Bozeman avant courier. [volume] (Bozeman, Mont.) 1872-1882, 1877-12-20

= wv nSSe NdS lIOt ~ UC IoljllI. anu lIic
incident created mucl, ill-feeling among
1 the men. 1t was agreed th;.: one man
should keep watch Of Our Fool for two or
three days. and see if he would not betray
himself. Both remained in the cave, but
iii some way the idiot crept out unnoticed
and was absent for three or four hours.
When he returned he was more silly than
usual, and as he moved around lie kept
calling ont:
Got all fixed-got all fixed.''
That night he went on duty as usual.
Having 4 slight fever was nervous and
restless, AMI 1T eleven O'Clock awoke and
heard him talking to the dogs. At one
o'clock awoke again and he was missing.
| got up and walked down the path hun
drcd feet, and though the dogs came to me,
nothing could be seen Of Our Fool.
Thought that he had been seized with some
new fancy and had perhaps abscondcd al
together. and going back to the cave soon
fell into a sound sleep.
/ Halt an hour before daybreak, several
things occurred to arouse every man in the
party in an instant. The walls and floors
of the cave trenbied. dirt ratified down m
to our faces. fierce screams rent tie air,
and then came a binding flash and report
which made ''old Tom Jones' tremble in
every nook and creyice. We leaped up and
ran out in the widest alarm. and no one
could yet say what had aroused lis. wien
Onr Fool came down from the wall be-
tween path and gulch us nimbIy as a
| squirrel.
Big noise-great tire--hurt 'em awful
| BAD. he shouted. as lie danced around
| us. and that's all the satisfaction we could
get.
The miners soon came to the conclusion
that our keg Of powder had been exploded
near by. and as soon as daylight ciept into
the hills. we climbed the wall. 1t was an
awful sight we saw in the gulch below.
The dry bed Of the stream was torn full of
great holes. and great spots Of bloc"
stained the walls almost to our feet. On
the gravel were blackencd and burned bod-
les. arms. legs. heads. and parts Of trunks
enough to account for ut least fifteen In
,Iians. Had shell exploded down there
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havoc could not have been worse. There
were bows and arrows. shattered rifles.
scaIping-knives bent and broken. and Tie
horrible o!or of burning flesh filled tie
whole g,llcl.
Our Fool was down there. giinning ans!
rubbing his hands. but no explanations
were needed from h IN. That gillcll had
been overlooked by us. The Indians Lad
discovered it. and they had planned to
creep down it, scale the wall. and from
thence get a plunying fire on the mouth OF
the cave. They would have been safe from
return shots. and could have killed every
miner who showed his head. Our Fool
had seen this He had stolen the keg of
powder and laid Il mine in the gravelly
bed of the gulcli right where the Indians
would scale the wall. How lie knew that
they would appear on that particular night
we could not surnise, but it seemed that
he did know it. for he deserted his post TO
scale tie wall and be ready. He probably
fired the powder with slOw-lnatch. but
we could never find out how it was arrang-
ed. The explosion took place just as the
savages had collected in Il body over the
keg. and nearly score Of them had literal
ly been blown to fragments. II there were
others. they lost no time in limping away.
probably so badly frightened that they
did not hunt tor scalps for the next three
months.
Well. that was Our Fool. and that was
the trap he laid and before elilnbing ont
Of the g,ilch we all shook hands with him
and
.Resolucd. That we've got the cntesa.
snlsrtest and wisest fool in America
| lie seemed to feel that he ought TO
reply. and swinging lis hat around he yell
ed out:
Woke boys all up in h.lrry-te-he!
te-lie -