Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1883-10-18
THE SKELETONS STORY.

EfE 80
Ride closer!
1t is two miles ahead to the foothills
two miles OF parched turf and rocky
space. To the right 4 the left-behlnd.
is the rolling prairie. This broad val
lev strikes the Sierra Nevadas and stops
as if wall had been built across it.
What isiit on the grass? Askull here
"a rib there-bones scattered about as
the wild beasts left them after the hor-
rible feast The clean-picked skull
grins and stares-every bone and scat
tered lock of hair has its story of a
tragedy. And what besides these rel
les? More bones hot scattered, but
lying in hcaps-a yertebra with ribs at
tached-a fleshless skull bleaching UNI
der the summer sun. Wolves! Yes.
Count the heaps of bones and you will
find nearly score Open boats are
picked up at sea with neither life nor
sign to betray their secret. Skeletons
are found upon the prairie, but they tell
plain story to those who halt beside
them. Let us listen:
Away of to the right you can see
tree-tops. Away off to the left you can
see the same sight The skeleton is in
line between the two points. He left
one grove to ride to the other. To ride!
Certainly; mile away is the skeleton
of horse or mule. The beast fell and
was left there. If he left the grove at
noon he would have been within a mile
of this spot at dusk. 1t is therefore
plain that he did not leave until MD
afternoon, or possibly at dusk. Signs
of Indians may have driven him from
his trapping-g ground. or mayhap he had
exhausted the game and was shifting to
new fields.
It is months since that ride, and the
trail has been Obliterated. Were it
otherwise, and you took it up from the
spot where the skeleton horse now lies,
YOU would find the last three or four
miles made at a tremendous pace.
''Step! step! STEP
What is it? Darkness has gathered
over mountain and prairie as the hunt
er joys along over The broken ground.
Overhead the countless stars look down
upon him-around him is the pail of
night. There was the patter of foot
steps ON the dry grass. He halts and
peers around him. but the darkness is
too deep for him to discover any cause
for alarm.
'.Patter! patter! patter!'
There it is again! 1t is not fifty wards
from where he last halted The steps
are too light for those of an Indian. A
grizzly would rush upon his victim with
roar of defiance and anger.
panther would hurl himself through
thirty feet of space with a scream to
unnerye the hardest hunter.
k"Wolvesn whispers the hunter, as a
howl suddenly breaks upon his ear.
Wolves! The gaunt, grizzly wolve;
of the, foothills -thin, and poor, and
hungry, and sava ge- the legs tireless-
the mouth full Of teeth that can crack
the shoulder-bone of a buffalo. He car
see their dark forms fitting from point
to point-the patter of their feet on tho
parched grass proyes that he is sur
rounded.
g Now the race begins. There is M
shelter until the grove is reached In
stinct guides the horse, and terror lashes
him with such whip as human hant
never welded. Over space. through
the gloom. almost as swift as an arrow
sentby a strong hand. but n dark lin,
follows. A line of wolves spreads on
to the right and left, and gallops after
tongues out-eyes tiashing-great flake
of foam flying back to blotch stone ant
grass and leave a trail to be followed b,
the cowardly coyotes.
Men ride thus only when life is tn,
stake. A horse puts forth such, spec.
only when terror follows close behint
and causes every nerve to tighten like
wire drawn until the scratch of finge
makes it chord with wall of despair
A pigeon could not skim the valley witt
such swiftness, and yetthe wings of fat
are abroad, and long, and tireleSs. Tn
line is there aye! it is gaining! Inc
by inch it creeps up, and the red eye
take on more savage CLEAN as tn
hunter cries out to his horse and open
lire from his revolverS. A wolf falls o.
the right-a second on the left. Doe
the wind cease blowing because it meet
foreSt9 The fall of one man in ma,
mob simply increases the determination
Of the rest. "a 1-s..-F -.E-
With cry so full of the despair tina
wells up from the heart of the siren
man when he gives up his struggle fo
lliC tudt ttc stlAlOStf UcucNcS
companion rides beside him. the hOrs
staggers plunges forward
falls TO The earth. 1t was q glOriou
struggle. hut he has lost.
The wings of the dark line oblique t
the. center-there is confused heap @
snarling. fighting. maddened beast:
and the line rushes forward again
Saddle, bride and blanket are in shred
1.-The horse skeleton. And now tn
chase is after the hunter. He has ha
3. mile the start, and as he runs tn
veins stand out, the muscles tighter
and he wonders at his own speed. b
hind him are the gaunt bodies and til
tireless legs. Closer, closer. and no
he is going to face fate as a brave ma
should. He has halted. In an instar
a circle is formed about him-a circl
Of red eyes. foaming mouths an
yellow fangs which are to meet in h
flesh. = -e.u. ~ 81 ls.s .l.s
There is an interval-a breathir
spell. He looks up at the stars2o,
upon the night. tits his last hour. b.
there is No -4uaking-no crying out
the night to send him aid. AS IL
wolves rest flash blinds their eyes
seconds third -aud fourth. and the
give way before the man they had loo
ed upon as their certain prey. But it
only for a moment He sees the
gathering for the rush, and firing his r
manning bullets among them he seiz
his long rifle by the barrel and braces
meet the shock. Even a savage wou
have admired the heroic fight he MAJ
for. life. He sounds the war cry and whir
his weapon around him, and wolf aft
wolf falls disabled. He feels a stran,