The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1888-11-23

logs, which he snRked N the top
with the six horses, and hs center
of the fortiacatiopS he msd his
timbers together, mMkt e mighty
solid structure, pastly into the
ground. : ssaSssssll,2
"When 1 had tl,ssari - i finish
ed Stover had his neG set up,
and it was the qusstsse bking ar
rangement ever nv. had all
been made in Kaaaas Esty and
put together thess. 1hsn he
had taken it apart Numbered
each piece, and It Ws1 together
again without q hitch. There were
four rows Of short rins bAissSSls, about
ten barrels in q row, and 10 row un.
der the other. The mutaaes of the
barrels were slightly. fdsther apart
than the butts, % that ~ battery
had o sort Of a fan l6 4. The next
row under was .ths sams TN, but the
barrels wetv not exacUty thhder eaeh
other. I saw that II the thing would
shoot it would cover quite a bit Of
territory, and cover it pretty we'll ut
that. The whole affair was very
clumsy looking, but it turned quite
easily on q swivel and could be made
70 sweep the whole horizon. Then
the OLD man made me get g lot of
pores ana sent me out ground the fort
aho nad me set up the poles at diff
leient points al around, while he
sighted the machine gun. There was
| one disaflvantageab about the thing and
that wasit could not be raised or low
ereo ana II tne enemy once got within
lts range IL would be useless: l
Polhted TINS out TO old Stover, but
ne mercy smiled IN his superior way
ana SAD ne would like to see any one
get past MS battery. After tile poles
were set all around we tried the gun.
Stover had set out a lot OF thin steel
bars punched with ten holes, and in
eacn OF the noles was placed a rifle
cartridge. He put the four loaded
pafs IN position, ana closed up and
ciampeu a sort OF steel door or lid
agamst the breech. on the outside
responded with those on the inside,
and when it was closed he pulled q
lever IKE one on an Old fashioned
pruning press, and the whole
thng went OIL with roar and rat
Tie that was TERRIFYING. Every outside
steel bar had ten brads one opposite
each cartridge, and q jerk on the
lever set'em all off. Then he threw
down the door, flung the bars with
the empty shells on the ground and
put IN the next loaded set. Then
the first set was loaded upagain.
when the first volley was fired it
just moved down the bushes around
one OF the stakes as If a lawn mower
mad been run through them. Now,
BoIder, he said, i don't see no signs
OF lndinns, and we must have been
here over three weeks. l must use
you Tor bait. You get on Sam, the
fastest horse. and scour around the
country. Keep II sharp lookout. and
the moment you see an Indian make
iof mere. sam will outrun 'eln every
tlme. II you don't get so close as to
be within range OF EN-. Igrowled n
good deal but had togo. Mymonth
wouldn't he up for another week.
The ftrst day l didn't get q nib
BILE; The next day tcpk.n cnmpnss
ana went further rom camp In the
aiternoon thought saw q couple
OF moving dots on one otthe far away
hills: Anyhow; made for camp as
quick as l could, and before evening
.he Indians were oil around the hill,
but they kept out OF range and
seemed to be sizing US up. We
Kept watch all night but they made
no move.
IN the morning they made their
attack. they seemed to have pick
eted their horses and were crawling
at us through the grass: Old Stover
was in high feather. He watched
them with that eagle eye OF his and
could tell by the movements of the
grass J ust where they we're.
NOW, then, he said, you lie low
ana I'LL up the steel bars with cart
ridges as l empty them. When l
have fired two or three times be ready
with a pail OF water to throw over
the gun barrels.
HE kept moving the machine from
one side to the other and at last got
1t where ne wanted 1t. Then lie took
hold of the lever and watched the
grass. All at once he pulled, and the
yell that rose from the grass almost
drowned out the roar Of the guns.
what was left of the Indians sprang
up ana ran. lie got one more shot
at them and moved them down like
grain! For 9 couple of days there
was no sign of Indians, and then it
seemed they had got large re.en-
forcements. They tried the other
side OF the fort and came dashing ne
us on horseback. The moment tht
lndlans were level with the stakes
Old Stover pulled his gun. 1t was
the most awful havoc l ever saw.
The horses were wild and the old
man fired eight volleys into 'cm be-
fore what was left got out OF range.
THAT was the last we saw Of the
Indians. The old man insisted on
going and counting the dead. l
tried to get him not to, for was
sure the Indians were Just LAYING low
wrong. They knew when they had
enough ana nad left for some health
,er pace. When the Old man came
pack - so,, nc said:
mere JUST sixteen OF them Tor
every one they Killed OF mine, and