The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1876-08-25

before doing this took the precau-
| ton to look out. The prospect was
terribly discouraging, for, on our
immediate right, not more than fif-
| ty yards distant, ! saw four or five
Indians galloping toward us. Near
by me there were two cottonwood
stumps nearly touching each other,
and behind this slender barricade
myself and the soldier kneit down,
he with his carbine, 1 with my re-
volver, ready to do for few of the
savages before they could kill US.
We determined not to fire until
they came so near we could not
miss them, and there we waited. /
had given up hope and made up
my mind to it that the end had
come. They had not seen us, and
when the foremost man was just
abreast of me, and about ten yards
distant, fired. They came in In
dian file and at my fire they turned
a rightabout and were making off,
when Private O'Neill fired his car
bine at the second savage, who at
that moment WSs refining his pony
| to turn him back. The prlvate's
eye was true and his carbine trusty,
for Mr.. Indian dropped his rein,
threw up his paws and laid down
on the grass to sleep his long sleep.
The gentleman / greeted rode a
short distance and then did like
wise. The rest of the party rode
on, turned the corner of the wood,
and disappeared. We remained in
| our position, expecting every mo-
ment that a hundred desperate saw
ages would appear to put an end to
US. During all this time the fire
from the bluffs continued, but after
we had fired our shots it ceased and
we retired to the thicket, where we
awaited our fate, possessed alter
nateIy by hope and despair. From
our position we could see the In
dams on the bluffs, their horses
picketed under the cover of the hill,
and line of sharpshooters, all ly-
ing flat on their stomachs. We
could hear the battle going on above
US on the hills, the continued rattle
of the musketry, the cheering of
our command, and the shouting of
the saVages. Our hopes revived
when we beard the familiar cherrs
of our comrades, but dependency
followed fast, for we discovered
that our wood was on fire. The
sharp cracking of the burning tim
Der approached nearer and carer
with awful rapidity, and we had to
shift our position. We crawled al
most to the edge of the wood, when
we discovered that the fiends had
fired both sides. We moved around
until we found thick cluster of
what they call mulberry trees under
which we creDt.
The grass on the edge of this
place was very green, and, as it had
been raining little before and there
was no wind, when the fire Approach
ed our hiding place it ran very
slowly, so that 1 was enabled to
smother it with my gauntlet gloves.
The fire consumed all the under
wood around US and was almost
expended by this time. There we
were in q little oasis. surrounded
by fire, but comparatively safe from
the element,.:and with the advantage
of seeing almost every thing around
US without being seen. We could
see savages going backward and
forward, and one standing on pick
ct not more than seventy or eighty
yards from us, evidently put there
to watch the progress of the fire.
At about four o'clock p. m. this
picket fired four pistol shots in the
air at regular intervals from each
other, which interpreted as a sig
nal of some kind. Soon after this
fire we heard the powerful voice of
savage crying out, making the
same sound four times, and after
these two signals we saw 200 or
more savages leave the bluffs and
ford the river, evidently leaving the
ground. About one hour after the
same double signals were again re-
peated and many mounted Indians
left at gallop. Soon the remain
der of these left on the bluffs also
retired.
Hope now revived, the musketry
rattle ceased and only now and
then we could hear far-off shot.
By six O'Clock everything around
us was apparently quiet and no ev-
idence or signs of any Indians were
near us. We supposed the regiment
had left the field and all that re-
NAMED for us to do was to wait for
the night and then pass the river
and take the route for the Yellow
stone River, and there construct a
raft and descend to the mouth of
Powder River, our supply camp.
OF course during the thirty-six
hours that we were in suspense we
had neither water nor food; at ten
o'clock D. m. we dropped ourselves
into the river, the water reaching
our waists, crossed it twice and then
carefully crawled up the bluffs and
finally reached the broken high
country, took our direction and
slowly and cautiously proceeded
southwark.
After marching two miles 1
thought / would go up a very high
hill to look around and see if /
could discover any signs of our
command, and on looking around
saw fire on my left and in the di-
rection where we supposed the
command was fighting during the
day, probably two miles from US.
Of course we made two coniectures
on this fret might be an Indian
fire and it might be from our COM
mand. The only way to ascertain
was to approach it cauti ously and
trust to chance. Accordingly we
descended the bill and took the di-
VI TIC 0A-
other and another hill we listened
a while and then proceeded on for
a mile or more, when on the top of
hill we again stopped and listened.
We could hear voices, but not dis
tinctly enough to tell whether they
were savages of our command. We
proceeded little further and heard
the bray of mule and soon after
the distant voice of q sentry chal-
longing with the familiar words |
"Haltl Who goes there 2"
The challenge was not addressed
to US, as we were too far off to be |
seen by the picket and il was too
dark, but this gave Us courage to |
continue our course and approach. |
though carefully, lest we should |
run into some Indians again.
We were about 200 yards from
the fire, and 1 resolved to call out |
to the picket and tell him who l |
was. I told my companion to be
ready TO follow altar me, and when
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