 
 arms,' " was the concluding sentence. 
 
 " Ugh ! White man's print no good. Tell bad 
 news," muttered Cold Blast. And he snatched the 
 paper from Piokee's hand in great disgust and threw 
 it in the fire. She felt relieved to see it vanishing 
 into smoke. 
 
 When, as he dismissed her with a final nod, she 
 turned to leave the spot, she saw a look of deeper 
 gloom upon the faces of the men, and caught a 
 glance of quizzical surprise from the youth who 
 leaned against the tree.
 
 BEFORE THE COUNCIL. 119 
 
 Had he understood, without interpretation, all 
 that she had read, thought she ; and had he also 
 read the press dispatches and detected her omission ? 
 
 Yes ; she was quite sure he had, for now there 
 was a gleam of mocking laughter in the sharp black 
 eyes of this queer youth, who seemed a civilized 
 being turned back to savagery. 
 
 Piokee made her way to Chipmunk's grazing spot 
 behind the tents, where, with other ponies, he was 
 lariated near a patch of wild cane, feeding on the 
 fresh green brake. 
 
 " Chipmunk dear," she murmured, with her arms 
 around the pony's neck, " there is to be a ghost 
 dance in the camp to-night, and everything will be 
 so strange and frightful like a nightmare that I 
 once had at home. 
 
 " A cold storm is coming on, and we must both 
 be very brave. You will have to stand out in the 
 rain, and if I hear you whinnying for your nice 
 warm stall and sweet delicious oats, I'll have to cry 
 in spite of all. 
 
 " There'll be some dreadful strangers in the tent 
 for supper, and while they're sitting on the ground, 
 eating mush and squirrel with their fingers, I shall 
 all the time be trying not to think about the lovely 
 dining-room at home, where the soft light will be 
 falling from the chandelier on the snowy table, with 
 its pretty china and its sparkling glass and silver.
 
 120 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 " 0, Chipmunk, Chipmunk ! are you homesick 
 day and night, and every hour, and every minute ? 
 I am sure you are, you look so woefully forlorn. 
 Your mane and tail are snarled with burs, and your 
 coat is very frowzy, for I have no currycomb and 
 brush to keep you sleek. But I love you more than 
 ever, if you're not the handsome little fellow every 
 one admired so much at home." 
 
 She dropped a few pathetic tears on the tangled 
 mane, and Chipmunk gently pawed the ground and 
 gave a soft appreciative whinny, as if he fully un- 
 derstood the trying situation, and was grateful to 
 his little mistress for her warm devotion to himself, 
 regardless of his changed condition. 
 
 Piokee then applied herself to picking out the 
 burs, as she had often done before, since Chipmunk 
 had become a gypsy pony. 
 
 While thus engaged, she chanced to glance around, 
 and saw the queer youth picketing a pony to a tree 
 near by. 
 
 She wondered if he had observed the little scene 
 between herself and Chipmunk, and overheard what 
 she had said. 
 
 He raised his savage headgear with a touch of 
 civilized ease, and stepping up to Chipmunk viewed 
 the tangled mane with dubious eyes. 
 
 " That's a big job, and perhaps you'd like some 
 help," observed he. " But I don't know if 'twill
 
 BEFOEE THE COUNCIL. 121 
 
 pay. There's plenty more to stick to him when 
 these are pulled out," was his rather shiftless after- 
 thought. 
 
 So welcome to Piokee was the boy's straight Eng- 
 lish, spoken in a clear, though careless tone, that 
 she forgave the half-indifferent air with which he 
 offered his assistance. 
 
 " Thank you," she responded, as he went to work, 
 not very zealously, on the pony's tail. " It is a task, 
 but not so great as others I have undertaken," with 
 a little sigh. 
 
 The boy regarded her with questioning scrutiny, 
 then leisurely picked out a bur and tossed it in 
 the air. 
 
 " Are you a runaway?" he asked, with a curious 
 stress on the personal pronoun.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 AN ESCAPED LUNATIC. 
 
 66 A RE you ?" Piokee quizzed back, warding off 
 
 -^- his question. 
 
 " Yes," he frankly owned. " An escaped lunatic. 
 The Messiah craze, you know. The papers said the 
 fellows were vamosing from the others schools, so I 
 shot out between two days. I've come to help the 
 Indians fight the white men." 
 
 "And I," said she, "have come to fight the 
 Indian." 
 
 "Whew! that sounds loyal," he exclaimed with 
 much surprise. " When may we look for the first 
 outbreak ? " somewhat jeeringly. 
 
 " It has taken place already," said Piokee calmly. 
 " I've convinced one good little woman who was 
 pining for the new way, but didn't know just how 
 to make a start, that hominy is better boiled in 
 salted water than in bacon brine, that beans should 
 be picked over very carefully, and washed and 
 122
 
 AN ESCAPED LUNATIC. 123 
 
 rinsed before they're stewed, and that the kettle, 
 and tin plates, and spoons need cleaning after every 
 meal." 
 
 " Oh ! a missionary cook. Well, you won't ex- 
 terminate us that way," and the boy threw back his 
 head and gave a mocking laugh. " See here," he 
 added, growing serious, " the men were all on fire 
 to hear about the pillaging and burning, how the 
 dancers were raising the cowboys' hair, and the 
 cowardly fellows were rushing helter-skelter to Ben 
 Libbit's ranch, too scared to keep about their busi- 
 ness. Why didn't you read the full report?" 
 
 " I didn't dare," said Piokee. " 1 knew the men 
 were very much excited, and was afraid they'd start 
 right out to follow the example of the Northern In- 
 dians, and do something dreadful to the Oklahoma 
 settlers. But how do you know I didn't read it all ? " 
 
 " Had the paper in my pocket, and knew it word 
 for word. Bought it yesterday in Oklahoma City, 
 where I stopped to trade my silver watch for that 
 ungainly little beast I had to have to reach the 
 camp. Heard there was to be a ghost dance here, 
 and made a rush to be in time to take part in the 
 fun. Meant to read the paper to the men myself. 
 It's a wonder they would listen to a girl. Indians 
 don't believe in women's mixing up in politics," and 
 the youth assumed a lofty tone. " That was a dan- 
 gerous game you tried," he added warningly. " The
 
 124 PIOKEE AXD HER PEOPLE. 
 
 men were waiting very anxiously to hear of an up- 
 rising in the North, and if they knew you'd skipped 
 the best part they'd take you for an enemy to the 
 cause. Shouldn't wonder if they'd even think there 
 was a spy in camp, especially those Western savages 
 that are working up the ghost dance craze." 
 
 Piokee was quite startled at this possible grave 
 result of her omission. She had thought it but a 
 harmless strategem to check the fire until the ghost 
 dance had been held. 
 
 " Well," said she, " I am at your mercy, if you 
 choose to read the paper to the men yourself. The 
 rumor of the outbreak may be false, and even if it 
 be true, I thought the less said of it to-day the 
 better, though of course they'll hear it very soon." 
 
 The boy reached inside his coat, drew out the 
 paper from a pocket bulging from one hip, tore it 
 into shreds, and stuffed it carefully into a wood- 
 chuck's hole near by. 
 
 " I'll have a long ride to town to-morrow for an- 
 other paper, but 'twill let you out and I shall get 
 a later one. By that time there'll be news worth 
 reading, and 'twill be huge fun to start out with the 
 Cheys and Raps as a Messiah reader." 
 
 " Are those wild strangers Cheyennes and Ara- 
 pahoes ? " Piokee asked. 
 
 " Yes ; I heard of them before I struck the camp. 
 Was told they're keeping very sly, as they are off
 
 AN ESCAPED LUNATIC. 125 
 
 their reservation, without a ticket of leave from the 
 big white man, who says to the Indian, you sha'n't 
 and you shall. They expect to slip round over sev- 
 eral reservations, and set a pot of mischief brewing 
 in them all." 
 
 " But can there be real danger of an outbreak in 
 the Territory?" said Piokee with a shiver. 
 
 " I hope so," was the war-like answer. " I'd like 
 to help wipe out the Oklahoma settlers and make a 
 raid across the Kansas border." 
 
 " 0, no, no ! you surely wouldn't wish to do that," 
 she exclaimed in horror. "I have friends there on 
 the border the dearest friends in all the world ; 
 I should be distracted if I thought they were in 
 danger." 
 
 Again the look of quizzical curiosity, as if Piokee's 
 history would be of interest to the youth. 
 
 "Perhaps you've been at school over there, and 
 found the white folks friendly," he surmised. " The 
 pale-faced fellows treated me first-rate at school, and 
 I was chummy with a few of them. 'Twill seem a 
 little queer to have to take their scalps, if any of 
 them ever fall into my clutches on the war-path." 
 
 " You must have been at school a good while," 
 said Piokee, seeing very plainly that this civilized 
 young backslider was no raw recruit in the compul- 
 sory education ranks. 
 
 " From a little chap of eight. I'm seventeen
 
 126 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 now," he answered wearily. " Doctor took me East 
 just after father died " Piokee gave a little start 
 a put me into trousers and a straight-jacket, and 
 I haven't drawn a free breath since, till now. I was 
 at Haskell Institute four years after Doctor got 
 through college in the East, and for the last two 
 years I've been in torture at a white boys' Agricul- 
 tural School. I've worked out, or shirked out, sum- 
 mers on a farm in one place and another. They 
 grind us red-skinned fellows through the routine 
 mill, you know. Doctor was afraid the wild Indian 
 fever would break out in me worse than ever, if I 
 once got back to the reservation. He expects to 
 make a big two-section farmer out of me. Imagine 
 how 'twill strike him when he sees me wearing paint 
 and feathers as a full-fledged ghost dancer." 
 
 " Doctor is your step-brother Dr. Whistler 
 and you are Naopope, and I'm very, very sorry you 
 are here in this way," said Piokee, as she gave the 
 civilized young savage a glance of mingled recogni- 
 tion and reproof. 
 
 " And you are bless my moccasins ! I wonder 
 if you are Piokee the goody-goody girl I've heard 
 so much about from Doctor! " queried Nao. 
 
 " I am Piokee, but I'm not a goody-goody girl," 
 she answered humbly ; " I ought not to find one 
 word of fault with you, for I'm a runaway myself." 
 
 " Oh ! ah ! Well, well ! I'm very, very sorry you
 
 AN ESCAPED LUNATIC. 127 
 
 are here in this way," laughed the mocking scape- 
 grace, with a burst of whimsical delight. 
 
 "But I couldn't help it," she exclaimed. Then 
 came the story of her flight from home. 
 
 Nao listened with the keenest interest, and tossed 
 up two burs, when he had heard the whole, in warm 
 applause of Cold Blast's course. 
 
 " Your father understands his hieroglyphics," he 
 remarked with satisfaction. " There should be a 
 gathering in of all the children of the tribes. The 
 Messiah will want to find us on the reservation, 
 when he comes to turn things upside down."
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE GHOST DANCE. 
 
 AN enormous pile of brush had been collected 
 by the squaws, to feed the two bonfires that 
 threw their glare across the magic circle wherein 
 the ghost dancers were to hold their orgies. 
 
 In the hasty preparation for the dance, ghost 
 robes were beyond the reach of many, but one 
 Messiah-crazed devotee sacrificed his cotton tent to 
 furnish winding sheets, in which a number of the 
 dancers wrapped themselves. 
 
 " Whatever should we do if father were to strip 
 our tent in pieces?" Piokee said to Fauqua, as 
 from the door of their tepee they watched the 
 shrouded forms that wore the ghost robes, gliding 
 to and fro before the dance began. " Our neighbors 
 have no room to spare, but a storm is coining, and 
 we'd have to crowd in somewhere. How forlorn 
 we'd feel." 
 
 " The Messiah is expected when the pigeons turn 
 
 128
 
 THE GHOST DANCE. 129 
 
 round on their roosts at midnight," said Nao, burst- 
 ing on her vision in full ghost-dance rig. "He'll 
 fix things up all right, and give us regular Fourth 
 of July weather. Tepees will spring up at the 
 waving of his wand, and our departed ancestors 
 will flock back from the happy hunting grounds, 
 driving herds of deer and buffalo. There'll be no 
 lack of elbow-room, for all the whites will be exter- 
 minated in a jiffy, their towns gulped down by one 
 tremendous earthquake, and the reds will hold the 
 fort alone, precisely as they did before Columbus 
 poked his nose into the Indians' affairs." 
 
 Nao had cast off his coat and vest, and wore a 
 strip of tent cloth pinned with thorns around him 
 for a ghost shirt. He had rolled his trousers to the 
 knee, his feet and legs were bare, likewise his arms 
 and head. His face was streaked with yellow paint, 
 and the buzzard quills had emigrated from his hat- 
 crown to his scalp-lock. Wound around his waist 
 were cords of grape-vine, under which was tucked a 
 fringe of squirrel tails. A tuft of hair resembling 
 a human scalp-lock, but really red fox-fur, dangled 
 from a string about his neck. The look of merry 
 mockery was still on his face, in curious contrast to 
 the fierceness of his make-up. 
 
 " Do you think I'll do ? " said he, straightening 
 proudly up in huge enjoyment of Piokee's look of 
 horror.
 
 130 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 " You are truly hideous, and you couldn't have 
 chosen a surer way to heap disgrace on your 
 brother," she replied with gentle scorn. 
 
 " Humph ! " ejaculated Nao, with a real Indian 
 grunt. " My brother heaps disgrace on me by turn- 
 ing a cold shoulder to the ghost dance picnic. He 
 pretends to be an K Indian, but he is a white man 
 from his standing collar to his gaiters. Shouldn't 
 wonder if he'd try to bleach his skin, next thing, 
 and raise a blonde mustache. Bah ! an Indian is a 
 played-out curiosity without his paint and feathers, 
 and his scalping knife and war-whoop." 
 
 Seeing words were useless, Piokee turned away, 
 while Nao took his place among the dancers. 
 
 Happily, Cold Blast's Messiah fervor did not rise 
 to such a pitch that he contributed his tepee for 
 ghost robes. It remained a place of shelter, and into 
 it Piokee crept with Nanno, while Fauqua joined 
 the squaws and girls who sat upon the ground 
 behind the dancers, and raised their voices in a 
 weird, monotonous howl. They were accompanied 
 by the tomtom, beaten by an aged brave, whose 
 dancing days were over. 
 
 Up, and other embryo warriors, occupied the mid- 
 dle ground, between the dancers and the squaws 
 and girls, gloating on the spectacle and envying 
 their sires and elder brothers the exalted privilege 
 of joining in the revel,
 
 THE GHOST DANCE. 131 
 
 "Nanno," said Piokee, sinking down before the 
 tent fire, with her arms about the child, " the craze 
 has seized the camp, and the ghost dance has begun. 
 Father is a dancer ; Up is looking on and wishing 
 he were old enough to be one, too. Dr. Whistler's 
 brother is in the dreadful scrape, and mother is 
 among the singers. She can't help believing in the 
 Indian Messiah, like all the rest who've gone stark 
 crazy, though I'm sure she doesn't want to in her 
 heart of hearts. She knows the dear Lord Jesus 
 loves the Indian, and will take care of us and give 
 us all we need as He thinks best. She knows it, 
 Nanno, but she has forgotten it just now. But we 
 must not forget it for a single instant. Nanno, 
 Nanno, do you understand ? The dear Lord Jesus 
 is the true Messiah and the only one to help the 
 Indian." 
 
 " I care," said Nanno, with her solemn eyes up- 
 lifted to Piokee' s. 
 
 "Yes; you may care now you must care you 
 are not too young to care for this." Her voice 
 grew more intense in its appeal. " Out of the 
 mouth of babes has thou ordained strength because 
 of thine enemies," came to her; words she had so 
 often read with Mamma Prairie. 
 
 But a strange unrest had seized Piokee. Through 
 the flapping curtain at the door of the tepee she 
 could see the whirling figures of the dancers, and
 
 132 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 she suddenly became possessed of a desire to be 
 near them, with her eyes upon the terrible but 
 fascinating spectacle. 
 
 What was the meaning of it all ? she asked her- 
 self in breathless fright. The superstitious spirit of 
 her race was it taking hold of her like all the 
 rest, and was there no escape ? 
 
 Grasping Nanno's hand she rushed into the open 
 air, and smothering a wild desire to join the singers 
 and lift up her voice with theirs, she retreated far 
 into the background, where she threw herself on a 
 bed of leaves against a log, hugging Nanno in her 
 arms. 
 
 Yes ; the frenzy was upon her, and her faith in 
 Jesus was fast slipping from her. Nothing more 
 than empty words now seemed the prayers she had 
 been taught to offer up at Mamma Prairie's knee. 
 If Jesus was the Indian's Messiah, why had He so 
 long forgotten them, and left them as the pitiful 
 outcasts of a scornful world? There must be a 
 new Messiah, who would have a heart to love and 
 pity even the unlovable, forbidding Indian. 
 
 Ah ! yes, in very truth the new Messiah was 
 coming. She almost fancied she could hear the 
 rustle of his feet among the wind-tossed leaves, and 
 the music of his voice above the pandemonium of 
 the ghost dance. 
 
 A rustle of feet there surely was, and Piokee
 
 THE GHOST DANCE. 133 
 
 started with an eager tremor as she heard it close 
 behind her. 
 
 A man had ridden up on horseback, and was now 
 dismounting with an agile spring. 
 
 The bonfires threw long flickering rays into the 
 rear, and by their light Piokee saw a straight, lithe 
 figure which she knew at once, although his face 
 was turned from her, as he was fastening his horse's 
 bridle to a tree. 
 
 " 0, my chief ! my chief ! " she cried, dropping 
 Nanno from her lap, and starting up to clasp her 
 hands about his arm. " The new Messiah is coming 
 we think he will be here at midnight, and the 
 ghost dance will be kept up till he comes. Don't 
 you see them over there ?" pointing to the whirling, 
 swaying figures of the frenzied dancers. "They 
 are growing more and more in earnest. He must 
 surely hear their cries and come to-night." 
 
 "I should think so if he's ever coming. Those 
 howls would raise the roof of the firmament, and 
 penetrate the region of the ghosts if it were possi- 
 ble. I heard them miles away," said Dr. Whistler 
 dryly, as he turned and faced Piokee. He showed 
 no more surprise at seeing her in this strange 
 situation, than if the meeting had been previously 
 arranged. 
 
 rt Oh! you don't believe it," said Piokee, beneath 
 the spell, and shocked by his lack of reverence.
 
 134 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 " But I do. I have been converted since the dance 
 began. And we all do father, mother, Up, and 
 even little Nanno or she will as soon as I can 
 make her understand. And you mustn't try to 
 change my faith. You would be very cruel if you 
 did." 
 
 She was trembling with excitement, and her face, 
 across which swept a red glow from the bonfires, 
 wore a rapt, exalted look. 
 
 " Well, well, dear child, believe it, if you must, a 
 little while," said Dr. Whistler soothingly, "and I 
 will share your vigil, if you are resolved to watch 
 for the Messiah who can never come, alas ! for 
 our deluded people," he was about to add, but 
 checked himself, remembering her appeal that he 
 would not attempt to change her faith. " But you 
 have on no wrap, and you are shivering like a leaf." 
 She had left her ulster in the tent. " I must throw 
 a shawl about you." 
 
 Stepping to his horse, he reached into his right- 
 hand saddle-bag, took out a long, warm shawl, and 
 wrapped Piokee in its fleecy folds. 
 
 " Oh ! this is nice and soft, and so sweet-smelling," 
 she exclaimed, drawing it about her in a kind of 
 dazed delight. " Why," she bent to look at it and 
 stroked it softly, coming slowly to herself, " it 
 looks and feels like Mamma Prairie's shawl." She 
 snatched it off and held it up between the firelight
 
 THE GHOST DANCE. 135 
 
 and her eyes, then gave a quick, pathetic little cry, 
 and hugged it tightly in her arms. " It is the dear, 
 warm pretty shawl that Miriam and I have snug- 
 gled in so often we two sitting out on the piazza 
 steps to watch the stars ! It smells of violets, like 
 all of Mamma Prairie's lovely things." She held it 
 to her face and hungrily inhaled the faint delicious 
 odor. " Oh ! the precious shawl, and precious Miriam 
 and Mamma Prairie. Did they send it with their 
 love, and did you bring it straight from home ? 
 Why, I am all back again ! " She spoke as one 
 awaking from a dream. " There is no new Mes- 
 siah. The dear Lord Jesus loves the Indian, but 
 oh ! I am so homesick and I must go home." 
 
 Sinking down, she hid herself beneath the violet- 
 scented shawl, and moaned and wept. 
 
 "I care," said Nanno, squatting by her side, a 
 timid, patient little figure, not venturing to intrude 
 within the sacred cover of the shawl. 
 
 Piokee took her quickly in, and wet the red hood 
 with another gush of tears. 
 
 Dr. Whistler whisked out his handkerchief, but 
 turned away, and let her ease her heart by crying 
 till the fountain of her tears ran dry. 
 
 He fixed his eyes with much anxiety on the 
 ghost dance that had now become a perfect bed- 
 lam, the dark, fierce faces of the dancers gleaming 
 with exultant fire, their bodies swaying faster and
 
 136 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 still faster, in fantastic rhythm to the hubbub of 
 the chant. The dancers joined their voices with 
 the singers, each according to his gift of speech, ex- 
 pressing his uncomplimentary opinion of the white 
 man, and imploring the Messiah to make a speedy 
 end of him.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE YOUNG DANCERS DOWNFALL. 
 
 AT length Piokee became calmer, and rose to a 
 less dejected attitude on the log, where Dr. 
 Whistler sat down beside her, holding Nanno on 
 his knee. They were unobserved by the others, for 
 the whole camp were completely spellbound by the 
 ghost dance, and all eyes were riveted upon it. 
 
 As well as she was able for the din that filled the 
 woods, Piokee hastily explained her flight from 
 home. When she had finished, Dr. Whistler said : 
 
 " A telegram from Mr. Bowers, saying you had 
 disappeared, came to me in Washington, and I at 
 once suspected you had joined your people. I re- 
 membered your disquietude during my few hours' 
 visit at the ranch some weeks ago, and the advice I 
 gave you just before I left about your duty to the 
 imaginary little brother and sister, as I unwittingly 
 expressed myself. Little did I think there were 
 real ties to draw you here." 
 
 137
 
 138 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 He settled Nanno's sleepy head against his breast, 
 and mercifully refrained from showing disapproval 
 of Piokee's secret course. 
 
 " By rare good fortune I had closed the business 
 that had taken me to Washington, and on receiving 
 Mr. Bowers's startling telegram I took the first train 
 West. Stopping at the ranch, I learned that Mr. 
 Bowers and Ebenezer had pursued the soap peddler, 
 whose orchestra they thought you might have joined, 
 to find themselves on the wrong trail in their search 
 for you. I assured Mamma Prairie of my belief that 
 I should find you with your people, though I could 
 not understand what claim there was upon you here. 
 I knew nothing of your father who, it seems, has 
 lived until lately on a distant quarter of the reser- 
 vation where his wife belonged. 
 
 " Coming to the reservation, I searched from 
 place to place, and in a few days found your father's 
 hut. I learned his history from an aged squaw 
 named Keotach, living in the village. She knew 
 him years ago, in Kansas, and also knew of your 
 adoption by the little claim-girl. It was through 
 this Keotach that he traced you to the ranch, lay in 
 wait for you, and finally persuaded you to leave 
 home as you did." 
 
 " Of course you can't help blaming me for run- 
 ning off in so sly a way, though you are too kind to 
 tell me so," Piokee said remorsefully.
 
 THE YOUNG DANCER'S DOWNFALL. 141 
 
 " How can I blame you, my poor child, when you 
 have but followed my advice ?" said he. " Perhaps 
 it was the only way, but had I known the truth it 
 would have cost me something of a struggle to in- 
 clude you in the host of tender young crusaders 
 that must be sacrificed to save our race," he added 
 mournfully. 
 
 " Mamma Prairie you will send her word and 
 ask her to forgive me ? " said Piokee, almost break- 
 ing down again. 
 
 " Yes ; I will send a letter from the nearest town 
 as soon as I can reach it," he replied. "It will 
 comfort you to know she is still trusting in her 
 foster-daughter, however great the mystery of her 
 disappearance." 
 
 " Dear, dear Mamma Prairie ! But tell her that 
 I cannot leave my people. I must always stay with 
 them. Nanno couldn't spare me now. She cares, 
 you see, and Up will care, too, just as soon as I can 
 find some way to make him." 
 
 Nanno' s care was very plain, but for Up she gave 
 a rather doubtful sigh. 
 
 The squaws were throwing on fresh fuel, and the 
 bonfires sent another flood of light into the rear 
 where sat the three, the child now fast asleep in the 
 strong arms clasping her. 
 
 " Yes ; you will have to stay," said Dr. Whistler, 
 turning to Piokee with a poor attempt to be as
 
 142 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 brave as she. For himself he could be brave un- 
 falteringly, but for her he knew so much and she 
 so little of the way before her. " Nanno's hand has 
 held the torch to burn the bridge behind you, and 
 you can never recross it. However, you and I are 
 on this side together. I shall take what care of you 
 I can, and trust in God to do the rest." 
 
 It comforted Piokee inexpressibly to know her 
 wise, strong friend would not be very far from her 
 at all times, in his journeying here and there among 
 the sick on the reservation. 
 
 But right before her was the ghost dance, and she 
 had forgotten for a little while that there was Nao 
 with the dancers. Should she tell his guardian 
 now, or would he find it out himself ere long ? 
 
 " Oh ! " she cried, starting up and covering her 
 eyes with both hands, but to drop them suddenly 
 and gaze once more on the ghost dance, " Nanno 
 must be put to bed, and I shall have to stuff my 
 ears with grass, and tie a bandage on my eyes, and 
 cover up my head inside the tent, or I shall be 
 bewitched again. But you must stay and watch. 
 Some accident may happen to some one they're 
 all so terribly excited ; and you may be needed near 
 the ring." 
 
 Dr. Whistler carried Nanno to the door of the 
 tepee. There Piokee laid her on a wolf-skin spread 
 upon a bed of leaves within, and covered her with
 
 THE YOUNG DANCER'S DOWNFALL. 143 
 
 'the Navajo blankets. The child slept sweetly on, 
 unconscious of the din about her. 
 
 But Piokee could not keep her resolution not to 
 look again on the ghost dance, and no sooner had 
 she settled Nanno in the leafy bunk than she has- 
 tened to the door, and drawing back the curtain 
 closely watched the scene. Dr. Whistler was standing 
 just outside, like a sentinel on guard. 
 
 The ring was now in full view, and every move- 
 ment of the dancers was distinctly visible to their 
 eyes. 
 
 As they watched the violent gyrations, all at once 
 they saw a boyish figure, overcome by the exertion 
 of the dance, give way and fall unconscious to the 
 ground. 
 
