George L. Aiken

“ Then you shall go to Priest’s Rapids with me. You shall see the wonders of my subterranean temple there; you shall see the chiefs of the Cayuses, Umatillas and Yakimas subservient to my will, and ready at my bidding to make this valley swarm with a red host of painted braves. You shall behold the power of Smoholler, and return to these pale-faced leaders to tell them that at my will I can raise a red war-cloud such as this land has never witnessed, and which will annihilate them when it bursts. ”

“ I am forming a great nation here; already our numbers count by thousands—my followers come from every tribe. I would regenerate the red-man, make him what the Great Spirit intended him to be. These woods teem with game—the water of yonder river is alive with fish. This is the red-man’s Paradise, and the white-man is the serpent who would destroy all. Settlement follows the railroad, villages and cities spring up in the wilderness, and then there is no longer any hunting-grounds left for the Indian. ”

“ I am not a Nez Perce, nor yet a Yakima, though I have lived with both tribes. I was stolen from my father by the Yakimas when I was a child, and taken from them by a Nez Perce chief named Owaydotah, who reared me as his own daughter. I was very happy in the Nez Perce village, and it was a dreadful blow to me to fall again into the hands of the Yakimas. Smoholler rescued me, and revealed my true history to me, for his Spirit told him where I was. He saved me for Multuomah—can you wonder that I love him for it? ”

“ Oneotah looked disappointed at this revelation.
“Then you are not my father?” she cried.
“No, Oneotah; only by adoption.”
“Your real father is in our camp,” said Percy. “A hunter, named Glyndon. This, we are all quite assured, is the case.”
The Prophet looked surprised. “Is it so?” he asked.
Percy briefly recounted Glyndon’s story, as he had repeatedly revealed it to the boys and the lieutenant.
“Undoubtedly she is his daughter,” responded Smoholler; “but for her own good, and mine, she had better be considered my daughter.”
“I shall never love any other father!” cried Oneotah. ”

“ The boys were quite favorites in the party, the first by his frank, manly bearing, and accommodating spirit, and the other by his unvarying good nature, and the drollery in which he was so fond of indulging. His humor appeared to be inexhaustible, and his quaint manner of giving vent to it was irresistible.
In fact, Percy Cute had, at a very early age, been forcibly impressed by the antics of a clown in a circus, and his great delight had been to play clown from that eventful moment. ”

“ Percy, remembering Multuomah’s misgivings, was inclined to think that this was no idle boast of the Prophet’s.
“I returned to you to arrange matters peaceably, as much as to gain some intelligence of my father, if you can give it to me,” he said.
“I can give it to you,” replied Smoholler; “but it will try your nerves to receive it, I warn you in advance. You must penetrate with me into the Mystic Cavern beneath yonder cliff—the abode of evil spirits and malignant demons.”
“I will do so,” rejoined Percy, promptly.
“And so will I,” added Cute.
“Good! The sun is already down—let us advance.” ”

“ This glad cry satisfied Percy Vere that the Antelope Boy was, indeed, a girl, and the promised bride of Multuomah, and, with the inherent chivalry of his nature, he resolved to reunite the lovers.
The Prophet held up his finger warningly to Oneotah.
“No matter how much he seeks for you,” he said, “he can never gain possession of you against my will. You know my power—do not provoke it.” ”

“ The Prophet held up his finger warningly, and Oneotah paused and bowed his head submissively.
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“Oneotah is Smoholler’s slave,” he continued. “Until death, or his lips release me, I have sworn to do his bidding.”
“Enough! your bondage will not last until death,” returned Smoholler, with a significancy which the boys could feel but could not understand. “Be faithful but a short time longer, and you shall be restored to your true condition—and the spirits shall no longer torment you.” ”

