this at all, it was to see in
it an omen of impending tragedy. Red was the color of blood, and he
foresaw that blood must flow, and freely.

"They are all fools. All. They know that Black Partridge cannot lie,
yet they believe not his words. The white man lies, and works his own
destruction. His doom be on his head!"

As his thought took this line the chief's brow grew still more
stern, and an expression of contempt curled the corners of his wide,
thin lips. A savage though he was, at that moment he felt himself
immeasurably superior to the pale-faces whom he had known; and in the
consciousness of his integrity he held his tall form even more erect,
while he turned his face toward the sky in gratitude to that Great
Spirit who had made him what he was.

Then again he remembered the past, and again his feather-adorned head
drooped beneath its burden of regret, while his brown fingers clasped
and unclasped themselves about a glittering medal which decorated his
necklace, and was the most cherished of his few possessions.

"I have worn it for long, and it has rested lightly upon my heart; but
now it becomes a knife that pierces. Therefore I must return it whence
it came."

Yet something like a sigh escaped him, and his hands fell down
straight at his sides. Also, his narrow eyes gazed forward upon
the horizon, absently, as if their inward visions were much clearer
than anything external. In this manner he went onward for a little
distance, till his moccasined foot struck sharply against something
lying in his path, and so roused him from his reverie.

"Ugh! Ugh! So. When the squaw dies the papoose must suffer."

The soft obstruction was a little child, curled into a rounded heap,
and fast asleep upon this primitive public highway. The touch of the
red man's foot had partially wakened the sleeper, and when he bent and
laid his hand upon her shoulder, she sprang up lightly, at once
beginning to laugh and chatter with a gayety that infected even the
stolid Indian.

"Ugh! The Little-One-Who-Laughs. Why are you here alone, so far from
the Fort, Kitty Briscoe?"

"I runned away. Bunny rabbit runned away. I did catch him two times. I
did find some posies, all yellow and round and--posies runned away,
too. Ain't that funny? Kitty go seek them."

Her laughter trilled out, bird clear, and a mischievous twinkle
lighted her big blue eyes.

"I runned away. Bunny rabbit runned to catch me. I runned to catch
bunny. I caught