 Dr. Whistler was springing forward with profes- 
 sional promptness, when Piokee breathlessly ex- 
 claimed : 
 
 " It's Nao ! Oh ! be quick, or they will trample 
 on him." And she started also to the rescue. 
 
 " Nao ! " whirling round to her. " Have you lost 
 your senses, child? Don't follow me. Go back 
 into the tent," was the almost fierce command. 
 
 She obeyed ; but peering from the door she saw a 
 number of the squaws dragging Nao from beneath 
 the dancers' feet. 
 
 Dr. Whistler was well known and much respected 
 as a loyal leader in his tribe ; and even those who
 
 144 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 clung to medicine-making as the proper faith for a 
 religious powwow, did not scorn the treatment of 
 this wise physician when their tongues were furred 
 with fever, and they were racked with pain. The 
 squaws fell back as he approached, delivering the 
 unconscious boy into his hands. Fauqua glided on 
 before him, and he bore the limp form, drenched in 
 clammy sweat, to Cold Blast's tent. They were fol- 
 lowed by a small procession of the squaws and girls, 
 whose interest in the fate of the young dancer led 
 them to forsake the revel for the moment. But the 
 dance went on as ever. 
 
 Piokee spread a blanket on the ground before the 
 fire, and the boy was laid thereon. She also brought 
 a bag of leaves, and placed it for a pillow underneath 
 his head. 
 
 Nao's face looked wan and set, but scarcely more 
 so than his brother's bending over him. 
 
 "I thought the boy was safe in school," said Dr. 
 Whistler, with a sharp pain in his voice. " Was it 
 not enough that you were here, Piokee ? Is there 
 no end to this wretched snarl in which we are all 
 twisted up?" he questioned in despair; "no way 
 that it can be unraveled ? " 
 
 " Yes, my chief ; the end is in God's hand," re- 
 plied Piokee, kneeling down to gently bathe the 
 painted face. It was now her turn to soothe the 
 doubter.
 
 THE YOUNG DANCER'S DOWNFALL. 145 
 
 The squaws and girls were hovering round the 
 spot where Nao lay ; but being urged back by a 
 wave of Dr. Whistler's hand they squatted near the 
 dpor, and watched intently for some sign that life 
 was not extinct in the young dancer's prostrate body. 
 
 "I say, old fellow, that's enough," gasped Nao, 
 coming to himself, and struggling to escape the 
 strong restorative Dr. Whistler was holding to his 
 nose. " I was dreaming of a ghost dance and I 
 tell you it was glorious," he murmured in a 
 sinking tone. 
 
 Finding Nao had not wholly danced the breath of 
 life away, the singers made haste to rejoin the 
 ghost dance chorus all save Fauqua, who had 
 somewhat lost her fervor through the interruption. 
 At Piokee's earnest wish she $id not leave the tent 
 again. 
 
 While the squaws and girls were taking leave, 
 Nao swooned again, and lay for some time in a pallid 
 stupor. 
 
 " Ah, Doctor, is that you ? " opening his eyes 
 with a bewildered stare. " Well, old fellow, glad to 
 see you no, I'm not ; you're the very person I 
 don't care to see just now," he broke out, rising on 
 one elbow, and struggling to escape the Doctor's 
 hands. " It's all as clear as moonshine now. I was 
 getting on first-rate when all at once my head began 
 to spin, and I began to dance a whirligig, and every-
 
 146 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 thing turned black as pitch. Bah ! the school has 
 made me weaker than a squaw. Let go of me. I'm 
 going back to dance it out, and show what kind of 
 stuff I had in rne before you went to work to spoil 
 a first-class warrior with your civilized coddling." 
 
 " No, my boy," said Dr. Whistler, pinning Nao 
 firmly, but not roughly, to the ground ; " you've 
 had enough of it for once. Lie still, and go to sleep 
 and dream of better things than the tomfoolery 
 going on out there." 
 
 " Let go of me, I say ! " yelled Nao, struggling 
 still more. " I'm going back to dance it out, I tell 
 you." 
 
 "Spare your puny strength, my spoilt young 
 warrior," said the Doctor, striving very hard to 
 keep his temper. " After all is said and done, you 
 will still be right here under my control. You are 
 suffering from a pronounced attack of the Messiah 
 craze, and if you become too violent I shall have to 
 treat you as I sometimes do my other patients in 
 delirium." 
 
 "How is that?" asked Nao, resting on his back 
 to scan the resolute face above him. 
 
 " Administer a powerful but harmless anaesthetic. 
 You will go to sleep and not awake, I hope, until 
 the crisis of your mania is past." 
 
 " Well, you've beaten me this time," said Nao, 
 giving up ; " but I warn you it will do no good
 
 THE YOUNG DANCER'S DOWNFALL. 147 
 
 You've been trying to make a white man out of me 
 too long. Hereafter I shall be a regular old-time 
 whooping savage where's the smelling bottle, old 
 head-chief? Ugh! I'm dancing that confounded 
 whirligig again." Here Nao, to his ineffable 
 disgust, had another fainting fit. 
 
 The doctor quickly raised his head, and once 
 more brought him to consciousness. 
 
 Seeing that he was completely overdone, Nao 
 now became quite docile, and without a murmur 
 took the stimulant that Dr. Whistler dropped into 
 his mouth from a little vial taken from the medicine 
 case the doctor carried in his pocket. 
 
 Before long Nao fell into the heavy sleep that 
 naturally follows a complete collapse of nerve and 
 muscle. Wrapping him more closely in the blan- 
 ket, Dr. Whistler spread his top-coat over him to 
 guard against the chilly air that filled the tent, and 
 watched beside him with an anxious, careworn face. 
 
 Sitting down before the fire, Fauqua dropped her 
 head upon her knees and slept. Piokee crept into 
 the bunk with Nanno, in a little nook which she 
 had parted off by hanging up a crazy patchwork 
 curtain Fauqua' s work of art wherein were 
 blended scraps of blankets, gunny-sacks, and even 
 cast-off leggings.
 
 CHAPTER XVH. 
 
 NAOPOPE'S FAME. 
 
 THE ghost dance ceased at dawn, the ardor of 
 the dancers being dampened by a dismal rain 
 that began to fall toward morning. 
 
 Having sought the shelter of the tents, to snatch 
 a little sleep and such food as the camp afforded, 
 the braves were ready for another council before 
 the Cheyennes and Arapahoes stole away to stir up 
 mischief elsewhere. 
 
 Nao, who awoke clear-headed, though stiff-jointed, 
 in the morning, feared that he would be an object 
 of derision, owing to his lack of stamina to endure 
 the dance ; but to his surprise and satisfaction there 
 was set afloat a rumor which soon became a settled 
 fact, that " Young Queer Clothes," as he was called, 
 had fallen in a trance occasioned by a special out/- 
 pour of the spirit of the new Messiah on him alone. 
 
 Thus he became a hero of much note, and but for 
 his extreme youth would at once have been ap- 
 
 148
 
 NAOPOPE'S FAME. 149 
 
 pointed a prophet of the red god, with full license 
 to expound the hidden meaning of the new religion. 
 
 He was called before the council and minutely 
 questioned as to his experience while absent from 
 the flesh, as was supposed, communing with the 
 august ruler soon to come. This embarrassed him 
 to some extent, but he artfully dodged the ques- 
 tions, thanking his stars that Dr. Whistler, who had 
 left the camp that morning, was not there to burst 
 the bubble of delusion that had won him this false 
 fame. 
 
 " Of course I kept mum, shook my head, and 
 hinted that the secrets of the happy hunting 
 grounds mustn't be let out to common fellows," he 
 confided to Piokee with amazing frankness, after 
 he had passed the ordeal of the council interview. 
 
 " But you couldn't pretend you saw such visions 
 as they think you did. Of course you wouldn't 
 stoop to such deceit as that," Piokee said, with 
 dawning disdain in her serious eyes. 
 
 " Why, it's just this way," evaded Nao, " if I'd 
 told them my pegs gave out last night, I should 
 have broken the record of the ghost dancer by 
 being accused of false modesty. I could truthfully 
 declare I saw stars tumbling heels over head 
 when I struck the ground and they took that as 
 a sign that the white men will do likewise when the 
 Indian Messiah orders him to quit the world. At
 
 150 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 any rate, I'm solid with the Cheys and Raps, and 
 they've engaged me for a reader, promising to 
 spread my fame abroad." 
 
 "But don't you see how you are worrying Dr. 
 Whistler? Does he know what you intend to do ?" 
 Piokee asked. 
 
 " Yes ; I told him just before he left camp, and 
 to my surprise he didn't try to talk me out of it. 
 He said I'd need some Indian toggery to be a fit 
 associate of the Cheys and Raps, and offered me 
 the cash to buy a blanket and the other fixings. 
 Said I'd have to buckle on a tomahawk and scalping 
 knife to be a regular old-timer; but I told him I 
 could make a pistol do till I was fairly on the war- 
 path." 
 
 "0, dear, dear! he's killing you with kindness, 
 and you're trying to break his heart," Piokee cried 
 reproachfully. 
 
 " Well, I shall be alive to-morrow, all the same. 
 A whooping savage isn't often killed with kindness," 
 answered Nao. "And the old head-chief isn't as 
 soft-hearted as you may imagine. He has turned 
 me out of his tepee, so to speak, into the howling 
 wilderness to beat my way or starve. He says a 
 civilized doctor and a whooping savage would dis- 
 grace each other in a brotherly respect. If the 
 civilized way is wrong I ought to be ashamed of 
 him, and if the whooper's way is wrong he ought
 
 NAOPOPE'S FAME. 151 
 
 to be ashamed of me. Good reasoning that, and I 
 agree with him." 
 
 u Oh ! it is all so very dreadful," sighed Piokee, 
 " and I know it makes our good kind doctor miser- 
 able to have to cast you off. But you can't be in 
 deadly earnest, for you're laughing half the time, 
 and an Indian who really means to rob and burn 
 and scalp looks far more fierce than you ; in spite 
 of all your paint and feathers you are only thirst- 
 ing for adventure, like so many other foolish boys, 
 but you'll get tired of it soon enough. When you've 
 ridden through the rain and sleet and snow, and 
 slept out on the ground without so much as a 
 wicki-up for shelter, and you're cold and hungry 
 and discouraged to the very tip end of your toes, 
 you'll be ready to come back and be a civilized boy 
 again, and Dr. Whistler will forgive you everything." 
 
 "Well, have a monstrous sandwich laid up in 
 your missionary cupboard, and I'll eat it with my 
 humble pie when I come back starved out," laughed 
 Nao. With a farewell wave of his savage headgear 
 he left the dripping tent to mount his pony and ride 
 forth to buy his Indian toggery and the papers with 
 the latest ghost-dance news. He was to meet the 
 Cheyennes and Arapahoes next day on another 
 reservation, ready to begin his work as a Messiah 
 reader. 
 
 The pecan woods along the river bottom having
 
 152 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 been well stripped of nuts, the little band of campers 
 pulled down their tepees, to re-pitch them in the 
 village straggling along a creek some miles away. 
 
 More fortunate than many others, Cold Blast had 
 a hut some little distance from the village, hence 
 his old tepee, brought from Fauqua's quarter of the 
 reservation with his other scant effects, was stowed 
 away beneath the hut-roof when the family came 
 back from nutting. 
 
 Cold Blast was just starting for the agency to sell 
 the nuts that filled his rickety creaking cart. This 
 vehicle was balanced on two wheels of different 
 size, which gave the cart a very tipsy air, as if the 
 smaller wheel were constantly revolving in a rut. 
 
 Piokee, who had learned to dread the terrible 
 father somewhat less as she became more used to 
 him, plucked up courage to beseech him to expend 
 the pecan money for such articles of food and cloth- 
 ing and for household use as were sadly needed by 
 the family. These she strove to fix on his memory 
 by the plainest explanation she could make. 
 
 "Now, father, don't forget the soap and broom 
 and washtub, and the clothesline and five dozen 
 clothespins. Then there's what we need to eat 
 flour and sugar, beans and salt, and all the rest. 
 I've written down a list of everything, and you can 
 give it to the man who keeps the store. Here it is ; 
 and pray don't lose it on the way," and she went
 
 NAOPOPE'S FAME. 153 
 
 down into her pocket for a piece of coarse brown 
 paper she had neatly stripped from a hominy bag 
 on which to write the memorandum with the treas- 
 ured pencil she had brought from home. 
 
 "And, father, maybe some of those poor Okla- 
 homa settlers near the border, who have got starved 
 out and had to quit their claims, have sold some of 
 their rickety chairs for almost nothing ; do please 
 buy them. Chairs, you know, are what you use to 
 sit on," and she gave a little downward dip as an 
 expressive sign. " They're made of wood, and 
 maybe you could get a half-dozen poor old things 
 for something like a dollar and a half. 
 
 " Perhaps," she went on with her plans, while 
 Cold Blast squatted like a massive statue on the 
 load above her, listening as if his ears were made of 
 copper, " you will stumble on a rusty cookstove 
 you can get for very little say two dollars. I 
 sha'n't care how old it is, if it will only work. You 
 must have seen a cookstove somewhere, father 
 what you make a fire in, you know. It has an 
 oven in the back to bake in. I do want to set up 
 the tepee and put the stove inside of it, and have 
 a little school and cooking class," she ventured. 
 " The girls could bring what food they have to eat 
 at home and cook it in the class, and have their 
 dinner all together in the tent. It would be clean, 
 at least, if there were nothing more than beans and
 
 154 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 hominy ; and I could teach them how to read and 
 write." 
 
 A grunt escaped the copper statue that appeared 
 to struggle into life from sheer amazement at these 
 strange demands. 
 
 " Ugh ! proud white man eat sweet flour stuff. 
 Stick up on chairs. Burn fire box," slowly think- 
 ing out the list she had named. " Indian hate white 
 man's road. Messiah smash white man's things. 
 Feel heap mad little tame squaw have school. I 
 swapee nuts, buy new war-gun, fight white man. 
 Messiah say heap good." With this he waked the 
 span of tousled mustangs and started on his journey 
 
 " 0, dear me ! " exclaimed Piokee, as the queer 
 craft lurched away. " Father doesn't need another 
 gun. I'm afraid he really is preparing for the war- 
 path, mother." 
 
 An expensive hunting outfit had been purchased 
 with the greater portion of Piokee' s Christmas gold, 
 her father throwing in his old gun to the bargain. 
 What had not been spent in this way had been used 
 to pay " big boot " in swapping ponies, as Fauqua 
 had foretold. 
 
 " Get heap mad Cold Blast buy new war-gun ? " 
 Fauqua asked, seeing that Piokee's face was clouded 
 with anxiety. 
 
 " No," she answered ; " I shall try to be as peace- 
 able as you and Nanno. You don't scold, whatever
 
 NAOPOPE'S FAME. 155 
 
 happens, and Nanno is a perfect little martyr to 
 endure Up's teasing ways so patiently." 
 
 "Brave warrior fight. Good squaw hold tongue," 
 was Fauqua's meek reply. 
 
 " But we must have food, and it is dreadful to be 
 sitting on the floor on skins, and eating from our 
 laps," Piokee sighed. "I don't believe that father'll 
 ever want to learn the white man's way as you and 
 Nanno do." 
 
 "I walk little while in white man's road long time 
 back," said Fauqua musingly. 
 
 " Oh ! did you ? When where ? " Piokee eagerly 
 inquired. " I thought so ; for you seem so different 
 from the other women here." 
 
 Dropping down upon the ground, Fauqua clasped 
 her hands about her knees, and began her history. 
 Piokee listened from the doorsill of the hut, Nanno 
 sitting on the floor within, fondling her doll, arid 
 studying her gayly-colored picture-book. 
 
 "I little girl so old." Fauqua counted thirteen 
 on her fingers. " White schoolmother come beg 
 father I go school. He say no ; hate white man's 
 road. She beg more. He say no, no ; ugh ! go 
 way. She go. Come back soon, beg heap hard. 
 He smoke long time, say yes. I go. White school- 
 mother heap kind. I happy. Read some, cook 
 some, sew good. Hear white schoolmother read 
 Bible. I pray white Messiah."
 
 156 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 Fauqua paused a moment, meditating on the past. 
 
 " Grass grow twice," continued she. " I love 
 white school heap much. I pray I stay long time ; 
 till hair turn white." 
 
 Here she again forgot to talk, and sat with eyes 
 upon the ground, in silent thought. 
 
 " Dear little girl ! I know how beautiful it is," 
 Piokee softly said, as if the years were swept away, 
 and she were speaking to the wistful child to whom 
 the glimpse of the new life meant so much. 
 
 " No school little while one time," went on Fau- 
 qua. "I go home to the tepee. See Cold Blast. 
 He say I worth heap ponies. Father say he trade. 
 I beg no ; lie down on buffalo skin, cry all day ; 
 cry all night. White schoolmother hear, come beg 
 father I go back school. He say no, no, no ! She 
 pray; I pray. White Messiah have no ears. Not 
 help poor little Fauqua. 
 
 "I marry Cold Blast; try hard be good squaw. 
 Try hard keep on in white man's road. No use." 
 
 "Oh! you poor, poor little mother," cried Piokee 
 tearfully. " And you were not so old as I by one 
 year when your father sold you yes, sold you! 
 And my father bought you ! But it was because 
 they knew no better," struggling to draw the veil 
 of charity across the shameful barter. "I don't 
 wonder that you lost all heart and gave up trying, 
 and forgot so much of what you learned. But you
 
 NAOPOPE'S FAME. 157 
 
 shall go to school again. We'll have a little class 
 right here at home, and I will teach you all I know. 
 I sha'n't forget one crook nor turn of the white 
 man's road, you may be sure of that," she added 
 pluckily. 
 
 " Cold Blast burn books Piokee cry hard ?" Fauqua 
 asked forebodingly. 
 
 " Oh ! do you think he would do that ? " returned 
 Piokee, looking startled. 
 
 " Burn books white schoolmother give me. I 
 hide Bible. Keep all time." 
 
 " So you loved your Bible best of all ? I'm glad 
 of that; and you did right to hide it. I shall hide 
 mine, too, and all my other books, if there appears 
 to be the slightest danger that they will be burned," 
 Piokee said determinedly. " 0, dear ! I can't help 
 wishing the command had been : ' Children, obey 
 your parents when you can; but some things 
 you must do, parents or no parents.' " 
 
 And the gentle daughter and the meek young 
 wife formed a double resolution that the civilizing 
 process should go on, in spite of all the master of 
 the hut could do to hinder it. 
 
 "Now," said Piokee, starting up with energy, 
 " we are to clean house through and through while 
 father is away. We've several blessings to be 
 thankful for, with all our straits. I'm glad a squaw- 
 man built this hut, for he knew how to make a roof
 
 158 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 that doesn't leak, and a chimney that will carry off 
 the smoke instead of puffing it into our faces, though 
 he wasn't wise enough to keep from squandering 
 the hut by trading it to father for two ponies 
 one of them stone blind. And an Indian never 
 would have built a lean-to, as the squaw-man did, 
 to make a pigeon-hole for Nanno and myself to 
 sleep in. 
 
 " First of all we'll carry everything outdoors to 
 air. Of course you're going to be a little man and 
 help us, Up," she cheerily presumed, as the small 
 bushwhacker, whose incessant raids upon the inno- 
 cent friskers of the outdoor world kept him mostly 
 out of sight, deigned to tarry for a moment at the 
 door with the inseparable squirrel club in hand. 
 " Here's a blanket you may hang upon a bush and 
 beat and beat till it is free from dust." 
 
 Running out and picking up a stick she began 
 the work herself, to show Up how it should be done. 
 
 Up stood watching her, with a mysterious mean- 
 ing in his bead-like eyes. But when she ceased to 
 wield the stick, having given him his lesson, she 
 was glad to see him fling aside the squirrel club, as 
 if to try the work himself.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 TIP'S FREAK OF INDUSTRY. 
 
 TRIPPING back into the house, lest by her pres- 
 ence she embarrass Up in the performance of 
 his novel task, Piokee found that Fauqua had drawn 
 out into the middle of the room a curious trunk of 
 deerskin stretched upon a frame of wooden hoops. 
 She was down upon her knees beside it pulling out 
 the contents, mostly Indian finery of her own skilled 
 handiwork. 
 
 These treasures, which were rarely brought forth 
 from their hiding-place, delighted even solemn 
 Nanno, and she seized Piokee's hand and drew her 
 to the trunk. 
 
 There was a quantity of bead embroidery, nicely 
 worked on buckskin, or on flannel of the gayest 
 hues. A fancy workbag, several pairs of moccasins, 
 large and small, a splendid shirt with scarlet body 
 and the yellowest of yellow sleeves, a cunning 
 match-safe, a tobacco pouch and an elaborate pipe 
 
 159
 
 160 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 case were among the beaded articles that Fauqua 
 proudly held up, one by one, before Piokee's dazzled 
 eyes. 
 
 The marvel of the many treasures was exhibited 
 last of all. It was a little bonnet of the finest, 
 smoothest buckskin, dyed a veritable baby-blue and 
 worked with tiny stars of pink and blue beads on 
 the crown. There was a fluff of turkey plumage, 
 stripped with delicate precision from the quill and 
 fashioned in a band about the rim. Jaunty blue 
 strings, crossed and held together by a pink star, 
 gave the finishing touch to this bewitching little 
 dress affair, that only needed a demure childish face 
 beneath the soft brown fluff to make it irresistible. 
 
 " What a dear little bonnet," said Piokee. " It 
 was made for Nanno, I suppose, and how cunning 
 she must look in it." 
 
 " Cold Blast wear it next full moon. Look heap 
 fine," said Fauqua, poising it upon her hand and 
 viewing it with pride. 
 
 " What ! is it really father's ? " asked Piokee in 
 amazement. " Why, I didn't once imagine that ! " 
 
 The vision of her big grim father wearing the 
 coquettish little bonnet was too much for even seri- 
 ous Piokee, and she burst into a merry laugh, the 
 first that had escaped her since her sorrowful flight 
 from home. 
 
 " Injuns have big show dance. Cold Blast dance
 
 UP'S FREAK OF INDUSTRY. 161 
 
 in little head-rig. Feel heap proud," was Fauqua's 
 explanation. 
 
 " Oh ! I've heard of those spectacular dances," 
 said Piokee, ceasing now to wonder why this inap- 
 propriate attire. " The men put on a load of finery 
 and parade before the women to be admired and 
 praised. And will he wear the beaded shirt and all 
 the other fixings ? " going off into another peal of 
 laughter. " Do forgive me," growing serious as 
 she saw that Fauqua looked a trifle hurt. " It's very 
 rude to laugh, but I have never seen a bonnet on a 
 man, and it must look so funny." 
 
 While all this was going on above the trunk Up 
 was darting back and forth, dragging out of doors 
 blankets, clothing and all other shakable things that 
 he could seize upon. Piokee watched him absently 
 between her bursts of admiration over Fauqua's 
 needlework, vaguely wondering at his sudden freak 
 of industry. She was reminded of the fact that Up 
 was carrying on the airing siege alone by Nanno's 
 pulling at her skirts to draw her to the door. 
 
 " I care," said Nanno, pointing upward. 
 
 On the topmost branches of a towering tree were 
 hung in fluttering array the things that Up had 
 taken from the hut. Among them was Piokee' s 
 only gown, except the one she wore, her cap and 
 ulster, Mamma Prairie's shawl and Nanno's hood 
 and cloak. More alarming than all else, Joan of
 
 162 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 Arc, the cherished doll, was swinging wildly in the 
 upper air, suspended by her muslin skirt. 
 
 Up had disappeared, likewise his squirrel club. 
 
 " Why, they are in the very sky," exclaimed Pio- 
 kee, " and no one but Up can get them down. He 
 must have wrapped them round his back to climb 
 the tree with them. The sun keeps playing hide- 
 and-seek, which is a pretty sure sign that it's going 
 to rain. If it does the things will all get wet and 
 Oh ! dear me, what shall we do ? " 
 
 Fauqua looked discouraged, thinking like Piokee, 
 that it would be useless to depend on Up to bring 
 down that which he had hung aloft. 
 
 " Well, we'll leave them up there, since we have 
 to," said Piokee, " while we carry out the ashes 
 from the fireplace and scrub the walls and floor 
 and wash the two poor little windows. Never mind 
 the dolly, Nanno," as the child looked up distressedly 
 to where the darling of her heart seemed struggling 
 to free herself from the entangling bough. " She's 
 indestructible, like Up himself. It wouldn't hurt 
 Joan of Arc to get completely drenched." 
 
 Fauqua and Piokee now began the work of clean- 
 ing house, Nanno tugging with a vim to help dig 
 out the ashes that had long been gathering in the 
 fireplace. After these were carried out and dumped 
 into a hollow out of sight, a war was waged against 
 the dust and dirt on walls and floor and windows.
 
 UP'S FREAK OF INDUSTRY. 163 
 
 Piokee had been thankful to observe on coming 
 to the hut, that Fauqua had an old broom, and a 
 scant supply of soap laid by for an emergency, and 
 that a special interest in soap and water could be 
 easily aroused in her. 
 
 A blazing fire was kept up to dry the hut, and 
 when the task was done the atmosphere within was 
 greatly changed. 
 
 Last of all Piokee made herself and Nanno tidy, 
 Fauqua following her example by going through a 
 thorough bath from which she came forth with a 
 shining skin. 
 
 "Now we can't do another thing," observed Pio- 
 kee as she combed and patted down the bangs she 
 had begun to train on Nanno's forehead. "We 
 have cleaned the hut, but Up has stripped it bare of 
 bedclothes, and the bunks will have to stay all which- 
 way," glancing round the living room and into her 
 denuded pigeon-hole. " Dear me, I do believe it's 
 spitting rain this very minute ! " running out with 
 nose uplifted to again inspect the weather. 
 
 With eyes upon the clouds, she almost ran be- 
 neath the feet of Dr. Whistler's horse, just stopping 
 at the door. 
 
 Bending down the rider warmly grasped Piokee's 
 two hands that were joyfully upheld in double wel- 
 come ; then his gaze went upward to the tree-top. 
 
 " ' Whither, whither, whither so high ? ' " he
 
 164 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 asked with some surprise as he beheld the singular 
 decoration. 
 
 " ' To sweep the cobwebs from the ' hut. 'Twas 
 Up, of course," replied Piokee ruefully. (( We were 
 cleaning house and I persuaded him to help. While 
 I was looking over mother's treasures in the trunk 
 and didn't notice him, he carried all those things 
 outdoors, and there they are. He's gone off squir- 
 rel hunting, and dear knows how we shall ever get 
 them down.'* 
 
 " I used to be an expert at climbing when I was 
 an urchin," said the grave straight horseman, mea- 
 suring the distance to the tree-top with his eye. 
 
 "But you are not an urchin now, and I can't 
 imagine Dr. Whistler shinning up a tree," Piokee 
 answered laughingly. 
 
