Litchfield enquirer., 1872-01-25
EXTRAORDINARY sAcAClrY OF A
 HORSE.

On the night of the 9th of October last, the camp of 8 scouting column, composed of the Fourth Cavalry and Eleventh h. fantry, was to use frontier phrase, 'tjumped' by band of hostile Camanches who succeeded, by the usual Indian dodge, ill stampeding the animals of the troops and although large number were recovered next morning, between eighty and ninety horses and mules were lost. Among the missing was Charlie, large, bright bay horse belonging to Com pany G, Fourth Cavalry; and as he was a hardy, steady old .campaigner, his loss was much regretted, especially by. his ri- der, Private Conroy. This event occurred about two hundred and fifty miles north west of the post, and well within the vast extent of treeless, waterless country lying along the Texan frontier, which appears on the maps as the ''Staked Plains" Af- ter scouting hundreds of miles in various directions subsequent to the stampede the company returned to the Concho on the 1st of November, and one week later, on the morning of the 9th, the horse Charlie was found standing at the gate of the company's corral, waiting patiently for some one to let him in. The report of his arrival spread like wildfre, and of course the brave old fellow received an enthusiastic reception from the entire gar rison. Upon being admitted to the en- closure he frisked up his tail: threw his heels into the air, and gave vent to a cheery neighl as if greeting his old equine chums; then he gaily capered of to his accustom- ed place at the feed trough and event for'' the corn therein with wonderful avidity. Now, that gallant old horse had been journeying alone just one month, across an uninhabitable, trackless wilderness, at least two hundred miles wide, in an air line. What adventures he may have met, what suffering he may have endured, and what horse-heroism he must have display ed, are subjects the imagination can deal with. It is absolutely certain that during his lonely wanderings he must have more than once either ran away from or suc- cessfully combatted against the swarms of ferocious gray wolves that infest that country. The old fellow must have taken his time, too, and nibbled plenty of grass by the way, for he was in better condi- tion than when lost, and an old saddle sore on his back had completely healed. By what faculty or combination of facul- ties did that horse tread his difficult and dangerous way back to his old quarters anu HIS QtU iE10uuSE D1U HIS 1Ofmef scouting experience teach him to follow the innumerable ramifcations of the trail made by his company over this immense distance? Or is he simply an animal of no more than ordinary intelligence, who has blundered into the accomplishment of this astonishing feat? Has he acted under the guidance of reasoning powers, or been governed by mere brute instinct :? These are questions we'll worthy the con- sideration of every horseman in the land, and in weighing this matter it will be we'll to remember that the drove of wild horses frequently seen in that part of Texas are composed of animals, or the descendants of animals, lost just as Char lie was, but not possessing the pluck or ability to find their way home as he did. Old frontiersmen declare the occurrence unparalleled in their experienced, and ex. press the belief that the horse, after re. covering from the s'scare'' of the stampede
 actually found and followed the trail 0
 the company, in all it's windings, back tt
 the post. We believe that to be the cor
 rect theory, and it is supported by tn,
 fact that the company did not come ant go by the same route.