The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1880-12-17
CHASED BY INDIANS.

during inc spring anu SUMMER vi
1865 CO. Z, 11th Kansas cavalry, was
stationed at Fort Larned, Kansas. Then
| there were no towns or even settlements
west of Salina, and even it was only a
very small Infant" Company c of the
same regiment was stationed at Fort
Dodge, some thirty miles farther west.
| The supposed duty of these troops was
TO keep the Indians quiet and escort the
stage coach carrying the L. S. mail TO
and from stations east and west of these
military posts. As the stage only paid
us visit semi-oecasionally there was a
| good deal Of time which would have
! hung heavily on our hands but for the
| fact thut there were thousandsof buffalo,
cially as Uncle Samuel furnished good
horses, good receivers and plenty OF am
muniiion. And besides this, did not ey-
cry buffalo we killed gain for us an
| agreeable respite from the usua! rations
of ''bacon and beans:"
One fine pring morning about thirty
of US, mounted and equipped, with a
| following of two six-mule teams to haul
our camp fixtures and the meat we
might secure, started out on grand
hunt. The majority of the company
were new hands at the business, and the
first herd of buffalo We sighted took the
alarm and started to run when we were
more than mile away. We didn't
know any better than to charge in a
body and boot and yell like troop OF
school boys The moment we caught sight
OF them.
1t took long run to get within reach
Of them but the feat was performed al
last and every mothers son of us began
firing. Buffalo have stout ribs, and be
fore shedding their winter coats, very
woolly hides. We didn't know but thai
a shot anywhere from the end of his nose
to the tip of his tail would bring buff
alo to the ground in the shortest kind Of
metre. And so we raced and yelled and
} poured in volley after volley of random
shots and plowed great burrows along
the woolly sides of the flying buffalo
until they began to scatter and each one
sought 10 secure his own safety by choos
ing route of his own. There fell &c
! my lot huge shaggy fellow whose wei
worn horns and slower pace denoted his
: seniority. He didn't seem TO care fol
the company of his kind--nor anything
else in fact but TO run toward the vino
and fill my eyes and mouth and nostril
, with dust and gravel which his clatter
: ing hoofs threw uD. l was too much ex
cited to notice which way the other
, were going or that they were not ali fol
I lowing the same course. didn't &c
! thet buffalo II lac lost drop of blooC
I was none the wiser. He dida't seen
, TO run very fast, but he kept at it. He
/; tumbled head-lons into ravines ant
). scrambled up steep places and-ran Of
! and left met Then sat still and watch
: ed him. The great, ugly creature seem
: ed, in the distance, to be tumbling emf
4 over end until, mile and half away
E he slackened his pace, halted, facet
: about and took farewell look at hi
5 late pursuer, and then leisurely trotte
5 of.
Then l began TO look around for til
I other hunters. Not a man il
e sight. AS far as the eve eouI
reach nothing but the applI
$ emily level plain could be seen Ii seen
e ed almost impossible that man or beas
|, could be found within hundred mile
: The sun seemed to have lost his way an
r persisted in sending his rays from th
far northwest. was lost. If my hors
; had had no better sense than myself
| should certainly have gone in an opp6
II site direction 70 that taken by the othe
l. hunters 1 was SO bewildered that a
= lowed my horse TO have his viii i
t everything. He stood quietly for fe,