 He rode beneath the tree, and rising to his feet 
 upon the saddle, tried to reach the lower limb. It 
 was still some way above his head, but with a spring 
 he bounded up, caught hold of it and swung himself 
 into the tree. The well-trained horse stood still 
 and waited for his master. 
 
 "Well done," Piokee said, as up he went among 
 the branches, nimbly as a boy. " But, after all, how 
 will you get the things ? Up has hung them on the 
 very outside, and those slender limbs will break if 
 you creep out on them." 
 
 Whipping out his pocket knife he cut and trimmed
 
 TIP'S FKEAK OF INDUSTRY. 165 
 
 a long branch with a bough upon one end, from 
 which he made a two-pronged fork. Reaching out 
 with this, he freed Joan of Arc and tucked her care- 
 fully inside his vest, from which secure resting place 
 she cheerily stretched down her indestructible arms 
 to Nanno, looking up in mute appeal. One by one 
 the other things were lifted from the boughs and 
 dropped upon the ground, then Dr. Whistler dropped 
 himself upon the saddle and descended to Piokee's 
 side. 
 
 " A dozen thanks," said she, when all the things 
 were safely housed. " For your trouble you shall 
 have some squirrel pot-pie that I made myself. 
 Luckily Up didn't hang the dinner kettle in the 
 sky. It has been simmering above the fire while 
 we have been at work. After all, it isn't going to 
 rain." The clouds had shifted suddenly and left 
 the sky quite clear. " You and the sunshine came 
 together. It is beautiful to have you both at once," 
 she smiled up with a rush of gladness that the deep 
 blue sky was over her as ever and her friend was by 
 her side again. 
 
 " I have something in my pocket that will add 
 more sunshine, I suspect. Can you guess what ? " 
 responded he, smiling back mysteriously.
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE LOST FOUND. 
 
 there!" cried Mamma Prairie, drop- 
 J- ping tears of solemn joy on Dr. Whistler's 
 letter. " I knew I couldn't be mistaken, John. We 
 haven't failed, you see. But, oh ! the poor little 
 kidnaped missionary. If she could have told us all 
 about it, and let us pack a monstrous box with just 
 a very few of all the things she'll need to make 
 her half-way comfortable in that forlorn, outlandish 
 place, we would have given her up I think yes, 
 I do really think we would have let the child go 
 with our blessing. Don't you, John ? " 
 
 " I'm not so sure of that," said John. " That sly 
 old red fox of a father calculated very shrewdly 
 that he'd run the risk of never getting Dewdrop, if 
 he didn't steal her outright. At the very best it 
 is a terrible experiment for one so tenderly reared 
 as she has been." 
 
 " Yes, 'tis," said Sally, flying round and round 
 
 166
 
 THE LOST FOUND. 167 
 
 the room with' a mammoth pumpkin in her arms. 
 " 'Nough ter kill her out'n' out yes, 'tis. Sha'n't 
 I make 'em tol'able stiff, Mis' Bowers? Punkin 
 pies can't stan' much jouncin', an' the Injun roads 
 is mighty rough, so Ebenezer says." 
 
 " Yes ; they're full o' teeter holes an' thank-ye- 
 marms, so I've heered Jacob say," vouched Eben- 
 ezer from the doorway, where he stood rejoicing 
 with the others that the lost was found. " The reds 
 don't git no poll-tax served on to 'em, like the 
 whites; an' ev'ry blasted teeter hole mought sink 
 cl'ar through ter Chiny afore they'd go ter work ter 
 fill 'em up. An' that jes fetches Jacob. Him and 
 the poll-tax hed a fallin' out when he was twenty- 
 one, an' they hain't ben on speakin' terms, ye 
 mought say, ever sense. They like ter keep as fur 
 apart as possible, an' I reckon that's one reason 
 Jacob turned into a squaw-man. Punkin pies an' 
 thank-ye-marms ain't dyin' ter scrape acquaintance, 
 neither." 
 
 " Pumpkin pies ! " exclaimed Aunt Abigail John 
 had brought her over on his way from town with Dr. 
 Whistler's letter "why not storm the reservation 
 with a wagon-train of pumpkin pies, followed by 
 another loaded with ambrosia and angel-food ? The 
 whole greedy tribe would fall upon them like a 
 swarm of locusts, and Dewdrop wouldn't get the 
 vestige of a bite."
 
 168 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 " True, we can't begin with pumpkin pies ; but 
 we must do something in the greatest hurry," 
 Prairie said. " Dear me ! I'm growing sorry for 
 the Government, as much as I have blamed it for 
 mismanaging the Indians. It doesn't try to feed 
 them on ambrosia and angel-food, but think what 
 agony it must endure to know that all those hordes 
 of hungry mortals have consumed their rations in a 
 twinkling, and are opening their mouths appealingly 
 for more, so long before the time for them to have it." 
 
 " Pike's Peak might be piled up on Mt. Washing- 
 ton, with Mt. Ararat to cap the climax, and they 
 wouldn't loom up like this Indian difficulty. And 
 that child is trying to scale it with her poor weak 
 feet," declared Aunt Abigail, snatching off her tear- 
 dimmed spectacles to wipe them flurriedly. 
 
 " The step-mother is the soul of amiability, and 
 does the best she can by Dewdrop, Dr. Whistler 
 writes," said Prairie, thankful for this grain of com- 
 fort in the letter. " And the eight-year-old half- 
 sister, Nanno, is a promising little creature, though 
 supernaturally still and solemn. He doesn't say the 
 same of Up-a-tree, the little warrior of ten years, 
 who was out all night to watch the ghost dance, and 
 fell asleep on the ground and crept into the tent at 
 daybreak, thinly clad and drenched with rain." 
 
 " Up-a-tree ! " went off Aunt Abigail again. 
 " That boy must have another name as soon as we
 
 THE LOST FOUND. 169 
 
 can send it through the mail ; and I'll make haste 
 to get him into decent clothes, though I might as 
 well expect to fit a jumping-jack I've never seen, 
 for all I know about his measure. Ghost dancing, 
 too, right on the edge of Christendom ! 'Twould be 
 no wonder if the earth should jump a cog, and fly 
 off into space to shake off such abominations. Let 
 me see what shall we name that little savage?" 
 And she fell into a musing mood. 
 
 " Cecil St. James ? " suggested Sally. " That's 
 the hero of the book Mis' Biddle's readin'." 
 
 " Cecil Stick-of-candy ! " scorned Aunt Abigail. 
 " The boy must have a good substantial name that 
 he won't be ashamed of if he ever rises in the world." 
 
 " You might name him for a Puritan Father ; " 
 this from John. " Cotton Mather would be a vast 
 improvement on Up-a-tree." 
 
 "Your father's name will do, Prairie. We will 
 call him Adoniram," she decided. 
 
 " But there isn't any last name but the father's. 
 Adoniram Cold Blast sounds incongruous," -said 
 Prairie. 
 
 " To be sure a savage must be ripped up, seam 
 and gusset, and made over stitch by stitch," Aunt 
 Abigail replied. " Well, he can take the whole 
 name of the saintly missionary Adoniram Judson 
 though it goes without saying that he will dis- 
 grace it from the start. That little Nancy can be a
 
 170 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 Judson, too. Adoniram and Nancy Judson sounds 
 respectable, whatever there is back of it in the way 
 of degenerate flesh and blood. I suppose 'twill be 
 no use to try to change the parents' names. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Cold Blast will be written on their epi- 
 taphs as a memorial of what America has done to 
 civilize the aborigines." 
 
 Miriam, who had slipped away soon after Dr. 
 Whistler's letter had been read aloud, now came 
 back tugging two large satchels, which she dropped 
 in eager haste. 
 
 " One is for my Dewdwop, and one is for her 
 Nanno. Can't Ebenezer start wight off?" she said, 
 with glowing cheeks and excited eyes. 
 
 " Why, bless the child ! she's plunged right into 
 doing something, while we've stopped to talk it 
 over," Prairie said ; and she began examining the 
 satchels. 
 
 Uppermost in Nanno' s was a crippled elephant, the 
 joy of Miriam's heart. He was lying on his back, 
 his trunk and three sound legs thrust upward 
 through the satchel's gaping mouth. Beside the 
 elephant was a wax doll, and a dainty hood of snowy 
 eiderdown Aunt Rose had brought to Miriam on her 
 recent visit to the ranch. She had gone back to 
 Uncle Kearn the week before. Below were more 
 of Miriam's choicest playthings, several picture 
 books, a box half-full of candy, and some white
 
 THE LOST FOUND. 171 
 
 embroidered frocks and lace-trimmed aprons that 
 Piokee wore at Nanno's age. 
 
 In Piokee's was the wooden wedding gown much 
 crushed and tumbled by the eager little hands, the 
 pretty slippers and the silver jewelry, a cluster of 
 perfumery sachets, a pink silk cushion and a pict- 
 ure scarf, with Aunt Sweetbrier's namesake flower 
 painted by her own artistic hands across the pale- 
 blue border. 
 
 Two photographs came last of all ; Mamma Prai- 
 rie, John and Miriam grouped in one, and in the 
 other much-embarrassed Ebenezer, with Sally dodg- 
 ing from his side, but taken on the flying leap 
 before she quite escaped the camera's range. 
 
 " Do you fink 'at's what 'ey'll need most ? I 
 can't 'member if I've fought of ev'wyfing," said 
 Miriam anxiously. 
 
 " Yes, darling ; some of them, but not quite all," 
 said Prairie, folding up the yellow gown with tender 
 hands. The pretty girlish things could be of no 
 more use to Dewdrop now, she thought, and Nanno 
 could not wear the dainty garments that belong to 
 childhood. " My Miriam must wait a few days ; " 
 and she kissed the disappointed little face. " We'll 
 send a box brimful of things as soon as Dewdrop 
 leaves the woods where she is helping gather nuts." 
 
 " Going nutting is des lovely. Don't you fink so, 
 mamma ? " Miriam asked, with questioning eyes.
 
 172 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 " When the woods are full of sunshine, yes, dear," 
 was the answer. 
 
 " Well, I fink 'ey'll be most always full of sun- 
 shine 'cause my Dewdwop's in 'em," reasoned Mir- 
 iam. " When we send a box bwimful of fings and 
 she isn't in 'e woods, where will she be ? " 
 
 "At home, love, in her father's house." 
 
 " Dr. Whistler didn't say a house, he said a hut," 
 reflecting on the letter. " What is a hut ? " persisted 
 Miriam. 
 
 " A tiny place to live in sometimes very snug 
 and warm," said Prairie, summoning courage to 
 endure the cross-examination. 
 
 " Are vere beds and chairs and tables, and most 
 ev'wyfing in Mr. Cold Blast's hut?" 
 
 " No," broke in Aunt Abigail ; " those blanket 
 Indians sleep in bunks, and squat like toads and 
 Turks upon the ground, or floor if they are rich 
 enough to have a floor and eat their victuals with 
 their fingers. Yet the world predicts that the mil- 
 lennium day is not far off, and America is putting 
 on some airs because she thinks she's nearer ready 
 for it than the other nations."
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 LETTERS. 
 
 ETTERSl" cried Piokee, as Dr. Whistler 
 J-J handed her two missives in their square 
 white envelopes, both so entrancingly plump, they 
 had required extra postage. " Letters from the 
 lovely other world. Mamma Prairie and Floy Wins- 
 low," she decided, lingering over the addresses in a 
 maze of joy. " I must have a pin to tear them open 
 very nicely at one end. They are so precious that 
 I wouldn't even spoil a scrap of the outside." And 
 she took a little pinwheel from her pocket, slowly 
 picking out the tiny paper cutter. 
 
 Dr. Whistler did not mar the bliss of her antici- 
 pation by offering to assist her with his penknife, 
 but robbing Fauqua of the pail with which she was 
 just starting for the spring, and taking Nanno by 
 the hand, he left Piokee to herself and went to 
 fetch the water. The mother watched him from 
 the path in still surprise, so unused was she to see- 
 
 173
 
 174 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 ing men so far forget their lordly station as to wait 
 on women. 
 
 Piokee read the letters through and through 
 Mamma Prairie's, Floy's, then both again sitting 
 on the stump outside the hut, basking in the spring- 
 like sunshine. Dr. Whistler brought the water, and 
 seeing her too happily absorbed to notice him, 
 went back to build a mimic dam for Nanno, across 
 the brooklet running from the stream. Fauqua 
 glided in and out, waiting till Piokee dropped the 
 letters in her lap and clasped her hands above them, 
 with a dreamy sigh. 
 
 "White mother not scold ? Call old Injuns sneak 
 thieves ? Say Piokee come back ? " she asked, in 
 wonder that she read no signs of agitation on 
 Piokee's face. 
 
 " No, indeed ; she doesn't scold one bit. She 
 says I am her own dear girlie just the same, though 
 she will have to lend me to my people. And she 
 sends her love to you, and says she is so thankful to 
 the very bottom of her heart that you're so good to 
 me. Dr. Whistler wrote her that." 
 
 " White mother talk good. Not hate Injun 
 thieves? Injun hate white thieves," marveled Fau- 
 qua at the foster-mother's loving kindness, which 
 she did not know was less remarkable than her own 
 meek patience under heavy burdens. 
 
 Dr. Whistler, walking up the path with Nanno
 
 LETTERS. 177 
 
 some time after, found Piokee still there on the rus- 
 tic seat, dwelling happily on Mamma Prairie's words 
 of tender cheer and Floy's delightful chatter. 
 
 " 0, my chief ! " exclaimed she, as he stopped be- 
 fore her, " is there anything in the whole world 
 quite like a real true love letter, that is all one's 
 own from first to last ? " 
 
 " I don't know ; I have never had one," he 
 responded, with a lonesome smile. 
 
 "Haven't you? 0, poor Doctor!" pityingly; 
 " your mother never learned to write, so she couldn't 
 send you one. And she didn't live till you had gone 
 through college. But you've had my letters ever 
 since I first began to print, when I was six years old." 
 
 " But they were hardly of the kind you mention," 
 was his grave complaint. " You were always telling 
 rne how fond you were of Mamma Prairie, Miriam 
 and the other friends I think you even mentioned 
 Ebenezer but not a word about myself." 
 
 " Why, that is very strange. I suppose it was 
 because I thought you knew it all the time. I can't 
 remember when I first began to love my chief," she 
 mused, looking up to him with reverent eyes. " I 
 think it must have been when I was riding on his 
 back to Mamma Prairie's cabin." 
 
 " Well, I ought to be quite satisfied with that, 
 since 'I come before even Mamma Prairie," with a 
 brightening of his careworn face. " I well remem-
 
 178 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 ber what a curious interest stirred my barbarous 
 young nature for the tender little creature so com- 
 pletely at my mercy during that momentous ride. 
 Perhaps you would have been as happy now had 
 you never taken it, since you are called back to the 
 life I snatched you from just for a few brief years," 
 lapsing into sudden gloom, as he thought of Piokee's 
 change of fortune. "I suppose you would have 
 grown up somehow with the tribe, not knowing and 
 not caring, like the rest." 
 
 " 0, no, no ! " exclaimed Piokee, with a shudder. 
 " I would rather know and care ; whatever happens, 
 nothing now can rob me of those beautiful years 
 in the lovely other world. But I am not so very 
 wretched here," she said, her face aglow with cour- 
 age. " I've neither starved nor frozen, even in the 
 pecan camp, where I thought it would be simply 
 horrible. The hut is dismal, and quite bare of 
 everything we need, but there's the bright outdoors 
 in sunny weather. Winter in the Territory is so 
 warm and lovely, for the most part, that I'm very 
 thankful I am not a Northern Indian girl. 
 
 "And then it seems too good to think of 
 Mamma Prairie and Aunt Abigail are to send a box 
 of all the dear old usable things I left behind, with 
 lots of new ones such as I shall need here, and some 
 brand-new clothes for Up. Oh ! isn't it too furiny ?" 
 with a mirthful laugh ; " Aunt Abigail wants to name
 
 LETTERS. 179 
 
 Up, Adoniram Judson. Think of Up, with all his 
 antics, capering under such a name as that." 
 
 " It would be well to lay it by for future use," 
 smiled Dr. Whistler. " The brisk, obstreperous lit- 
 tle name that suits him to a dot just now, will 
 hardly do when he becomes the staid young man 
 you hope to make of him. When I entered school I 
 placed prosaic James before happy-go-lucky Whist- 
 ler, the name I won when very young, from my 
 ability to imitate a quail. Happily, my boyish name 
 was not too barbarous to carry into civilized life, so 
 Whistler I shall always be." 
 
 " But only think how brave and noble Up would 
 have to be to make the name of Adoniram Judson 
 suitable," Piokee said. "I know about the great 
 grand missionary who first owned it. If they are 
 too good or too bad, names are simply a misfor- 
 tune," was her train of thought. " Now there is 
 Wak-wak Six-killer, one of my girls over in the vil- 
 lage she's as harmless as a kitten, but how fright- 
 fully ferocious one would fancy she must be, with 
 such a name." 
 
 " Have you some girls over in the village ? " Dr. 
 Whistler asked incredulously. 
 
 " Yes ; I met them at the pecan camp. They 
 pelted me with nuts at first, but they didn't keep 
 on very long. Wak-wak led the way in offering a 
 beautiful apology. I've found out that they care if
 
 180 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 they don't know, and it makes me happier than I 
 can tell you." 
 
 "If they do care they have taken pains that I 
 shall not suspect it," he observed. " I'm very well 
 acquainted with those girls. Some of them have 
 been my patients when the reservation has been 
 swept with fever. I have tried for some time to 
 awake in them a wish to learn the civilized way, 
 but they belong to families that have seemed op- 
 posed to schools. How did you discover that the 
 girls have any interest in that direction, little riddle 
 solver?" 
 
 " Oh ! a secret," she replied, with a mysterious 
 little laugh. "'There are books in the running 
 brooks,' and wishes in the eyes of shy wild Indian 
 girls, if one knows how to read them. And I've 
 found out another thing you don't suspect that 
 Nao hasn't really the bad heart, as you believe he 
 has," she added, bracing up to meet the sternness 
 these last words evoked. 
 
 " If you wish to please me you will never speak 
 of that young scamp again. He has disgraced him- 
 self and me beyond endurance, and I'll have no 
 more of him," said Dr. Whistler, in a quick decisive 
 tone. 
 
 " But you must let me speak," pleaded Piokee 
 earnestly. " 0, dear ! " she sighed, " now you are 
 Dr. Whistler with a vengeance, and you are so
 
 LETTERS. 181 
 
 dreadfully civilized that you've forgotten all about 
 the Black Hawk Indian, and the dose of brotherly 
 love." 
 
 " The Black Hawk Indian, however great a rogue 
 he otherwise would be, has to stand back and keep 
 quiet. If he didn't I would throttle him," said Dr. 
 Whistler, with such fierce determination that Piokee 
 thought it well for Nao that he was beyond the 
 reach of his offended guardian just then. "I have 
 a world of charity for the ignorant savage, dark as 
 is his record," he went on, "but it is mischief of 
 the most enlightened kind which that boy is guilty 
 of, and it is working greater injury than you can 
 imagine to the cause which I am struggling to up- 
 hold. Yesterday I tried to offer some advice to 
 several young men who were becoming much ex- 
 cited talking of the ghost dance at the Agency, but 
 they interrupted me with jeers and laughter. One 
 exclaimed : 
 
 " l Call back the young runner who is carrying 
 Messiah news to other tribes, and talk to him before 
 you talk to us.' 
 
 " Said another : ( If the white man's road is good, 
 why does your brother leave it for the Indian's 
 path ? He has had a chance to find out which 
 is best.' 
 
 " ' Yes,' observed a third ; e send the Light Horse 
 after him, if it is treason for the Indian to dance
 
 182 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 the ghost dance. The civilized medicine man must 
 have a stronger tongue than that he speaks with 
 now, to talk us into doing what he cannot make his 
 brother do.' " 
 
 " Oh ! I'm sure he doesn't dream of all the harm 
 he is doing," said Piokee, much appalled by the ex- 
 tent of Nao's mischief. "It is only that he's tired 
 of school and wants a change, so he's gone off on a 
 little ghost-dance lark." 
 
 " Well, he'll find his little ghost-dance lark, as 
 you call it, very serious in its results," said Dr. 
 Whistler, pacing with impatient steps. "You can 
 not comprehend his grave offense, my child," he 
 added, stopping short and struggling to calm himself. 
 
 " You have heard that my mother married Nao's 
 father, and was taken from her house in Kansas, 
 where she had begun to live in something of a civ- 
 ilized way, back to the tepee and blanket on this 
 reservation ; that both parents died in one week of 
 an epidemic, and Nao, at the age of eight, fell into 
 my hands. 
 
 " Ever since, I have been striving to blot out the 
 impress of his father's influence left upon him as a 
 young child. As he is naturally quick to learn, a 
 passable amount of knowledge has been drilled into 
 his head, while at heart he has remained a young 
 barbarian. If Nao as a schoolboy cannot be relied 
 upon in this emergency to stand fast to the princi-
 
 LETTEKS. 183 
 
 pies he should have learned by this time to respect, 
 there is nothing to him, and from now on I am quits 
 with him." 
 
 " But you surely will forgive him if he comes 
 back sorry," said Piokee, startled by the look on 
 Dr. Whistler's face. 
 
 " I think not, deluded little pleader, if to forgive 
 him means to trust him," Dr. Whistler answered, 
 looking firmly down at her.
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE SURPRISING LOAD. 
 
 " npHINK of me," so ran a clipping of Floy's 
 -*- letter, " as the mother of the mother of 
 three hundred chicks. The grandmother, I suppose 
 I may be called. The mother is a wooden-headed, 
 heartless thing, without a spark of feeling for her 
 pretty dears. Indeed, she'd be a perfect iceberg if 
 we didn't keep her lined with fuzz and warm her 
 with a kerosene lamp. She has no taste for insects, 
 and the chicks were likely to grow up without the 
 slightest training as to grubworms, but Bub Merrill, 
 with his usual mania for experiments, fed them ver- 
 micelli for an object lesson in zoology, and crammed 
 them with an overdose of sham. This caused an 
 epidemic of the gapes, which gave the grandmother 
 no end of work and worry, and cut off the lives of 
 twenty of the pretty babies. 
 
 " Ellery is still studying the broken treaties. If 
 his eyes are spared, I think he'll finish all of them 
 
 184
 
 THE SUKPKISING LOAD. 185 
 
 by spring. Like the rest of us, he's mourning -for 
 Bright Alfarata. He has begged Priscilla's jewel- 
 box, turning out her string of gold beads and her 
 amethyst ring to make room for the buttonhole 
 bouquet of feathers he's preserving as a choice me- 
 mento of the wild young squaw who has turned 
 out to be the bravest of the brave young mission- 
 aries. Dewdrop dear, how could you have the cour- 
 age but I made Priscilla promise not to let me 
 write one dismal sentence in this letter ; if I do she 
 is to tear it into shreds ; so as that is only half a dis- 
 mal sentence, I shall hop-skip right away from it 
 and tell you you are soon to get acquainted with 
 Miss Harriet, the daughter of the agent of your 
 reservation, who, we've very lately found out, is a 
 lifelong friend of papa's. He surprised us with a 
 call while on his way home from a short trip North 
 a day or two ago. Miss Harriet and Priscilla were 
 at school together in the East, though they were 
 never very well acquainted, as they were in differ- 
 ent classes. Pris remembers that Miss Harriet is 
 just lovely, and so strong and independent a reg- 
 ular champion of the Indian cause, her father says. 
 " Pris talked of her pet violinist, Ellery of Bright 
 Alfarata, and I of my dearest chum, till it is safe to 
 say your agent won't forget to rouse an interest in 
 Miss Harriet for the lonesome little missionary some- 
 where on the reservation.
 
 186 PIOKEE AND HEK PEOPLE. 
 
 "Your agent speaks in highest terms of Dr. 
 Whistler. He says he's built a nice frame house 
 close by a squallid village, when he might have 
 built it at the Agency and had congenial neighbors, 
 just to let the blanket Indians see he doesn't mean 
 to shun them if he is so civilized. He wants to 
 show them that a man may be an Indian forgive 
 me, dear ; I keep forgetting you are one and a 
 bachelor at that, and live in tip-top shape, and yet 
 be on the best of terms with those who don't. 
 
 " I'm telling you all this because I don't believe 
 you'll ever hear it from that modest chief of yours 
 himself. He's always planning ways, the agent says, 
 for stirring up the shiftless men and boys, and setting 
 them to work. He keeps a lot of axes right at hand, 
 and hires as many of the young men as he can to chop 
 wood for his sawmill near the village. After pay- 
 ing them fair wages, he divides the profits of the 
 business with the workers. 
 
 " Lemuel, the colored man who manages the farm 
 for Dr. Whistler, runs a monstrous onion patch es- 
 pecially to hire the boys to bend their backs in solid 
 work pulling weeds. At harvest time, the young- 
 sters who have been decoyed into the patch as labor- 
 ers, besides what they have earned pulling weeds, 
 have a generous share of onions that they're proud 
 to carry to the Agency to sell. 
 
 "And isn't it just splendid that you have this
 
 THE SURPRISING LOAD. 187 
 
 grand good friend so near to help you in the task 
 you've dared to set about yourself ? 
 
 " You may expect a good-sized budget from Pris- 
 cilla in a few days, with perhaps a fly-leaf on the 
 nobleness of missionary work among the Indians 
 from Ellery's sympathetic pen." 
 
 Piokee, sitting on the stump, was reading Floy's 
 letter for about the twentieth time, when Cold Blast 
 came in sight, the tipsy cart weighed down with a 
 surprising load. This was in the middle of the 
 afternoon, the next day after his departure with 
 the nuts. 
 
 " 0, mother ! do look, quick," she cried to Fau- 
 qua, who was on the doorsill stringing beads. " A 
 brand-new cook stove and some new chairs and a 
 table, as I live and breathe ! Only think a table ! 
 Why, I didn't dare to say one word about that, and 
 I thought we should have to keep on eating in our 
 laps forever and ever." 
 
 "Urn!" said Cold Blast, drawing up before the 
 hut in proud array, and clambering down to view 
 the load. 
 
 Great was Piokee's rapture at these civilized be- 
 longings which her father had achieved with one 
 big swoop; but presently she found there was a 
 curious motive for the reckless outlay, other than 
 to travel in the white man's road. 
 
 " Sam Sixkiller buy new fire box, brag loud, call
 
 188 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 me poor Injun," he explained. " I get heap mad, 
 brag I buy it too. He brag he buy big board on 
 legs, I get heap madder, brag I buy it too. I brag 
 I buy high seats, he brag he buy urn too. I brag I 
 buy heap chuck, he brag he buy heap chuck. I say 
 he stop now, get big lickin'." 
 
 "0, father! but you didn't fight him, did you?" 
 said Piokee in alarm. 
 
