The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1883-12-14
dust and dark, we could catch sight of any of

duet and dark, we could catch sight Of any of
that tuttering calico. They dashed, struck
and shot at us from all directions at once: but
we plunged through the midst of them, aud
went ut full drive among all those foundering,
believing steers ahead
"Only the darkness could have saved us
Dom tho bullets ana arrows that were si,rt at
us as we We're carried on II the midst OF the
stampede; and only heaven preserved us from
being crushed to death in the Jam of cattle
crowding along between the almost vertical
walls of rock on each side. Our ponies were
spry and nimbie; they were more used to cat
tie than lndan ponies, aud we could get ahead
ir the press faster than the redskins could fol-
low us.
"At length we came out among the foremost
cattle; IL a moment more we could have cleared
the whole jam Up to that u .,c not bali or
an arrow Lad touched us; but now a bullet-a
Jim. horse and all. He was half stride in
advance of my right Above the uproar, 1
heard HIM cry out and then saw pony and man
go headiong TO the ground.
CHECKING my horse with a jerk, tried to
pull up aud face about; but heavy steer ruiz
! ming plump against me, and the place beius
iriehttul rocky, my pony was upset and tum-
blod head foremost into deep rlit in the ledge,
where think he must have either broken his
legs or his neck, for we found him trampled
INTO The rl!t the next morning.
'By good luck my own neck was not broken,
and jumping to my feet, ran to jim. He lay
several yards iu front of his struggling pony
Don't wait for me, Ed, he groaned, as l
took hold of him. I can't go; can't get up
Look out for yourself old fellow"
Tho ball had gone through bis thigh, break
ing the bone ana fatally wounded the pony
beside him. Putting both hands under his
arms raised him; and then, partly carrying
and partly dragging him, l ran backwards,
stun oilng over rocks III the dark and soon
came against the shelving craig on the left side
| of the canYon-just as the dense mass Of steers
came believing and crowding on.
"Had it not been for little Granny, or cleft
in the lodges, We should have been quickly
stamped and troddeu to death. But right be-
yond projecting rock there CHANGED to be a
little nook, just large enough to shelter us,
which succeeded III dragging Jim into Then
ali that wild, crazy, bellowin', whooping crowd
of snortins steers and hoHlin' redskins plunged
and struggled by, like big avalanche smash
ing everything into it.
But those Injuns were careful not to get
very far in the press Of mad cattle. They had
lost sight Of us in the dusk and darkness of the
place; and don't suppose they ever had the
least idea what became of us. At any rate
| none of them came back to look for us
''Well, had a time of 1T there with Jim, try
ing to stop his bleeding. l tore up my SHIRT
aud stuffed the wound with lint rags, and
bound his leg tightly with stout strips, all the
while expecting that the redskins would come
back for U.S. At last l got tho ii wv OF blood
| checked. But did not dare to move him; and
it WAS not long before hewas burning hot with
fever"
ut was not till after daybreak that our three
| mates on the range came out in search of us
and found our trail With their helpI got Jim
to the shack, anu we made out to set HE
broken leg. In the course of a couple OF
months he was out again.
'Our old man los by that raid 500 head Of
fat steers, and felt pretty sore about it; but We
! had done the best we could for him. And
for Jim and me- we had lost uple of good
ponies; but we could 30 much better part with
them than with our lives, that, after all, VIC
didn't take the loss very much to heart"