Winamac High School - Totem Yearbook (Winamac, IN)

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22 THE TOTEM ing the door wide and hospitably bid- ding her guest enter. The wind be- came strangely quiet, as if it wished to hear what this man would say to his hostess. 1 am Silver Bell; this Little Hawk ' s home, and her (indicating the baby) Singing Bird. 1 am Mudwayanshka and I come from the rising sun and I go to meet my squaw. I shkoodah over where the sun sinks in the sea. As he finished speaking the wind burst into a wild and derisive shriek, as if to ridicule him. Little Hawk he go to white man ' s village to trade; me not know why he no here yet. A troubled look came into Silver Bell ' s face as she glanced out of the window into the inky dark- ness. She had scarcely finished speaking when for the second time that night she was summoned to the door to let in some belated traveler. This surely is Little Hawk this time, said Silver Bell, as she un- locked the door. Her supposition was correct, for when she opened the door a tall Indian, dressed in buckskin and hearing a bag on his shoulder, entered. The hostess introduced the newcomer to the guest and Little Hawk gazed intently at the stranger, for the face looked strangely familiar to him. If him dressed in white man ' s clothes, him look like man 1 trade with in In , the Indian said to himself. A gleam of recognition came into Mudwayanshka . ' s eyes, and he turned his face from the light. The wind laughed mockingly. About a year before the opening of this story Charlie Wesley had brought his pretty delicate wife to the little town, R , hoping that the dry wes- tern air would revive her health. But Lily (for that was what Charlie always called his little golden- haired wife), found that there were other evils in the world than delicate health. There were black eyes and round, rosy cheeks and coquettish manners. These attributes all be- longed to Felicia Jefferson. She had come to R a short time before the Wesleys did and being somewhat of a stranger in the town, she often spent the evening with Charlie and Lily., Charlie felt fettered as he com- pared his invalid wife with Felicia, rosy and lively. He became so dis- contented with his lot that he began to pity himself and blame Lily. The feeling so increased that he almost grew to hate his wife and sought con- solation in Felicia ' s smiles. From a gentle and careful husband he be- came irritable and careless. This pained Lily ' s sensitive nature and the work of the western climate was almost undone, and she grew worse again. With the decline of his wife ' s health Charlie became more unbear- able. Then one day Felicia returned to the city where she had formerly lived and Charlie seemed to forget her, and for one blissful week Lily was happy. But, alas; her happiness was only short-lived. One morning Charlie re- ceived a letter and he told his wife that he was suddenly ( ' ailed away on business. He was an agent tor a big real estate establishment, and il was

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THE TOTEM 21 THE WIND KNOWS IT ALL The prairie stretched out before him in an unbroken plain. Milts and miles away toward the horizon be eould see a long dark line which he knew to be the great forest, and be- yond the dark forest Little Hawk knew tli.it Silver Bell and Singing Bird were awaiting his return in their little log cabin. The wind arose and blew playfully around Little Hawk and aroused him from his meditations. ••Heap far to go tonight, he mut- tered in broken English, looking down at some object at his feet, that was nearly covered by the long prairie grass. It was bis pony — one of its lens was broken and an arrow stuck in its heart. The unfortunate beast had stepped into a gopher hole and had broken its leg; its owner had pat an end to its suffering with the kind but fateful arrow. The sun went down and with the daikness came the night chill. Little Hawk drew his buckskins closely about him. lifted a bag containing provisions from the ground to his shoulders, and set out with a nois: ' - less step in the direction of the dusky line on the horizon. Over the great forest the wind shrieked and shook the great oaks and pines as if they had been the merest saplings. It flew from the forest to a little cabin in the clearing, and flung itself with such terrible force against the unshuttered win- dows that the inmates of the cabin were aroused from their sleep and I he cry of an infant arose from with- in. A light soon shone in the window and an Indian mother could be dis- cerned in the pale radiance rocking a baby in a. crude cradle. The wind was not the only one who peeped through the window and saw the mother croning to her babe. A weary traveler looked through the window and the bright tire in the fireplace seemed to beckon to him. The wind whistled rudely in his ears and a feeling akin to homesickness came over him. The Indian woman ceased roeking the cradle and listened when the door rattled. Could it be someone knock- ing 1 ? No; it was surely but the wind. But the knock came again, loudly and more imperatively than before. Maybe Little Hawk come back. the woman said, so she arose and opened the (h or. But no; it was uot Little Hawk. A stranger, dressed in Indian garments, stood on the thresh- old ami coarse black hair hung down to his shoulders; but for all that face wa.s as refined as that of a white man. and when be spoke he employed the purest id ' English. Good woman, mav I spend the nighl here . ' ' he asked. Silver Bell she no make nobody g ' way. ' the squaw replied, open-

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THE TOTEM 23 not unusual for him to be called away in inspect sonic land. Lily asked for some definite idea of the exact nature of the trip, bul Charlie seemed 1111- communical ive. Charlie, .Mrs. Wesley said on the evening of her husband ' s depart- ure, ' 1 wish you wouldn ' t go; I fee] as if I would ne er si e you again. Please write to me as soon as you roach your destination so I will feel better about you. Charlie hesitated a moment by her side. He felt as it ' he must confess his guilt to the little trusting creat- ure; then he laughed scornfully at his own weakness, and kissing Lily light- ly on the forehead, ran quickly down tli steps. His wife stood silent and motionless where he left her, watch- ing her husband ' s figure grow dimmer •and finally disappear in the pale moonlight. Then she was siezed with a violent fit of trembling and she grasped the porch railing to support herself, but her strength deserteel her and with a faint cry she sank to the ground. A short time later a servant came to the deior in search of her mistress, and there on the porch Mrs. Wesley lay as cold and colorless as a dead person. The doctors weirkeel far into the night with her At last she came to, but she seemed wholly indifferent as to whether she lived or died, and lav motionless with closed eyes and a death-like ' pallor on her face, heeding nothing that took place in the room. But Lily was not the only heart- sick person. Over west by the big forest in the little cabin home ' of Lit tie Hawk, a young man was tossing sleep- lessly about on his bed. 1 le found ii impossible to put his mind at rest, but always before him was the- image of two women. One was small and delicate, bul when be thoughl of her another image arose- before him, rosy and healthy, with a coquettish ex- pression in her black eyes. At last the man fell into a troubled sleep, lie dreamed that he was in the cabin of Lit t le 1 [awk, but t he house seemed to In deserted; it was very dark and the only light was a patch of m iligh! on the floor. Something in the room seemed to magnetize his ewes ami he was conscious of another presence. He looked over his shoulder and saw Felieua. Her eye ' s ulitte ' ivel and her body seeMiied to taper away in the form of a snake. Charlie ' tried te move, but he seemed rooted to the spot. The wind outside moaned ami sighed, and now and anon it whis- pered : Lily. Presently several doctors came into view bearing a white coffin. When they drew near Charlie saw his wife in the coffin and she was reaching out her hand to her husband. He grasped the delicate little hand and Felicia slunk back into a Corner and the glitter went out of her ewes. Hut the doctors bore the coffin on and Charlie was alone with his tormentor, who hisse ' d like a snake and darted at him. Then he awoke with a start and found himself standing in the center of the room. The wind was whipping a. branch of a 1 1« ' against the roof and Charlie blamed it for disturbing his sle-i p. The next morning be purchased a