 "He stop," was Cold Blast's terse reply. 
 
 "Well, at any rate, I'm glad for the Sixkillers 
 and ourselves that all these things are bought, and 
 I'm so thankful you two fathers didn't come to 
 blows trying to outshine each other," she concluded, 
 reaching up to grasp a chair that Fauqua handed 
 from the cart. 
 
 Cold Blast did not stir himself to help unload the 
 things till they were all upon the ground except 
 the stove wdth its utensils shut up in the oven. 
 Then pulling out a peg he recklessly upset the cart 
 and sent the stove with clattering tins and irons 
 sliding to the ground. He caught it on the fly, 
 with giant strength, however, and thus saved the 
 threatened smashup. Fauqua, who was used to this 
 bewildering inversion of the cart, without an in- 
 stant's warning, saved herself by clinging to the 
 dashboard. 
 
 " What a splendid cooking outfit ! pots and pans 
 and griddles and my stars a waffle iron ! " said
 
 THE SUEPKIS1NG LOAD. 189 
 
 Piokee, more and more astounded at the length the 
 rivalry had run. " Everything we need to eat, and 
 more, too," really startled at the lot of canned pro- 
 visions which the keeper of the mixed store where 
 the purchases were made had urged his customer to 
 buy to swell the profits of the sale. "But you 
 couldn't get all this for what the nuts brought, and 
 I can't imagine how you paid for everything," she 
 wondered. 
 
 " Pay some. Draw headlight money few moons, 
 pay rest," he answered. 
 
 " Oh ! I'm sorry you have run in debt," said she, 
 a cold wave sweeping over her enthusiasm. " Mrs. 
 Biddle bought her furniture that way, and she said 
 she thought 'twould kill her off by inches, she had 
 to squeeze the pennies so to save enough to pay the 
 dues. But then, she hadn't any headright money 
 to depend on, and that never fails," bethought Pio- 
 kee, and she drew an easier breath. " It seems so 
 perfectly delightful to be handling a piece of furni- 
 ture," she added, helping Fauqua set the table back 
 against the wall. " But I'm afraid Sam Sixkiller 
 will be our enemy now, and won't let Wak-wak 
 come to school." 
 
 " Piokee not have school," said Cold Blast, squat- 
 ting in the door in glum displeasure. " Messiah 
 come, get heap mad. I swapee pony, get big boot. 
 Buy new war-gun."
 
 190 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 Chipmunk, who was like a human friend to his 
 devoted little mistress, save that he had not the gift 
 of speech, was always kept so near the hut that she 
 could see him from the door and hear his gentle 
 whinny, which she answered now and then by run- 
 ning out to greet him with a loving word and pat. 
 The pony had regained his shiny coat, for Dr. 
 Whistler had supplied the longed-for curry-comb 
 and brush, having given those he carried in his left- 
 hand saddle-bag to Piokee at the pecan camp. 
 
 Cold Blast eyed the handsome little creature 
 grazing near the door, but for Piokee's peace of 
 mind she did not see his speculative gaze, nor 
 understand the full significance of his last remark.
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 PIOKEE FINDS THE KEY. 
 
 OF all the trials of Piokee's reservation life Up, 
 the wanton little bushwhacker, was by far 
 the worst. 
 
 According to the Indian custom of allowing boys 
 to have their own way from the time they leave the 
 cradle on their mother's back, Up's ten short years 
 had been a gala time of impish sports, without re- 
 gard to law or order. Knowing no restraint he 
 feared none, and a dread of accident had never 
 marred his keen delight in reckless gambols, such 
 as swinging in the air at perilous heights and riding 
 vicious ponies at a break-neck speed, in graceful 
 supple attitudes that would have made his fortune 
 as a juvenile circus rider. 
 
 Whether he were clad or naked seemed to give 
 him small concern in general ; but at times an in- 
 born craving to array himself in startling attire 
 would seize him, and he would come forth a veri- 
 
 191
 
 192 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 table little dandy, decked in finery from the deer- 
 skin trunk, or wrested from his mother's scant but 
 showy wardrobe. 
 
 Fauqua's best sack, of the gayest flowered calico, 
 became his tunic upon one occasion, beaded moc- 
 casins adorned his feet, and strips of green and 
 orange cloth were wound in Maypole style about 
 his legs outside his ragged trousers, with astonishing 
 effect. The little show-dance bonnet crowned his 
 head, while Fauqua trembled at the ruin that was 
 sure to overtake it, and Piokee's blue frilled petti- 
 coat caparisoned the pony that conveyed him to the 
 village, where he joined a squad of juvenile riders 
 that had decked themselves in similar fashion for a 
 dress parade. 
 
 After winding through the village till their vanity 
 was satiated by the admiration of their elders, the 
 procession ended in a horse-race, and at nightfall 
 Up came home denuded of his finery, which he had 
 staked upon the race and lost. The little show- 
 dance bonnet and Piokee's skirt had gone the way 
 of all the rest. 
 
 Piokee was appalled at this amazing hardihood in 
 one so young as Up. Fauqua wept in secret at the 
 grievous loss, but held her peace, for well she knew 
 that Cold Blast would but scowl, and smoke in silent 
 sorrow, that the handsome little bonnet never could 
 adorn his own grim pate in the spectacular dance.
 
 PIOKEE FINDS THE KEY 193 
 
 He would not subject Up to the ridicule of all his 
 fellow youngsters by attempting to take back the 
 things that had been fairly won from him accord- 
 ing to the barbarous code of fairness. 
 
 "0, dear, dear! what would Aunt Abigail say?" 
 bewailed Piokee, in a burst of deep despair. " 'Twill 
 never do to save the great, grand name for Up. 
 Why, he will be the terror of our life, for he can do 
 just anything he has a mind to. Father doesn't try 
 to help it, which is very strange, he is so stern in 
 other ways." 
 
 " Big Injuns brave warriors. Not dread war-path ; 
 dread papooses," Fauqua answered, musing on the 
 singular subjection of the Indian fathers to the small 
 braves, whom they rarely sought to rule. 
 
 But though Up did not fear his father, and dis- 
 dained alike his mother's mild remonstrance and 
 Piokee's earnest pleadings, there was one un- 
 dreamed-of key to his susceptibilities which was by 
 chance discovered. 
 
 Piokee had not played a note upon the violin 
 since coming to the reservation, for she dreaded to 
 awake the memory-haunting music, lest it stir with 
 new intensity those homesick longings she was 
 always struggling to subdue. 
 
 But the violin must not stay hidden in its case 
 forever, and she knew the longer she deferred her 
 practice the harder it would be to take it up at last.
 
 194 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 So she set about it with an energetic rush one 
 morning, having swept the floor, and built a cheer- 
 ful fire, and opened wide the hut door to let in the 
 sunshine and let out her father's pipe smoke. 
 
 To Piokee's great encouragement, her father had 
 strolled out to work a little while upon the pole and 
 brush shed he was slowly building for the ponies at 
 one end of the corral. 
 
 Taking out her violin she rubbed the bow with 
 rosin, screwed the pegs until the strings were taut, 
 then tuned the violin, and with a resolute move- 
 ment swept the bow across the strings. 
 
 With the first note off she went into a graceful 
 waltz, circling round and round, and gliding back 
 and forth upon the floor, playing, dancing, singing, 
 all together. 
 
 Having whirled herself into a cheerful mood, 
 Piokee was about to settle down to earnest practice 
 when she almost stumbled over Up, who had been 
 squatting on a wild-cat skin before the fire watching 
 the bewildering spin, and drinking in the music 
 with enchanted eyes and ears. 
 
 "JMore ghost dance heap more! " he demanded, 
 as she ceased to whirl, and hovered over him on 
 tiptoe, looking down at his excited face. 
 
 " Oh ! it isn't a ghost dance, it's a fun dance," 
 she responded, laughing at his queer mistake. 
 
 "More fun dance more, more! "he clamored,
 
 PIOKEE FINDS THE KEY. 195 
 
 and away she went again, delighted to have found 
 some means of stirring one emotion of a harmless 
 order in the little rogue's strange nature. 
 
 The first strains of the music had been wafted to 
 Up's ears as he was starting on the chase, and drop- 
 ping squirrel-club and bow and arrow, he had slipped 
 into the hut to cast himself, a charmed and con- 
 quered listener, at the player's feet. 
 
 When Piokee could not dance another step, but 
 sank into a chair to catch her breath, and then 
 begin her practice thrilled with new and happy 
 interest in her music, Up still squatted on the wild- 
 cat skin, to listen with absorbed attention. 
 
 " Bird in box ? " he curiously asked, as she was rest- 
 ing from her practice with the violin across her lap. 
 
 " The music lives in there," she answered, holding 
 down the violin that he might peer inside of it. 
 " You wouldn't like to spoil its nest and kill the 
 music bird ? 0, no ! you wouldn't do that, would 
 you, Up ? " She pointed to the nest, and tried to 
 make her meaning clear by using signs with words. 
 
 A little of his parents' broken English Up had 
 learned by instinct, but he did not understand the 
 whole of what Piokee said. Only now and then 
 was there a word whose import he could catch. 
 
 " Heap no. Kill bird sing bad medicine," he said, 
 with superstitious awe, when he had struggled with 
 the new idea she sought to press upon him.
 
 196 PIOKEE AND HEK PEOPLE. 
 
 " But you break up nests and kill the birds up in 
 the trees. They sing far better than the violin 
 poor, pretty, sweetrvoiced birds ! " she pityingly 
 exclaimed. 
 
 There was another long, hard pause. Up was 
 surely thinking now. Nanno, perched upon a chair, 
 was stringing beads, and Fauqua was engaged in 
 cutting out a pair of little moccasins to take the 
 place of those which Up had gambled off a few days 
 previously. 
 
 An odd gleam shot across Up's small dark face, 
 and thereupon he breathed a secret that had never 
 been revealed to mortal ear till now. 
 
 " I sharp hark. Not shoot bird sing ; shoot bird 
 keep still whiz-z-z ! " and with a quick, peculiar 
 sound he sped a fanciful arrow through the air to 
 pierce a voiceless bird. 
 
 And thus it was discovered that the wanton little 
 bushwhacker had been listening to the music of the 
 birds, and in his war upon the helpless wild things 
 which he had not learned to pity he had spared the 
 feathered songsters. 
 
 It was not yet time to plead the cause of those 
 still creatures that could never charm him with a 
 song, and so Piokee waited until she could use the 
 key again, to gain some further access to the little 
 red man's inner nature, where he kept his budding 
 sentiments securely locked.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THE BOXES. 
 
 OH! the dear delight of those capacious boxes. 
 Two they were, for it was found that one, 
 however large, could not contain the absolute neces- 
 sities that Mamma Prairie and Aunt Abigail sped 
 away by mail and wagon route, to where the foster- 
 daughter had begun her new strange life, so destitute 
 of comforts. 
 
 The boxes were expressed in care of Dr. Whistler, 
 who sent a man to haul them from the Agency, 
 where they had been delivered by a freighter who 
 had brought them from the railroad station fifty 
 miles and more away. They were supplied with 
 lids and lock and key, like trunks, for well the 
 senders knew there were no closets in the hut to 
 hold their contents, should they be unpacked. 
 
 " Pairs and pairs of snowy sheets and pillow- 
 cases," said Piokee, taking off the topmost layer of 
 the box she opened first in eager haste. " And oh ' 
 
 197
 
 198 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 the white, white nightgowns I have missed so much, 
 and half a dozen other little ones that I outgrew at 
 your age, Nanno. Now we'll be two dreamers all 
 in white, just like the big and little sisters in the 
 lovely other world. That dark brown flannel wrap- 
 per that was all I had to wear at night, and the 
 calico slip with such a mass of patches that has been 
 your only nightgown, were enough to spoil our 
 dreams and make us feel like wood-mice that have 
 never been undressed. 
 
 "Patchwork quilts from good Aunt Abigail 
 one, two yes, three ! " pulling out another layer ; 
 " and the pretty red-lined comforter I helped to tie 
 myself nine weeks no, let me think ten weeks 
 ago to-morrow. It was made for my own bed, and 
 one would think 'twas stuffed with swan's-down it's 
 so light and puffy, yet so warm. And here's an- 
 other, 'With regards to Mrs. Cold Blast from A. 
 Wilde,' " reading from a slip of paper pinned to a 
 substantial comforter, and with a merry fling quite 
 smothering Fauqua in its ample folds. 
 
 " Heap fine," said Fauqua, thrusting out her head 
 and strutting round the hut with childish pride, 
 enveloped in the comforter. 
 
 "Here are two nice bedticks we can fill with 
 clean husks for the beds," Piokee said, as she went 
 on exploring the delightful box. " A wolfskin mat- 
 tress on a hard pole bedstead doesn't make the
 
 THE BOXES. 201 
 
 softest kind of bed. The ponies haven't picked off 
 all the husks, grazing through the cornpatch, and I 
 think we'll find enough to fill the ticks. I've never 
 asked you, mother, but I'm afraid you raised that 
 corn yourself," she added, all at once remembering 
 her father's plan with which he had dismayed her 
 in the woodman's hut, that she should help the 
 mother hoe corn in the spring. 
 
 " Cold Blast plow ground ; I plant corn, hoe 
 weeds. Big Injun not work much," was Fauqua's 
 answer. 
 
 " 0, dear me ! if all the blanket Indians were not 
 so big, there'd be more hope for them," Piokee 
 sighed. " I wonder where it all began that ter- 
 rible mistake of fancying themselves such lordly be- 
 ings that the women ought to be their slaves. I'm 
 very sure it didn't spring from Adam, for according 
 to the Bible, Eve could lead him almost by a string. 
 But whom did it spring from Jew or Gentile, 
 Hottentot or some deluded Indian ancestor?" she 
 queried, diving down still deeper, and fishing out a 
 little Scotch plaid frock, a woollen petticoat and 
 several gingham aprons. 
 
 " Hi-dum di-dum diddle-um de! 
 I'm not so young as I used to be," 
 
 she sang, " but Nanno is, and Mamma Prairie told 
 me I might keep my little girl clothes till I found
 
 202 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 some other red-brown midget who could slip right 
 into them and here you are, without a bit of 
 taking up or letting down." 
 
 Stripping Nanno of the soiled red coat she had 
 been wearing for a frock since coming from the pe- 
 can camp, Piokee whisked the little girl clothes on 
 to her, presently discovering some shoes and stock- 
 ings that exactly fitted her. Thus the little mocca- 
 sins and leggings were cast off forever. 
 
 There was clothing for Piokee and there were 
 some comfortable garments Fauqua could make use 
 of. Further down were towels, tablecloths and nap- 
 kins, many sweet surprises Miriam had planned for 
 Nanno in the shape of picture-books and playthings, 
 pattycakes and candies. And with all the rest there 
 were some small convenient treasures from the little 
 white room which Piokee scarce could do without, 
 yet had not dreamed that she should ever see again. 
 
 " It doesn't seem as if we'd ever reach the bot- 
 torn," said Piokee, hooking up a good-sized bundle 
 with the handle of her silk umbrella she had been 
 rejoiced to find within the box. " Oh ! this is la- 
 beled 'Adoniram Judson,' " and she hastily untied 
 the cord that bound the bundle. 
 
 " Everything Up needs to wear. A complete out- 
 fit!" she exclaimed when she had viewed the con- 
 tents. " Generous Aunt Abigail must have bought 
 them ready-made, and sewed the buttons on again
 
 THE BOXES. 203 
 
 with extra care," delightedly examining the young- 
 ster's outfit. " They are strong and warm, and 
 really stylish, and it doesn't matter in the least if 
 they are just a speck too large. Of course she 
 doesn't know that Up is such a spidery little fellow. 
 I can shorten the overcoat if it drags, and turning 
 up the trousers legs and sleeves will be the easiest 
 of things to do." 
 
 "A cap and mittens, woollen underclothes and 
 several pairs of thick, warm stockings, with a pair 
 of shoes that he can wear through flood and fire by 
 stuffing something in the toes to keep them on his 
 feet. Now Up will be a regular little citizen of the 
 United States, if he will only wash himself and wear 
 the clothes and keep from falling straight back into 
 rags and tags." 
 
 Up had seen the boxes lifted from the wagon by 
 his father and the man who hauled them from the 
 Agency, and curious to find out what was in them, 
 he had squatted on the floor to watch Piokee during 
 the unpacking. When she had displayed the little 
 citizen's garb, and made him understand that he 
 must take a bath before he would be fit to put it on, 
 he darted from the house, seizing one of Nanno's 
 nightgowns in his hasty exit. 
 
 " Well, what now, I wonder ? " said Piokee, quite 
 bewildered by the sudden scamper. 
 
 " Up-a-tree go swim," was Fauqua's explanation.
 
 204 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 " Why, he can't be going to the creek to strip him- 
 self and take a bath in the middle of December ! " 
 said Piokee in amazement. 
 
 Fanqua nodded placidly. " Heap tough boy. 
 Dance on ice barefooted/' she responded. 
 
 " Well, he's taken one of Nanno's nightgowns for 
 a towel," said Piokee ; " but we won't mind that if 
 he will only bring it back. But what a cold bath 
 he will have. It fairly sets my teeth a-chattering 
 just to think of it." 
 
 Up did not have the strong aversion to a souse in 
 water that is deemed a characteristic of the little 
 red-skinned brave. He loved to swim, and as a 
 mark of hardihood was proud to show that he could 
 plunge into the w r ater in the coldest weather and en- 
 dure the frigid torture with astonishing composure. 
 
 " As I live ! " exclaimed Piokee, coming to the 
 bottom of the box at last, " here is the plaid coat that 
 Big Joe, the herder, never wore but once, because 
 his cruel sweetheart said she didn't fancy seeing 
 men dressed up like checker-boards, and wouldn't 
 dance with him the night that he appeared in it at 
 Mrs. Biddle's party. He has given it to father 
 the extravagant, generous fellow, and I'll write a 
 note of special thanks to him. And here's a plush 
 cap of Grandpapa Wilde's that will be a much more 
 gentlemanly headgear than those crippled dolls that 
 father dresses up in when he goes away from home.
 
 THE BOXES. 205 
 
 They look more hideous than ever since they've lost 
 so many arms and legs, and one or two have fract- 
 ured skulls." 
 
 The other box was filled with groceries, including 
 flour and ham, and fruit, both canned and dried. 
 And in a box within the box there was a set of 
 strong white crockery, and other tableware, with 
 knives and forks and spoons that could endure hard 
 usage, and when tarnished be restored by scouring. 
 
 From tissue-paper wrappings in a pasteboard box 
 inside the crockery box, came forth the napkin-ring, 
 the knife and fork, the pair of spoons and water cup 
 of silver that had been Piokee's since her childhood. 
 
 Fair-faced girls in well-appointed homes, have 
 you the least conception of the joy Piokee felt in 
 having these belongings of her civilized life once 
 more, after drinking from an old tin cup, and eating 
 from an old tin plate, with pewter spoon and fork 
 with broken tines, and rusty knife blade that had 
 lost its handle ? 
 
 Presently Up reappeared, a little nude, bronze 
 figure covered with a blanket drapery. He had 
 cast his rags and tags into the creek in view of put- 
 ting on the new suit, which he seemed quite proud 
 to don. Nanno's nightgown he had thought to 
 bring back, and had hung it on a bush to dry. 
 
 " After all, he isn't so completely lost in them as 
 I was half-afraid he'd be," Piokee said, when Up
 
 206 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 was dressed from top to toe in Adoniram Judson's 
 clothes. "It isn't best to pinch a small boy, and 
 perhaps he'll take a sudden start and grow to fill 
 them out." 
 
 Having had such grand success in hustling Up 
 into his civilized garb, Piokee was most eager to 
 begin to renovate her father, and picking up his 
 coat and cap, out she flew to the corral, where she 
 thought to find him working on the half-built shed. 
 He was not there, nor could she find him anywhere. 
 
 In coming back from the corral she noticed that 
 her pony was nowhere in sight, and wondering how 
 he could have strayed away when she had lariated 
 him with care a few rods from the door, she raised 
 her voice and called him. But he did not answer 
 with his usual whinny and come prancing up to her 
 as he was wont to do when called. 
 
 Wondering still more, she searched for him in the 
 ravines and elsewhere, but could find no trace of 
 him. 
 
 Now much alarmed, she ran toward the house and 
 met Up trotting down the path, as if the call for 
 Chipmunk applied equally to him, and with unusual 
 obedience he were responding to it. 
 
 Stopping suddenly before her, Up let off a quick, 
 expressive whinny, pointing down the narrow road 
 that led into the timber near the hut. 
 
 " Swapee Chip. Buy shoot. Fight white man,"
 
 THE BOXES. 207 
 
 was his startling explanation of the pony's disap- 
 pearance. 
 
 " Oh ! it isn't so, it can't be," cried Piokee, catch- 
 ing him by both arms in a frantic grasp. " Why, 
 Chipmunk is my very own, and no one in the whole 
 wide world, not even father, has a right to sell him. 
 It would be too cruel, and you would have told me 
 sooner if you'd known that father meant to rob me 
 of my precious pony."
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 BUT in spite of her reluctance to believe him, 
 she was forced to think that Up had told the 
 truth. His wiry little arms were smarting in her 
 tight, despairing clutch, but he bore the pain with 
 stoicism, though his usual elfish grin was conspicu- 
 ously absent from his face. 
 
 " How did you find out that he meant to sell my 
 pony ? Do you know where he has taken him ? 
 Which way how far how long has he been 
 gone? Why don't you answer, quick?" were the 
 imperative questions which she poured out on her 
 dazed and dogged little captive, quite forgetting 
 that his thoughts could not keep pace with hers, 
 and that his words were fe^y and difficult. 
 
 " Oh ! I'm afraid you'll never understand me," 
 seeing her mistake. " Now listen hard, and try to 
 tell me," she entreated, holding him less painfully 
 though quite as firmly, fearing he would slip away 
 
 208
 
 TO THE RESCUE. 209 
 
 from her. And then, by slower, simpler speech and 
 signs, she drew from him a further explanation. 
 
 " I hear. He tell man. Box haul. Go Agency. 
 Swapee Chip. Man talk swapee." 
 
 " 0, Up ! how could you let him carry Chipmunk 
 off and never tell me? I am sure I could have 
 saved him some way if I'd only known it. The 
 man who hauled the boxes came just after dinner. 
 Father must have gone right off with him. They 
 left at least two hours ago. The Agency is more 
 than fifteen miles away. But we must start at once. 
 I've never been there do you know the way ? " 
 
 Again was Up entangled in her maze of words, 
 and again Piokee made him understand. 
 
 He knew the way, for many times had he strolled 
 thither with his father or a troop of youngsters 
 from the village, often staying over night, begging 
 food and sleeping in the brush, or when the nights 
 were frosty, in some shed or whatsoever shelter he 
 could find. 
 
 The mother offered no objection to the expedi- 
 tion under Up's escort, for he agreed to lead the 
 way, although she wondered at Piokee' s daring in 
 attempting to pursue her" father for the purpose of 
 recovering her pony. Fauqua did not fear harsh 
 punishment for Up, as he had never suffered from 
 paternal discipline, and she had confidence in his 
 ability to guide Piokee safely to the Agency.
 
 210 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 Piokee quickly changed her dress for one of dull 
 red cashmere she had taken from the box, and slip- 
 ping on her long warm ulster and her cap and mit- 
 tens, she was ready in a trice, leaving Fauqua to 
 repack and lock the boxes. 
 
 Fauqua speedily equipped her own pony with 
 Piokee's brown plush saddle that had hung inside 
 the hut and was not carried off with Chipmunk, 
 while Up strapped his w r ooden saddle on the restive 
 mustang he could call his own till he was traded for 
 some other little beast. 
 
 With all her haste Piokee stopped to seize a pair 
 of saddle-bags and fling them over Fauqua's pony, 
 putting into one Up's blanket and into the other 
 the Navajo blankets and some biscuit wrapped in 
 paper. She had found some silver dollars in her 
 purse within her little writing-desk the box had 
 brought her, which would more than pay for food 
 and lodging at the Agency, if they arrived in safety ; 
 but she knew not what might happen, and she 
 wished to be prepared for any misadventure. 
 
 Overflowing with a sense of his importance as the 
 leader of a rescue party, though the captive were 
 but Chipmunk being led away for sale, Up swelled 
 with pride until his ample little citizen's garb could 
 scarce contain the length and breadth of his pom- 
 posity. That he was out in strikingly unusual ap- 
 parel added not a little to his airs and graces. The
 
 TO THE RESCUE. 211 
 
 unruly mustang capered on before in highest mettle, 
 curveting, shying, pirouetting, Fauqua's pony fol- 
 lowing at a quick but steady pace. 
 
 They rode along a narrow, grass-grown track that 
 wandered through a heavy thicket for some dis- 
 tance, when they found a somewhat wider road 
 which they pursued mile after mile, within the tim- 
 ber and across wide openings or small prairies, ford- 
 ing streams, sometimes of risky depth, climbing hills 
 and plunging into rocky hollpws. 
 
 Once they met a squad of dark-browed blanket 
 horsemen, whose lowering stares so terrified Piokee 
 that she trembled in the saddle. Now and then 
 they passed a solitary hut surrounded by a few 
 tilled acres, showing that some member of the tribe 
 was struggling to shake off the sloth that chains the 
 red man to a life of want. 
 
 As they pressed on, Up grew absorbed in watch- 
 ing birds and squirrels, quail and prairie chickens, 
 that appeared to have cast off their shyness and 
 come out in flocks to tantalize the little gamester, 
 who had left his hunting weapons at the hut. 
 
 A brood of quail went scudding on before him in 
 the road. To chase them was a natural impulse, and 
 Up urged his pony forward. Away they whirred 
 into the air, and presently alighted on the ground 
 again, some way ahead, to speed into a byway, where 
 perhaps they had a snuggery further on.
 
 212 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 Still after them rushed Up, forgetting he had left 
 the road, and thinking they should go that way, 
 Piokee followed him. 
 
 With heads erect and nimble, tireless feet, the 
 tiny things ran on until the pony almost overtook 
 them, when they rose upon the wing once more. 
 Thus they led the eager little urchin on and on, till 
 finally they settled down among some hazel bushes 
 at one side. 
 
 Scarcely had they cleared the way when a large 
 jack-rabbit took the path, and turning, faced Up for 
 a wink, then bounded off with tantalizing leaps. 
 
 There was another chase, two smaller rabbits and 
 a squirrel joining in the general conspiracy to lead 
 the travelers astray. 
 
 Piokee, who was making all the speed she could 
 to follow Up along the zigzag path, but found it 
 difficult to even keep in sight of him, met him 
 coming back at length, looking somewhat dazed. 
 
 " Ough ! " he muttered. " Heap wrong road." 
 
 "Dear me!" exclaimed Piokee, in dismay. "I 
 wondered if this narrow road could be the right 
 way, but I couldn't catch you to inquire. Let's 
 hurry back into the road. It's growing late, and 
 how much precious time we've lost." 
 
