Frontier and pioneer life -- West (U.S.) -- Fiction
here was na' born then, had come down from the North. The Indians
loved him. They'd never touch _him_; but when the Rebellion broke out,
'twas Wandering Spirit went dancing mad for revenge from one end o' the
Reserve t' th' other! When the massacre came, the officer had tripped
the little Indian fellow to his face an' was pointin' the old muzzle
loader at the back o' his head to blow out his brains, when along comes
the MacDonald man an' kicks the gun from the bully's hand! Little
Wandering Spirit up an' he pours that muzzle loader into the officer's
face; an' he borrows another gun an' empties that in his face; and he
snatches a knife; an' what he left o' that brute y' could bury in a
coffin th' length o' y'r hand! 'Twas th' Indian's way o' vengeance;
but blame fell on MacDonald; an' when Wandering Spirit was hanged for
the murder, MacDonald fled from Canada; for his sympathies were with
the Indians, as every right feelin' man's were;[2] for back a
generation, there was Indian blood on the mother's side; but the Act o'
Amnesty has been passed this many a year; an' A'd come to take him back
to a fortune waitin' him in Scotland, to an inheritance when this
happened.
"Y' know how he found her again, eatin' garbage in the Black Hills
where the miners had cast her off; how he gave her an asylum an' a
home; an' this is the man y'r fulthy sheriff poltroon coward says she'd
shoot! Men, men o' th' Nation, murder has been done here: coward
assassin murder on an innocent man! The notes on the mine have been
robbed from his pocket. Who planned this murder? Who shot MacDonald
by mistake? Who planned th' Rim Rocks outrage? Is it to this y' have
let y'r Democracy come? Is this y'r self government workin' worse
outrage than the despotism o' Russia? We'd have hanged our kings in
Scotland for less sin! France would a' tanned her rulers' hide into
moccasins for less! What are y' goin' to do about it." His shout rang
and rang through the court. "Will ye make of self-government a farce,
a screamin' shame, a shriekin' laughter in th' ears o' th' world?"
There were cries of "Sit down! Sit down! Shut up! Go on! Who is the
old tow-head?" Then some one cried out "Moyese." Half the spectators
cheered. Half hissed. Then a voice yelled "Wayland! Wayland!" and
Eleanor felt the leap to her blood; for the crowd outside took up the
cry "Wayland, Wayland? What's the matter with Wayland?"
The Sheriff and Coroner were on the table shouting for "order--order"
when some wag heaved under and upset table, sheriff, coroner and all.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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