The Trinity journal., 1856-04-19
An Adventure on the Plains.
BY T. TATTLER.


BY T. TATTLER.
In the year IS, | undertook the poril-
Gus journey of crossing the Plains. Our
company was composed of nine persons; =
among the number was Bill Johnson, for
merly hunter and trappcr of the West.
At the close of beautiful day in May,
we found ourselves seated around blazing
camp fire upon the banks of the Little Blue
River some 200 miles from St Joseph, Mis-
souri,. Some Of the company had spread a
blanket upon the grass, and were busily en-
gagged in game of cards, while myself and
Bill johnson were eagerly discussing the
propriety of having an antelope hunt on the
succeeding day. We soon came to the con
clusion that we would spend the day in hunt
ing, as our train was going to stop here sew
eral days to recruit our animals l cannot
say that | enjoyed a sound slumber that
night, because | was anxious that morning
should arrive, for | expected rare sport on
the coming day. The much wished for morn
ing came at last, and after dispatching n
hasty breakfast, and informing our comrades
that we would return by sunset, we depar-
ted with our rifles on our shoulders.
For three hours we Travelled in south
erly direction from the camp without see
ing any game at all, and being somewhat
tired and disappointed, we concluded to seek
shelter from the rays of the burning sun and
take short rest Following up ravine
short distance, we came to a sink, or hole,
some twenty feet deep; the sides which were
of solid rock, were almost perpendicular
Carefully examining this curious spot, we at
length discovered an excavation in the wall,
Just large enough to admit a man with ease
This was soon accomplished, and we found
ourselves in an apartment about nine feet
square, with walls of solid rock. This we
thought would afford us the desired seelter,
and we were just comfortably seated, when
my companion hastily sprang to his feet,
saying:
BE silent; hear rustling in the grass,
which is probably caused by an elk or ante
lopc. You stay here And seizing his rifle,
he stole cautiously down the ravine
lie was soon lost to view among the
shrubbery which skirted the ravine, leaving
me alone to mediate upon the probable
cause of the noise we had just heard But
| was soon started and surprised by seeing
my companion come running towards the
cave, with anxiety and alarm plainly de-
picted upon his countenancc.
1njns, by G-dp he exclaimed, as he
rushed into the cave
Then he commenced blocking up the en-
trance with loose stones an fragments of
rock which lay scattered around This
awakened me to a sense of the danger we
were in, az at that time the Pawnee Indians
were known to be hostile to the whites,
butchering all who fell into their hands
TO my inquiries Of how many there were of
our enemies, my companion replied:
There are two, mounted on feet horses,
armed with rifles and bows and arrows, and
most hideously painted
Our enemies were probably aware of our
place Of refuge, for instead Of coming up in
front of the cave, they crept cautiously
around to the edge of the sink, and stationed
themselves out of the reach of our rifles, but
so as to command the entrance to our subtle
ranean retreat. Their persons were out of
our view, but by their shadows upon the OPP
posite wall we could note their manGuvers
They evidently thought there was but one
Of us but at that they did not deem it
prudent to make bold attack in front, for
by so doing they would expose their persons
to danger therefore they chose the less
dangerous plan of starving us to death,
compelling us to surrender, or shooting us il
we attempted to escape Thus in man
ner we were completely in the power OF
these savages, unless by some stratagem We
could manage to escape. But soon night
set in, and spread her mantle of darkness
over the laud, making our situation more
dismal than before. Ny companion tool