The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1879-11-21

and hastily turned to obey the iniunc
tions of my wounded friend, when
bethought me that had better concea
some of my effects and secrete the mos
valuable Of the peltries. Imagine m,
surprise when found most Of the fur
gone, rs well rs every article of mine, o.
indsed anything that would betray the
fact that two men lived in the cam.
did not quite preheDd tbs maneuye
till some time Afterwards. then quiet
ly crswled Though the woods to the
collection 81 rocks that my friend. 70,
some isncitul reason of his own, haC
ch1sen TO call the Otter Run.
1t was late in the day when arrived
at the blue, aud, mounting YEARLY L
the TOP, looked around for Marion
but he was nowhere to be seen. Fearins
he had tainted from loss OF blood, made
a careful though cautious search smons
the crags and rsvines where q man might
possibly have dragged himself. But
could see no sign of him, and concluded
hat through weakness he had not been
able 10 get there as soon rs had; 50
sat myself down in a little thicket OF
young cedars that crowned one of the
peaks, where / could see without being
seen myself, to await his coming. Here
crouched till dark, and still no sign Of
my comrsde. Tormenting doubts now
beset my mind, and i begun to fear that
Marston had either been captured In his
retreat to the bluff, or that he had been
unable to reach it from loss of blood: /
even pictured him lying among the
maple lie YES, stained with deeper than
their own deep dye, perishirg from thirst
and faintness.
While Debating what course to pursue
perceived bright light some mile OF
more OIL could scarcely say how far ii
Right be in the gathering darkness; but,
as no attempt a. concealment was made,
concluded II proceeded from Msrston,
who Lad outwitted his enemies, or from
those enemies themselves, who, in that
event, must have captured or killed my
poor friend, in spite of his keen wood.
craft, as otherwise they would be too
wary thus t5 draw on themselves the
vengea-ce Of the wounded trapper. !
Immediately descended from my perch
and cautiously crept along the shaded
edge OF the river, keeping well under
the exchanging branches Of the border.
ing cedars. In this way / must have
crept forward for q full hour, and still
the fire seemed far away. As / stopped
at bend in the river, on the far side of
which the IRE burned with increased
fury, . large owl few from his perch In
an overhanging tree, and silently betook
himself to a safer distance from his
natural enemy. As the ill.omened bird
spread his soft, noiseless wings to the
night air, l bethought me that, if Mars
ton was near 7 could communicate my
presence TO him by initiating its cry,
which often repeated in the hut when
We lay listening to the awakened chorus
outside. Placing my hand over my
mouth, emitted three or four of those
weird, dismal cries, which were re.echo.
ed by the somber woods until the far
river bend returned its ghostly answer.
Hastily looking to my rife, and
assuring myself that the printing was all
right, I hurried on silently and stealthily
until within an eighth of q mile of the
light. When parted the branches,
behind whose shade / had cautiously
advanced, and looked in the direction of
the blaze, | beheld q sight that sent the
blood cold and chill back on my heart.
Before me, on the grassy plot in front of
our hut, were seated three brawny
savages, naked, and painted with black
and vermillion stripes, and two others,
in a similar costume" were dancing
around young birch tree to which was
bound. hand and foot, poor Bill Marston!
WAITED TO hear no more. HurryiDg
forward as rapidly as possible from the
nature of the ground and my desire to
remain unseen, l soon came to the thick
growth of trees in the midst of which
our hut had been built. There was, of
course, no hut now. Everything had
been destroyed that would have been
useless to our savage foes; the rest, most
likely, lying in full view Of their misera.
bic owner. On my hands and knees ]
forced my way silently through the
thick underwood until within forty
yards of the hostile circle. This move.
ment had, Of course, taken some time
for to break twig or stir leaf would
have insured my destruction-sndw when
/ again parted the branches before me I
found the two Indians busily piling
around their prisoner materials for fire
wherewith to roast him. j plainly saw
that prom pit action alone would save
MarstOn, who was CURING the "blast.
ed, sneaking, cowardlyS red.skinned
heat hen," with every variety of oath
known TO the fraternity-snd there are
some strange ones.
The three savages who looked on were
sitting on log half buried in the messy
earth, and the idea struck me that as my
rife threw q bullet with very great force,
if | could get at them all in time might
kill them at one shot, or, at all events,
kill one and perhaps severely would the
other two. i therefore crept silently
back and considerably further to the
right, where, much to my qualification,
l found / could draw bead on their three
heads in line.
/ had Just got into my new position,
and was pushing rife before me over a
log which l intended making a rest,
when / saw new light spring up at the
pile, and soon the FIRE formed bright
circle around my doomed friend. At the
same time the most distant of the three
ssvsges arose, and in another moment
would doubtless have joined the yelling
fiends around the fire; but with q quick
glsnce along the barrel of my trusty rife
I sent the bullet forth on its errapd of
death. The two painted serpents on the
log fell backward, and the other sprang
into the air with howl of pain. With
msniacsl ell--strategeticslly followed
by Marston-I rushed forward and lev
eled one of the two hideous imps dancing
around the fire, who were taken too
much by surprise TO know whether the
attack was made by one or a score. The
other, with his wounded comrade, fed
sfirighted into the woods while scat
tered the burning pile and, cut the bonds
of: my friend. No sooner was he free
than he bounded TO the log behind which
my two victims lay silent in death, and
SELLING their rifles, dashed into the dark
shadows of the forest, shouting to me to
follow him. In few minutes We were
beyond the betraying light of the scat
tered fire, when suddenly stopping his
swift tho silent advance, Msrston caught
my arm and hurriedly told pe to reload
my rife, at the same time testing the
captured weapons, which ne found al
ready charged. Twas eager to get as
great a distance from our enemies as
possible, and 30 told Msrston; but he
soon convinced me would only bring
on the destruction ] would escape.
For" said he, "if them NJ redskins
diskiver that they aren't chased, they
aren't chased, they won't run fur; and
the chances are that they raise our har
afore we'd been asleep an hour of our
first bivOuac."
In order to ascertain II the Indians had