Ferndale Union High School - Tomahawk Yearbook (Ferndale, CA)

Page 25 text:

x X X will jf - I Y : i ll Wifi- lf. g The Diary of a Cisco Kid July 20th.+-How gree11 and soft is this great world to a little deer like me. You see I am a stranger here. My mother says that these big sort of creatures called men would say I am only two weeks old and my mother knows most everything. As yet I have not traveled far from my nice cosy nest here among the leaves in this little gulley. Being left alone a great deal I've decided to keep a diary on the hazel bush leaves that float down to me. I think it wil be so much fun. Don't you? Strange to say, my knees have a way of going in four different directions all at once instead of following each other the way I want them to. I'm a little encouraged though because each day they improve some. July 21st.--My mother is off again. She says when I get a little older she! will take me out with her and I can hardly wait for the time to come. She tells me our greatest enemies are dogs and men alld that I must be very quiet and still while she is gone in the day time, so I sleep most all the time. Just now I heard a terrific noice. I think it must be one of those things that men carry with them called guns. Mother has told me all about them and how they make that noise and then some one of our family drops down dead. My mother bemoans the fate of many from our band. She says things aren't like they used to be, that one has to be on his guard all the time. Just the night before last she came home and told me there was a camp of men over on the next ridge and for me to be very very quiet, that she would hang around in order to attract their attention from me. July 23.kMy, but I was frightened last night when I heard that bang so near. I trembled so my heart went faster and faster and there came a big yellow, shaggy creature nearer and nearer to me. Icould hear a steady thump of something approaching me from the other end of the gully. There was no escape for me with the banks on the other two sides. Just behind me stood a tall, funny, two-legged creature. In an instant that great creature picked me up bodily and walked off with me. Oh, how glad I am, l've saved you my dear, It is a comfort to have you along. I dare not cry out so I just bite my thoughts on the leaves in my mouth. Am I never to see my mother? Is he going to kill me? Am I to starve to death? Oh, where is my lovely mother now? I think for sure my heart will jump right through my mouth. We walked and walked for a long time until at about dusk we came to a place where some more of these strange looking creatures were. This queer looking place must be the camp my mother spoke of. They were all standing round a great sparkly mass and I heard them saying supper was ready. The horses were staked out around and beds were fixed upon the ground under the trees. There were three boys besides the man. They made me very comfortable. I did not have a very wonderful supper only some butter and sugar to suck on. I heard them say they were nearly out of things to eat and must return to the big camp. July 24.hLast night I was covered in a- blanket and tied to a stake close by the fire, After the fire went out it was bitterly cold and I was so lonesome. I kept thinking of my mother and how nice a11d warm it was close by her. Pretty soon the big yellow creature came over close to me and I curled up with him for the rest of the night. From that time on Pirate, the dog, and I have been staunch friends. Early this morning, without any breakfast, I was bundled in a great brown bag made from a sack and slung over the shoulder of the man. My poor little Diary I almost forgot you. Just by a scratch I got you in with me. The man mounted his horse and we started for the home camp as I heard them say. My, but it was uncomfortable and stuffy down in this black place. Seeing some light above me, I put my head out through the hole at the top. It was more comfortable and

Page 24 text:

The Subjugation of the Wietchpecs At a time when this coast knew no other inhabitants but the Indian there were two tribes at war with each other. ' The WVietchpecs had come from their camps on the banks of the Klamath and invaded the hunting grounds of the Weeotts. The country was laid waste, for the Wietchpecs were many and their strength was great, but the dauntless Weeotts were brave. For forty days alll nights they fought and so great was the number of the slain that the peaceful beautiful river of the Weeotts ran blood. So great was the amount of blood that the flesh of the salmon in the river was tainted red and it has ever remained. I At last the Weeotts felt that they could no longer hold out against the enemy and as a last resort they prayed to the Great Spirit to succor them. The Great Spirit heard and that night he drew two whales out of the sea and placed them in a hole in the mountains. Then he gatherer an armful of redwoods and built a mighty fire around them. When they began to cook and bake the Wietchpecs smelt the spicy odor and immediately drove away the Weeotts from around the fire. All night long they danced about the baking whales and ate the flesh. When day dawned a great sleep and numbness overtook them. They sank down where they stood. lt was then that the Weeotts avenged their wrongs for they killed everyone of the Wietchpecs and in the camps in the north there was a great wailing for the spirits of the braves that failed to return. Again the valley of the Weeotts was peaceful, the enemy had been vanquished and the conquerors had proven that numbers did not denote strength. The VVeeotts worshipped the Great Spirit and thanked him and held the place sacred where the whales had been roasted. This place has been named by the white people that have since settled in the Weeott or Eel River Valley, The Devil's Bake Oven. -E. M. S. '0S. X- . J' if ff A ,A 1 X ' N fa

