Winona

“ Two months passed away; all the Indian women in the village were speaking of the love that had sprung up between the little white girls and the copper-colored Winona; and many a hard hand smoothed the golden curls of the little captives in token of affection. Then Winona was taken sick; her body glowed with the fever-heat, her bright eyes became dull, and day and night she moaned with pain. With surprising care and tenderness, Emma and Anna nursed the suffering child,—for to them were her glowing and burning hands extended for relief, rather than to her mother. ”

“ Winona loves the Eagle; she knows that his heart belongs to the beautiful one, and that he will fly far away with her to his wigwam. Shall Winona go to eat out her heart with sorrow at the bliss she cannot share? No, she returns to her own. Thou art near thy journey's end. Two days more and thou wilt stand on the Island of Roanoke—Winona would leave thee now. ”

“ She was much like Winona, except that certain professional touches of colour at waist, neck, and wrists made her appear, in spirit at least, the younger woman. There were times when Winona suffered herself to doubt her mother's seriousness; times when the woman appeared a slave to levity. She would laugh at things Winona considered no laughing matters, and her sympathy with her ailing husband had come to be callous and matter of fact, almost perfunctory. She longed, moreover, to do fancy dressmaking for her child; and there was the matter of the silk stockings. ”

“ I don’t want no man to give his pals away. Will you?”
Their eyes met. The glitter of steel crossed under the lantern’s light. Maxwell compressed his lips. Winona stared at him across the shadows of the dim old woods. “Be true,” she whispered to the secret ear of his soul. With rapture he read aright the hopeless passion in her eyes when he left her. He knew now that he loved her. With sudden boldness he answered his tormentor.
“You have no right to claim either Winona or Judah as you slave. ”

“ And he said, "I am burdened with years,—I am bent by the snows of my winters;
Ta-té-psin will die in his tee; let him pass to the Land of the Spirits;
But Winona is young; she is free and her own heart shall choose her a husband."
The dark warrior strode from the tee; low-muttering and grim he departed;
"Let him die in his lodge," muttered he, "but Winona shall kindle my lodge-fire."
Then forth went Winona. The bow of Ta-té-psin she took and his arrows,
And afar o'er the deep, drifted snow through the forest she sped on her snow shoes. ”

“ Miss Beach sank on to the seat, and sat with half-closed eyes, moaning feebly. Winona was terribly alarmed. She had seen Aunt Harriet before with one of her bad heart attacks, and knew that restoratives ought to be given. In this lonely spot, with no help at hand, what was to be done? Suppose her aunt were to faint—die, even, before aid could be rendered? For a moment Winona shook like a leaf. Then, with a rush, her presence of mind returned. There was only one possible course—she herself must start the car, and drive to within reach of civilization. It would need courage! ”

“ It stirred Winona beyond the calm that should mark people of the better sort. She forgot that a gentleman should make no noise and that a lady is serene; forgot utterly. She waved a hand—timidly at first—to a cluster of young heads at a car window, and was a little dismayed when they waved heartily in return. She recovered and waved at another group—less timidly this time. Again the response was instant, and a malign power against which she strove in vain carried Winona to the train's side. ”

“ Her will must Winona obey, by the custom and law of Dakotas.
The gifts to the teepee were brought—the blankets and beads of the White men,
And Winona, the orphaned, was bought by the crafty, relentless Tamdóka.
In the Spring-time of life, in the flush of the gladsome mid-May days of Summer,
When the bobolink sang and the thrush, and the red robin chirped in the branches,
To the tent of the brave must she go; she must kindle the fire in his teepee;
She must sit in the lodge of her foe, as a slave at the feet of her master. ”

“ It was now two years since the two friends had returned from a mysterious absence, bringing Winona and Judah with them. The time seemed centuries long to the helpless captives, reared in the perfect freedom of Nature’s woods and streams.
Winona was given Lillian for a maid, and under her gentle rule the horrible nightmare of captivity dragged itself away peacefully if not happily.
With Judah it was different; he was made assistant overseer, because of his intelligence and his enormous strength. As graceful as vigorous, he had developed into a lion of a man. ”

