Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1886-01-01

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more peculiar circumstances. There were,
as | Just said about forty of us, includ-
ing Governor. uftCrWard Gen. Stevens,
and three other men, well known III that
time in connection with Indian affairs
Near us were encamped about LOO In
dians, who had come thther, nomlnally
for II conference, but really was, and
am, well ati,tied--with the intention of
taking ollr sCalps. ! knew their ways
well, and there was no mistake to my
mind about their purpose. My four com
panons, Gov Stevens, Borland, Duval
and Sinclair, had been hopeful at first
but had come to agree with me and.
sitting there by the camp fire one night,
which | remember as il 1t were yesterday,
we knew that any moment might be our
last. Naturally we spoke of death, ana
gradually drifted into II discussion as to
the way in which each of us would prefer
to make his exit from this world
I" For my part said the Governor, i
would crave the boon of a bullet straight
between the eyes Well said Borland,
Il would not care to go quite as quickly as
that. There is place near the heart
where the ball would give its victim some
minutes What do you say, Duval p l
asked.
"'Gve me the muzzle of Derringer
Just over the right ear And you, Sin
clairY 4 would have it take me in the
back of the head. And now you have
been questioning the rest of us what do
Ion, said |, 4 would like a better job
made than any of you. | would have my
head blown Off, once for all, by u cannon
shot
well, madam, there was something
very strange about what happened. /
suppose some of the party had what they
ed by the Indians in camp near us-l sup
pose because they missed the chance of
surprising us-and we separated. Borland
went down the river AS he reached the
Cascades, the well known battle which
took its name from them was beginning.
He was shot from ambush, HCdrt hCdrt.
He was carried to shelter and lived just
thirty minutes. Duval was Il man of I'M
fortunate habits, which mastered him at
times. Not long after we parted, and i'll Il de-
lirium, he put the muzzle of Il Derringer
to the side of his head and blew his brains
out. Sinclair went, like the brave but
rash man that he was, among the mem
bers of "A tribe which he had known well,
but which had become disaffected. While
he was talking with them a shot hit him
full in the back of his head and he never
knew what nurt him. Gov. Stevens was
Il West Pointer He went East and be
came General in the Union army, and a
good one. While he was leading II charge,
just about the time Phil. keatney was
killed, IL rifle-ball struck him Just between
the eyes. Well, Il man won't 90 till his
time comes, and have not seen "A cannon
fired from that time to this!'
Miss X. sat at II little distance from me,
on the left; Mrs. w. at my right and
near me. She turned to me, and | saw
the question in her eyes, before she whis
pered it:
"What do you say to presentiments
now ?"
smiled and sat silent, as did we all, for
some time. Mrs. w. then began to show
signs of restlessness. Miss X. had been
very quiet from the first. | had glanced
at her once or twice and thought how
strange her lot in life had been. Had she
forgotten Robert | was specializing on
this question when Mrs. w. suddenly
asked our friend from the village to tell
her more of his adventures in the West
"W ell. madam" said he, 81 was think
ing just this moment of strange and sad
one. 1t might interest you to hear of it,"
HIS voice and manner were quite differ
ent from what they were during the pre-
vious narration. He spoke slowly, and in
low tones, and he never once turned his
eyes from the line of coast to the north
ward.
"a number of years ago." he said, Il
was going from Leavenworth across the
plains. ] had with me a party of twelve
men, well armed and equipped. We reach
ed the mountains without encountering
any special danger or difficulty, and work
ed our way into the West Mountain Val
ley. We knew the Indians were trouble
some in that region and we were contin-
ually on our guard One morning, when
| was Il little III advance of the rest, | saw
Il man emerge from group of trees and
signal to us. AS we approached each
other, | saw he was about 60 years of age,
with gray hair and beard and he was
lame and walked wi h much difficulty.
He held out his hand as we met, and he
addressed me eagerly.
"'Pard said he Pm mighty glad to see
help comm, an no mistake. Say, are yer
IL doctEr? No? Well, perhaps yer know
somethin' about wounds and sickness an
yer've got some medicine in Yer outfit >
He went on to explain that a party of five
of them had been followed and harried by
the Indians and had had no rest, and were
lighting all the time. He himself had IL
wound in the leg, and lost So much blood
that he was faint and weary. But don't
mind me, he went on, Jest come an
look at one O my pards him that we
thought the world of. He got an arrow
through the thigh three days ago, and he's
mighty bad. poor fellow. Come along
this way We soon reached Il rude en-
campment and were greeted with joy by
two or three thin, worn men. On apple of
blankets, under II rough shelter of boughs
lay the yOungest-the Benjamin of the
party. ! stopped down and looked at him.
and | knew enough about surgery to tell
that he wasn't long for this world; he
had been very badly wounded, fever had
ensued, and he was now quite uncon-
scious He was Il fine, handsome fellow,
and we all felt mighty sorry for him. The
old man who had gone to meet me wept
like IA child when told him there was no
hope. Night was coming ON and told my
men to see to the camp, get supper and
stand guard, so that the poor fellows we
had met could get square meal and then
some rest, which they needed sadly.
staid by the sick man. He lay quiet for
some time. There was nothing in the
world to do for him. | have seen plenty
of men die and knew his call had come.
Later III the evening he was restless and |
gave him a little water to moisten his
lips but am sure he vas quite uncon-
scous. The moon came out before mid
night and it was very bright in the valley.
| do not know at what hour | saw the
poor fellow move. Then he began pick
ing with his thin fingers ut the miners
blanket which covered him, and this is a
sure sign that death is not faraway. Then
he began TO speak in IA low, faint voice,
yet quite distinctly enough for me to I'M
derstand, 1t was the most remarkable
communication ever heard in nv life.