 It was no easy matter to retrace their steps, for 
 there were three paths leading from the road, some 
 way apart in the beginning, but at this point inter-
 
 TO THE RESCUE. 213 
 
 secting one another in a puzzling manner. In the 
 whirl of turning back the riders lost their bearings, 
 and at every step went further from the road. 
 
 The sky was overcast with clouds, hence there 
 were no lengthening shadows to apprise Piokee of 
 the time of day, but soon she saw that dark was 
 settling on the timber path along which they were 
 wandering aimlessly. 
 
 " We'll have to stay here in the woods all night, 
 and we must stop right now, before it gets so dark 
 that we can't see our hands before us," she decided 
 in despair, as they were halting in the middle of a 
 creek to let the ponies drink. " 0, dear ! now I 
 have lost all hope of saving Chipmunk, and what/- 
 ever will become of us? There's going to be a 
 snowstorm, and 'twill be so cold and dark, and I'm 
 afraid that there are fierce wild animals in these 
 woods." 
 
 Up was very willing to give up the journey for 
 the night, for he was tired and hungry, and withal 
 much taken down that he had proved himself so 
 lamentable a failure as a guide. 
 
 As they dismounted on the bank Piokee felt some 
 snowflakes falling, and shivered at the dismal whistle 
 of the wind among the trees.
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 BRUNO'S DISCOVERY. 
 
 AT his bachelor breakfast-table in his sunny 
 dining-roorn sat Dr. Whistler, looking through 
 the papers which the stage had cast off at the cross- 
 path into Lemuel's hands the afternoon before while 
 the doctor was away upon a round of visits to his 
 patients. 
 
 There were flowers blooming in the windows of 
 this pleasant room, and in a cage that hung above 
 a mass of red geraniums a mocking-bird poured 
 out his song, swinging on his perch with jubilant 
 activity. 
 
 " Laws a massy, Doctor, w'at yo' reckon dat peart 
 dog done fotched in now ? " said Lemuel's wife, 
 Kesiah, coming from the kitchen hugging some- 
 thing under one arm, while her hands were bring- 
 ing in a coffee-pot and tray of snowy biscuit, baked 
 potatoes and a slice of pink broiled ham. " 'Tain't 
 no squir'l nur rabbit nur a woodchuck Bruno's done 
 
 214
 
 BRUNO'S DISCOVERY. 215 
 
 scart up dis mornin'. It's a han'some cap, an' sho's 
 yo' bo'n he fetched it in a bee-line f'om de timber." 
 
 Having placed the breakfast on the table, she 
 exhibited the dog's discovery. 
 
 It was Piokee's cap a little striped affair of 
 brown and white, with tassel hanging from the 
 pointed top. Dr. Whistler knew it in an instant. 
 Quite a bunch of fringe was missing from the tassel, 
 as he had observed the day she wore it, sitting on 
 the stump to read the letters he had brought her. 
 
 Starting up he seized his hat, and calling Bruno 
 hastened out of doors, the cap in hand. 
 
 The ground was white with snow, and Bruno's 
 tracks were plainly to be traced. The dog, more- 
 over, trotted on ahead, and led the way into the 
 timber just beyond the opening wherein was Dr. 
 Whistler's large, well-cultivated farm. His house 
 was but a few rods from the timber's edge. 
 
 The trail that Dr. Whistler followed ended at two 
 wood-piles, close together in a parallel line, quite 
 near the creek by which Piokee had decided to en- 
 camp the night before. Across the narrow space 
 between the wood-piles she had stretched a roof of 
 cord-wood, walling up both ends with horizontal 
 sticks. Within this she and Up had passed the 
 night, protected by their blankets, with saddles for 
 their pillows. 
 
 Her anxiety concerning Chipmunk and the situ-
 
 216 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 ation she and Up were in had kept Piokee wide 
 awake till far into the night, when she dropped into 
 a weary sleep from which she had not waked when 
 Dr. Whistler approached the camping place. 
 
 The ponies, lariated to a tree near by, greeted 
 him with boisterous whinnying, at the sound of 
 which she started up and pushed away the sticks 
 that blocked the entrance to the little dark abode, 
 letting in a flood of light that blinded her at first. 
 
 Great was her astonishment when she regained 
 her sight, to find that she was kneeling at the feet 
 of Dr. Whistler, who was standing in the snow, 
 gazing down on her with much alarm. 
 
 " 0, my dear child ! what can be the meaning of 
 all this ? " he asked, with pained surprise. " My 
 poor neglected child, what brought you here in this 
 strange plight?" 
 
 " Chipmunk," she replied, with quivering lips. 
 " 0, my chief ! he's taken him away from me my 
 own, own Chipmunk father has. He didn't know 
 how much I loved my precious pony, and he led 
 him off before I knew it, and was going to sell him 
 at the Agency. We started out to try to save him, 
 Up and I, and lost our way, and had to camp out 
 here all night. But how, I wonder, came you here ? 
 And you have found my cap ! I lost it off last 
 night while I was working on the roof, and couldn't 
 see to hunt it in the dark."
 
 I
 
 BRUNO'S DISCOVERY. 219 
 
 Dr. Whistler's face grew stormy as he heard her 
 mournful little story. Striding to the ponies he 
 untied them hastily, put the bits into their mouths, 
 and led them to the wood-piles, while Piokee was 
 emerging from the camping place and shaking off 
 the snow from the Navajo blankets that had drifted 
 in at night. 
 
 Up had also overslept, but he bestirred himself 
 forthwith, crawling from his quarters in the further 
 end, and dragging out his wooden saddle by one 
 stirrup. 
 
 By the time he had the ponies ready for a start, 
 Dr. Whistler had regained his usual calmness. 
 
 " We will seek and find the pony in all possible 
 haste," was his comforting assurance, " but we must 
 take time to eat our breakfast first of all. Kesiah 
 will keep it warm for us, and I shall have the joy 
 of seeing you, my little friend Piokee, at my lone- 
 some table. I anticipate that you will pour my 
 coffee, and will take delight in doing it," he added, 
 with a cordial smile, placing her upon the saddle. 
 
 " Oh ! " exclaimed Piokee, with a happy little 
 gasp, " oh ! how lovely that will be ! " 
 
 Her trouble was dispelled as if by magic. She 
 had faith in Dr. Whistler's ability to do all things, 
 even to persuade her father to restore her pony, if 
 he had not yet been sold, or to reclaim him if he had. 
 
 " Lor, Lem, look yander ! " said Kesiah, espying
 
 220 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 the procession coining from the woods, Dr. Whistler 
 walking briskly on ahead, Piokee riding close behind 
 him, and Up straggling in the rear. The two black 
 faces peered in great amazement from the kitchen 
 window. "It's a gal an' boy he's done fetched 
 home, as sho's yo' bo'n, an' de gal's got on dat berry 
 cap w'at Bruno scart up in de brush." 
 
 The wanderers found good cheer awaiting them 
 in Dr. Whistler's comfortable farmhouse, built in 
 Southern fashion, all one story, with verandas on 
 three sides. Lemuel made haste to light a fire 
 already laid within an air-tight stove, and warmed 
 the guest room in a twinkling. Here Piokee made 
 a hasty toilet, Kesiah hovering near to wait on her. 
 
 What joy to pour the coffee, sitting face to face 
 with Dr. Whistler at his civilized breakfast-table, 
 which could be extended to great length, as hospi- 
 tality demanded, but was now in a cosey size for 
 two. Up was cared for by Kesiah in the kitchen, 
 as he could not be enticed into the dining-room. 
 
 "I wish I had you all the time, my child," said 
 Dr. Whistler, gazing at the young face just across 
 the table, whose beaming eyes were bent serenely 
 on the stream of amber coffee mingling with the 
 cream. " How would it seem were you to sit there 
 as the years go by, and pour my coffee till you were 
 so tall and dignified that I should hardly dare to say 
 ' my child ' to you ? "
 
 BKUNO'S DISCOVERY. 221 
 
 " Why, it would seem precisely like a fairy story, 
 as it does now," said Piokee, looking brightly up to 
 pass his cup. " Oh ! you needn't almost smile be- 
 cause I'm sixteen and too old to talk of fairies. I 
 shall always love the dear things like a child, and 
 half-believe they're in the world. Lost and cold 
 and hungry and distressed ; found and warmed and 
 fed and comforted by Prince Bountiful. Now isn't 
 that just beautiful enough to have the fairies mixed 
 up in it ? " 
 
 " It will be too hard to send you forth so like a 
 lonesome sparrow that has only flitted down to 
 snatch a crumb and speed away," repined he, seeing 
 but the stern realities of reservation life. 
 
 "But not one sparrow falls to the ground with- 
 out the Father," said Piokee trustfully. 
 
 " I need your faith," said he, mixing in the sugar 
 to his coffee with disconsolate stirs. " I must con- 
 fess it shakes my trust in Providence to think that 
 you are in the very center of the baffling Indian 
 problem, so hemmed in by a world-defying Chinese 
 wall." 
 
 " Oh ! but the Tartars can go in and out as they've 
 a mind to now, you know. The old Chinese wall is 
 nothing but a heap of rubbish for over half its 
 length," was Piokee's stroke of memory as to his- 
 tory. " And don't you think our wall will be that 
 way sometime ? "
 
 222 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 " Yes ; if we can wait for it to crumble into dust," 
 he gloomily replied. " But that will never be, I 
 fear, till we are pretty well exterminated as a race." 
 
 " It won't be left to crumble," she predicted hope- 
 fully. "They'll batter it both ways the civilized 
 Indians on the inside and the white reformers on 
 the outside, till there'll be some big gaps very soon, 
 if it doesn't all come down." 
 
 "You are a cheerful little prophet," he responded, 
 yielding with reviving courage to the sway of this 
 child-woman, who confessed she half-believed in 
 fairies, yet was helping batter down the Chinese 
 wall about the great Indian problem. 
 
 Lemuel fed the ponies at the barn and saddled 
 Dr. Whistler's horse, and there was not a moment 
 lost in starting after breakfast. 
 
 Something like an hour's canter in the crisp but 
 sunny morning air brought the rescue party to a 
 small house on the outskirts of the Agency. There 
 was a picket fence around the yard, whose flower- 
 beds and shrubbery, in their season, made a most 
 attractive spot. 
 
 " This is the home of Mrs. Means, the famous 
 baby of the Black Hawk War, whose Indian name 
 is Wapaseta," Dr. Whistler said. " You would like 
 to meet this interesting woman, and she would en- 
 joy a call from you, so I will leave you here awhile. 
 Up can go with me,"
 
 BRUNO'S DISCOVERY. 223 
 
 " Oh ! she swam the Wisconsin River on her 
 mother's back. I've always wished to meet the 
 famous Black Hawk baby," said Piokee, walking up 
 the sunny path to Wapaseta's door as if the ground 
 whereon she trod was sacred. 
 
 In response to Dr. Whistler's rap the door was 
 opened by a gray-haired woman of remarkable ap- 
 pearance. She had the wonderful dark eyes, un- 
 dimmed by age, and clear-cut features which the 
 mixed-blood Indian women often have. Her good 
 command of English, and refined, intelligent man- 
 ner, showed that she was far above the great 
 majority of her tribe in culture. 
 
 As Dr. Whistler was a missionary doctor, so Wapa- 
 seta was a missionary nurse, and both were striving 
 to alleviate the pain and woe which their race was 
 suffering through ignorance and sloth.
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 THE HISTORICAL BABY. 
 
 TT was many years ago," said Wapaseta, when 
 
 J- Piokee asked her to relate the story of her 
 famous swim across the Wisconsin River, which had 
 made her the historical baby of the Black Hawk 
 War. " You see my hair is gray, my dear, and I 
 was then a very young child, who had seen the 
 crocus bloom but three times in the beautiful Rock 
 River country which our people loved so fondly, 
 and the white men were so pitilessly fighting to 
 possess. 
 
 " In a most deplorable condition Black Hawk and 
 his little band of warriors found themselves upon 
 the bank of the Wisconsin River, whither they had 
 been pursued and overtaken by the troops. 
 
 "There was a desperate engagement, and the 
 Sacs were scattered like the leaves before the wind. 
 Some escaped into the woods, some crossed the river 
 in canoes, and many fell in their attempted flight. 
 
 224
 
 THE HISTORICAL BABY. 225 
 
 "My mother, who was then but eighteen years 
 of age, had been concealed in a defile, with her be- 
 longings strapped upon her pony's back. Dreading 
 less to face death in the rushing waters than to risk 
 being taken captive by the soldiers, who were very 
 near, she strapped me on her pony with the goods 
 and plunged into the river, clinging to the pony's 
 tail. 
 
 " The soldiers saw my brave young mother strug- 
 gling with the current, and to their credit cheered 
 her on and fired no shots at her, though many a 
 deadly weapon had been aimed at those in the 
 canoes. 
 
 " Before she had gone far, my mother felt it was 
 not safe to trust me on the pony, so she swam 
 around him and succeeded in unstrapping me and 
 tying me upon her own back. 
 
 "When about half-way across, the pony swam 
 into a whirlpool and went down with all of the pos- 
 sessions. Mother saw the danger, and avoided it 
 by swimming to one side. 
 
 " She struggled on and on. She felt her strength 
 fast failing, and it seemed that we must surely per- 
 ish, but the sight of friends upon the other side 
 encouraged her to persevere a little longer. 
 
 " So she buffeted the waves and neared the shore 
 at last, and then a man swam out to help her land. 
 But she was so exhausted that the refugees were
 
 226 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 forced to hasten on without us, and for ten days we 
 were there alone in the unbroken wilderness subsist- 
 ing on wild onions. It was in the summer, and we 
 did not suffer from exposure, though we had no 
 blanket save the one I had been wrapped in for the 
 swim." 
 
 " Did the soldiers capture you at last ? " Piokee 
 asked, intensely interested in the thrilling story of 
 this true adventure. 
 
 " No," said Wapaseta ; " but a band of hostile 
 Winnebagoes did, and took us to the Winnebago 
 mission on the Yellow River. We were kindly 
 treated, and were soon released from our captivity, 
 as Black Hawk had been taken prisoner and there 
 was an end to all hostilities." 
 
 " Poor old Black Hawk ! " said Piokee. " I've an 
 old, old history of the Indian wars that gives his 
 speeches word for word. In Congress Hall in Phila- 
 delphia, where he was taken while on exhibition in 
 the East, he said : 
 
 " ' My heart grew bitter against the whites, and 
 my hands strong. I dug up the tomahawk and led 
 my warriors to fight. I fought hard. I was no 
 coward. Much blood was shed. But the white 
 men were mighty. They were like the leaves of 
 the forest. I and my people failed. I am sorry the 
 tomahawk was raised. I have been a prisoner. I 
 see the strength of the white men. The Indians are
 
 THE HISTORICAL BABY. 227 
 
 brave, but they are few. While the Great Spirit 
 above keeps my heart as it now is, I will be the 
 white man's friend. I will go to my people and 
 speak good of the white men. I will fight no more 
 against them.' " 
 
 " That was a grand acceptance of his fate, and a 
 sublime forgiveness of his enemies," said Wapaseta. 
 
 "His last words," said Piokee, "just before he 
 died in 1838, were these : 
 
 " ' The Rock River was a beautiful country. I 
 loved my cornfields and my home. I fought for it.' " 
 
 " Collectively," said Wapaseta musingly, " the 
 white men are our foes, but individually they are 
 our best of friends. I have heard your history 
 from Dr. Whistler, my dear, and mine is very 
 similar. 
 
 " My mother lived among the Winnebagoes sev- 
 eral years before rejoining our tribe, that had been 
 driven westward into the Iowa country; but at the 
 age of five I was taken to Fort Crawford in Wiscon- 
 sin, by an army officer stationed there. 
 
 " I have a tender recollection of the lovely pale- 
 faced lady of the Post, the officer's wife, who cared 
 for me as for her own young child. But she died 
 within a few months, and I went to live with other 
 white friends who were wondrously kind to me. I 
 was sent to school, and passed a care-free, happy 
 girlhood."
 
 228 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 " How the brave young mother must have missed 
 you! " said Piokee. " Did you ever meet again ? " 
 
 "After fourteen years," said Wapaseta. "She 
 had then removed to Kansas with the tribe, and 
 from there she started out to search for me. She 
 found me living in Galena, Illinois. You may know 
 it was a joyful reunion. She was married to a white 
 interpreter, and had become a civilized Christian 
 woman." 
 
 While listening to Wapaseta's interesting talk 
 Piokee' s thoughts went straying after Chipmunk 
 every now and then. She was sitting by a window, 
 and could see some way along the road leading from 
 the Agency. 
 
 All at once she gave a quick, glad cry, and darted 
 from the house, without so much as an "excuse me," 
 in her eager haste.
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 A NEW FEIEND. 
 
 SHE had caught a glimpse of Dr. Whistler coming 
 at a brisk pace,, leading Chipmunk. 
 
 In a perfect frenzy of delight she rushed into the 
 road and flung herself upon the pony's neck before 
 his graceful trot had subsided at the gate. 
 
 " Oh ! you pretty, precious little dear. You have 
 come back to me," she cried. "My good, kind, 
 powerful chief, who can do anything and every- 
 thing he undertakes, has brought you back. And 
 is he truly mine again?" she asked, lifting up her 
 grateful, glowing face to Dr. Whistler, as he lin- 
 gered in the saddle to enjoy the scene. 
 
 " Very truly yours," smiled he. " You need not 
 fear another separation." 
 
 "Father hadn't sold him, I suppose. But how 
 did you get him back?" she wondered. 
 
 " I found him in the street, surrounded by a crowd 
 of warm admirers. He had not been sold, although
 
 230 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 a bargain with a trader from the Pawnee Nation 
 was in prospect." 
 
 " Oh ! if Chipmunk had been taken off among 
 the Pawnees I should never have set my eyes on 
 him again," exclaimed Piokee, with another fervent 
 hug. "You talked to father and induced him to 
 throw up the bargain, didn't you?" 
 
 "I had a private interview with him," said Dr. 
 Whistler, "after which he put his mark upon a 
 paper giving you entire control of Chipmunk. As 
 you are a minor you can own no property unless 
 your father signs a paper to the contrary." 
 
 " How easily he was persuaded," said Piokee. 
 "But I don't believe there is another man alive 
 who could have talked him into it and he so 
 anxious for the war-gun, too." 
 
 Dr. Whistler suppressed a smile, and did not tell 
 her he had paid more money than the trader offered, 
 to persuade her father to give up the pony, and to 
 sign the bill of sale in favor of Piokee. 
 
 Fully satisfied to get the gun without the sacrifice 
 of Chipmunk, Cold Blast readily agreed to keep the 
 trade a secret, Dr. Whistler knowing it would mar 
 Piokee's joy in the recovery of her pony should she 
 understand the whole affair. 
 
 The stolid father had a grain of conscience when 
 it came to such high-handed robbery of his daughter 
 as he had attempted in the seizure of her pony.
 
 A NEW FRIEND. 231 
 
 " Now that all is settled to our satisfaction, I must 
 cruelly cut off those fond embraces," he observed, 
 " and hustle you into the house to don your wraps. 
 Your father will not start for home till afternoon, if 
 he decides to go to-day, and I wish to take you on 
 a visit to the school just over there." 
 
 "That will be delightful," said Piokee. "After 
 all my agony of yesterday, I'm simply out on a 
 pleasure trip. I've had a lovely time with Wapa- 
 seta, who is just the sweetest red-brown lady in the 
 land, and now if I could meet Miss Harriet but of 
 course there'll be no time for calling at the agent's 
 I should be so happy I could fly." 
 
 Dr. Whistler looked mysterious, but made no 
 answer. 
 
 Having partially explained to Wapaseta her sud- 
 den rush to Chipmunk, with daughterly excuses for 
 her father, Piokee took leave of her interesting 
 hostess, and was quickly on the way to school with 
 Dr. Whistler. 
 
 Very soon they stopped before the roomy building 
 in a natural grove of fine old trees wherein the 
 school and boarding-house were carried on. 
 
 Passing through a hall, Dr. Whistler gave a light 
 tap on a door behind which could be heard the hum 
 of voices in the schoolroom. It was opened by a 
 rather tall young lady with a wealth of lustrous hair 
 of golden brown, and eyes so brightly blue, so wide
 
 232 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 awake and full of interest in all creation, one would 
 naturally wonder how they ever ceased from taking 
 observations long enough to snatch a wink of sleep. 
 She had a fine, straight form, and strong white 
 hands that instantly went out to clasp Piokee's 
 slender brown ones when the girl had shaken hands 
 with Dr. Whistler. 
 
 "You needn't introduce us, Doctor, for I know 
 just who it is," she smilingly exclaimed. " I am as 
 sure of her as if I'd seen her photograph. Now, 
 Doctor, if you are opposed to kissing you may turn 
 your back, for I must measure off three yards of 
 tape with this brave little girl one for Miss Pris- 
 cilla, one for Floy, as they requested in their letters, 
 and the last one for myself." 
 
 Then Piokee knew it was Miss Harriet who was 
 giving her three kisses. 
 
 "I have left a class," Miss Harriet said, "with 
 hands up to inform me they know the difference be- 
 tween the way to spell cat and the hat that puss has 
 on ; so do come in and take seats on the platform." 
 
 Miss Harriet taught the primary room, w r hose pu- 
 pils were of different ages, from the child of seven 
 to well-grown girls and boys. 
 
 " The younger we can get them into school, the 
 easier it is for them to learn our ways," she said 
 aside to Dr. Whistler and Piokee. 
 
 "Have you learned Sac and Fox, and do you
 
 A NEW FKIEND. 233 
 
 speak to them in that, to make them understand 
 before they know a bit of English?" asked Piokee. 
 
 " I know some Indian, but I never speak it in the 
 schoolroom," said Miss Harriet. " It is English from 
 the very start. I begin with simple object lessons 
 of one word, which I illustrate on the board." 
 
 " For instance, Miss Puss in her fine new hat," 
 said Dr. Whistler, with an appreciative smile. 
 
 Miss Harriet was a crayon artist of a very sprightly 
 turn, which added vastly to her marked success in 
 teaching Indian children. She had drawn the pict- 
 ure of a vain cat strutting on the blackboard, with 
 a stunning hat embellishing her head. In this 
 amusing lesson she impressed the class with three 
 words cat, hat and on. 
 
 " The bright ones soon pick up a small vocabu- 
 lary of our words," Miss Harriet remarked. " Some 
 of them are speaking English so that I can under- 
 stand them in a few weeks. Others will hold back 
 for months." 
 
 When the class before the blackboard had re- 
 viewed the three words hinging on Miss Puss, hav- 
 ing spelled them all around and then in concert, 
 with a few clever strokes of her expressive chalk 
 Miss Harriet caused a dandified young cat with 
 derby hat to meet Miss Puss in her perambulations. 
 
 " I shall leave the pictures there this afternoon," 
 said she, " so that the pupils may become familiar
 
 234 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 with the new one. To-morrow Mr. Puss will raise 
 his hat to Miss Puss, and f hat off ' will be the lesson." 
 
 Piokee wished that Up were there to see all this. 
 It could not help impressing him, she thought, look- 
 ing at the rows of quiet little red men, working on 
 their slates with patient industry. 
 
 Strange to say, Up was there, precisely as she 
 wished. Moved by curiosity, he had followed Dr. 
 Whistler at a distance when he led the pony from 
 the Agency to Wapaseta's house. He had seen Pio- 
 kee and her escort going to the school, had lurked 
 behind them and had ridden very near a window, 
 where he sat upon his pony, peering through a half- 
 closed blind, taking in the scene, pussy cats and all. 
 
 When the noon bell sounded in the hall, off he 
 raced at pell-mell speed. Up, the small barbarian, 
 had really been to school, but he had left Piokee 
 not a whit the wiser for it. 
 
 "I don't go home at noon, as there is but an 
 hour's intermission," said Miss Harriet. " I often 
 bring a lunch, but I shall join the pupils in the din- 
 ing-room to-day. Our school-family have a plain, 
 but wholesome meal they would be pleased to have 
 you share. By all means you must stay and see 
 how well they fare. 
 
 The visitors were glad to spend the noon hour at 
 the school, instead of dining at the Agency hotel, 
 as Dr. Whistler had intended,
 
 A NEW FKIEND. 235 
 
 The pupils marched in orderly files into the din- 
 ing-room, the girls in calico frocks of uniform ma- 
 terial, the boys in sturdy suits of rough dark cloth. 
 
 There was a seamstress at this Government school, 
 who made the pupils' clothes, Miss Harriet informed 
 her guests. 
 
 " But oh ! who does the mending ? " said Piokee. 
 " Do the boys all fall to pieces just as if their clothes 
 were made of cobwebs ? " glancing at the tidy young- 
 sters, swallowing with healthy zest their mashed 
 potato, graham bread and beef stew while they 
 gloated on the coming gingerbread, and seeing in 
 her mind's eye Up's new garments thick with patches. 
 
 " They are apt to," said Miss Harriet, " especially 
 the new boys that have never thought of taking 
 care of what they wear. The girls are taught to 
 help the seamstress with the mending, and you'd 
 be surprised to see how patiently they darn and 
 patch when they are longing to be out at play. We 
 mean to try a novel plan and let each girl select a 
 boy to mend for through the month. We're curious 
 to see which boy will be best taken care of by his 
 little maid." 
 
 " If there's a drone among the boys, that is averse 
 to violent exercise, you'll find the girls all drawing 
 lots for him," said Dr. Whistler. 
 
 " That applies to Tommy Pigsfoot," laughed Miss 
 Harriet. " He drops down anywhere and curls up
 
 236 PIOKEE AND HEK PEOPLE. 
 
 like a dormouse fast asleep, while all the other boys 
 are playing harum-scarum games. Of course he 
 seldom needs a ' stitch in time.' " 
 
 So great were the attractions of the Agency that 
 Cold Blast could not tear himself away that after- 
 noon. There was a shooting match, in which he 
 joined to win the can of powder offered as the first 
 prize, to Piokee's sore dismay, for she was always in 
 a tremble lest the hut be blown to atoms by the big 
 supply of ammunition stowed away therein. 
 
 But by the shooting match she was enabled to 
 accept Miss Harriet's urgent invitation and enjoy a 
 visit at the agent's house. On finding that her 
 father would not leave for home that afternoon, she 
 said good-by to Dr. Whistler on the street, went 
 back to school, and all that afternoon and evening 
 was one supremely happy girl. 
 
 The great brick house was all aglow with light 
 and warmth and gayety that night, the agent and 
 Miss Harriet's mother joining in amusing games 
 with interest equal to Miss Harriet and Piokee's. 
 