“ His moccasins and leggings were of buck-skin, stained black, and trimmed with red fringe. His hunting-shirt was of the same material and color, and trimmed in like manner, and upon its breast was painted in red a grinning fiend, similar to the one who had appeared upon the cliff. His head-dress was the skull of a buffalo, with the horns projecting on either side of his head, and he wore it in the fashion of a helmet.
These projecting, curved horns added to the ferocity of his face, the features of which were nearly indistinguishable beneath the paint with which it was daubed. ”

“ Along the course of yonder mighty river, from its rocky source to where it empties into the ocean, there is no chief who is respected and feared like Smoholler. Already my warriors outnumber the fighting men of the other tribes, and daily I am gaining accessions to my ranks. ”

“ Tell the surveyors and the lieutenant that I will not permit them to advance through the ravine. They must recross the river, or be annihilated. For yourself, if you choose to return, there is a mystic cavern in yonder cliff, and together we will summon the spirits that await my bidding, and seek to learn your father’s fate. ”

“ He waved his hand complacently toward his assembled braves. “These are picked warriors. There is enough to drive away the surveyors. But, if more should be wanted, I can summon two hundred more from my village at the Rapids.”
Percy Vere glanced at the braves. There was at least forty of them, and each one carried a rifle. Among the friendly tribes through which he had passed he had never seen so fine a body of men. It appeared to him utterly impossible that the surveyors and soldiers could beat back this force. ”

“ The torchlight made fantastical shadows in the gloom, and it required no great stretch of imagination to fancy that a host of grim goblins surrounded them.
The Prophet stuck his torch in a fissure of the rocky wall.
“Fear nothing,” he said. “No harm will befall you. Oneotah and I must not be present when the spirits appear. The White Spirit will obey your bidding. Stand firm—be not appalled at any thing you see. If your father is dead, his spirit will be shown to you.”
The Prophet glided away in the gloom, followed by Oneotah. Cute clung convulsively to Percy’s arm. ”

“ Multuomah, she said, could protect her from some threatening peril.”
There was none of the fabled stoicism of the Indian in the young chief as he listened to these welcome words. No white lover ever displayed a more trembling eagerness to learn further intelligence of his sweetheart.
“Ah! she thinks of me—she speaks of me!” he cried. “Smoholler can not then have made her his wife?”
“His wife?” echoed Percy Vere, surprisedly. “No, I do not think there is any such relationship existing between them. The tie that binds her to him appears to be one of gratitude. ”

“ There’s one kind of logic that appeals irresistibly to an Injun, and only one—and that is force. No offence to you, Multuomah. There’s good and bad among Injuns, pretty much as there is among white men. Human nature is about the same, no matter what the color of the 73 skin may be. I think we can get this Smoholler into a tight place, and make him squeal!”
“I am of that opinion also,” observed Lieutenant Gardiner; “but I would like to have your ideas upon the subject, as an old Indian-fighter. You know the best tactics to adopt against these savages.” ”

“ He is my—”
“Husband?” supplied Percy, remembering the fear that Multuomah had expressed to Glyndon.
“No, no, no!” she answered, quickly. “Why, he is quite an old man. You can not see his features from the war-paint—but I have been permitted to gaze upon his face—I, of all his followers, because I am his daughter!”
Percy Vere was thoroughly amazed by this revelation.
“His daughter?” he repeated vaguely.
“Yes. He will give me to Multuomah, in good time, I know he will, for he has always treated me kindly. He saved me from becoming the bride of the fierce chief of the Yakimas. ”

“ As the other vision thrilled the beholders with a kind of supernatural awe, so did this one excite their wondering admiration. It bore the shape they supposed an angel would wear.
The face was that of a girl, angelic in its beauty. Her long black hair floated in wavy masses upon her neck and shoulders, and was confined upon the forehead by a golden coronet in the center of which gleamed a diamond star, which emitted scintillating rays of light. Her arms and legs were bare, revealing their faultless perfection, and the alabaster purity of her skin. ”

