In The Boyhood of Lincoln Part 19

(Wail.)

"Spring comes to the river, But where, then, art thou?

I'm longing to see thee; I'm wailing for thee.

(Wail.)

"The flowers come forever; I'll meet thee again; I'm longing to see thee-- Time bears me to thee!"

(Wail.)

As Jasper ascended the high bluffs of the lodge where Black Hawk dwelt, he was followed by a number of Indians who came out of their houses of poles and bark, and greeted him in a kindly way. The dark chief met him at the door of the lodge.

"You are welcome, my father. The new moon has bent her bow over the waters, and you have come back. You have kept your promise. I have kept mine. There is the boy."

An Indian boy of lithe and graceful form came out of the lodge, followed by an old man, who was his uncle. The boy's name was Waubeno, and his uncle's was Main-Pogue. The latter had been an Indian runner in Canada, and an interpreter to the English there. He spoke English well. The boy Waubeno had been his companion in his long journeys, and, now that the interpreter was growing old, remained true to him. The three stood there, looking down on the long mirror of the Mississippi--Black Hawk, Main-Pogue, and Waubeno--and waiting for Jasper to speak.

"I have come to bring you peace," said Jasper--"not the silence of the hawk or the bow-string, but peace here."

He laid his hand on his breast, and all the Indians did the same.

"I am a man of peace," continued Jasper. "If any one should seek to slay me, I would not do him any harm. I would forgive him, and pray that his blindness might go from his soul, and that he might see a better life.

You welcome me, you are true to me, and, whatever may happen, I will be true to your race."

The black chief bowed, Main-Pogue, and the boy Waubeno.

"I believe you," said Black Hawk. "Your face says 'yes' to your words.

The Indian's heart is always true to a friend. Sit down; eat, smoke the peace-pipe, and let us talk. Sit down. The sky is clear, and the night-bird cries for joy on her wing. Let us all sit down and talk. The river rolls on forever by the graves of the braves of old. Let us sit down."

The squaws brought Jasper some cakes and fish, and Black Hawk lighted some long pipes and gave them to Main-Pogue and Waubeno.

"I have brought the boy here for you," said Black Hawk. "He comes of the blood of the brave. Let me tell you his story. It will shame the pale-face, but let me tell you the story. You will say that the Indian can be great, like the pale-face, when I tell you his story. It will smite your heart. Listen."

A silence followed, during which a few puffs of smoke curled into the air from the black chief's pipe. He broke his narrative by such silences, designed to be impressive, and to offer an opportunity for thought on what had been said.

Strange as it may seem to the reader, the story that follows is substantially true, and yet nothing in cla.s.sic history or modern heroism can surpa.s.s in moral grandeur the tale that Black Hawk was always proud to tell:

"Father, that is the boy. He knows all the ways from the Great Lakes to the long river, from the great hills to Kaskaskia. You can trust him; he knows the ways. Main-Pogue knows all the ways. Main-Pogue was a runner for the pale-face. He has taught him the ways. Their hearts are like one heart, Main-Pogue's and Waubeno's.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BLACK HAWK TELLS THE STORY OF WAUBENO.]

"His father is dead, Waubeno's. Main-Pogue has been a father to him.

They would die for each other. Main-Pogue says that Waubeno may run with you, if I say that he may run. I say so. Main-Pogue and Waubeno are true to me.

"The boy's father is dead, I said. Who was the father of that boy?--Waubeno, stand up."

The boy arose, like a tall shadow. There was a silence, and Black Hawk puffed his pipe, then laid it beside his blanket.

"Who was the father of Waubeno? He was a brave, a warrior. He wore the gray plume, and honor to him was more than life. He would not lie, and they put him to death. He was true as the stars, and they killed him."

There followed another silence.

"Father, you teach. You teach the head; you teach the heart: to live a true life, is the thing to teach--the thing you call conscience, soul, those are the right things to teach. What are books to the head, if the soul is not taught to be true?

"Father, the father of Waubeno could teach the pale-face. In the head?

No, in the heart? No, in the soul, which is the true book of the Great Spirit that you call G.o.d. You came to us to teach us G.o.d. It is good.

You are a brother, but G.o.d came to us before. He has written the law of right in the soul of every man. The right will find the light. You teach the way--you bring the Word of him who died for mankind. It is good.

I've got you a runner to run with you. It is good. You help the right to find the light.

"Father, listen. I am about to speak. Before the great war with the British brother (1812) that boy's father struck down to the earth a pale-face who had done him wrong. The white man died. He who wrongs another does not deserve the sun. He died, and his soul went to the shadows. The British took the red warrior prisoner for killing this man who had wronged him. Waubeno was a little one then, when they took his father prisoner.

"The British told the old warrior that they had condemned him to die.

"'I am not afraid to die,' said the warrior. 'Let me go to the Ouisconsin (Wisconsin) and see my family once more, and whisper my last wish in the ear of my boy, and I will return to you and die. I will return at the sunrise.'

"'You would never return,' said the commander of the stockade.

"The warrior strode before him.

"'Can a true man lie?'

"The commander looked into his face, and saw his soul.

"'Well, go,' said he. 'I would like to see an Indian who would come back to die.'

"The warrior went home, under the stars. He told his squaw all. He had six little children, and he hugged them all. Waubeno was the oldest boy.

He told him all, and pressed him to his heart. He whispered in his ear.--What was it he said, Waubeno?"

The shadowy form of the boy swayed in the dim light, as he answered. He said:

"'Avenge my death! Honor my memory. The Great Spirit will teach you how.' That is what my father said to me, and I felt the beating of his heart."

There was a deep silence. Then Black Hawk said:

"The warrior looked down on the Ouisconsin under the stars. He looked up to heaven, and cried, 'Lead thou my boy!' Then he set his face toward the stockades of Prairie du Chien.

"He strode across the prairie as the sun was rising; he arrived in time, and--Father, listen!"

There was another silence, so deep that one might almost hear the puffing smoke as it rose on the air.

"_They shot him!_ That is his boy, Waubeno."

Jasper stood silent; he thought of Johnnie Kongapod's story, and the night-scene at Pigeon Creek.

"I shall teach him a better way," said Jasper, at last. "I will lead him to honor the memory of his great father in a way that he does not now know. The Great Spirit will guide us both. His father was a great man. I will lead him to become a greater."

"Father," said the boy, coming forward, "I will always be true to you, but I have sworn by the stars."

Jasper stood like one in a dream. Could such a tale as this be true among savages? Honor like this only needed the gospel teaching to do great deeds. Jasper saw his opportunity, and his love of mankind never glowed before as it did then. He folded his hands, closed his eyes, and his silent thoughts winged upward to the skies.