A Terrible Revenge

The legenda of the Chippewas, a once ■pewerful tribeof lndians whose wigwams dotted the shores of Lake Superior, furnisli no more terrible tale than that of Pawnawda-wa, or "Bnght Eyes," a young girl possessed of more than ordinary beauty for one of her race. The daughter of a chief, she was naturally ?roud of her blood and station, cold in heart . and rcvengeful of an insult to very desperation. Often had she been wooed, but never won. The arrow that was to reach her breast appeared not to have been feathered until Ernest Legarde, an agent of the North American Fur Company. ventured in the vicinity of her people and iilled her ears with glowing accounts of how Pocahontas had been respected and treated. Then her pride awoke as it never had before, heavenBoaring although it had always been, and dhe longed for such a position. Her fondness for attenüon was flattered by his constant visits to the wigwam of her father, and her love ;of dress pampered by his showy presents. Sbe held her liead still higher above her companions, passed them with a cold store and haughty tread, and took littie pains to disguise her determination to become the wife of the white man. So f ar f rom findiu'j otlier female society that "was at all attractivc, it was very pleasant for Legarde to coquette with the Indian girl, to have her watch for his coming, to sec that she dressed and decorated herself exclusively for him, and to feel that she loved him. But it was a very dangerous pastime. The fox was not more crafty, or the rattlesnake more treacherous, and it would have been botter for him if ho had made either of them a companion. Yet the Rirl loved him to adoration. He was by far the handsomest man that had ever visited her father's wigwam - one, in fact that any girl would gladly have accepted for a lover, bringing as he did, the eharms of education and money to back those of manly hearing and beauty. Durins: the entire winter he had been atlentive to the Indian girl, and with the coming of the warmer mouths they often floated together over the crystal watcis of a beautiful stream, or wandered through tho evergreen woods. At first the white man had thought nolhing of her save as a pleasant companion, but as the days passed his stay became protracted, and orders camo for him to remain anotluryeur. He began to roalize that slie was necessary for his confort, and : nis liking gicw into something very near 'o love. Then he built a wigwam of much greater pretentions than any in the village, and resolved that sae should fill it, in short, be his wife - a wife as such marriages wero viewed in that section at that day- that is, sLmply marriages of convenience, to be entirely ignored by the husband when he de■parted, 110 matter though half a dozen halfbreed childrcn had the right to cali him iatber. There was one of the numbcr that constituted his party who !ooked more clearly at the matter than did Legarde. Old Joe Fisher hadbeen a trader and trapper among the red men for more than a score of years. He knew their character too well to judge them otuerwiso than aright and he shook his headsolcmnly as he saw the matter verging toward a climax. " What are you taking so much trouble abotrt that shanty forl" he asked Lagrade, as he saw the rude but comfortable structure near completion. "To live in, Joe,g was the answer. " Wasn't tho one you wintered in good cnonghï M "No; it was cold and unoomfortable." "And you are not going to live in it afcme?" askcd the old man, turning his head asido, as if ashamed of the question. "Can't teil yet. But there goes Bright Eyes, and I want to see her." And ho dashed down to the water's edge, hailedher as she was passing in her canoc, jumped in, and was paddling away toward one of tha littie islands that line the northern shore of the lake, flashing with their dense foliaga liko emeralds set in a changing sheen of curquois. " Thore goos a man to his ruin," muttered Joe, sorrowfully, as he took up his rifle. Often ho had intended to wam Legarde, but the young man was his superior, nd, inflrm of purpose, ho put off the evil day. But the young man gave littie heed to the wrds that Joe had spoken. From the moment he had seen the Indian girl all other thouguts wcre banished from his mind. With hör light canoo dancing over tho waters, and dressed with far more than ordinary brillianey- with scarlet flower vroven in the heavy braids of her intensely biack hair- with her oyes brilliant at the sight of him sho loved and from whom she hoped so much- with a smile upon her full, npe lips, it vvould have been strange if it had been othorwise. The littlo island reached, they moored their canoo, and, wandering away from tho shore, and completely out of sight as well as hearing, scated themselves upon the short and volvet-Uko gi-ass, mosaiced by myriads of tiny flowers. "How beautiful you look today," said Legarde, as he took her hand within his o wn. "Is the daughter of tho red man as fair in the eyes of tho paleface as those of his own people," asked tho girl, raising her eyes so as to look him fully in tho face. "There are few as handsomo as you are. I knew thousands who would givo all they ave for your figuro and cyes aDd haii-." "Butthey are like snow, and the aughters of the Chippewas as brown as the hillside when the f rost has breathed upon it. "Pshaw : You are the fairest of all your tribe. You know that I have often told you of Pocahontas. I doubt if sho was as white as you." "And yet shr? was looked up to by the palefaces!" "Yes; wout to England, marned there, and lived in such spleudor as you oever randnwmfvl ui' " Never before had Legaide fuüy delermined upo;i hia plan of aetion. Now he had made up his mind to win her at all hazards, aud, tbrowing hii arm around her waist, he drew her to his side, whispered burning words of love, and for the flrst timo kissed her. And thus they sat - sho loving and dazzled by the splendor ho promised should bc liers wlien ho returned to civüizution, and he forgetíul of all but the passion of the hour. With the reclining sun they returned to the