"Che Conservative.
fiouthorn Kansas , southern Missouri and
the Indian Territory ; and it was not
long before ho wns prepared to reinstate
his Indian contingent in their former
holdings. A council of war was there
upon called to consider ways and means
and settle details of the inoccupation ,
old Opothloholo presiding ; and it soon
became apparent that an essential feat
ure of the program , to the mind of the
Indians , was a strict retaliation on the
enemy ; the matter of the women and
children having , it appears , stuck in the
minds of the exiles.
When this became clear , Colonel Fur-
nos arose in the council and undertook
a remonstrance ; he pleaded against the
barbarity of such a course , representing
that it was not the enemies' women and
children that had offended against them ,
and that consequently they were not
the ones upon whom vengeance should
fall. The colonel's views were listened
to , and a respectful silence followed.
Then Opothloholo spoke. "If we have
a bad breed of dogs , " he said , "the sure
way to get rid of them is to kill off all
the females. "
Then Billy Bowlegs spoke. "If our
children are suffering with vermin , to
cleanse them we must kill both the
young and old , " he said.
Then another silence followed , and
the eyes of the assemblage were turned
upon Colonel Furnas. It was felt that
he had thus far spoken as a man , and
not as the representative of the United
States. He on his side found some diffi
culty in raising his eyes to meet those of
the deeply-injured men around him.
Ho knew their stories , and knew what
special picture was at that moment
standing before the vision of each one
of them ; the wrongs were theirs , the
judgment his. The silence became pro
longed ; but finally the colonel lifted his
ga/o from the ground , gave a long look
around the circle , and slowly shook his
head ; it was not to be.
And it was not.
INTERESTING , . . Tll ° French , , still
IF TKUE. cling to the man
ner of punishing
criminals which Herod used on John the
Baptist , except that they have improved
machinery for the purpose ; and it is a
question which their writers are always
fond of discussing , whether life ceases
at once upon the severing of the spinal
cord , or whether it may not continue
for two or three minutes or longer.
This has no doubt been a subject for
speculation in all ages ; there is recorded
in the poetic memorials of our own an
cestors a curious experiment in regard
to it.
it.Wo
Wo are told that one morning in the
year 994 one of our piratical Danish
forefathers was sitting on a log by the
sea's rim , after breakfast. His long
hair was entwined with the twigs of a
tree-branch , which was bent down from
the tree to him ; a Norwegian acquain-
tanco of his , named Thorkell , was stand
ing near him with an axe ; it was a good
axe , and had taken the heads off
some eighteen Danes already that morn
ing. Their conversation , as was per
haps natural , turned upon death.
"There is a thing I have always wanted
to know , " said the Dane on the log ,
whoso name has not come down to us ;
"that is whether a man dies as soon as
his head is off ; and I'll tell yon what
we'll do ; I will hold my knife in my
hand , thus , and as soon as I feel that
my head is gone I will , if possible , stick
it into you ; thus we will know the right
of the matter , once and for all. " The
thing pleased Thorkell , especially as
there was the suspicion of an adventure
in it for himself ; and it was so done.
The spectators being ready , Thorkell
gave a wide sweep with his axe , and
the tree sprang erect , with the head that
had devised the experiment dangling
among its boughs ; but the hand that
was to execute it dropped , and the ex
pectant knife fell to the ground. Con
sidering all the circumstances , this would
appear to be conclusive as to the body.
The theory to which the French are so
oddly attached is , however , that the
head lives , retaining perhaps full con
sciousness , for a longer or shorter time af
ter it is detached ; as simple and horrible
an idea as probably ever entered the mind
of man. For more experiences are possi
ble to a head in that condition than one
would think at the first glance ; it might
feel the executioner pull its hair as he
held it up for the crowd to view ; it
might hear the shouts of the multitude ,
and seeing the well-known street , recall
the times it had run about it with the
body ; and it might perceive an odor of
fresh blood.
The other adventures ot that pleasant
morning by the sea are not without in
terest , as showing what kind of men our
fathers were. Our teachers have always
preferred telling us about the fathers of
the Jews and Greeks.
"While he was resting Thorkell asked
the next man on the log what he
thought of death on the whole. The
Dane replied that ho thought nothing of
it , one way or the other. "Here , " he
said , l > you chop me square in the face ,
and let all the boys observe whether I so
much as wink. " Thorkett split his head
to the elihi , and the by-standers all bore
witness that ho appeared to have minded
it no more than a fleabite.
Next was a young man named Sigurd ,
known to bo very vain of his person.
Ho asked that instead of tying his long
yellow curls to a tree , or having any of
the meaner men hold them up , some
distinguished warrior might perform
that ollico for him. A follower ot
Hakon , the great Jarl , undertook to dose
so ; but when the axe-stroke was dis
charged , Sigurd plunged his head for
ward so vigorously that the blade missed
it , and cut off both hands of the oblig
ing Norwegian instead. This was a
joke indeed ; the Norwegians could not
sufficiently applaud it , and it was re
solved to lot Sigurd live , in the hope that
: io 'voulddosomo more funny things , no
doubt.
This did not suit Thorkoll. There
were only fourteen of the Danes left ,
and he had counted on using his axe on
all of them. So he made a rush at
them , while the rest of the party were
still pounding Sigurd on the back and
organizing their witticisms upon the
man who had held his hair.
There was among the Danes a young
man named Vagn , who had been a
pirate from his twelfth year , being able
at that ago to hold his own against a
grown warrior ; he had come on the
present expedition with the recorded
purpose of carrying off Thorkell's
daughter. Seeing the old man and his
axe coming , he threw himself before
his feet , tripping him up ; then ho found
means to cut his bonds upon the edge of
the axe , and when his hands wore free
was able to wrest the weapon from
Thorkell's grasp and give him his death
wound with it.
If Sigurd's feat had tickled the Nor
wegians , this compelled their entire ad
miration ; and one of the chiefs approached
preached the young man and asked if
ho would accept his life from his hands.
Vagn was at first backward about tak
ing presents from a stranger ; but learn
ing that ho who made the offer was of
suitable rank , being the son of Jarl
Hakon himself , ho finally gave his consent -
sent , on condition that the twelve who
remained of his party should bo allowed
to go too. The end of it was that they
all sailed nwny together on the best of
terms ; and it is recorded that Vagn
married Thorkoll's daughter according
to his vow.
The number of
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