“ It was Winona.
"Thou shalt not kill him!" she wailed. "Put a weapon in his hands and let the Eagle face thee; then thou shalt know that he is a warrior."
With a growl of fury the Indian struggled to throw her aside, as, with the strength of despair, she clung to his arm with the grip of a bulldog.
"He shall die!" he answered fiercely. "Loose me, girl, or I will beat out thy brains with my fist." And with a threatening scowl upon his angry face, he raised his knotted fists.
"Loose him, Winona," I shouted to her. "Thou hast done thy best for me, for which I thank thee. Thou canst do no more." ”

“ Winona sat with clasped hands folded on her breast; she knew not what new turn of Fortune’s wheel awaited her. Judah’s dark, handsome face and stalwart form were in the background where he stood in a group formed by Captain Brown and his sons, who had been called to witness the confession.
As for Warren Maxwell, he felt the most intense excitement he had ever experienced in his life. His hands shook; he could scarcely hold the pen. Most of us creatures of flesh and blood know what that terrible feeling of suspense, of dread, with which we approach a crisis in our fate. ”

“ While her mother is bending over a large buffalo-hide stretched and pinned upon the ground, standing upon it and scraping off the fleshy portion as nimbly as a carpenter shaves a board with his plane, Winona, at five years of age, stands upon a corner of the great hide and industriously scrapes away with her tiny instrument! When the mother stops to sharpen her tool, the little woman always sharpens hers also. ”

“ The Indian-pipes with their faint pink stems lay concealed among the bushes as of old.
Beneath the great pine that shaded White Eagle’s grave they rested reverent, tempered sadness in their hearts. Winona buried her face in her lover’s bosom with smothered, passionate sobs. Warren folded her close to him.
“My heart’s dearest, you must not grieve; your time of mourning is past. He is happy now as he sees your future assured. Through you he has conquered death and the grave; justice and honor are his after many years of shame.” And she was comforted.
They made no plans for the future. ”

“ Winona looked and longed to express her sympathy, but the invisible barrier seemed strong as ever. Aunt Harriet turned aside and went towards the kitchen. The opportunity was lost.
"How horribly we live right inside ourselves!" thought Winona. "How few people know just what we're feeling and thinking, and how hard it is to let them know! The 'I' at the back of me is so different from the outside of me! When I want to say things I turn stupid and my tongue stops. I suppose most other people feel really the same, and we all live in our own little world and only touch one another now and then. ”

“ Louise was visibly fretting at having to stay indoors, and finally Winona had to lead the way out to the back garden again. And, naturally, the first thing to meet their eyes was the big black tray, with Nataly’s own card fatally conspicuous in the very middle of it. Winona tried to steer her around it, but it was no use. Your own name is one thing you are sure to see or hear before anything else. Winona, talking sixteen to the dozen about everything she could think of, picked up the card furtively and put it in her pocket. ”

“ Than life in Gray Cloud’s tent, but what could she
Against the stern, implacable decree
Of one whose will was never known to yield?
Winona fled, scarce knowing where or how;
Fled like a phantom through the moonlight cool
Until she stood upon the rocky brow
That overlooked a deep sequestered pool,
Where slumbering in a grove-encircled bay
Lake Minnetonka’s purest waters lay.
Unto the brink she rushed, but faltered there—
Life to the young is sweet; in vain her eye
Swept for a moment grove and wave and sky
With mute appeal. ”

“ Still Winona hesitated. It certainly is a nuisance to have a small sister who wants to tag, when you are just starting off to have a particularly nice time with your most intimate friends. And to add to the charm of the situation, just then in rushed Puppums through the back door, and seeing Winona with her hat in her hand, promptly sat up and began to beg wildly. Winona began to laugh. ”