 "Our daughter has no young associates down 
 here to keep her lively," said the agent to the mer- 
 rily demure young guest who held her own with 
 quiet ease and charmed the family with her bright- 
 ness. " There is danger of her growing old before 
 her time, so we two parents try to keep ourselves 
 in juvenile trim to hold her back. Mother is about
 
 A NEW FKIEND. 237 
 
 the age of Harriet, or perhaps a little younger, and 
 I am quite a boy in all respects except my grizzly 
 gray beard. It's all on her account this unbe- 
 coming lack of dignity," he added, passing round 
 the slips of paper for the game of telegrams they 
 were about to play. 
 
 " On my account ! " exclaimed Miss Harriet with 
 a mirthful laugh. " Just as if you wouldn't be a 
 grizzly gray-bearded boy if you hadn't any serious- 
 minded daughter for a scapegoat. Why, Miss Dew- 
 drop, you have no idea how frisky papa is inclined 
 to be. I really think he'd turn a somerset if I didn't 
 watch him very closely." 
 
 "Somerset!" rejoined the agent with a sudden 
 thought. "A whirl, an overturn, a general upset- 
 ting of the equilibrium. We'll take that as the sub- 
 ject of our telegram, as it is my turn to choose one. 
 It will give us good material for some highly sea- 
 soned press dispatches from the Territory. Now, 
 then, we have chosen our ten letters and we've just 
 five minutes to compose the telegrams. We must 
 send them with a whizz to reach the editor before 
 the paper goes to press at midnight. One, two, 
 three proceed!" he gave the word and laid his 
 watch upon the table. 
 
 Ten different letters had been chosen at a random 
 dash, the placers each contributing a letter round 
 the circle till the list was made. X and Y were laid
 
 238 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 upon the shelf as sticklers that would better be 
 avoided. The letters stood as follows : 
 
 ITMOCADSVB. 
 
 When the time was up Miss Harriet led off with 
 startling headlines she had strung together in three 
 minutes. 
 
 " Indians Topsy-turvy. Messiah Outbreak. Cor- 
 ageous Agent Defies Scalpers. Victoriously Bald- 
 headed." 
 
 " Pardon my allusion to your one infirmity, papa," 
 she said, arising from her chair to pat the bald spot 
 where the agent's scalp-lock used to be. 
 
 Next came the agent's bit of information as to 
 what was happening in the Territory : 
 
 " Indescribable Tornado. Monstrous Overturn. 
 Calf Astride Donkey Stable. Vociferously Elating." 
 
 " Then he was alive for all his fearful boost," ob- 
 served Miss Harriet. "Did they take him down 
 with pulleys ? " she inquired with interest. 
 
 "History doesn't say, but I'm inclined to think 
 they waited for another little breeze to come along 
 next day and whisk him back into his pasture," was 
 the agent's pleasant satire on the windy region 
 where his lines were cast. 
 
 Miss Harriet's mother thus described a little skirm- 
 ish on the edge of No Man's Land : 
 
 " Ignorant Tenderfoot Mimics Oklahoma Cowboy. 
 A Decided Set-to. Violator Bandaged."
 
 A NEW FRIEND. 239 
 
 " Those cowboys can't be imitated with success," 
 remarked the agent. " They defend the right to their 
 originality, though mustard plasters be the upshot. 
 Now, Miss Dewdrop, what surprising news have you 
 with which to stun the public ? " 
 
 " I have only two scraps with a space between. I 
 couldn't hit upon the other words," Piokee said, and 
 read with some reluctance : 
 
 " Inverted Turnips Misgrowing On Claim, . . . 
 Drouthy Soil. . . ." 
 
 Piokee's broken headlines raised a shout. 
 
 " I've heard of various freaks of vegetation owing 
 to these Territory droughts," observed the agent, 
 " but I never apprehended the condition of affairs 
 described in Hafed's Dream. You might have 
 spoken of the alkali connected with the droughty 
 soil and wound up by alluding to the victimized 
 boomers." 
 
 " I thought the telegram didn't need to be the 
 least bit probable," Piokee artlessly remarked. 
 
 This sent the agent off into another gale of laugh- 
 ter. " Sure enough ! the more improbable, the betr 
 ter it will suit the credulous public," he replied. 
 
 The happiest hour of all was passed before the 
 glowing grate fire in Miss Harriet's pretty chamber 
 later in the evening. There Piokee told her new 
 friend of her missionary plans, and of her earnest 
 wish to start the little class.
 
 240 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 "I wish you might,'* Miss Harriet said, " but, oh! 
 my dear, do you suppose it would be possible with- 
 out a settled income, and with nothing but a tent 
 to work in ? " 
 
 " Why," Piokee said, " there are so many things 
 that can be done without a settled income. And I 
 can't imagine any situation in the whole wide world 
 where people shouldn't do their little best for those 
 within their reach, even if they've nothing but a 
 tent or dugout for a working place." 
 
 "You'll do for all emergencies," Miss Harriet re- 
 sponded, and the strong white hand reached out to 
 give the little brown one a commending clasp.
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 THE TRIMLY-APRONED MAIDS. 
 
 WHAT witchery did the civilized daughter ex- 
 ercise on the barbarous father to convince 
 him that the little school and cooking-class were 
 but a natural sequence to the new, strange order of 
 affairs her coming to the hut had brought about? 
 
 Perhaps she never would have dared to push the 
 project if her father had not been already so be- 
 guiled by this same witchery that he was led to 
 shed the crippled dolls, to don the cap and coat, to 
 rise from lolling on the floor into a chair while 
 smoking by the fire, and better still, to draw up to 
 the table for his meals, instead of squatting by the 
 kettle on the hearth. 
 
 That the red Messiah had not appeared, according 
 to the prophets, to inflict judgment on the vacilla- 
 ting Indians who had hobnobed with the white man's 
 ways, may have had some weight in causing Cold 
 Blast to withdraw his ban against the school. 
 
 241
 
 242 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 At all events, he had set up the tent above the 
 stump close by the house so close it served the 
 purpose of a kitchen where the cooking for the fam- 
 ily was also done, with the new stove which, till 
 now, had not been used. 
 
 Wak-wak and three other girls had been so capti- 
 vated by Piokee at the pecan camp that they were 
 moved to take a wondering interest in the school. 
 Piokee had explained it through her mother as in- 
 terpreter, while calling on the girls in their tepees, 
 soon after the return from camp, urging them more 
 earnestly to join the class when they returned her 
 visit in a bevy of all four next day, and kept on 
 coming almost every day thereafter. 
 
 The little tiff between the two sires, which had 
 led to the supplying of unthought-of comforts for 
 their families, had not affected Wak-wak's warm 
 devotion for Piokee, nor did Sire Sixkiller venture 
 to forbid her joining the class. 
 
 Wak-wak was an only daughter, and much petted 
 in a way peculiar to a doting Indian father. Hence 
 it is quite probable that though as harmless as a 
 kitten in Piokee's estimation, Wak-wak had some 
 hidden claws with which she would have scratched 
 at opposition, and compelled her sire to leave her 
 to the workings of her own sweet will. 
 
 And thus, so soon, Piokee had her row of dusky, 
 trimly-aproned maids attempting appetizing cookery,
 
 THE TRIMLY-APRONED MAIDS. 243 
 
 with Fauqua and the little sister likewise merged in 
 the experiment. 
 
 For the cooking costume she had bought some 
 cheap but pretty flowered calico, with money from 
 her own purse, when she went in quest of Chip- 
 munk to the Agency. 
 
 Having faith that what she was resolved to bring 
 about would happen in due time, she set the bevy, 
 when they came a-visiting, to sewing on their 
 aprons, caps and sleeves, and was rejoiced to find 
 that they could ply the needle, on plain work, as 
 well as she herself. 
 
 The cooking costume was an easy matter, but the 
 appetizing dinner, which the class must cook five 
 times a week to make the project a success, was far 
 more serious to contemplate. 
 
 One bright morning Dr. Whistler pulled the latch- 
 string, so to speak, and walked into the fresh-air 
 schoolroom, where he found the atmosphere so tem- 
 pered by the crackling fire beneath the pots and 
 kettles simmering on the new stove, that it was 
 quite warm enough for ruddy health. 
 
 The four girls, Wak-wak, Cepo, Annamosa and 
 Wanisa sat about the table borrowed from the hut, 
 sorting beans that would have tried the patience of 
 a saint, so mixed were they with chaff and pebbles. 
 Fauqua occupied the stump, with Nanno on a box at 
 her feet, both likewise wrestling with the beans.
 
 244 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 "Evaporated apple dumplings and they seem 
 to be behaving beautifully," Piokee smilingly an- 
 nounced, as Dr. Whistler approached the stove and 
 let his eyes alight on a mysterious kettle with ex- 
 cusable curiosity. " If you will promise not to scare 
 them into falling flatter than a pancake you may 
 take one peep at them," she added, lifting the cover, 
 while he stooped and peered into the kettle. 
 
 The class had taken turns in scouring an old tin 
 pan, just round and deep enough to fit into the 
 kettle. After they could see their faces in the pan 
 they punched the sides and bottom full of nail-holes, 
 and behold a steamer filled with roly-poly puffs like 
 snowballs, resting in the kettle with the boiling 
 water underneath. 
 
 " Of course you smell baked beans," Piokee 
 placidly continued, opening the oven door to show 
 the contents of a porcelain kettle, which her father's 
 wild extravagance, resulting from the tiff, had led 
 him into buying. " They are some of those dis- 
 couraging little beans the class are picking over 
 now. Wak-wak brought them on her back a 
 whole half-bushel in a bag. They are real Sixkiller 
 beans Wak-wak helped to raise them, and she's 
 just found out they needed to be winnowed and 
 kept free from sand and pebbles. But I've great 
 respect for Wak-wak's beans, because they're spared 
 by those who haven't much to eat themselves.
 
 THE TRIMLY-APRONED MAIDS. 245 
 
 " To-morrow we shall have browned parsnips and 
 sliced bacon, with some good wide streaks of lean 
 all through it, broiled above the coals till it is crisp. 
 Annamosa brought the parsnips they were buried 
 in her garden and Wanisa brought the bacon. 
 Though I wouldn't have her know it for the world, 
 I shall throw away the outside, to be sure that what 
 we eat is very clean. 
 
 " Now you must be wondering how the beans are 
 far enough along to smell so good when the little 
 clock Aunt Abigail sent me says it's only half-past 
 ten," she chattered on, while Dr. Whistler stood, a 
 most attentive listener. " We began them yes- 
 terday, and they have baked five hours already. 
 They'll be done exactly to a turn by noon, and you 
 must stay to dinner and approve the cooks." 
 
 "I would be most happy if I Could," said he. 
 "I'm strongly tempted by these appetizing sights 
 and smells, but I must be some miles away by din- 
 ner time. How far into the mystery of the dump- 
 lings and the baked beans have the class progressed ? " 
 he asked, with interest. 
 
 "I'm not so sure about the dumplings," she re- 
 plied ; " in fact, I fear the class would make a mess 
 of them the first time trying ; even mother, though 
 it is a perfect wonder how she catches new ideas. 
 But the beans I think they would remember 
 all but one or two, at least to wash them
 
 246 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 thoroughly, and boil them till their skins would 
 burst, if they should blow them not a minute 
 longer. I do hope they'd think to put a pinch of 
 soda in the water that the beans were boiled in, and 
 to drain this water off and add new water and a 
 spoonful of molasses to the beans before they went 
 into the oven." 
 
 " Do you treat baked beans that way ? " said Dr. 
 Whistler, looking dazed. " If I were one of those 
 girls or your mother, I'm afraid I shouldn't think to 
 put a spoonful of molasses in the water that the 
 beans were boiled in, and should quite forget to 
 bake them only till their skins would burst." 
 
 " Oh ! " exclaimed Piokee, laughing merrily. " Do 
 tell the class you think the beans are boiled in sweet- 
 ened water, and are only baked until their skins are 
 ready to crack open. Ask them if that's right or 
 wrong." 
 
 "I must have made a blunder," he responded, 
 more and more bewildered ; " but I'll lay the whole 
 affair before the class." 
 
 He asked the question in the language of the 
 tribe. Fauqua and the girls intently thought a 
 minute, then a slow smile answered from four faces, 
 only Cepo showing by her puzzled manner that her 
 memory had failed to grasp the lesson. With a 
 gleam of white teeth Wak-wak pointed to the oven, 
 and began to chew her finger ruefully, to show that
 
 THE TKIMLY-APKONED MAIDS. 247 
 
 she would be most loth to eat the beans that might 
 be cooked by Dr. Whistler's receipt. 
 
 " There, we w T on't laugh at you another bit," 
 Piokee promised, growing serious. "I was going 
 to tell you how to make . a lovely dumpling sauce 
 from almost nothing, but on second thought I'll let 
 your memory rest for more important things." 
 
 " How about the dinner for four girls five times 
 a w r eek, if I may ask ? " said Dr. Whistler. " Can 
 they supply their share of what it will require to 
 run the cooking class?" With all his haste he 
 took the chair Piokee urged him to accept, while 
 she sat down upon the roomy stump, back to back 
 with Fauqua. The serious faces of the class were 
 bent above the beans, which they were sorting with 
 the greatest patience. 
 
 " I don't expect it," she replied, " but I shall en- 
 courage them to do as much as possible to make 
 them independent. They may bring some game 
 this winter and some garden stuff next spring, but 
 there are all the groceries to be bought. Father'll 
 have to run in debt for everything he buys to eat 
 until he draws his head-right in the spring, and then 
 when all the debts are paid there will be nothing 
 left to take us through the other half-year. So I 
 can't depend on him to help the class a single 
 spoonful. 
 
 " Mamma Prairie and Aunt Abigail sent a box of
 
 248 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 groceries which will last the class some time, though 
 maybe it is very reckless not to save them for our 
 family alone. Then Mamma Prairie wrote that she 
 would send me an allowance of eight dollars every 
 month by way of you, with which I hope to manage 
 for the rest. If it hadn't been for those two boxes 
 with all else they brought us, all we need to set 
 the table and that beautiful allowance, I should 
 not have dared to start the school, as much as I 
 have dreamed and talked of it." 
 
 " You've made a good beginning, but I think you 
 need a partner to attend to some small business 
 matters while you superintend the cooking and the 
 object lessons," Dr. Whistler responded, looking 
 round to note a general scarcity of furniture. 
 
 The cooking-table was of two wide boards that 
 had been dragged from underneath the hut, and 
 scoured with desperate ardor, after which they had 
 been nailed together with two cleats and propped 
 on barrels for support. The barrels had been 
 scrubbed inside and out, and served the purpose of 
 a missionary cupboard, in two parts. Wak-wak 
 faced the situation, seated on a headless keg, Wa- 
 nisa on a tottering three-legged stool, which they 
 had brought from home. 
 
 " I suppose you have been robbing Peter to pay 
 Paul, by bringing from the hut the table and these 
 chairs," pursued he.
 
 THE TKIMLY-APKONED MAIDS. 251 
 
 There were three chairs in the tent. 
 
 " We had to," said Piokee ; " but we manage very 
 well when company is scarce. The stump and keg 
 and stool are makeshifts, which we use when short 
 of seats. Sometimes we have the whole half-dozen 
 chairs, but father had two callers who came in to 
 smoke with him this morning, so we left three chairs. 
 He's given up the floor since we have had the chairs, 
 and I'm afraid if he goes back to it he'll never rise 
 again." 
 
 "You need a dining-table and some schoolroom 
 chairs," continued Dr. Whistler. " You also lack a 
 cooking-table and a cupboard, and some other small 
 conveniences, and you will hardly stand it through 
 the winter in the tent without a floor. Slates and 
 pencils and first readers are in order in a primary 
 school. I might supply these things if you would 
 take me as a partner." 
 
 " Oh ! you are too good to live," exclaimed Pio- 
 kee. "It would be so perfectly delightful, and 
 there wouldn't be another thing to wish for. But I 
 couldn't let you," was her next thought. " No, in- 
 deed they aren't your girls, you see." 
 
 " If they are your girls, why shouldn't they be 
 mine ? " demurred he, looking very grave. " It isn't 
 quite as I anticipated, to be left outside of any of 
 your plans." 
 
 " But you have your boys and young men, and so
 
 252 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 many of the sick to do for," she considered. " It 
 would be sheer cruelty to add a cooking class to all 
 your other cares." 
 
 " Since I am not expected to remember the re- 
 ceipts, I think I can endure the rest," persisted he. 
 Taking out his memorandum book he made a note 
 of what was needed in the schoolroom. 
 
 "Well, if you must be so generous," said she, 
 " please have the cupboard and the floor and tables 
 made of white pine. That is not so very costly, 
 and it will show dirt the best." 
 
 " Will show dirt ? " he quizzically repeated. 
 " Why, I thought that people always wished that 
 things would not show dirt." 
 
 " I want the class to go just crazy over scrubbing," 
 she explained. " If I should spend whole months 
 and teach them nothing but to fairly dote on soap 
 and water I should think it was the grandest mission 
 in the world. Since you are so resolved to help us, 
 you may add three scrubbing brushes to your list, 
 if you've a mind to." 
 
 " With the greatest pleasure," he responded. 
 " Will you have a cow that will need scrubbing, too ? 
 I have a gentle creature of pale yellow I would like 
 to lend the class. I see your father has a pole and 
 brush shed newly built, in which she might find 
 shelter w r ith the ponies. She would bring her feed, 
 a milk-pail and some pans, and I daresay a churn."
 
 THE TRIMLY-APRONED MAIDS. 253 
 
 " Oh-h ! " exclaimed Piokee, with a quick ecstatic 
 jump that made Wanisa reel upon her tottering 
 stool. " A C-O-W, spelled with three big capitals ! 
 And a churn ! Sally taught me how to make good 
 butter, and I'd teach the class ; and we would have 
 the skim-milk and the buttermilk, besides. Now we 
 needn't be so scrimping of the jar of butter Sally 
 sent me in the box. We've scarcely tasted it be- 
 cause I thought we'd never see another scrap. 
 We've used wild chicken fat so far for shortening. 
 Mamma Prairie taught me that the fat of fowls does 
 very well to cook with in a pinch, and many people 
 use it to save butter ; but of course we couldn't eat 
 it on our bread." 
 
 " Speaking of wild chickens makes me think a 
 flock of tame ones wouldn't come amiss with you," 
 said Dr. Whistler. " They could roost in one end 
 of the shed, and I suppose the class could use the 
 eggs they'd lay." 
 
 Piokee's face was radiant, but she was silent for 
 at least a quarter of a minute, filled with gratitude 
 too deep for utterance.
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 THE ENTERTAINMENT COMMITTEE. 
 
 THE floor was laid, the roomy missionary cupboard 
 stood in place, an ample table stretched its 
 length along the floor, and there were chairs for all 
 the class and several for company. A cooking table 
 stood beside the cupboard and a well-filled chest of 
 flour and meal was by the table. Buried in a pit 
 outside the schoolroom were potatoes by the bushel, 
 in the cupboard were some new laid eggs and shining 
 pans of cream- topped milk. 
 
 All this the partner had brought about within a 
 few days after his first visit to the school. 
 
 But were the difficulties all surmounted when the 
 school was fairly underway with these facilities ? 
 Aunt Abigail discerned a host of them, which she 
 described in characteristic language in a letter Dr. 
 Whistler dropped into Piokee's hand one afternoon 
 without dismounting from his horse. The letter 
 ran in this way : 
 
 254
 
 THE ENTEKTAINMENT COMMITTEE. 255 
 
 " Well, I must say, iny dear Dewdrop, you have 
 won the premium for the best invention of a laugh- 
 able absurdity ! I should as soon expect to hear 
 you had a cooking class in a balloon as in a wiki-up. 
 What kind of dirt do you like best in victuals cooked 
 in wiki-ups ashes, sand, or hardpan ? you can have 
 your choice in windy weather." 
 
 "That is true," laughed Piokee, having read so 
 far aloud to Dr. Whistler, whom she had begged to 
 wait and hear the news from home. " You'd think 
 there was a mob of giants beating with whole trees 
 upon the canvas when a furious wind is blowing. 
 Yesterday we wrapped a flour sack around the churn 
 to keep the dust out, but the butter is so full of 
 specks we'll have to shut our eyes to eat it. But 
 we're no worse off than soldiers on the march, or 
 camping out in tents. I don't suppose they're fond 
 of sand in food, but they swallow it courageously, and 
 so can we." 
 
 " ' How about the blizzards ? ' " asked Aunt Abi- 
 gail. " ' Do your toast and toes keep warm when 
 they are raging round your cotton walls ? ' 
 
 "We haven't had but one," Piokee said, " and 
 then we huddled in the hut and carried in a pot 
 of quail stew and a lovely batch of Sally Lunns. 
 Father had a smoking party crowded near t)ie fire- 
 place, and they ate up every morsel of our dinner, 
 and we had to shove the men away and make our-
 
 256 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 selves some mush. That tasted of tobacco smoke 
 and soot, and well we had a fearful time all round 
 that day. 
 
 "How well Aunt Abigail understands the situ- 
 ation ! " she exclaimed in wonder, after reading on 
 a few lines. " Why, she even sees right through the 
 very thing that worries me the worst of all, and 
 this is what she says about it : 
 
 " i I suppose you're overrun with visitors who 
 straggle in with free and easy sociability and stay to 
 dinner, when their names aren't in the pot and you 
 are plagued to scare up something to appease their 
 hunger.' 
 
 " Yes," Piokee sighed, " it's very inconvenient, 
 having all the mothers, sisters, aunts and cousins, 
 liable to drop in any time for dinner when they're 
 least expected. Wak-wak and the other girls don't 
 know it isn't just the thing to ask their friends to 
 come, and they do take such pride in showing off 
 what they are learning here. The poor things love 
 to stay to dinner and it helps to spread the influence, 
 but it helps eat up the groceries at a shocking rate, 
 and we can't possibly afford it. There is one great 
 mercy, though the men and boys don't come into 
 the schoolroom. I've been wondering why." 
 
 " The etiquette of our tribe forbids them to in- 
 trude unless there is a man to entertain them or 
 they have especial business," Dr. Whistler explained.
 
 THE ENTERTAINMENT COMMITTEE. 257 
 
 " The blanket Indians faithfully observe this rule, 
 and are astounded that we civilized fellows dare to 
 break it with impunity." 
 
 " I'm glad they've one polite rule and know how 
 to keep it," said Piokee. " Not but that it is polite 
 for you to break it," she excepted laughingly, as 
 he threw down a quizzical smile at her. " Father 
 doesn't come into the schoolroom either, though of 
 course he doesn't mind the rule in this case, as the 
 teacher is his daughter. I suppose he thinks it 
 quite beneath his dignity to notice us, but he does 
 relish w 7 hat we cook, immensely. He and Up have 
 just the same for dinner that the class have, though 
 they eat it in the hut all by themselves. Up has a 
 lordly way of seeming far above us, too, and can't 
 be coaxed into the tent in school-hours, but I hire 
 him to write some letters on his slate quite often in 
 the hut." 
 
 " And what price does the little brave demand for 
 that amazing condescension ? " Dr. Whistler asked. 
 
 " A tune upon the violin for every letter that he 
 writes six times. For extra pay I dance the fun- 
 dance, as we call a waltz. He'll work away like 
 everything if that is promised him." 
 
 "A case of artful bribery with encouraging re- 
 sults," said Dr. Whistler, amused by this ingenious 
 method of securing Up's attention to the printing 
 lessons.
 
 258 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 " Oh ! what do you think Aunt Abigail says next ? " 
 announced Piokee, going on with her perusal of the 
 letter : 
 
 " ' But these swarms of uninvited guests, if such 
 there be, are part and parcel of the problem, and 
 you needn't be surprised to find the bunch of straws 
 you thought to lug about so easily, a load of iron 
 spikes to break your back. 
 
 " ' The gospel says " A little leaven leaveneth the 
 whole lump," and perhaps a lump of Indians at a 
 dinner party, with the cooking class for leaven, 
 might go through the miracle of working good 
 results. 
 
 " * But I would have the visitors understand there 
 must be certain days for company, and they were 
 not to be perpetual hangers on at other times. As 
 far as possible the men and boys should be avoided, 
 like the plague, for various reasons chiefly their 
 prodigious appetites. 
 
 " ' It seems it will require a syndicate to run this 
 cooking class of five or is it six with little Nancy ? 
 Dr. Whistler, your foster-mother and myself appear 
 to be involved with you in the absurd experiment. 
 You may make me a committee on receptions if you 
 choose, and I will add a little entertainment fund to 
 the allowance of your foster-mother's, which she 
 seems quite willing you should waste in playing 
 school down there, if you don't starve your stomach
 
 THE ENTERTAINMENT COMMITTEE. 259 
 
 night and morning to provide that missionary meal 
 at noon.' 
 
 " Isn't that angelic in Aunt Abigail ? " exclaimed 
 Piokee. " One would think she'd been a blanket 
 Indian herself, she is so full of sympathy for them. 
 Now I needn't worry over every extra bite we give 
 away, and we will follow her advice and have our 
 visitors at certain times, and try to make them un- 
 derstand they mustn't come when they are not in- 
 vited. And the girls, to show what they can do, 
 shall bake and broil and stew the company dinner 
 all themselves, though I will have to watch them 
 very closely. 
 
 " Only I do hope that while the party is in full 
 swing Wak-wak won't persist in wiping dishes on 
 her apron, as she's very apt to do if I don't keep my 
 eye upon her, and that Cepo won't forget and put 
 her sister's papoose she so often brings to school to 
 tend, into the churn to keep it out of mischief, as 
 she did the other day when we were scaring up 
 some dinner for a lot of company. To make the 
 mishap worse, there was some buttermilk in the 
 churn, that Cepo didn't notice, and in scurrying 
 around to help the others set the table Wak-wak ran 
 against the churn and overturned it, and there was 
 a very greasy papoose swimming in a frightful 
 puddle on the floor." 
 
 " But since it gave the class a chance for arduous
 
 260 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 scrubbing to remove the buttermilk from the floor 
 and the papoose, it must have been, upon the whole, 
 a rather fortunate mishap," smiled Dr. Whistler. 
 
 There was a queer upsetting of Piokee's plans 
 about the opening dinner party. It was not of 
 mothers, sisters, aunts and cousins that had come 
 by special invitation. On the other hand it was a 
 most complete- surprise, and of a startling kind. 
 
 The news was brought up by Up one day, pre- 
 cisely at the noon hour, that the Mokohokos were 
 approaching through the woods. 
 
 Forgetful of his shyness in the schoolroom, which 
 he had been wont to shun with studious care, he 
 burst into the tent in breathless haste to pull Pio- 
 kee's sleeve as she was stirring the thickening into 
 rabbit broth, and spring the warning on the busy 
 teacher and her class. 
 
 " I hear. I see. Mokohokos come. I run pony," 
 were the words she gleaned from his excited ex- 
 clamation, much of which she could not understand. 
 
