242 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



August 



There she hung at the mercy of a 

 eleuder branch, without eveu a hope of 

 rescue. The space between her and the 

 rocks was too much to thiuk of touch- 

 ing them, and her strength, eveu in the 

 cauKe of life, was not sufficient to draw 

 her up to the limb. She cast her eyes 

 up, but nothing was there but her rp- 

 lentles-s enemies, whose diminished and 

 dusky forms were arranged along the 

 edge of the rjnutit. 



They mccktd her in the situation in 

 •which she \^a^ placed, and the aisles of 

 the forest reverb;rated to their hideous 

 and unearthly yells. Below all was in 

 miniature — the rocks were dwindled to 

 a level with the surrounding vale, the 

 trees had shrunk away to bushes, an eld 

 chief, who was sitting on a rock string- 

 ing his bow, was but a speck, and the 

 outline of liis form could scarcely be 

 traced. 



It was morn when her sentence was 

 executed, and tradition says that when 

 the shadows cf evening began to gather 

 round she still was there, and her shrill 

 cry was hecrd disturbing the quietness 

 of the hour. Night came and passed 

 away, and still she was swinging on 

 this sloping pine, and the noise which 

 she uttereri told that hunger was doing 

 his work upon her. Late in the morn- 

 ing some of the Indians, going over to 

 the verge of the precipice and bending 

 over, saw a few crows circling round 

 the unfortunate victim's head, as if im- 

 patient for lu r wasting body, which 

 they eviucrrl Ly diving and darting at 

 ber form and then, rising suddenly in 

 the air with outstretched wings, as if 

 BOme motion of life liad deterred them 

 from their purpose. Often did they rest 

 their weary wings upon the very tree 



by which she was supported, and thti 

 long day passed with some one of tht se 

 Bable creatuida \viuching the moment 

 when the grasp should fail and her 

 body fall below. 



It was on the night of the second day 

 that a scene took place which has never 

 been forgetten. The sun fell away at 

 eve with a peculiar splendor, turning 

 every object in the valley to a golden 

 light and causing the Housatonic, in 

 its serpentine coarse, to gleam up and 

 spangle like liquid fire. Many was the 

 banter who lay watching the beauty of 

 the beams which were flung around 



him, and when the last gorgeous st:ca^ 

 had faded over Monument mountain the 

 broad heavens were clear and blue ex- 

 cept the crimson folds which floated iu 

 grandeur along the west. Yet the .'^quaw 

 still hung by tiie branch of the pine, 

 and her cries alternately rose through 

 the deep stillness that reigned around. 



But ,;oou a leaden haze began to rise 

 along the azure wall of the west ai):l 

 was sLortly succeeded by dark, di.oiLal 

 looking clouds, around whose edge the 

 lightning played, as if to light them on 

 iu their sad and gloomy pathway. The 

 thunder muttered faintly, then sent its 

 roll up to the meridian, and finaily, 

 witir increased power, cracked and shook 

 through the very heavens. The shriek 

 of the .squaw was heard iu the profound 

 pause after the roar had died away, but 

 its echoes stirred not the sympathies of 

 any one of the tribe. Higher and liigh- 

 er rose the storm. The lightning crinkled 

 ovt?r the sky more vividly, and the re- 

 port followed so soon and heavy that 

 the gray old trees of the mount trem- 

 bled as the .peals burst through the up- 

 per world. 



Night had set iu with all its black- 

 ness, when a party of the tribe proceed-, 

 ed to behold the situation of the squaw. 

 Soon after their arrival a flame of fire 

 suddenly lit up the woods. The pine was 

 struck by a thunderbolt, setting it OU' 

 fire, which, being parted from the cleft, 

 of the rock, spun round and round sOi 

 swiftly that naught could be traced of the' 

 tree itself or the squaw whom they sup- 

 posed to be attached to it. Upward it 

 hurried into the air, burning and whiz- 

 zing in its course, the torrents of rain 

 not even dimming its glare Tradition 

 says it whirled with su?h velocity that 

 it did not seem to the eye to turn at all. 

 Away it went, and it is said the Indi- 

 ans gazed at it until it seemed no big- 

 ger than a star, when finally it was lost 

 iu the blackness of the sky. The lia.-e 

 of the mount was immediately exam- 

 ined, but nothing was to be ceeu either 

 of the pine or the squaw, when it was 

 finally concluded in council that it was 

 the work of the Great Spirit. The Indi- 

 ans, therefore, raised a monument by 

 rolling stones together, which stands to 

 this day, and from which the n.dtintaiu 

 takes its name. 



The untutored urchin quickeii^- his 

 pace when passing this spot alter d:-y- 



