St. Landry democrat., 1888-07-21

| signing over the barren plains, and il
brought to my ear the footballs Of
horses. They came from the direction
L was headed, and would pass very
near me. No two dangers have the
same situation. 1t might have been 6
good plan to dismount and lead my ami
NAL to the right or left. | judged il
best to dismount and remain perfectly
quiet. All men who have studied the
Indian will tell you that his eye is quick
to detect moving object and that his
sense Of hearing is wonderfully acute
Even in the darkness they might see
us moving, and if the horses foot
struck stone the sound would Ger.
tainly reach them. The company Of
the mustang was better than that of the
Oldest scout on the plains. / stood
with one hand on his neck, and he was
as firm as a rock. He realized the
peril as fully as / did, and | believe be
reasoned something like this:
'Those persons who are approach
| ing are Indians. The slightest noise
will betray us. We must remain per-
fectly quiet, in hopes they will pass. II
discovered. we will run for it.'' .-r
In two minutes after receiving the
| first alarm the first Indian was up with
us, and not over thirty feet away.
They were not riding in single file, but
by twos, threes and fours, with the
evident purpose of making as broad a
trail as possible. | could see every
pony and warrior, and every instant /
expected to see some movement to
prove that we were discovered. The
ponies were on the walk. and there
We're forty-tWo Indians in the band.
believe they were four Or five minutes
| In passing, and during every second of
this time, if my horse had lifted a foot,
champed his bit, or flung his head, the
sound would have betrayed u.s. 1t did
not seem possible that we were thus to
escape, and when the band had finally
disappeared in the darkness, | was not
certain but there was some trick be-
hind it. | climbed softly into the
saddle, and let the mustang pick his
own way, and it was a full half hour
before | was satisfied that we were not
followed.
We soon got into very bad spot, cut
up in all directions with gullies and
Washouts, and our progress was slow.
The mustang naturally picked for the
best route, and about an hour before
daylight | suddenly discovered that we
We're on the stage road. There were
no coaches running then except at long
intervals, when a strong escort could
be had, while the Indians were riding
over the route at all hours [ dared
not travel it. but pulled off to the left
again, and as a consequence daylight
came while was yet mile and a half
from the station. 1t was not vet fully
light, and | was settling myself in the
saddle for gallop to the station, when
| heard the yells of Indians in that
direction. That settled it. They were
there before me, and my peril was now
far greater than that of the men | start
ed out to save. They were three in
number, and had the shelter of stout
log hut was alone and on the open
plains. To have pushed on meant
the loss OF my scalp; to attempt to
return to Fort Hays meant the same
thing.I had only couple of minutes to |
think, and there was only one chance |
OF escape. There was a big washout !
close at hand, and | led the mustang
into it, and made him lie down. When |
sat down beside him we were con-
cealed from the sight of any one pass
ing quarter of a mile away, and there
we must put in the day without food or
water. / hadn't brought SO much as
mouthful of meat with me, depending
On reaching the station by daylight,
and there wasn't drop of water with
IN a mile of us. We were scarcely set
led down before the station was vigor-
ously attacked, and / estimated the
number of Indians to be not less than
fifty. The three men were not sur
orised, though they had but slight
warming. They were provided with
'ixteen-shooters and revolvers, and
hey returned the fire with vigor.
The Indians must have know that
his station was not provided with a
lugout, for they had come prepared to
'urn it. The forage for the stage
lorses had to be kept within, and it's
nhammable nature gave the savages a
POINTER to work on. It was an I'M
ortunate thing, also, that the lay Of
he ground gave them cover to creep
p within boW-shot. For three or four
lours there was scarcely a lull in the
ring, and during the time, as was
fterward ascertained, four or five !
indians Were killed and a still larger :
lumber wounded. When the red
kins realized that the hut could !.
e defended against their rifles
hey sent men forward with ,
repaired arrows, and in the course of
alt an hour fired the building. Then .
heir yells were terrific. I could have
cen them by climbing "a. the edge OF .
ne washout, but feared > leave the
auimpgg alone. The three len cooped :
p had nd sEsw whate--sar after the
ames tooE hold. heHsPndians formed
circle ahaaHlssf,a c+atlor a,a ;4 y