shore, promised man and wife, though, as yet, no timo had been üxed upon. That was a sweet decisión left for the future. Joe saw them as they laaded - saw their perting. Jt was such os lovers have indulged in siuco Eden, and will enjoy until the end of time. Ue saw tho tender embrace, eould hcar the kiss, and resolved to be i Micent no longer. ' I want you to teil me ono thing," he said to Legarde, as the tvo sat by their bright camp lire, smoking, m 'ter a late supper. " Well, Joe, what is it?"' "Do you intend to marry tltó Indian girl!" "Why? Will it inake any difference to you!" " Certain'.y not, but it will to you, if I dou't miss my reokoning, and I am not apt to do so when there's any thing red-skin about the maller. I'vo hved too long among them not to know them, root and branch." " Well, I intend to marry her.'' "You had better not. She's just as dangerous and treacherous as a poison serpent." " What makes you think so!" " What would make me think theie was an otter around if I saw a slide, or a beaver if I saw a dam? I always kuovv what kind of an animal is about the minute I seo its trail." " You are ïnuch mistaken about her, Joe. She loves me to distraction." " Vory well now, but I ret-kon it won't always be so. You don't expect to remaiD in these woods until you die I" "No, thank Heaven; another twelve months will sec me clear of them forever." " And what are you going to do with the girl when you leave?" " What makes you ask siKh a question?" " You can't well take her home with you, you know, and - " "I don't intend to. Hundreds have married- the ceremony is ouly a mere farce - married squaws before and left them whenever they pleased." " And you intend to do soï" " Certainly. Do you think I would bc fooi enough to take a copper-skinned wife homo, and be made tho laughing-stock of all my friendsi" " Then you had botter look out for yourself. That is all I have got to say, and - what in the name of thunder was that!" Joe's quick ear had heard a slight rustling in tho bushes, and in a moment af ter there was a plunge in the lake. " 1 guess it was only a frightened otter," he continucd, as he proceeded to re-arrango the wood upon tho fire. An otter! How quiekly he would havo changed his mind if he had seeu tho form of the Indian girl, Bright Eyes, as sho crawled upon the shore at a little distance, and darted along the home ward trail almost as swift and noisless as tho wind. She had listened to every word - knew that sho was to be made a wife and theo deserted- knew that all the promises of her white lover were lies ! Ah ! if there was ever a heil raging in a human bosom - ever a brow blacker than a thunder-cloud - it was hers, as she rushed toward her wigwam, with her fingers playing convulsively with her long, sharp knife. But the next day, when she met Legarde, she was as calm as a summer mormng. She yielded to his embraces; she returned them with interest; she showed her love so warmly that if he had any doubt he was more than satisüed now. "Come," he said, "teil me when you will be my wife?" "Let the pale face be at yonder rock," she replied, pointingto a distant one, "before the sun has drunk up the dew. There let him remain until Bright Eyes comes. She will not be long. Then she will answer." And so it was decided, and tho gray of morning found Legarde at the trysting place. But the hours crept along and he was yet alone. The sun rose and bogan heating all around him. Something must have detained the Indian girl, ho fancied, and determined to wait yet longer. Suddenly, however, he was aroused by a startling hiss. Ho turned and saw a huge rattlesnake crawling up the sido of the rock. Fleeing toward the other side (for he was unarmed and there was not even a stick for defense near) he would have descended, but was met by a nother serpent. For a moment he stood overpowered by fear. Then he saw tho scaly monsters crawling up toward him in every direction - knew that the hot sun's rays had lured them f rom their holes- knew that he was standing over their don. and thousands upon thousands were surrounding him. "Oh, myGod! what shall I do?" burst from his lips in the terrible agouy of tha moment. A wild, ringing, almost fiendish laugb. rang upon his ears, as if in reply, and, looking up, he saw Bright Eyea standing upon a rock high above him. "Bright Eyes! Bright Eyes! ForHeaven's sake save me !" he shouted, and the answer camo back borne by tho wind to hi ears: "The pale face's tongue is as false as the serpent's. Ho would have made her his wife and then deserted her. The very night sho promised to be his she crawled near his wigwam and heard all. Sho told him to como here - here to tho very center of the serpents' den - for Kis answer. The poisoned teeth and fiery tongucs will give it to him. See!" The pen could not if it would, and would not if it could, describe the scène that followed. The Indian girl, from her lof ty lookout, saw all- saw a human form flghtrag with countless serpents whose fangs were driven deep into the quivcring flesh. She saw him light with the courage of despair. She heard his prayers for mercy, and answered with horrid mocking laughter. She saw tho maddened wretch, complotety covred with a net-work of scaly coils, loap headlong from tho rock- knew that sho was terribly revenged, and calmly sought old Joe, and told him that his master wanted him. Ah ! how the old man shuddorod whon he t found the disfigured corpse, and read at a glance the truo history of the matter. His eyes could not be deccived, no matter how another's might be. He made a coffln of bark, buned the remains, and even as ho was doing so saw tho incarnate devil of a woman standing at a little distance laughing and making mocking gestures. That sight was too much. "Godforgive me," he muttered between his teeth. '-It may be wrong to talie a human life, but-" The ringing of a rifle cut the sentence short, and at the same time ended a human existence. He started forward, saw that tho Indian girl was dead, and then hasteued to his canoe and lied for his life, Ho had taken the panishment into his own hands..