Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1883-06-16
TETE FRONTEEEC SgAgF.


"Thc bloody villains, - muttercd Sandy
McGoyern to himself, as he sat Oh his
horse surveying the scene OF desolation
and death, "the bloody, murderin' scoun-
drels."
In front of little knoll on which Sandy
had reined his horse was a confused
heap of broken wagons. Here and there
a dead horse, already partially stripped by
the cayotes, and scattered up and down
the line of wagons the bodies Of men who
evidently died fighting. 1t did not need
the hideous red patches on top Of the
skulls, where the scalps had been torn off,
to tell the old fronticrsman that he saw
before him all that was left of an cmigrant
train that had been surprised by Indians.
To his experienced eye the slight signs
which would have escaped man new to
the plains, told him that the massacre had
taken place, at the most, 5ut two days
before.
As he rode slowly along he suddenly
heard faint sound. With his nerves
strung by the scene which lay before him,
the frontiersman, whose senses were al
ways alert, found his attention attracted
at once, and stopping his horse he listened
intently. Dismounting and walking to
the place he listened once more. In an
other minute he heard it again. 1t was
something like faint cry, and il seemed
to be smothercd in some way. Sandy
stood close by the wagon, his hands rest
ing upon the footboard III front. Again
he heard it, and this timo more plainly
than before. Fairly loaping to the foot
board he opened the long box i'll front,
the top of which forms in 4 prairie
schooner the drivers seat, and saw lying
in it q little child.
The big frontiersman lifted the baby
for it was scarcely morc-out OF It's
strange resting-place as tenderly as
mother. He saw that the child was weak
from its long fast, and, placing it gently
on his blankets, nc began to search for
something fit to eat. Finding bag Of
flour, he made with little sugar, kind
of thin Cruel, heating it over q fire he had
hastily kindled. Taking the baby in his
arms, he fed it slowly and cautiously.
With infinite patience the big-hearted
man went through this strange task,
until, after some time, he had the salts
faction Of seeing the little one refuse to
swallow any more. Then sitting on tho
tongue Of the wagon, with the dead lying
all around him, Sandy rocked the baby in
his arms until it went to sleep.
Placing it in his blankets and covering
it up carefully, he examined the box in
which he had found it. Ia tho bottom
was rough horse blanket. Thrown over
the edge was a piece of rope, placed there
to prevent the lid shutting tight. Along
side of the child he found half of brace
let, evidently cheap imitation one, which
looked as though it had been torn of from
the other. At tho lower end of the box
there was a confused heap of baby clothes,
thrust in hastily. All of these things
Sandy took. lie found even the water in
the spring beside which the train had
camped, to give his newly-discovered
treasure bath, which seemed to do the
little one 4 great deal of good.
For one week Sandy stayed there,
spending his whole time looking after the
baby. He saw the child grow strong and
bright, and ne found the feeding, wash
ing and dressing of the "kid," as he had
already christened it, q source of ever-in-
creasing delight. At the end Of that time,
having the broken bracelet carefully
slowed away in his saddle-bags, Sandy
mounted his horse, and, taking the "kid''
in his arms, left the scene Of the massacre
never to see it again.
Wha: wonderful change sixteen years
make in men and women! The glossy
brown hair may have become thin in that
time, and on the once smooth face time
may print moro than one fine wrinkle
telling of the deep burrows to come. Six
teen years have somewhat whitened Sandy
McGoyern's hair, and his figure is more
pertly than it was when he rode away
from the scene Of that desert massacre.
And sixteen years have transformed the
''kid" into tall, stalwart lad Of eighteen,
full of health and strength. Robert Ne
Govern, as Sandy had called the baby he
found in the olG wagon box, looked mag
nifcently as he rode up to the house,
crossing the little stream in one easy leap
of his horse. For the sixteen years had
brought wealth to Sandy with the gray
hairs. It really seemed as il everything
he touched prospered after he rescued the
baby. He made more money in trapping
that year than he had in any two before,