Page 26 text:

so from time to time I could enjoy the scenery. The man was very gentle and kind to me but I can't say I enjoyed my ride. During this ride I learned never to be afraid of people. July 25.-I have survived it all and am now off in a quiet corner. I will write some more in my Dia1'y. I see the people making marks upon something white which they call paper. I think I'll try that way myself. It looks lots easier than this slow way of chewing holes in leaves. Let's see. Where did I leave off. Oh, yes, I remember. After riding for almost one half day we came to a place where some very strange creatures run out to meet us. They resemble the boys in height and ligure but wear different clothes. They are known as the lady and girls.' They are all very much delighted with me and talk a great deal. We rode under some trees and here we found three tents and all that goes to make up a comfortable camp. I was so hungry I just felt weak. They did everything else for me but feed me until finally the lady remembered that I must be hungry. They sent some- one back a.cross the river to a place called a farm house. In a little while they came back with a bottle full of white creamy milk. This dinner was the best I ever tasted. While I was lunching there acrose what seemed a great problem of naming me. They talked and talked about it until the man spoke up and said: We'll call him Cisco Kid, so Cisco Kid I am called. July 26.-Things have been going so fast that I hardly find time to keep up with my Diary, Now I've gotten on to the way people keep their records and with pencil it is much easier. I found the dearest little book and have copied all my old Diary. I keep it hidden behind the log where I hide. There is only one thing that troubles me and that is why doesn't my mother come back to me. Enough of this, I must hurry or I'll miss something going on in camp. I'm so contented with life here among these sweet smelling pine trees. ' Theman does not feed me very often so I never grow very friendly with him. In fact I never did like him very much at all. The girl I like best is the one who feeds me most often. She has pretty brown curly hair, the biggest blue eyes and the easiest way of touching you when she is giving you your lunch out of the bottle. When I get hungry I pick out one of those creatures with a skirt on and trot around right at her heels until she feeds me to get rid of me. When lunch is over for me, I creep 011' by a bush or a log where they can hardly tell me and my white spots from the colors of nature. Sometimes I hear them searching everywhere for me but I keep real still close against my log beneath a hazel nut bush. They nearly step on me before they can see me. Sometimes I am captured and hauled about by the string on my neck to be shown off before some company. I don't like to come a bit so I just pull back and make myself stiff until they pick me up and carry me along even though I keep up a strenuous kicking with all four feet. July 27.--I was interrupted yesterday because company came and I had to be shown off. My! they nearly caught me writing. They might have seen easily that I was just pretending sleep. At night I go in one end of a tent that the girl with the curly hair and another girl sleep in. Some time I break my tether string and go over where the girls are asleep. I kiss their faces to show how fond .of them I am, but they don't seem to like it at all. They bang me and push me and when I still persist'they finally get up and tie me to my stake again. ' July 28.-Oh, what an excitement there was last night. About one o'clock I heard them talking and there was a great rumble and rattle which disturbed me. When I was quite awake I found the girls sitting up in bed and our tent in a heap upon the ground. VVe could see all shapes and sizes of ghost-like figures Hitting about among the trees and we thought we heard the man laughing in his tent with the boys. I gather from the girls' talk that this was in return for bread crumbs dried thoroughly in the sun and scattered 'among the blankets of the boys' beds. Just a few small favors that the girls can do the boys. So we spent the rest of the night in the cold without any tent. I made a nuisance of myself with the girls until they got tired of me and took me over close to the boys' tent and tied me to a stump. I was in hopes the boys would take me in but they were not a bit nice to me. They were awfully selfish with their old tent and did not offer to take me in. I don't like boys at all. A girl for me every time. July 30.-Life is very pleasant here among the cool pine trees and the good times we have are certainly fine. The days come and go before we realize they are here. This morning they are talk- ing about having to go home in time for high school to open and about taking me with them. They are decided now that I am to go with them and am to be Cisco Kid the high school mascot. August 2.--Bright and early this morning before the sun was quite above the big blue mountain we left this happy camping ground for a new home. I know not where. You may be sure l didn't forget my little book. Itook it right along with me all morning until they put me in the wagon. Now I will write when I can without their finding me out. We traveled long through woods and past brown 1'ields of grain. VVe passed a place where there was a great bridge which I never saw before and some houses and people. They called this place Bridgeville. We stayed all night among some beautiful trees. August 3.-There was so much to see last night that I did not get time to write but I tucked