“ They both turned in the collars of their middy blouses, and rolled the cuffs under. Skirts over them, a bandanna apiece round their necks, and the checked shawl over Louise’s head and a handkerchief on Winona’s—and they were very convincing emigrants.
“Our shoes are rather too good,” said Winona discontentedly, “but you mustn’t ask too much in this world. Pin your hair up, Louise. It’s too red for an Italian, or even a Syrian.” ”

“ They thought so, too, and presently Nataly and Helen went off in search of the farmhouse which had promised to keep them supplied with perishable provisions.
Winona and Adelaide, freed of any further duties till supper-time, went off exploring. It was a perfect day, bright and breezy and not too hot. Winona half-danced along, singing under her breath. The sun glinted on her pretty hair and lighted up her blue eyes. Adelaide looked at her wistfully.
“I do wish I were you!” she said abruptly.
Winona looked at her in surprise. “Wish you were me? Why, on earth?” she asked. ”

“ The atmosphere of art had affected him enough for him to perceive the beauties of the picture made by the stalwart men, the gigantic black’s refined prowess and the noble lines and graceful pose of Winona’s neck and shoulders. ”

“ A brilliant idea came to Winona—which, by the way, she afterward carried out. “Our side-porch is almost all screened. I wonder if mother wouldn’t let me sleep there? I’m going to ask her, anyway.”
“I wish I could, too,” breathed Louise, “but our side-porch is where everybody goes by—that’s the worst of living on a corner. I know I never could break the milkman and the baker of contributing rolls and milk on top of me in the early morning!”
“What a splendid idea! Then you could have ‘breakfast in your bed,’ like Harry Lauder,” said Winnie, and both girls stopped to giggle. ”

“ Dodo rose and went gliding back. Snyder, open-eyed, made no sound. She was grateful to her for this, divining the reason. Back in her bed, huddling under the covers, she recalled Winona with a feeling of horror. To lose one's courage like that—how terrible! And if she herself were thus to be transformed, if all her indomitable audacity should suddenly go—
"There's some man back of it all," she said, thinking of Winona. "There always is a man." ”

“ Heads were thrust forth and greetings followed, some shy and low-toned, some with feigned man-of-the-world jauntiness.
Winona was no longer Winona. A freckled young vender with a basket halted beside her. Winona searched for her purse and emptied its hoard into one gloved hand. Coins spilled from this and ran about the platform. Hands sprang from the window above her to point out their resting places, and half a dozen of the creatures issued from the car to recover them for her. ”

“ Parson Steward rode at the head of the small cavalcade, and Mr. Maybee at the rear; Winona was between Warren and Judah. It was Warren, however, who had helped her to mount and who did the countless trivial things which add to one’s comfort, and are so dear to a woman, coming from one man. ”

“ Then she quickly slipped a third of the bouquet behind a trunk, signaling Winona, and turning before the long mirror, affixed the orchids, spreading them loosely to conceal the defection.
"Quarter of. You'll be late!" said Winona, masking the trunk with her skirts.
"I want to be! I'm not going to have a lot of society women find me on the door-step!" said Doré, for the benefit of the prop. "Come on, Stacey; you can look at the photos another day!" She flung about her shoulders a white stole from the floor below, and buried her hands in a muff of the same provenance. ”

“ And from the crowd I saw Winona and the warrior Chawanook come forward and receive the belt and necklace.
As the maiden turned, and scanning the dark faces about her, moved rapidly down the ranks, I heard the murmur of the savage tongues about me.
"To whom will she give the belt?" asked an old hag by my side.
"I know not," said her companion. "Perhaps to the young Chawanook. They would make a brave pair," and she moved aside to let Winona, who was coming toward me, pass by. ”

“ This is perhaps the most agreeable part of the play to the chaperon, who is treated as an honored guest at the feast!
Winona seldom plays with boys, even her own brothers and cousins, and after she reaches twelve or fourteen years of age she scarcely speaks to them. Modesty is a virtue which is deeply impressed upon her from early childhood, and the bashfully drooping head, the averted look, the voice low and seldom heard, these are graces much esteemed in a maiden. ”