The Daughter of the Chieftain

Little Linna, daughter of Omas, the Delaware warrior, was of the

same age as Alice Ripley. The weather was warm although she wore

tiny moccasins to protect her feet, she scorned the superfluous

stockings and undergarments that formed a part of the other's

apparel.

Her hair was as black, abundant, and almost as long as her father's;

but her face was clean, and, perhaps in honor of the occasion, she,

too, sported a gaudy eagle feather in her hair.

She bounded out of the green wood like a fawn, but as she drew near

her parent and Alice, her footsteps became slower, and she halted

a few paces away, hung her head, with her forefinger between her

pretty white teeth--for all the world like any white girl of her

years.

But Alice did not allow her to remain embarrassed. She had been

begging for this visit, and now, when she saw her friend, she ran

forward, took her little plump hand and said--"Linna, I am real

glad you have come!"

Omas had risen to his feet, and watched the girls with an affection

and interest which found no expression on his painted face. His

child looked timidly up to him and walked slowly forward, her hand

clasped in that of Alice. She did not speak, but when her escort

sat down on the grass, she did the same.

"Linna, do you know how to play Jack Stones?" asked Alice, picking

up the pebbles.

Linna shook her head quickly several times, but her lips remained

mute.

"Your father thought he knew how, but he don't; he doesn't play fair,

either. Let me show you, so you can beat him when you go home."

Alice set to work, while the bright black eyes watched every

movement.

"Now do you want to try it?" she asked, after going through the

game several times.

Linna nodded her head with the same birdlike quickness, and reached

out her chubby hand.

Her father and Alice watched her closely. She made several failures

at first, all of which were patiently explained by her tutor; by and

by she went through the performance from beginning to end without

a break.

Alice clapped her hands with delight, and Omas--certain that no

grownup person saw him--smiled with pleasure.

"Doesn't she know how to talk?" asked Alice, looking up at the

warrior. Omas spoke somewhat sharply to his child in the Delaware

tongue. She startled, and looking at Alice, asked-"Do--yoo think me play well?"

Alice was delighted to find she could make herself understood so

easily. It was wonderful how she had learned to speak English so

early in life.