She knew not that God
has said, "Thou shall do no murder." The command had never sounded
in her ears.
She trusted to find a home in the House of Spirits--she may have found a
heaven in the mercy of God.
The fever of the following summer spared neither age nor youth, and Red
Cloud was its first victim. As the dying Harpstenah saw his body carried
out to be placed upon the scaffold--"He is dead," she cried, "and Wenona
was innocent! He hated her because she slighted him; I hated her because
she was happy. He had his revenge, and I mine; but Wenona was falsely
accused, and I told him to do it!" and the eyes were closed--the voice
was hushed in death.
Wenona was innocent; and when the Virgin's Feast shall be celebrated in
her native village again, how will the maidens tremble as they approach
the sacred ring! Can they forget the fate of their beautiful companion?
And when the breath of summer warms to life the prairie flowers--when
the long grass shall wave under the scaffold where repose the mortal
remains of the chief's sister--how often will the Dahcotah maidens draw
near to contrast the meanness, the treachery, the falsehood of Red
Cloud, with the constancy, devotion, and firmness of Wenona!
THE DAHCOTAH CONVERT.
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