He was just too
nice. His hands were so soft he couldn't get a calf to the brandin' post
in a corral, let alone rope a steer and brand him in the open country.
The folks came down on him and he lost the ranch. His wife died and he
went to Honduras, or the Philippines, or somewhere. But this yere land
is all goin' to be allotted some day and then it is good-by to the
freedom which we get here now. Yes, civilization kicks up a heap of
dust. Good-by; stop and see me if you come back this way. Adios."

Chiquita seemed amazed to hear that an educated man from the civilized
States would let such a golden opportunity pass him by. Mile after mile
of the fairest cattle range was passed on their way into the Kiowa
Reservation.

The time had arrived when Chiquita must return to college. During her
visit to the old relatives who had married into the Territory tribes she
learned that a distant cousin of hers was to be shot for the murder of a
fellow Indian. The tribal council had tried him and sentenced him to
death six months before, but on the plea which he made for leave of
absence to go to his old home among the mountain Utes in Colorado to see
his mother and father before he died, they had respited him. The time
for his return expired at noon the very day that Chiquita was to start
back.

She learned the story about four hours before noon--the time for the
execution--and at once made her way to the council hall, where in solemn
silence waited the court and executioners. Chiquita pleaded that they
spare her cousin. The plea was made to deaf ears. He had dealt the death
blow to a Kiowa, and by their laws he had been tried and found guilty,
and by their law he must suffer death.

"Where is he, that I may see him?" asked Chiquita.

"He has not returned."

"He will come. A Ute does not fear the death that awaits him, even for a
crime," proudly asserted Chiquita. "The Great Manitou will send him
back. Has he not danced to Wakantanka with a buffalo skull hung to a
thong that passed through the flesh of his back? Will one who has danced
to the Sun be afraid to return to the Kiowa dogs? Polar Bear knows that
the Utes would drive him back from the Happy Hunting Ground and be
killed by them if he did not keep his promise to return. Polar Bear
knows there is no escape."

"Chiquita is wise in what she says. The Kiowas know that Polar Bear has
been a big brave and danced the awful Sun dance, but the hour is near at
hand, and no word