Some forty-four years ago, a Spanish trader had settled among a tribe of
the Tonquewas[14], at the foot of the Green Mountains. He had taken an
Indian squaw, and was living there very comfortably, paying no taxes,
but occasionally levying some, under the shape of black mail, upon the
settlements of the province of Santa Fe. In one excursion, however, he
was taken and hung, an event soon forgotten both by Spaniards and
Tonquewas. He had left behind him, besides a child and a squaw, property
to a respectable amount; the tribe took his wealth for their own use,
but cast away the widow and her offspring. She fell by chance into the
hands of a jolly, though solitary Canadian trapper, who, not having the
means of selecting his spouse, took the squaw for better and for worse.
[Footnote 14: The Tonquewas tribe sprang from the Comanches many years
ago.]
In the meantime the young half-breed grew to manhood, and early
displayed a wonderful capacity for languages. The squaw died, and the
trapper, now thinking of the happy days he had passed among the
civilized people of the East, resolved to return thither, and took with
him the young half-breed, to whom by long habit he had become attached.
They both came to St. Louis, where the half-breed soon learned enough of
English to make himself understood, and one day, having gone with his
"father-in-law" to pay a visit to the Osages, he murdered him on the
way, took his horse, fusil, and sundries, and set up for himself.
Pages:
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138