Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1886-11-05

fust day, and when I went into camp l had
about got my nerve back At this pint the
strip Of timber along the river was about 20
rods wide. Then there was a valley from
three to Ave miles wide, and then the noun
tains.
81 unloaded the mule and turned her loose
to find her own grub, known that she would
be on hand In the mornin'. She was beast
which had bin in the huutin' bizness all her
life, and she could smell an Injun or locate a
grizzly quicker nor any dog l ever sot eyes
on. In fact, depended on her TO give nue.
wsrnin' in case anything happened durin'
the night, and my confidence was not mis-
placed. 1t was about midnight when she
pulled oHn me, and as l set up and looked
around, kinder dazed like, she kept her head
pinted to the north, aud softly whimpered,
as IL tryin' TO talk to me. 1t was starlight
night, but with more or less clouds drivin'
over, and IL was so dark in the timber that
you couldn't have seen q man ten feet away.
didn't know exactly what to do-whether to
| keep quiet or TO scout around but the old
mule kept up her whimperin', and seemed 30
plainly to say that l ought to do sunthin',
that made a break and she follered me.
When / got up TO the aige Of the timber the
first thing that caught my eye was number
of bright lights across the valley in the foot
| hills, and ae l held my breath to listen, /
heard the faint barkn' Of dogs and the shouts
of people.
II understood the situation in jist about a
mint. A band of redskins had come into
the valley-mebbe huntin' party, and meb-
be whole village. 1t was warnn' that a
white man about my size had better pack up
and be of, and tell you didn't let no grass
grow under my feet in gittin' ready. had
Travelled in the timber during the day, to keep
out OF sight aud to hide my trail, but now 1
left the shelter and took to the valley. had
had four OF FIVE hours to daylight, and the
way that mule and me got up and bumped
ourselves amazed the coyotes. l Jest knew
that we we're fully twenty miles away when
daylight broke. The timber now was scat
tered along in groves, and afore daylight was
too strong we took to shelter in a bit of tim
Der containin' perhaps half an acre. This
timber run to the bank OF the river, and the
bank at that spot was eight or ten feet high.
~ wasn't jist what you might call an A l
Injun fighter. As had put twenty miles be-
tween me and the Injuns down the valley,
sorter figgered that there wasn't another red
| skin higher than them, and that / could take
things pretty easy fur a spell. l unloaded
the mule and turned her loose, and had jist
eaten bit of cold breakfast when the beast
| cum slyly through the bushes, ears laid back
and eyes shinin', and gin me to understand
that sunthin was wrong agin. She didn't
pint her head lords the valley, b ut straight
fur the river, and l says to myself that per-
haps she scented Injuns who were passin' up
and down in canoes 1 shouldered my rifle
and crept lords the bank, but hadn't gone
thirty yards when crack crack went two
rifles, and two bullets tipped past my head
in q way to make me dizzy With a scream
such IS q wild beast might give the mule
| made a rush in the direction of the shots,
and l follered on.
"This was what had happened and what
did happen. couple of Injuns were per
haps oumin' down the valley when they saw me
take to the grove. They saw me- but didn't
see them. They entered the grove on the upper
side, leavin' their ponies tied to a tree, and
were workin' around to get a shot at me
when the mule twigged the game. Both
fred at the same instant, and rs a cOnse-
| quence both rifles we're empty when the mule
charged EN-. To escape her-aud I'm tellin
you that she'd have taken hold like dog
they scrambled up a cottonwood CROWN on
the very age of the bank. One of EN- drop
| ped his rifle on the ground, while the other
took his up. This mule stood nigh the foot
| of the tree PAWN and squealin', and as soon
as l saw how the land lay lifted my rifle
for q shot. The Teller who had taken his
gun up was workin to load her, but l stop.
| ped him. My bullet hit MIN IN the shoulder,
and it was catch and go that he didn't tum
Bile. l was loadin' fur another shot, and was
| takin' notice that the unwounded one was
climbin' higher, when the mule jumped back
with a snort, and the tree began to go over.
1t went slowly and the reds yelled out in ter
ror. When it struck the water there was an
awful splash and great commotion. The tree
was too green to float, and the water was sc
deep that only few branches showed above
the surface. l reckon that both Injuns were
pinned down in some manner, fur neither
one Of EN- showed up after the splash.
kept clus watch all about the place fur hall
an hour but not a sign of them could l see
81 got one of their rifles which was 6
splendid weapon, two ponies worth $10C
apiece, lot of steel traps and large amount
OF powder aud lead. 1t was moren a weeh
after that when rode into Fort Benton, bu
never saw another Injun nor had the less
worry. When the fellers of the fort wanted
to pat me on the back and call me big Inj IN
pointed to the mule and said:
"Gents, there stands the ole gal entitled tc
all the credit, and the thing I'm unhappy
about is that she can't wear a silk dress"