Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1866-03-03
s.AbI do YOU hear theml They are

Make for it. The descent on the other
side is easy. If We reach it in time, we
NAV have an opportunity of seeing what
progress the train has made towards
the gulch. The wagons should be on
the other side of it and the animals, wo-
men and children corralled by this
time"
Two or three minutes hard riding
brought them TO the brow of the hill the
guide had indicated. There they slack
ened their pace, and while King looked
toward the great moving mass-the I'M
mense army of stations that were still
following them, shrieking, snorting,
crashing their teeth and driving them
| into each others torn TANKS, the guide
turned his eyes anxiously eastward.
| s'Great Heavenp' he suddenly ex-
claimed 'are those people mad Look,
King, the train has stopped. What does
it mean 1t is impossible to get across
the arroyo In time to save it from attack.
/ fear those poor defenceless creatures in
il will never see another hour. They
will be trampled and torn to pieces y
| The guide swayed to and fro on his
saddle as if irresOlute of purpose. The
crisis was near at hand. AT length he
cried. as he looked at his companion,
whose pale face, usually rubicund, told
the guide that he fully appreciated the
danger "Hand me your rifle, King, and
hasten towards the train. Cause 1T to be
drawn up in square Immediately. JON
wagon to wagon. Leave not an opening
anywhere and if the wild devils charge
It, place the women and children under
their bodies between the wheels. L will
remain here and check them"
mo Buxton, that would not be fair
Let me st ". Nv life is not worth as
much to the people yOnder, cried King.
mo time for talking" replied the
guide in low determined voice. 81 am
captain, and must be obeyed-hand me
your weapon.
His companion, sorely against his will,
placed his rifle in the hands of RuxtOn,
who carefully examined the nipple, and
satisfied himself that the percussion cap
would not fail him in any emergency.
Nov for the train Quick We have
no time to parley."
The next minute King was on his way
to the train, which, when he had reached
| it, hOutstOpping to ascertain the cause
of DELAY. Instantly organized it for de-
fence, rs directed by the guide. Mean
time, Buxton looked far out on the plain
towards the west. Notwithstanding the
critical position in which he found him
self placed, the lives of SO many helpless
ones depending upon his vigilance and
courage, he could not repress an excla-
nation of admiration, as his clear, dark,
penetrating eye, rested on the spectacle
beneath.
1T was worth life to look upon such
a scene - he exclaimed. Il would L
were here alone All i yOnder noble
conrser would be mine if / had to follow
him over hill and valley to the Guada-
loupe. How splendidly he carries him
self He seems to know, too, that with
his erect ears, curved tail and flowing
name, he is the undisputed leader of the
thousands that are fighting and following
whatever way he turns his head. i would
that he took the within to gallOp any way
hut the route he is on /; he seems to scent
the trail of the mares, and death only can
stop his career He must die.
As the guile spoke he drew his own
trusty rife to his shoulder ere he drew
it therefrom, the noble steed he so much
admired Law breathless, hfeless at the
front of his thousands of equine follow
ers.
"a respite 2" he cried. Ha will they
not stop Another leading already. He
too must go-and thus everything de-
ponds on chance. Iwish the wind blew
to the westward
The muzzle of Kings weapon covered
the new leader The trigger was pulled,
and the beast fell ere he had taken his
place as leader The stations now stop
ped as if irresolute how to proceed but
Buxton saw leaving the ranks, far In the
rear, a self appointed captain, who, with
movements we might In some degree OF
truth say, were analogous to lightning,
pushing TO the front.
ut will be full a minute before he.
reaches the van" unused the guide; 81
viii have time enough to reach the train.
Ha the wind is changing we are saved
saved"
As he spoke, he rode down the hill,
and In a little while was within the lines
of the wagons. :.
Pull, all of you, the grass from around
here Leave the ground bare. The
prairie must be fired. 1t is our only
chance - he cried, as he alighted from
his painting bay.
In an instant the men, women and chill
dren, who had previously been made full
ly acquainted with the impending dam
ger, were at work with knives and sickles,
shearing the earth of its heritage. A few
minutes sufficed for this bnt 1t was not
wholly finished when the front rank OF
the wild stations were seen coming over
the brow of the hillwhich the guide had
Just left
Without a word his directions were
Obeyed.
I'VE are prepared" he said, as he
looked around him but our poor beasts
will suffer for many mile for that L am
about to destroy"
Nov, said the guide, ''it is our
time"
Springing over one OF the vehicles, he
commenced striking his flint and steel
The finder beneath this ignite1. 1t was
instantly applied to the grass, which =
the cavaliada was now within thousand
yards of the train-at once sprang by IN
great sheets of flame, and seemed to
travel towards the wild horses even more
rapidly, under the pressure of the wind,
than they were moving against them.
The stations suddenly stopped, looked
bewildered, and then, with shriekings,
and neighings that filled the air and
stunned the ear with discordant noises,
turned northward to escape the new
danger.
Tho fire lad now spread itself far and
Il l.. IL