1895. 



THE AMERICAN BKE-KEEPlili. 



225 



rueuTjana particaiariy TrOm those accoiinfs 

 that dwelt upon vengeance and bloodshed. 

 When he read the lesson telling of the kill- 

 ing of Sisera, tliere was a repressed force 

 in his utterance, an intensity of dramatic 

 action in the gestures of his slender hand 

 and flexible wrist, that brought the scene 

 with awful vividness before liis listeners. 



"She smote the nail into his temples, 

 for he was fast asleep "and weary. So he 

 died." His personality was merged into 

 that of Jael, and exaltation was exultation 

 over the treacherous and savage deed. 



His manner in speaking of his own i)eo- 

 ple had formerly been tinged with sadness. 

 Was it a wild fancy of his wife's that it 

 now held a subtle pride? A distinction, 

 too, had evidently grown \\\i between 

 "these people" — of his flock — and those 

 among whom his childhood had been 

 passed. 



■His walks over the plain became more 

 frequent. Helen had supposed their object 

 "Was the settlement till an {illusion to his 

 work there undeceived her. "I have not 

 been there. I walked 30, 30 miles over the 

 plain," he said, with an excitement that 

 ■ all her efforts at restraint could not allow 

 to pass unnoticed. 



"Listen!" and the words that followed 

 were strange to Helen. "It is the tongue 

 of my fathers," went on her husband, 

 with solemn pride. "Upon the vast empty 

 plain there was a sound from heaven as of 

 a mighty rushing wind, and even as the 

 tongues were given to the disciples at the 

 day of Pentecost was the language of the 

 warriors given back to me. With such 

 words did my father speak when he told of 

 his great deeds in the council. My father 

 was a great brave. He did not live among 

 the women and children. He was not a 

 gquaw man. He was Black Kettle!" 



Bewildered at this strange outburst, 

 Helen called beseechingly to her husband. 



He made no reply. It was morning 

 when he arose from the prie dieu. 



For the next few days, exee])t for an al- 

 most unbroken silence, he seemed more 

 like his former self. Late one afternoon 

 word was brought to Helen that a woman 

 had l^een confined in the settlement and 

 was dying for lack of food and clothing. 

 The circumstances appealed to her with 

 peculiar force. Filling a basket with food 

 and hastily selecting such articles as seem- 

 ed most needful, she set out on her lonely 

 walk. 



The door of the hut was ajar. The one 

 room was empty. In her charitable visit- 

 ing in Boston a similar experience had 

 often confronted her, and now, as then, an 

 involuntary vexation arose at having been 

 made the dupe of her sympathies. She 

 made her way to the next hut; but, to her 

 Siirnrise. it. too, was empty. The villasfc 



was deserted. 



The last h ut stood on the brow of an in- 

 cline. In the hollow beyond vras a strange 

 Bight. 



Shrinking back into the shadow of tb« 

 hut, petrified with horror, she stood watch- 

 ing a circle of savage figures, men and 

 women alternating, holding one anothet 

 by the hand, revolving slowly around a 

 large tree. A dirgelike chant filled the ah 

 as round and round the dancers went in 

 the same direction, with eyes closed and 

 heads bent toward the ground. Tliere 

 were young men in the circle. Had they 

 returned, then, from their "hunting ex- 

 pedition?" 



Chained to the spot by the mystic spelJ 

 of the "ghost dance," her own body sway- 

 ed to find fro in unison with the dancers. 



One figure seemed to exercise a partic- 

 ular fascination over her. It was that xA 

 a young bra>e, naked to the hips and with 

 streaks of red and yellow paint across \.\> 

 breast. Darkness had long ago fallen, and 

 fires were gleaming in the hollow. By 

 and by one alter another of the dancers 

 fell forward on his face, but the circle wai 

 instantly re-formed. The young brave who 

 had held her gaze was prostrate at last, in 

 the kind of swoon to which the others had 

 succumbed. 



Suddenly he leaped to his feet. 



"I have seen the great father," he cried, 

 "and he will not talk to me because I have 

 married a white woman." 



It was the vcdce of her husband! 



Half frozei., blinded and staggering, sh« 

 reached her own door at last. She must 

 have wandered many times from the path, 

 for the cold, gray morning light was break- 

 ing. She ctTopiJcd, from force of habit, 

 into the ch;ar by the worktable. Sh« 

 must darn thuse stockings of August's. It 

 was the mor:]ing for early service. Ther« 

 was a little illuminated book of devotioni 

 in which it was her daily habit to read. 

 Was she going mad? The words were re- 

 volving in a circle over the page. A cap- 

 ital A, in scarlet and gold, bore a fantas- 

 tic resemblance to the paint bedizened fig- 

 ure of the dance. 



There vras a sound without. The doof 

 was pushed ojic-n, and a naked savaga 

 strode into tin; room. She saw his pur- 

 pose 



"August! For the sake of our unborn 

 babe ! ' ' 



What followed may not be told.— EditJi 

 Robinson in A cgonaut. 



•iHpanese Bears. 



Japan is a tnuntry which will yet re- 

 ceive a good (leal of attention from tha 

 sportsman tourist. Salmon streams ar« 

 abundant and | npulous, and in the north- 

 ern island of ^ e/.o enormoiis bpars are verj 