 The Mokohokos were a sluggish, non-progressive 
 band who lived a few miles off. Of all the tribes 
 they were the most opposed to schools and other 
 innovations tending to upset the ancient order of 
 affairs. 
 
 The class had brought reports from time to time 
 that there was danger of the Mokohokos coming to 
 suppress the school, but weeks had passed and there
 
 THE ENTERTAINMENT COMMITTEE. 261 
 
 had been no hostile movement, and Piokee had al- 
 most concluded that the rumors were a false alarm. 
 But now she could not doubt that her benighted 
 neighbors were about to make a visit of unfriendly 
 import to the school, for Up was fearfully in earn- 
 est in his efforts to impart the information he had 
 gained while on a scout of some sort which had 
 thrown him on the Mokohokos' track. 
 
 " Oh ! they must be very near," exclaimed she, 
 starting in alarm. " And father is away from home. 
 What shall we do ? " in doubt which way to turn.
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 THE MOKOHOKOS. 
 
 ^T GET war-gun. They smash, I shoot," said 
 -L Fauqua, rising to the stern occasion with a 
 rush of Indian bravery. 
 
 " No, no," Piokee hurriedly replied. " We'll fight 
 them with the dinner ; and how fortunate it is all 
 ready. Stop ! " she cried, recovering her self-pos- 
 session as Wanisa was about to plunge the books 
 and slates into the flour-bin, while Cepo locked the 
 cupboard door and Wak-wak snatched the pot of 
 rabbit from the stove to whisk it to a place of 
 safety in the brush. " Don't hide one thing, but do 
 exactly as I tell you." 
 
 All her words the class may not have understood, 
 though they had made good progress in their Eng- 
 lish since the school began, but they could not mis- 
 take her tone and manner as she firmly shook her 
 head and clapped her hands to check the general 
 stampede. 
 
 262
 
 THE MOKOHOKOS. 263 
 
 She set the pot of rabbit on the hearth to cool, 
 unlocked the cupboard door, and heaping two large 
 plates with doughnuts, placed them on the table, 
 which was spread for dinner. Scarcely had she 
 done this when there was a trampling of hoofs, and 
 peering from the door the class espied six horsemen 
 near the tent. 
 
 Fauqua fell to cutting bread with wondrous speed, 
 and Wak-wak, with a disapproving frown, but with 
 swift hands, dipped out six bowls of broth and set 
 them on the plates. Annamosa scooped some baked 
 potatoes from the oven, and Wanisa ladled out the 
 rabbit on a platter. Nanno crouched behind the 
 stump, too scared to breathe, and Up, half-jubilant 
 that there was danger in the air and he had been 
 the first to scent it, hung about the door to watch 
 the landing of the Mokohokos. 
 
 Presently they trailed into the schoolroom, single 
 file, to meet a smiling little hostess at the door, with 
 hand outstretched as if in cordial welcome. 
 
 What powerful magnet was the small soft hand 
 of this young civilized girl, to draw three brawny 
 fists from out the blankets wrapped about the rigid 
 braves, and open them in a responsive handshake ? 
 One of those who did not shake hands struggled 
 with an answering grunt, but two gave only a for- 
 bidding scowl. 
 
 Before the squad could hardly cast their eyes
 
 264 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 toward the tempting meal, much less begin a raid 
 on it by force, Piokee waved them to the table, 
 pointing to the chairs, which they accepted, some 
 with grunts and some in lowering silence, and with- 
 out an instant's loss of time the trimly-aproned 
 maids, instructed by their teacher's nods and signs, 
 began to wait on them with wariest attention. 
 
 Lest the meal fall short before the six voracious 
 appetites were appeased, Piokee flew to mixing pan- 
 cakes blessed makeshift for a scared-up dinner, as 
 the class had learned. She cooked them by the 
 dozen in two dripping-pans, while Fauqua stuffed 
 in bark to feed the fire. 
 
 If the Mokohoko squad had never tasted butter- 
 milk before, they drank it by the quart that day. 
 True, it was diluted with much water, which the 
 wily Wak-wak dashed into it on the sly to make it 
 hold out to the end. 
 
 The raiders may have been astonished at this 
 avalanche of hospitality, but they exhibited no sign 
 of it as they devoured their food by ways and means 
 that words would fail to picture. Heaps of pan- 
 cakes vanished with all else, but in the end the class 
 came off victorious to the extent of half a dozen 
 pancakes and a pint of the diluted buttermilk. 
 
 Piokee's services as cook no longer needed while 
 the feasting was upon the wane, she rushed into the 
 hut and tuned her violin, and when the Mokohokos
 
 THE MOKOHOKOS. 265 
 
 left their chairs she had another kind of entertain- 
 ment on the tapis. 
 
 She had trained the class in some gymnastics they 
 went through with lively interest, accompanied by 
 the violin. In rising to their feet the feasters were 
 saluted by a sudden burst of music, and beheld a 
 most bewildering play of arms and wag of heads. 
 Fauqua acted with the girls, and Nanno, standing 
 on the stump, went through the exercise, though 
 trembling in her shoes. 
 
 The stolid faces now began to show some wonder 
 at the strange performances of this obnoxious little 
 school whose fame had reached the Mokohokos, and 
 had brought the old chief, Pawshepaho, with five 
 leading men, upon a visit of severe inspection. 
 
 What to do next was the question in Piokee's 
 mind all the while the exercise was going on. She 
 dared not rest from the diversions for an instant, 
 lest the grim intruders whom the class had captured 
 so ingeniously should suddenly bethink themselves 
 to set about the object of their visit. 
 
 All at once the G string snapped, and the music 
 and gymnastics came to a precipitate close. 
 
 Then Pawshepaho strode across the floor and took 
 possession of the violin, to curiously examine this 
 peculiar instrument, dependent on four strings for 
 its bewitching melody. 
 
 The curiosity attacked the other five, who crowded
 
 266 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 round the old chief to inspect the violin. One of 
 them produced a shoestring which he gave to Paw- 
 shepaho, and routing Nanno from the stump, he 
 took a seat thereon and gravely set to work to 
 mend the broken string. 
 
 There was a deal of tinkering, then the violin 
 was handed back to the performer with the shoe- 
 string stretched across the bridge and wound about 
 the pegs. 
 
 More music seemed to be demanded, and it was 
 profoundly evident that the Mokohokos saw no 
 reason why Piokee could not draw rare melody 
 from a shoestring quite as well as from a silver wire. 
 
 Here was a dilemma, but with cunning sleight of 
 hand Piokee played a lively little jig upon the E 
 string only, flourishing the bow with all around 
 effect, and apparently performing on the shoestring 
 with the rest. 
 
 Pawshepaho gave a satisfied grunt at what he 
 deemed his marked success as a repairer of the vio- 
 lin, his comrades echoing the applause with similar 
 grunts. The old chief's nephew, Keoqualk, who 
 had scowled ferociously, refusing to shake hands on 
 entering, now muttered " Heap fine," as a compli- 
 ment to the coiirageous innovation he had come to 
 help suppress. 
 
 In this way did Piokee win the Mokohokos to 
 approve the school, even so completely that she
 
 THE MOKOHOKOS. 267 
 
 dared display the printing on the slates and show 
 the pictures in the new first readers. 
 
 When the Mokohokos were well out of sight, the 
 whole squad having shaken hands with the entire 
 class in taking leave, Piokee played another jig 
 upon the E string, and hilariously danced to its 
 exultant strains, to thank Up for his timely warn- 
 ing, which had given her a minute to prepare for 
 the reception of the dreaded guests. 
 
 " It looks as if there'd been a whirlwind," she de- 
 clared, bringing up at length against the table, and 
 surveying its demoralized condition with a rueful 
 glance. " They've soaked the tablecloth with broth 
 and buttermilk, and dear me ! I do wonder how they 
 broke two tumblers and a plate ? They've spilt the 
 salt and sugar and upset the spoons and pepper 
 boxes, and as I'm alive, they've picked the rabbit 
 bones and flung them on the floor. 
 
 " Well, with all the muss we've conquered them 
 and sent them off in friendly humor. But we'll 
 have to cook ourselves some mush for dinner, for 
 there isn't any milk to make more pancakes. And 
 'twill take at least two hours, this afternoon, to 
 partly set ourselves in order, and to-morrow what a 
 time we'll have washing, ironing, scrubbing, cook- 
 ing all at once ! " 
 
 The winter, mercifully short and mild in this de- 
 lightful semi-southern latitude, had passed away.
 
 268 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 The ghost-dance apparition which had waved its 
 spectral scalping-knife along the frontier to the 
 terror of white settlers, had vanished at the charge 
 of musketry at Wounded Knee, and once more had 
 the red man's discontented murmurs settled into 
 brooding silence. 
 
 Cold Blast's useless war-gun stretched its length 
 along the wall to point its boastful muzzle at Piokee, 
 as she fancied, when she passed the spot whereon 
 it hung. 
 
 But where was Naopope, the young Messiah reader 
 who had left his school to recklessly participate in 
 the ghost-dance folly? Though Piokee had not 
 breathed his name to Dr. Whistler since his stern 
 request that she would never speak of Nuo in his 
 presence, often did she wonder what had been the 
 boy's fate, and whether he had found the wild life so 
 completely to his taste as he had fancied it would be. 
 
 Piokee and her girls were on a wild flower hunt 
 one afternoon. It was a novel expedition to the 
 gypsy maids. Like all their race they were ex- 
 tremely fond of Nature as a whole, but they had 
 never learned to note the beauty of her separate 
 features, whether in the glowing sky at dawn or sun- 
 set, in the sparkling streams, or on the flowery sod. 
 
 To stimulate their interest, Piokee offered as a pre- 
 mium to the one whose nosegay had the best variety 
 of flowers a knot of narrow ribbons, yellow, pink
 
 THE MOKOHOKOS. 269 
 
 and green, with half a dozen tiny tinkling bells sus- 
 pended from the streamers. She had found this 
 little souvenir with the trinkets w r hich the box had 
 brought her. 
 
 Then there was a search indeed. Dutchman's 
 breeches, crocuses and cowslips, wind-flowers, vio- 
 lets and hepaticas, the starry bloodroot blossoms 
 and the rue-anemone were seized by eager hands. 
 
 "Wak-wak wins it by a bunch of yellow violets 
 that I tried so hard to find myself," announced 
 Piokee, at the round-up, when the nosegays were 
 exhibited for her inspection. Thereupon she pinned 
 the prize on Wak-wak's calico sack. "Where did 
 you find them ? They are perfect beauties, but I 
 thought they didn't grow down here," she said, as 
 Wak-wak proudly pulled them from the nosegay 
 and presented them to her. 
 
 "Heap more I find," said Wak-wak, as she gave 
 herself a shake to ring the little bells triumphantly, 
 and threw the other girls into a fit of envious sulks 
 that showed Piokee it was most unwise to offer 
 prizes in the present state of their advancement. 
 
 To ease their disappointment, she let down her 
 braid of hair to give all three of them an amber 
 hairpin for a lesser prize, and slipped a blue glass 
 button from her pocket into Nanno's hand. This 
 restored good humor, and the class set out to find 
 the yellow violets under Wak-wak's lead.
 
 270 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 The creek which wandered through the timber 
 had a steep bank on the nearer side just here, along 
 which ran a narrow shelf of rock some feet above 
 the water. 
 
 The cliff-like bank above the shelf was almost 
 bare of herbage, but in one long narrow fissure 
 where the earth had lodged, there was a mass of 
 shrubs and flowering plants. They had attracted 
 Wak-wak's eye and led her out upon the shelf, 
 where, reaching up on tiptoe, she had plucked the 
 flowers above ; it was here she had found the violets. 
 
 Piokee followed her along the shelf to view the 
 wonders of this little wildwood garden in the cliff. 
 This done, she found there was not room to turn 
 round, and she must follow Wak-wak on still further, 
 where there was a wider space before an opening 
 in the cliff, and thence a rocky pathway up the bank. 
 
 The opening was a cave-like fissure, partly roofed 
 with rock and partly overhung with bushes. 
 
 Wak-wak and Piokee tried to peer into the 
 shadowy grotto, but so dazzled were their eyes with 
 sunshine that they could see nothing for a minute. 
 
 All at once they heard a heavy breathing from 
 within, and then a low, strange sound. 
 
 " Wolf's hole," surmised Wak-wak, thrusting in 
 her head with reckless curiosity. 
 
 " Yes, it was a growl, I think. Let's hurry," said 
 Piokee, seizing Wak-wak's hand to draw her back.
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 DEPAKTED GLORY. 
 
 BUT just then came another sound that caused 
 them both to stop and listen most intently. 
 
 " Why, it must be some one in distress," Piokee 
 said, now very sure that they were hearing groans, 
 and not the growls of some wild animal. 
 
 Wak-wak's eyes had peered into the gloom inside 
 the cave till she could see distinctly, and she now 
 discerned a human figure muffled in a blanket lying 
 at the further end. 
 
 " He sick," she said, and stepped inside, Piokee 
 following. Her fear all vanished when she saw a 
 human being in the cave who seemed in need of help. 
 
 Wak-wak muttered something in the Indian 
 tongue expressing great surprise the instant that 
 her eyes alighted on the prostrate figure. 
 
 It was Nao, lying there asleep, and it was easy to 
 perceive that he was seriously ill. His face was 
 drawn and pinched with pain. He had his left arm 
 
 271
 
 272 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 in a sling, which had been stripped from one end 
 of his blanket. Even in his sleep he writhed and 
 moaned as if in deep distress. 
 
 The class were now all gathered in the cave, but 
 they had entered in a noiseless way that had not in 
 the least disturbed the sleeper. 
 
 All at once the four girls took a most surprising 
 way to show their pity for the sufferer, whom they 
 knew to be the young ghost dancer that had won 
 the laurels at the pecan camp. 
 
 Squatting on the rocky floor, with Wak-wak as 
 the leader, they began a doleful plaint, or chant, 
 as a lament for his misfortunes. 
 
 Nao started wildly up, his fitful slumber broken 
 with a crash. 
 
 " Halloo ! " he cried, with feverish anxiety, above 
 the din, "you've got me this time, sure enough." 
 Then, seeing but a group of girls, his panic-stricken 
 look abated, and he stared about him in bewilderment. 
 
 Frightened by the dismal wail the girls kept up 
 with growing fervor, and by Nao's strange appear- 
 ance, Nanno burst into a fit of childish weeping, 
 which she emphasized with piercing screams. 
 
 Piokee tried in vain to quell the singular disturb- 
 ance, Nao growing quite beside himself, until he 
 seemed about to flee the spot in wild despair. 
 
 At this pass she adopted a decisive measure. 
 Seizing Wak-wak by the shoulders from behind, she
 
 DEPARTED GLORY. 273 
 
 shook her with such desperate resolution that the 
 wail was smothered in her throat. Then she turned 
 on Annamosa with a like result. This burst of stern 
 authority from their gentle little teacher brought 
 the girls completely to their senses, and all four 
 subsided into silence, Nanno following their example 
 in a wink. 
 
 " I thought it was the cowboys. They Were after 
 me," said Nao, settling back to lean against the wall 
 and heave another groan. 
 
 " No ; it's just the class," Piokee soothingly as- 
 sured him. "Are you badly hurt, and why were 
 the cowboys after you?" she asked, with wondering 
 pity and alarm. 
 
 "Oh ! it's the goody-goody girl," said Nao, look- 
 ing at Piokee for the first time with his feverish 
 eyes. " Yes ; it's bad enough, I reckon. There's a 
 bullet in my arm, and well, it doesn't make me 
 feel firstrrate." 
 
 " Oh ! you poor boy," said Piokee. " Did the 
 cowboys shoot you ? And what did you do to stir 
 them up ?" 
 
 " I fell in with two half-breed rustlers over on the 
 grazing lands, who had been branding cattle that 
 they didn't own, and selling them. I wasn't in it 
 on my word 'twas done before I met the 
 thieves," he added, in a tone of feeble self-defense. 
 " I overheard them talking of it, and was going to
 
 274 PIOKEE AKD HEK PEOPLE. 
 
 cut loose from them. The cowboys chased us, but 
 we got away. My pony couldn't travel like the 
 other two, and he and I got shot. The little beast 
 fell down, and I cut off into the woods afoot. 
 
 " I tramped it to the Mokohoko village, where the 
 medicine man began to mumble over me, and the 
 squaws to howl like fifty Furies, as this party did 
 just now. I broke away, and got as far as this 
 place and gave out this afternoon. I saw the cave 
 from over there across the creek, and reckoned I 
 could die in peace in here, so I crossed the water 
 on a footlog and crawled in." 
 
 " But you don't want to die in peace, you want 
 to live in peace and be a man," Piokee said, with 
 bracing cheer. "Now, then, you're going home 
 with me to get the monstrous sandwich," it oc- 
 curred to her to say, but she restrained her tongue, 
 not wishing to remind him of the humble pie. 
 " We'll take good care of you, and send for Dr. 
 Whistler as soon as possible." 
 
 " The old head chief is quits with me, and I could 
 hardly face him if he wasn't; and you wouldn't 
 want me lying round in this shape," Nao answered, 
 with increasing misery. 
 
 He was now as much ashamed of his wild Indian 
 garb as he had been of civilized attire a few months 
 previous. His blouse and leggings were begrimed 
 with mud, one ragged moccasin was his only foot-
 
 DEPARTED GLORY. 275 
 
 gear, and his once gay blanket of bright blue was 
 soiled and faded and half-torn in two. He had a 
 blood-stained bandage from the blanket wrapped 
 about his wounded arm. His hair had flourished 
 wildly during the Messiah campaign, and was now 
 matted to his head, and much adorned with twigs 
 and moss from camping on the ground. Vanished 
 was his vermilion war-paint, leaving but the faintest 
 shadow of a streak across one cheek. In truth, the 
 glory of the young Messiah reader had departed, 
 and he was a total wreck in fame and fortune. 
 
 " Yes ; I should want you round in that shape, or 
 in any other shape, if you were ill and needed to be 
 taken care of," was Piokee's sympathetic answer. 
 "And you needn't be one bit afraid to face our 
 Doctor when he comes for I am sure he will come 
 when I send for him." 
 
 Thus was Nao urged to rouse himself and wend 
 his slow way to the hut, some half a mile beyond. 
 Growing dizzy from the pain of his neglected wound, 
 he was ignobly forced to let Piokee lead him by the 
 right arm, Wak-wak steering him by holding to his 
 sides. 
 
 Piokee made for him a bed below one window of 
 the hut, and cut away his sleeve to bathe the wound 
 and bandage it with clean white muslin. Much to 
 her relief her father was at home, and was induced 
 to go for Dr. Whistler after some delay.
 
 276 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 Nao tossed and writhed all night, Piokee watching 
 near him by the dim light of a tallow candle on a 
 beam above his bed. Fauqua dozed at times, but 
 roused herself quite frequently to bring cool water 
 from the spring, for Nao was consumed with thirst. 
 
 At dawn came Dr. Whistler, with a span of horses 
 and a light spring wagon. He had brought some 
 blankets and a cot, and other things for Nao's con> 
 fort. Cold Blast sat beside the Doctor, his pony 
 trotting in the rear. 
 
 If Dr. Whistler's righteous indignation at the 
 young Messiah reader's grave offense was not dis- 
 pelled by his misfortune, it was held in good con- 
 trol, for there was nothing in his manner but the 
 tenderest concern for Nao's suffering condition. 
 
 "Now, my boy, we'll see about the arm," ob- 
 served he, when the dust of the Messiah campaign 
 was washed away, the wild Indian garb reduced to 
 ashes in the fireplace, and Nao, shorn of his super- 
 flous locks, was lying on the cot in a flannel dress- 
 ing-gown of Dr. Whistler's, from which one sleeve 
 had been cut off. " Will you take something to be- 
 numb the pain while I am hunting for the bullet?" 
 
 " No ; I'd rather keep my senses. Go ahead ! I'll 
 grin and bear it," Nao said. 
 
 He had revived amazingly, so soon, under the 
 Doctor's care, and he set his teeth with resolute 
 endurance as the glittering probe began its work.
 
 DEPARTED GLORY. 277 
 
 The wound was just below the shoulder, and the 
 bullet was embedded in the flesh against the bone. 
 
 " It must be taken out. I'll be as easy as I can, 
 dear boy," said Dr. Whistler, wiping off the beads 
 of sweat from Nao's forehead, for the wound was 
 much inflamed, and there was agony in the opera- 
 tion. " You would better take the ether now. If 
 you should flinch it might be bad for you." 
 
 "No, no," resisted Nao. "Dig away, old fellow. 
 I don't feel so much like fighting, as it's you that's 
 killing me. The goody-goody girl might grip my 
 wrist if you're afraid I'll flinch." 
 
 " Can you ? " Dr. Whistler asked Piokee, who was 
 standing by. 
 
 " Yes," she answered, bracing up her nerves. 
 
 She held the wrist with steady hands until the 
 torturing work was done. Nao felt a deal of 
 strength imparted by her cool, soft fingers, helping 
 him to bear the pain with fortitude. 
 
 There was no school that day, Piokee having told 
 the girls the afternoon before that there would be 
 an intermission until further notice. 
 
 In the balmy moonlit evening the wagon Dr. 
 Whistler had brought was made an ambulance to 
 carry Nao to his house. He went to avoid inspec- 
 tion from the train of curious sympathizers from the 
 village who had learned of his misfortune, and had 
 straggled back* and forth since morning.
 
 278 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 It was an anxious question if there would not 
 have to be another operation, which would cause 
 the luckless Naopope to wear an empty sleeve 
 through life. But eventually Piokee learned from 
 Dr. Whistler that the wound was past all danger, 
 though the arm was very weak. 
 
 " I fear the boy will always have a crippled left 
 arm to remind him of his little ghost-dance lark," 
 said he. 
 
 " But perhaps he'll do far better with but one 
 strong arm and his experience, than he would have 
 done with both arms, if he'd never had it." 
 
 " Very likely," Dr. Whistler replied. " He seems 
 to be completely cured of his wild Indian fever, 
 though it may break out again. From his frank 
 confession Nao didn't have a good time from the 
 start in his exploits. The Cheyennes and Arapa- 
 hoes were not successful in their efforts to arouse 
 the ghost-dance fervor in the other tribes, and find- 
 ing that the Government authorities were watching 
 them, they thought it wise to make back tracks for 
 home. 
 
 " The boy was left to skirmish for himself. He 
 begged his way a while, and nearly starved on 
 squaw-food, but he grew ashamed of being such a 
 vagabond, and went to work herding cattle on the 
 grazing lands. The cowboys didn't like the way he 
 dressed, I fancy, or objected to the color of his skin.
 
 DEPARTED GLORY. 279 
 
 They ordered him to quit the business, and he 
 was obeying orders when the rustlers overtook 
 him." 
 
 "He has had a fearful time, poor fellow," said 
 Piokee. " Does he talk of going back to school, or 
 will he settle down to doing something on the 
 reservation ? " 
 
 " He thinks he's had enough of school, and so do 
 I. I'll see what he can do managing the sawmill 
 through the summer, and next fall I hope he'll feel 
 inclined to set about improving the allotment which 
 I have secured for him adjoining my farm." 
 
 " Oh ! then you mean to trust him, after all ? I 
 knew you would, if you did look so stern when you 
 declared you never could," Piokee said triumphantly. 
 
 " Yes," said Dr. Whistler, with a helpless smile ; 
 " I find I'm weak enough to let the young scamp 
 wind me round his finger just as ever. But to 
 change the subject, has your father lately traded 
 for those three fine ponies in that clump of oaks, 
 and those two saddles, bridles, stirrups, whips and 
 other trappings hanging to the trees in such pro- 
 fusion ? " 
 
 They were standing in the doorway of the tent ; 
 the clump of oak-trees was a few yards off. 
 
 " Why, I haven't found out," said Piokee. " Keo- 
 qualk, old Pawshepaho's nephew, brought them here 
 this afternoon, and there seems to be some mystery
 
 280 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 I don't understand. He tied the ponies to the trees 
 and hung the things up there while father watched 
 him. After that they talked awhile, then father 
 went to the corral and Keoqualk came and stood 
 close by the hut as if he had a notion to come in, 
 but hadn't quite decided. I was sure he wanted 
 something and was going out to see, but mother 
 pulled me back and shut the door. I couldn't get 
 her to explain why, and she acted so excited and 
 distressed, I have been wondering ever since what 
 it could mean." 
 
 " What next did Keoqualk do ? " asked Dr. Whist- 
 ler in a sternly anxious tone. 
 
 " He stood there quite a w r hile stock still I saw 
 him through the window then he walked around 
 the house and swung his arms and struck himself as 
 if in deep despair. Then father rode up on his pony, 
 and they went away together." 
 
 " Has the fellow been around before, conducting 
 in this singular manner ? " Dr. Whistler pursued, 
 with kindling ire. 
 
 " Why, yes ; he's been here very often since the 
 Mokohokos' raid, and now I think of it, I wonder if 
 he isn't crazy. He has stalked around the tent and 
 hut, looking so disconsolate I really pitied him, and 
 yesterday, while I was in here mixing gems for sup- 
 per, what did Keoqualk do but sit down on the 
 ground before the open door and cross his arms and
 
 DEPARTED GLORY. 281 
 
 hang his head, and I could hear him sighing at a 
 fearful rate." 
 
 A low ejaculation shot from under Dr. Whistler's 
 breath. Piokee started at the strange commotion 
 into which the Keoqualk episode had plunged him, 
 for some reason quite beyond her ken.
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 THE TRUE HEART. 
 
 DR. WHISTLER was now the Black Hawk In- 
 dian, and the Black Hawk Indian was in a 
 towering rage. 
 
 He paced the floor with wrathful strides, with 
 stern, set lips and fiercely frowning brow. Ever 
 and anon he paused with startling abruptness, check- 
 ing his impetuous steps as if to hold a threatening 
 parley with some strong, invisible adversary. 
 
 All at once he whirled about and faced the won- 
 dering Piokee, who had followed him half-way 
 across the tent, saying in a voice made strangely 
 harsh by his emotion : 
 
 " Shall I tell you what it means this queer be- 
 havior of the young man who has brought the ponies 
 to your door, and lurks around to cast a stealthy 
 glance at you and smite his breast in so disconsolate 
 a way ? He wants to buy you as his wife, and your 
 father is considering the bargain. As this Keoqualk
 
 THE TKUE HEART. 283 
 
 cannot pay the price your father asks for you in 
 ponies, he would make it up in saddles, bridles and 
 whatever trappings he has scraped together by fair 
 means or foul. Yes ; I know that I am telling you 
 all this with cruel roughness, but there is no way to 
 break it easily," as she recoiled in wide-eyed horror. 
 " You must face the problem to the bitter end, Pio- 
 kee," he went on, " and feel the woe of knowing 
 that your father is an ignorant barbarian who would 
 not be ashamed to sell his child for horse flesh. The 
 atrocious custom has begun to die out in our tribe, 
 thank Heaven, but there is still enough of it to 
 overwhelm us with disgrace." 
 