“ Discretion is said to be the better part of valor. We appear to have reached a critical position here. Our party is small—nineteen in all, counting the two boys. If the Indians oppose us in force—and from what Glyndon says it seems that this Indian Prophet Smoholler can put three hundred warriors in the field—shall we be justified in advancing against such odds?”
The surveyors looked at Glyndon, but he was silent, gazing reflectively at the cliff, upon whose summit the moonbeams now played in a fantastic manner. ”

“ It’s lucky I didn’t let you shoot at that elk when you wanted to. The sound of your rifle would have brought the whole squad down upon us.”
A peculiar cry arose on the air.
“What’s that?” asked Percy Vere; a presentiment of evil entering his mind as he listened to it.
“That’s some bird calling for its mate,” said Cute.
“Nary a bird,” cried Glyndon. “That’s an Injun. They’ve struck our trail, and they’re coming for us. Come on; we must get to the river, fast as we can travel.”
“Couldn’t we make a stand here and fight them?” suggested Percy Vere.
The old hunter shook his head. ”

“ You are not more than four to one against them, and they have fortified their position by this time, and the officer, in command of the soldiers, and the surveyors are brave and determined men. A victory will cost you dear.”
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These words seemed to impress the chief. He walked moodily backward and forward, for a few moments, in deep thought.
“I must not risk my warriors’ lives,” he muttered. “I promised them an easy victory, and a defeat would shake their faith in me. Already I have lost six braves, and only those boy captives to show against their loss. ”

“ Just keep your weather eye peeled in the direction of that cliff, and have your rifles handy. That arrow was only the commencement. I saw plenty of Injun sign to-day, and there may be a hundred of Smoholler’s braves beyond there. I opine that he is not going to let us travel much further into this country, if he can help it.”
“But, man, what harm does our surveying do him?” asked Blaikie.
“He don’t want any railroad through this country—all Injuns are down on railroads—sp’ils their hunting-grounds, and settles up the country. And the white settlers settle the Injuns. ”

“ Multuomah crested his head proudly.
“I dare fight against him, and I will,” he rejoined. “Multuomah will fight against Smoholler and all his spirits, to gain Oneotah!”
“Oneotah?”
“A squaw?”
These interrogations came from Glyndon and Lieutenant Gardiner. The surveyors smiled and exchanged glances.
“Here’s a woman in the case—away out here in the wilderness,” said Blaikie. “Who would have thought it?”
“Why not? There are women everywhere,” replied Robbins.
Multuomah had nodded his head affirmatively to the questions put to him, and Glyndon now demanded:
“Who is Oneotah, chief?” ”

“ There’s a way up to the top, as the trail we found plainly shows. Now you can go to him again, my boy, as he might tell you about your father, and as soon as it gets to be dark we’ll move quietly through the ravine, surprise his scouts, and surround the cliff on this side, while Multuomah and his braves cross the river above and unite with us guarding the other side. Then we’ll have ’em just like rats in a trap. ”

“ I think it’s all trickery, but I can’t tell how it is done.”
Multuomah looked troubled.
“You have seen his spirits?” he asked.
“Yes; black and white. Why should he choose those colors, when he is red?”
“One is the Spirit of Evil; the other the Spirit of Good.”
“Have you ever seen them?”
“Never; but I have been told by those who have. It is by means of these spirits that he has gained so great a power. His followers come from all tribes, and their belief in him is great. If I was to attack him, and he should make his spirits appear before my braves, they would fly in terror ”

“ Never. What is past is past. Discussion upon the subject would be idle. Guy Vere is dead, and Smoholler, the Prophet, lives, to found the greatest Indian nation that has ever existed in this country. I will give you gems that will enrich you and your mother for life; but when you leave me, forget me. It will be best. Oneotah shall go with you, and the survey can proceed, for I will no longer obstruct it. I have changed my views concerning the railroad. I think I was wrong in my calculation of the injury it might do me. I shall return to my village at Priest’s Rapids. ”