The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1876-08-18

| COVereu us. we Will nave 10 90 some
fighting. II we can make an honorable
escape, all together, we shall do it. Il
retreat is impossible, let no man sur
render. Die in your tracks for the In
dians show no mercy"
"All right, sir" said the men; and the
whole party followed the scouts and the
officer up the steep mountain side, which
ut that point was steep to discouraging
extent. The Indians must have seen lis
they were scarcely more than a mile
distant-for hundreds of them had halt
ed and appeared to be in consultation.
We continued our retreat until we struck
an old Sioux trail on the first ridge.
"This path leads to the snowy ridge, y
said Grouard. eff we can reach there
without being overtaken or cut of, our
chances are pretty fair" Most of the
road was rather good, and we proceeded
in q northwestern direction ut brisk
trot. Having gone five miles, and see
ing no Indians ON our track, Grouard
concluded that they had abandoned the
pursuit or else did not care about attack
ing us in the hills. The horses were
badly used up, and many of the men
were suffering from hunger. SO we
halted to make some coffee and to allow
our animals to recuperate. This occu-
pied about an hour, when we again
mounted and set forward. We crossed
the main branch of Tongue river, flow
ing through the mountains, and were in
full view of the snowy range. The same
splendid scenery that had observed
when out with Crooks party was visible
on every side. The trail led through
natural parks, open spaces bordered by
rocks and pine trees on the mountain
sides. Here the country was compare
lively open. Suddenly John Becker, the
packer, and a soldier rode up, exclaim-
ing, "The Indians the Indians |"
Grouard looked over his shoulder and
saw some of the red devils riding on our
right flank. We had reached plain on
the mountain range, timber on our left,
timber on our front, and rocks and tim
ber on our right, at about 200 yards
distance. "Keep to the left along the
woods" said the scout. Scarce were the
words uttered when from the rocks there
came q ringing volley. The Indians had
fired upon us, and had struck my horse
and two others. Fortunately the scoun-
drels fired too low, miscalculating the
distance, and not a man was wounded.
Our animals, after the manner of Ameri-
can horses, stampeded and nearly dashed
out our brains against the trees on our left.
The savages gave us three more volleys,
wounding more of our horses before we
got the beasts tied to the timber. We gave
them volley back to keep them in
check, and then formed a circular skir-
mish line in the woods. We could see
the Indian leader, dressed in what ap-
peared to be white buckskin, directing
the movements of his men. Grouard rec
ognized him. He is Cheyenne, called
White Antelope, famed for his enterprise
and skill. The Cheyennes and Sioux are
firm allies, and always fight together.
White Antelope led one charge against
us, but one fire sent himself and his
warriors back in quick time. Then the
Indians laid low in the rocks and kept
up an incessant fire OH orr position, fill
ing the trees around us with lead. Not
man of us ever expected TO leave that
spot alive. They evidently aimed at our
horses, thinking that by killing them all
means of escape would be cut of
from us.
Meanwhile their numbers continued
to increase. The open slopes swarmed
with Indians, and we could hear their
savage, encouraging yells to each other.
Cheyennes and Sioux were mixed to-
gether and appeared to be in great glee.
They had evidently recognized Grouard,
whom they mortally hate, for they called
out to him in Sioux, "Standing Bear
(the name they gave him), do you think
that there are no men but yours in this
country9" We reserved our fire until an
Indian showed himself. They were
prodigal of their ammunition, and fired
wildly. But they were fast surrounding
us. We had fought them and kept
them at bay for two hours, from half
past IL until balf-past / o'clock, but
they were twenty to our one, and we
knew that unless special Providence
interposed we could never carry our
lives away with us. We were looldno
death full in the face, and so clcso that
we could feel his cold breath upon oul
forehea.ds, and his icy zip upon oul
hearts. "No surrender" was the word
| pa ssed from man to man. Each one oi
rs would have blown out his own brains
rather than fall alive into Indian hands,
A disabling wound would have been the
same as death. 1 had often wondered
how man felt when he saw Inevitable
sudden doom before him. I know i
now, for I had no idea Of escape, anC
could not have uttered more if ON Indial
! knife or bullet had pierced my heart
So it was with all of Ms. 1t is one thing
, to face death in the midst of excitement
1t is quite another thing to meet him il
almost cold blood, with the prospect o
, your dishonered carcass being first mu
tilated and then left to feed the fox an,
the vulture. After man once sees tn
skull and cross bones as our party saw
on the afternoon of July z, no subse
quent glimpse of grim mortality ca
possibly impress him in the same mar
Il rer.
Well, the eternal shadows were fas
closing around MS; and the bullets wer
[ hitting nearer every moment, and tn
| Indian yell was growing stronger an
fiercer, when q hand was laid on m
I shoulder, and soldier named Rufus
my neighbor on the skirmish line, sale
( "The rest are retiring. Lieut.. Sible
r tells us to do the same" quietl
o withdrew from the friendly pine tire