 He took another furious turn across the floor, 
 coming back to find Piokee standing straight and 
 still, the queenly little head disdainfully erect, hands 
 held behind her in a rigid clasp, the dark eyes 
 charged with swiftly kindled fire. 
 
 " Does my father think to sell me as his wives 
 were sold to him ? " she said, with ominous softness 
 of the voice. " Why, it would be so easy to prevent 
 that. It is all according to the will, you see. There 
 isn't anything quite equal to a person's will when it 
 is firmly set. Floods and fires and cyclones aren't 
 so strong as those two little words ( I will.' Do you 
 remember how the martyrs stood all kinds of tor- 
 ture and serenely smiled at death because they had 
 the will to do it ? I shall say to Keoqualk and
 
 284 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 my father, ' I will refuse/ and that is all there is 
 about it." 
 
 The disdainful little head was held in air a mo- 
 ment more, and then rushed over her the shame, 
 the horror of the situation, the despair of hopeless 
 strife against the strength of her degraded parent- 
 age that hemmed her in and dragged her down, and 
 she rebelliously cried out : 
 
 " Oh ! why did God create the Indian ? It is all 
 too terrible and I can never, never bear it ! " 
 
 Sinking down into a chair, this stricken child of 
 the degraded race, she swept herself about and laid 
 her tightly folded arms across its back and dropped 
 her burning face against them. 
 
 Dr. Whistler's fiery indignation, which made him 
 rashly meditate, while the Black Hawk Indian held 
 him in his grasp, of riding forth to wreak fell venge- 
 ance on the lovelorn Keoqualk, now subsided into 
 agitation of a wholly different sort. His steps were 
 less impetuous, the black scowl vanished and his 
 face grew tender with a new emotion. 
 
 Presently he stopped behind Piokee's chair, stretch- 
 ing out his hand as if to touch her hair in light 
 caress. But no ; he would not lay his finger-tips 
 upon the bowed young head, so helplessly appealing 
 in its stricken attitude, till 'he had told her what 
 was in his heart. 
 
 "Piokee, there is something that I wish to say,
 
 PIOKEE, THERE IS SOMETHING I WISH TO SAY.'
 
 THE TRUE HEART. 287 
 
 but I must say it to your face. Will you look up 
 and listen ? " he requested gently. 
 
 She raised her head with tearless, piteous eyes. 
 
 " You look so little sitting there I tower above 
 you so in height it robs me of my fortitude," he 
 noted with a half-resolute smile. "Perhaps if you 
 would stand and make yourself as tall as possible I 
 might go on with stouter heart. Ah ! that is better 
 now you almost reach my shoulder," as she rose 
 and stood before him with pathetic face and mute, 
 despairing lips. " Piokee, you are but a little girl 
 of sixteen," he resumed, " and I am thirty-one. 
 You are too young, by far, to have to think of what 
 I am about to ask you, and had fate so willed it that 
 you could have passed a safe and happy girlhood in 
 your civilized home, I should not have spoken for 
 some years, at least, and then I fear my courage 
 would have failed me for all time, owing to the 
 difference in our age. 
 
 "But everything is changed; your tribe has 
 claimed you as a sacrifice, and you are now con- 
 fronted by the bitterest and most perilous feature 
 of this wretched Indian life, which gives our young 
 girls, scarcely in their teens, in marriage to the men 
 who may succeed in buying them, and sinks them to 
 a life of drudgery thereafter. 0, my poor child ! I 
 am frightening you you shrink and tremble when 
 I try to tell you in the gentlest way that I can deal
 
 288 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 with this hard matter. But I am too long in coming 
 to the point. 
 
 "Piokee, little one, I want to guard you as rny 
 promised wife. If you are pledged to me your 
 father will reject all other suitors, and you will be 
 free from further persecution. 
 
 " My one treasure, I must have you ! It would 
 be too hard to live my solitary life without you," he 
 besought her eagerly. " Piokee, tell me, had you 
 been in Mamma Prairie's home to-day, and I had 
 asked you if you would sometime be my wife, what 
 would you have answered ? " 
 
 " Why, I would have answered yes, my chief a 
 happy yes. What else could I have wished to say ? " 
 she murmured, with a rush of wondering joy. 
 
 " You might have wished to say no little women 
 sometimes do," he smiled, " and made me wretched 
 all my days. But now I am the happiest man 
 alive," breaking out into the old, old rhapsody of 
 the successful wooer. 
 
 "I shall guard my treasure very jealously," he 
 tenderly declared.; " and I dare boast that Keoqualk, 
 the presuming fellow, will be made to cower in his 
 moccasins if he demurs at taking back the ponies." 
 
 "But if father should insist on keeping them?*' 
 supposed Piokee, trembling anew. 
 
 " Then," said Dr. Whistler, with protecting arms 
 about her, " I am sure I should be justified in com-
 
 THE TRUE HEART. 289 
 
 ing like a cavalier of old, to bear my little lady-love 
 away by might and main to call at once upon the 
 parson." 
 
 " But he couldn't help preferring you to Keoqualk, 
 many thousand times/' she reassured him, slipping 
 back into the chair to let her fond, proud gaze 
 mount up to him. 
 
 " I don't know," gravely doubted he ; " Keoqualk 
 with the ponies may be more to him than I should 
 be without them. It is very shocking to consider, 
 after my denunciation of the wretched custom, but 
 I may be forced to buy my wife, just as if I were the 
 veriest barbarian," he added, sitting down upon the 
 stump to face her with the utmost seriousness. 
 
 "Why, you couldn't buy me, don't you see ? " she 
 reasoned, " since I have already given myself to you 
 because I am so proud and happy to belong to you." 
 
 " True, little heart," said he ; " but the effect of 
 helping to perpetuate the barbarous custom by out- 
 bidding Keoqualk would be quite the same as if I 
 were to purchase an unwilling bride. I am inclined 
 to think a swift ride to the parson's would be less 
 disastrous to my influence as a civilized man," he 
 cogitated with a puzzled air. 
 
 " Oh ! that would never do except for life or 
 death," protested she, in bright confusion. " Others 
 on the reservation would be following our example, 
 and and it's dreadful to elope."
 
 290 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 " Well," smiled he, " I'll reason with your father 
 to the best of my ability, and try to win you as the 
 sweet, free gift that you would wish to be ; but if I 
 fail in that I can but choose some other way of 
 offering him a benefit; " he could not say a price 
 " though I assure you it shall not be that of 
 driving ponies to your door. 
 
 " He may accept the offer of my aid to build a 
 house and otherwise improve the land he can select 
 for the allotments of himself and family in one por- 
 tion. I should wish it to be near my farm, that you 
 may be the better under my protection. To assist 
 the father of my future wife to gain a comfortable 
 home would be a fair act from a civilized view, and 
 I should want to do that even if I had you as the 
 sweet free gift." 
 
 " You generous, noble man ! " exclaimed Piokee. 
 " But you never ought to do it. If you were as 
 rich as Croesus you'd be tottering on the verge of 
 ruin in the end from helping others. It would be 
 too beautiful to have you for a neighbor ; but what 
 should I do about my school ? We could move the 
 tent and furniture to our allotments, but we couldn't 
 move the girls." 
 
 "It is quite probable the parents of your girls 
 will settle on allotments of their own before long, 
 and in that case you would lose your class. But 
 you have given them so fine a start I think we could
 
 THE TRUE HEART. 291 
 
 persuade their parents to allow them to become 
 Miss Harriet's pupils at the Agency, next fall." 
 
 " The girls would like that, I am sure, and they 
 could live there at the school and learn much more 
 than I am teaching them. But it would be the trial 
 of my life to give them up, and I should have to 
 raise another class, though I could never find four 
 girls like them in all respects, especially Wak-wak." 
 
 " Well, you couldn't step outside the missionary 
 field anywhere within the reservation," Dr. Whistler 
 responded. 
 
 " I suppose the tribe are choosing their allotments 
 now," observed Piokee. 
 
 " Yes," said he ; " the last lone treaty that can 
 ever be presented to our tribe has recently been 
 signed, ceding to the Government the last strip of 
 our salable land. We may now divide the remnant, 
 stretching fifty miles one way and twenty-five the 
 other into quarter sections, and begin our farming 
 failures, as the white man reasonably premises. I 
 shall keep my farm as my allotment. The annuity 
 has been increased from sixty to one hundred dol- 
 lars by the sale of this last strip of our diminished 
 acres." 
 
 "After all, though we do like to scold the Gov- 
 ernment for having robbed us so, our tribe is now 
 so small we have enough if we knew how to make 
 the best of it," Piokee said. " Why, we are really
 
 292 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 rich much richer than so many white folks lumped 
 together. There will be five farms eight hundred 
 acres in our family, and a yearly income of five 
 hundred dollars from the Government. Father 
 ought to save enough to pay you back if you help 
 him build a house. He could sell the hut for some- 
 thing, I suppose. How nicely we might live if 
 father only cared to learn the way. But we will 
 work it out somehow, sometime," she hopefully 
 declared. 
 
 " How many years am I to spare you while you 
 try to work it out?" said Dr. Whistler, with a man's 
 impatience to possess the treasure he had scarcely 
 dared to dream of till that hour. 
 
 "I don't know, dear," she said, with womanly 
 uncertainty. " All that is in the tangled skein, and 
 we must wait for it to be unwound." 
 
 " But, meanwhile, Keoqualk must be vanquished 
 in due haste," observed he, rising to depart. " I 
 shall find your father in the village, I suppose. 
 1 shall not rest a minute on his trail till all has 
 been decided. 
 
 " No explanation need be made to Keoqualk. By 
 the custom, you have but to leave his offerings 
 where they are till morning. He will be about by 
 earliest dawn to view the prospect, and will know 
 his suit has been rejected when he sees them undis- 
 turbed. This, in case my own has been accepted
 
 THE TKUE HEAKT. 293 
 
 by your father," added he, with deep anxiety, which 
 he sought to hide beneath a calm exterior. 
 
 Cold Blast was still absent when Piokee went to 
 bed. In vigilant suspense she lay awake to watch 
 for his return. She could not hear his steps, he 
 walked so softly in his moccasins, but she heard the 
 clicking of the wooden latch, and smelt his pipe 
 smoke stealing through the cracks into the lean-to. 
 
 She arose in trembling haste, and peering through 
 her little window tried to see if he had led the ponies 
 off to the corral, and removed the trappings to the 
 shed. A veil of misty darkness hung between the 
 window and the trees, and strain her eyes as best 
 she might she could discern nothing. 
 
 Presently her father's snores proclaimed that he 
 was fast asleep. 
 
 A half-formed plan to steal out and reconnoiter 
 was rejected as unsafe, lest Keoqualk be lurking 
 round with like intent. 
 
 She settled down in bed, and made a resolute 
 attempt to banish wakefulness by watching in her 
 mind's eye an apparently unending line of sly black 
 pigs creeping through a hedge gap to invade a 
 cabbage patch. Before the thirtieth pig was fairly 
 in the patch Piokee lost herself in sleep. 
 
 The earliest morning sunbeams were just stream- 
 ing through the muslin apron draped across the 
 window for a curtain when Piokee started from her
 
 294 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 bed, and in a flash was at the window to inspect the 
 situation at the oaks. 
 
 Ponies, saddles, bridles, all were gone. 
 
 She dressed herself with speed, and slipping out 
 of doors she flew with winged feet to the corral. 
 
 The ponies were not there, nor were the trappings 
 in the shed. 
 
 By this she knew her chief had won the suit. 
 But how had it been won ? A tumult of misgiving 
 mingled with her joyful relief. Was it only by 
 outbidding Keoqualk, or by her father's own free 
 will? 
 
 Cold Blast had bestirred himself much earlier than 
 usual this morning, for the cornpath was distress- 
 ingly in need of some attention, and to his amaze- 
 ment Fauqua had declined to take the hoe in hand 
 this year. Hence he had risen with a view to set- 
 ting forth as soon as breakfast was disposed of to 
 secure a plow, by borrowing or hiring, with which 
 to do the work himself. Piokee met him at the 
 bars of the corral as she was coming from the pony 
 shed. 
 
 " Father," she began to question, while her heart 
 went pit-a-pat, "were you with Dr. Whistler last 
 night and did he talk to you about himself 
 and me ? " 
 
 " Heap yes," responded Cold Blast, with a stolid 
 air.
 
 THE TEUE HEART. 295 
 
 " What did he say ? " she further asked. 
 
 " He want Piokee be his little squaw few grass 
 grows. Ugh ! queer Injun. Wait long time ;" and 
 Cold Blast seemed to meditate in puzzled wonder 
 on the why and wherefore of the waiting. 
 
 "Then what did you say?" she pursued, with 
 fluttering anxiety. 
 
 " I say he bring four ponies, no traps, I swapee 
 little tame squaw." 
 
 "But he wouldn't do it, and you couldn't trade 
 me that way," cried Piokee, while she clutched 
 the bars for a support. " 0, father ! " she appealed, 
 " you took it all back, didn't you, and told him he 
 might have me free as air, because he is the noblest 
 man that ever lived ? You didn't swap me for the 
 least thing, did you, father?" 
 
 " Heap yes," he replied, with a decisive grunt. 
 
 " Oh ! then I'll have to give up trying," said 
 Piokee, feeling that the last prop that had stayed 
 her hopes of working an effectual reformation in 
 her father had been knocked from under, and she 
 could not raise them from the dust again. He was 
 shackled to the barbarous customs, and as long as 
 he should draw the breath of life he could not cast 
 them off. 
 
 " He say he not swapee ponies. Swapee true 
 heart," continued Cold Blast, after a depressing 
 silence, during which Piokee leaned against the
 
 296 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 bars to view the problem with discouraged eyes. 
 " I smoke long time. Say I swapee Piokee. Take 
 true heart." 
 
 There was a joyful little cry, and bounding up 
 Piokee threw her arms around her big, grim father's 
 neck, and dazed him with the first embrace that she 
 had ever dared to give him. 
 
 " Father, father ! you are so much better than I 
 thought you were. You can't begin to think how 
 happy you have made your civilized daughter." 
 
 Fleeing from the blank amazement of her stolid 
 sire she pounced on Fauqua, stirring mush for 
 breakfast on the stove, and seized her round the 
 waist and murmured in her ear : 
 
 " Father can be civilized, little mother, and I am 
 so happy, happy, happy ! He has given up three 
 ponies and two saddles, and a lot of straps and other 
 trumpery for a strong, true heart, which he knows 
 is better than all else." 
 
 Oh ! the joy of that delicious morning, with the 
 daisies smiling from the sod, the larks and robins 
 singing in the air, the white clouds sailing overhead. 
 
 The reservations after reservations stretching to 
 the Western boundary, no longer seemed as plague- 
 spots on the fair sweet earth. 
 
 " True, they are peopled with a race of strange, 
 benighted beings," thought Piokee, " but they can 
 be civilized, they can be civilized ! " She sang these
 
 THE TRUE HEART. 297 
 
 words aloud while milking Buttercup, the gentle 
 cow, the white streams dashing down into the pail 
 and playing an exultant little overture to swell 
 the song. 
 
 Was not her friend of friends, the wise physician, 
 one of those who had been civilized ? Had he not 
 climbed to noble manhood from the depth of igno- 
 rance in which the race was sunk ? 
 
 And they were climbing everywhere : in schools 
 upon the reservations, and in Eastern cities, on the 
 farms and in the workshop these young students 
 with the dusky faces and the gloomy natures tram- 
 meled by inherited despair. 
 
 Ah, yes ! the slow, inquiring minds and clumsy, 
 oft-discouraged hands would win the day at last, 
 and then the race would cease complaining, and the 
 white man cease his scoffing, and no longer would 
 there be an Indian problem to perplex the world.
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 THE DOUBLE WEDDING. 
 
 SUMMER in the lovely other world. The little 
 brown maid Nanno, and the little fair maid 
 Miriam, face to face upon the wide piazza of the 
 ranch-house, in the midst of a bewildering array of 
 playthings, which the little brown maid views in 
 still delight, but scarcely ventures to take hold of, in 
 her wonderment of all such fairy-like belongings. 
 
 It was now three weeks since Nanno and Piokee 
 had arrived upon a visit to the ranch-house, and 
 though Miriam had kept up a steady chat at Nanno 
 all this time, she had not gained the merest bit of 
 answer as an inkling to the little shy, still creature's 
 thoughts. 
 
 " Don't you ever talk ? " said Miriam, heaping 
 Nanno's lap with dolls of every class and color, from 
 the waxen beauty who was queen of all the doll 
 court, to black Sambo, who did duty as a coachman 
 to the queen. " I s'pose your voice is scared at 
 
 298
 
 THE DOUBLE WEDDING. 299 
 
 stwangers, and is hiding somewhere down below 
 your tongue. If a little girl 'at wants to get ac- 
 quainted oh ! des awfully, should tiptoe up to you 
 vis way, and do vis way, I fink your voice would 
 have to pop wight out and speak to her." And 
 Miriam swooped down on Nanno with a sudden 
 merry hug that called from her a much astonished 
 and emphatic " oh ! " 
 
 " I've squeezed it out ! " cried Miriam in laughing 
 triumph. " Now don't let it hide again, for I do 
 want to hear it talk and laugh and sing, as if it felt 
 too happy to keep still." 
 
 Miriam perched herself upon the arm of Nanno's 
 chair and waited with a listening air for something 
 more to drop from Nanno's lips. As if by some mag- 
 netic influence she drew out the words that finally 
 unloosed the little brown maid's tongue. 
 
 " You star bright sky up night ? You 
 flower ? You pretty bird ? " asked Nanno 
 in a maze of wonder at the little fair-haired vision 
 hovering over her. 
 
 " 0, no ! I'm mamma's girl. But somefin ails 
 your poor dear little voice. It doesn't talk like 
 other children's voices," Miriam said, for Nanno's 
 words came slowly, and with labored effort. 
 
 " She's a little Fox, an' 'tain't no wonder that she 
 jumps rope backward with her tongue," said Sally, 
 thrusting one arm through the honeysuckle vines
 
 300 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 and shoving in a plate of ginger snaps to where the 
 children sat. 
 
 " Fank you, Sally. We are fond of ginger snaps," 
 said Miriam, as she took the plate. " But little girls 
 aren't foxes," she observed, " and foxes don't jump 
 wope, 'specially wiv vere tongues. You shouldn't 
 talk about our company 'at way, Sally dear," with 
 gentle gravity. 
 
 " Meant a Fox Injun, not a furry critter. 'Tain't 
 ter be expected that she'll speak up peart an' spry 
 no, 'tain't like them that's wagged their tongue 
 at white talk all their lives." So saying, Sally gave 
 her heels full liberty to outrun Ebenezer who was 
 hurrying toward her with a pail of berries on his 
 arm. He pursued her round the house with long, 
 quick strides, and stopped her at the kitchen door. 
 
 " Mis' Bowers was tellin' Mr. Bowers out yander 
 by the blackb'ry patch, that that there letter I 
 fetched home this afternoon ter Dewdrop hed bad 
 news. It was from Dr. Whistler. He's a comin' 
 up here in a hurry, an' you'll be dumb-struck ter 
 know they're goin' ter git married him an' her, 
 right off." 
 
 " Git married ! Him an' her ! Well, that's a 
 thunderbolt that strikes straight down the chim- 
 bley," Sally said, with eyes agog. " But 'tain't bad 
 news no, 'tain't. Leastwise I shouldn't reckon so 
 if I was goin' ter be a han'some young bride, with a
 
 THE DOUBLE WEDDING. 301 
 
 bridegroom as commandin' as a spruce-tree, with a 
 pair of eagle eyes." 
 
 "Dewdrop's father's been snatched off with a ma- 
 larial fever. That's the bad news or at least we 
 oughter think so ; though he warn't no ornament ter 
 Dewdrop as a parient. She can't be livin' down 
 there in the Injun country her an' them two 
 children an' their mother, with no man about fer a 
 pertector, Dr. Whistler writes ; so he's a-goiri' ter 
 marry her an' move the mother an' two children to 
 a cabin on his place clost by the house where him 
 an' Dewdrop are a-goin' ter live, as happy, as you 
 please. I've always reckoned 'twould be so some- 
 time. That match was made in Heaven, fer the 
 special benefit of them two lonesome souls that's 
 puttin' in their best licks scratchin' up top furrows 
 in the mission sile. I only wisht I was as lucky as 
 the Doctor. Sally, look a-here," he added, "you 
 can be a ban' some young bride any time you say 
 the word, though I can't be a bridegroom as com- 
 mandin' as a spruce-tree, with a pair of eagle eyes. 
 I'm nothin' but a lanky, but I'm more than willin', 
 if you will take up with me fer better or fer wuss." 
 
 " Land o' massy, hush ! You'll throw me inter 
 fits," protested Sally, with a gasp of scared delight. 
 " I've been a-dodgin' you fer fourteen year or more, 
 an' now you've spoke up plump an' darin', right out- 
 door in broad daylight."
 
 302 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 "Daylight or darkness one's as good as t'other 
 fer my purpose," Ebenezer said, with a determined 
 air. " I ain't a-goin' ter be kep' upon the tenterhooks 
 no longer. It's high time that I was balancin' the 
 scales ter weigh my fate." 
 
 " Yes, 'tis no, 'tain't good land ! I do' know 
 what ter say. I'm staggered by the sudden shock, 
 but ef you're bound ter be in sech a rush good 
 gracious ! I kin smell my ginger snaps a-burnin' in 
 the oven ! " And away flew Sally, leaving Ebenezer's 
 fate still trembling in the balance. 
 
 In the little white room sat Piokee, struggling to 
 realize that what she had so nearly wished for months 
 before had come to pass, and she was fatherless. 
 
 " I didn't really wish it 0, no, no ! I only al- 
 most wished it for a single instant," she remorsefully 
 assured herself, while tears of genuine bereavement 
 thickly fell on Dr. Whistler's letter. 
 
 " Brave little heart, your mission has not been in 
 vain," the letter said. " Your father, who had sent 
 for me and urged me not to leave him as the end 
 drew near, expressed an interest in ' Piokee's white 
 Messiah,' and listened closely to the story of the 
 Cross which I explained to him as clearly as I could, 
 reading simple passages from Fauqua's Bible. He 
 left his blessing to his civilized daughter who had 
 won his gratitude by casting in her lot with his that 
 she might seek to lead him to a higher life,
 
 THE DOUBLE WEDDING. 303 
 
 " I think that we can now begin to call Up Adoni- 
 ram Judson. The little fellow showed his filial 
 affection and undaunted bravery by swimming sev- 
 eral streams that had been raised beyond their banks 
 by heavy showers, coming in a fearful thunder storm 
 at night to fetch me to his father, of whose illness I 
 was not aware." 
 
 And so the tangled skein, as it related to Piokee's 
 lot, had been unwound, and she was thenceforth to 
 be taken care of by her wise, strong friend and 
 generous co-worker in the mission field. 
 
 The five allotments had been chosen early in the 
 spring on land adjoining Dr. Whistler's. There was 
 a roomy cabin he had built for tenants, which would 
 make a comfortable home for Fauqua and the chil- 
 dren, until Adoniram Judson could be raised and 
 trained to farm a portion of the family acres. 
 
 " I have nothing more to fear for you, my dear 
 child, and I gladly send you back to work among 
 your people in the care of that good man," said 
 Mamma Prairie as she helped Piokee to put on a 
 simple white gown she had worn the year before, 
 which they had lengthened for a bridal dress. 
 
 " It seems so dream-like, yet so real," rejoined 
 Piokee, while she softly clasped her arms about her 
 foster-mother's neck. " How glad I am that I did 
 not refuse to go with father, though it almost broke 
 my heart to leave this lovely home. 0, dear, dear
 
 304 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 Mamma Prairie ! did you know what you were doing 
 when you made the life of one poor little girl so 
 happy all those years ?" 
 
 " And it will still be happy, dear, in the devotion 
 of a noble man, and from the good aocomplished by 
 self-sacrifice," said Mamma Prairie, lovingly return- 
 ing the caress. 
 
 Priscilla filled the parlors with a wealth of roses, 
 and there was a wedding bell of prairie flowers, col- 
 lected by Bub Merrill, and arranged in tasteful shape 
 by Floy. The happy Doctor and his beautiful 
 young bride-elect were stationed underneath the 
 wedding bell, and Mr. Winslow, with a simple cere- 
 mony, made them man and wife. 
 
 " You dearest dear, it's too romantic to believe, 
 that you are Mrs. Dr. Whistler," said Floy, as she 
 embraced the bride at the conclusion of the cere- 
 mony. " It is such a pity Ellery has gone back 
 East. It would delight his soul to be here to con- 
 gratulate Bright Alfarata and her chief." 
 
 Throughout the preparations for Piokee's marriage 
 Sally had been laboring under a suppressed excite- 
 ment, of whose import none save Ebenezer had the 
 slightest glimmer. He sustained himself with reso- 
 lute composure at the wedding, keeping steady and 
 admiring eyes on Sally, who was in a festal garb of 
 gaily flowered sateen, with an immense bouquet of 
 full-blown crimson roses on one shoulder.
 
 THE DOUBLE WEDDING. 305 
 
 There were no developments until the minister 
 was taking his departure with his wife and daugh- 
 ters, when, to the surprise of everybody, Ebenezer 
 firmly took the arrn of Sally, whom by dint of much 
 maneuvering he had kept within his reach, and 
 marched her out upon the doorstep in the wake of 
 Mr. Winslow. 
 
 " Jes' hold on a minute, parson," he requested. 
 " There's another little knot we'd like ter hev you 
 tie this afternoon. Miss Spratt an' me air goin' ter 
 git married like the heft o' people, ef she don't back 
 out afore you git ter tie the knot. You needn't 
 bother ter come back inter the house. We'd jest as 
 soon be married on a doorstep as below a weddin' 
 bell." 
 
 " No, indeed," said Mrs. Bowers, much delighted 
 that her pair of faithful helpers had at length ar- 
 rived at a felicitous understanding. " You must 
 come right back into the parlor and be married in 
 good style." 
 
 It took some managing to marshal Sally to the 
 proper place beneath the wedding bell, but finally 
 the stand was made and the minister proceeded with 
 the ceremony. 
 
 Sally's sole response to the momentous question 
 whether she did take this man for better or for 
 worse was a bewildered gasp which was interpreted 
 in the affirmative.
 
 306 PIOKEE AND HER PEOPLE. 
 
 " You could knock me prostrate with a feather," 
 said Aunt Abigail when all was over. " Not a wed- 
 ding garment nor a mite of other preparation but 
 ice cream and cake. It doesn't matter quite so 
 much for Dewdrop, as she's going back among the 
 aborigines, but how that crazy Sally'll face the 
 music in this gaping neighborhood without a scrap 
 of wedding finery, is more than I can prophesy."
 
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