Chiquita, an American Novel: The Romance of a Ute Chief's DaughterTileston, Merrill
General
Chiquita, an American Novel: The Romance of a Ute Chief's Daughter
Tileston, Merrill
Indian women -- Fiction; Ute Indians -- Fiction
Slowly, regretfully, the march was again taken up and camp was made on
the low pass where pools of water flow from two outlets, one north into
North Park, the other south into Middle Park and the Grand River. This
camp was beneath the famous Specimen mountain and its fantastic
spire-like rock formations, on the apex of which the "Big Horn" dozed in
perfect security, the spires succeeding each other and making the great
aerial stairway accessible only to the sure-footed mountain sheep.
No one enjoyed the life of the camp half as much as did Chiquita. She
was in her element. The respite from the continual grind of college had
been such a welcome one that she preferred to listen to the others
rather than join in the general conversation. The topics discussed found
no sympathetic chord in her mind, and, notwithstanding the years she had
submitted to the refining influences of education, she was a savage at
heart. She realized it. Her restive spirit broke the bonds of captivity
as soon as the first campfire was lighted. Like a golden winged
chrysalis she burst her civilization fetters and became again the
forest-born Indian maiden, Chiquita. No longer did she feel the
restraint which society demanded. The buoyant freedom of the camp
injected new life into her veins, new aspirations into her mind. But she
was not aware that the very ascendency of civilization immeshed her in
its grasp. Her manners, always charming, had become more so under the
polish of education and association with those who trained the soul as
well as the hand, the eye, the body.
"The smoke of the tepee fire has driven away the oppressive chaotic
whirl of classes, recitations and examinations which have had possession
of me ever since I left the college," she said, apologetically.
"That was one reason I had for making this trip overland," said Jack. "I
knew you longed to break away from crockery and tablecloths, and in your
tent you will find something that will please and make you still more at
home."
When Jack superintended the packing of the paraphernalia for the trip
over the trail, he managed to include in Chiquita's outfit a complete
set of buckskin garments, and these she found awaiting her. It was not
long before she appeared in her native costume.
"Now you look natural," said Cal.
"The daughter of the woods is happy again," she replied, half sadly,
but, recovering quickly, proposed a specimen-hunting expedition up the
mountain which derives its name from the great pockets of specimen rocks
found upon its slopes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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