Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-05-13
SHOT IN THE SADDLE.

There were rocks ahead-tbere WIGS 10
doubt of that For weeks We had heard
whispers OF an Indian rising, and now the
redskins had us henmed in On every side.
! The white settlers had long ago left the terri
tory, and we were holding the fort In utter
desperation. Dear old fort, what happy
DAYS We had spent In it! How bravo and
! bright the hearts that beat therei 1t was
picturesauely rough. The winding river
could be seen a mile away, gliding and
! ouivering through the trees like huge ser
| pent. The air was laden with the scent Of
! the pine bloom, and the prairie round was
soft as velvet. The high stockade THAT ran
! round the barracks made the position all but
! inpregnable, and we kept the old flag float
ing over it to the lest. But the day came
when we had to leave it, flying for our lives
We were only handful OF men from the be-
ginning. The captain had been murdered by
the red devils three weeks before when par
Ieying with one Of the chiefs and Bruce, his
orderly, galloped back with an arrow in his
lungs and died two days after. Scottie and
Ford succumhed to typhoid fever and were
buried behind the stables, and only six Of the
bows were left besides myself to see the end
of it.
was in charge after the captains death,
and when l saw them drag his mutilated
body past the fort l felt sorely tempted to
trust to luck ard make one good cid fashioned
charge at the dusky scoundrels. But l had
great responsibility upon my shoulders then,
and as was only q non-ccmmissiohed officer
did not care to be toe rash or to fool away
my comrades lives unnecessarily. A prairie
trooper is not just the most refined character
ho - not in M
society, nor does he see many new faces; but
he loves his comrades all the more for that,
and knew there was not man among us
that would not die for the other il it came to
pinch.
So we kept on our weary watch, waiting
for the help that was never to come
Dear old chums, how brave and patient
they were! II l had been a general they
could not have obeyed me better. 1 wonder
if an odder squad Of men were ever shaken
together2 Here was old Peter, the veteran,
always talking of the 'precarious times, !"
but as game as pebble in spite of his frosted
head; and Frenchy, so called from the long
goatee he insisted upon sporting as often as
he could find an officer good natured enough
to tolerate it; there was the parson, nick
named on account of his never ceasing pro-
family but who was as tender hearted
as a woman; Ananias, always telling
the most impossible yarns, and invaria-
bly, ending with the solemn asseverations
''This ia a true story" Fatty, ever on the
lookout for meal and, last of all, there was
dear old handsome Curly-every who knew
him loved him. His voice was the loudeSt
and bis laugh the merriest everywhere. His
heart was as big as house, and he always
had smile and kindly word for every poor
wretch that ever needed one He was q
reckless dog, and ofterAr in scrapes than any
nan in the command; he aeceived his repri-
mands and punishments In due course, and
when they were over was again as bad as
ever. The men adored him, and the officers
thought nothing that was done was good
enough or bad enough unless Curly had q
hand in it too. How he used to laugh when
an Indian came within range and how inces-
sanity he used to pop at him, ''just for fun!n
It was all hard enough work while it
lasted, though we never knew from one mo-
ment tc another when the enemy might
storm u.s. and the horses were kept saddled
day and night, in case of surprise
We had to keep our eyes skinned, you can
bet on that The Indians were round US,
not 100 yards away. and seemed to diVins
how scarce our provisions and ammunition
were
For a week or two we had peppered them
gayly; but it soon became too expensive an
amusement, and we had to husband every
cartridge we could count, against the day
when they might mean mems lives Right
up the hills behind, right On to the river in
front, they lay in wait for Us; ond the curl
hair tr,ld
what swarms they mustered
Escape seemed quite impossible. The
stores were all but finished, and half rations
was the order Of the day. for man and beast.
The horses had the worst Of 1t, think; de-
prived of exercise and stinted Of their food,
their legs began to swell, and the want of
water made their coats rough and staring
and their terapers vicious and uncertain.
Things went on like this for more than
month, and at last we had not more than
three days provisions left amongst US. The
well had dried up completely, too, owing to
the awful drought, and the men were begin
ming to be wild and desperate.
1 had Just dropped asleep one night after O
long night watch when Frenchy woke me to
say that q fresh detachment Of Indians had
crossed the river on raft, which was moorsi
close to the horses old watering ground.
This he had distinctly seen from the look out
tower On The old hospital root, and be fur
ther added the alarming information that
the newcomers had their feathers on and
were dancing TO the beat Of the tcznton
This was as bad as could be, for the feath-
cred heads and muffied beating betokened
bloodshed was up in moment, and every
loopho.e in the corral was stopped as fast as
-silliDg hands could do il. The borsss were
led into tho square, and the little squad,
armed TO tie teeth, gathered together pre-
pared to defend their lives as only Desperate
men know bow to DO.
We had not long to wait. We saw the
mob in front Of us grow larger and heard
the gutteral yells that greeted the big chiefs
speech, and then they came toward Us in
solid naaI Forty yards away they stopped
and forming q circle round the barracks,
fired voiley after voiley az Us, but their bui-
lets struck haraalessly In the palisades or few
high above our heads
Occasionally they would FIRE arrows In tbs
cir to which vece attached burning raz
with the evident intention Of sestaag fire 10
eur buildinH
For many hours this went %, tie redskins
knowing that they had rs completely trapped.
while We dared not waste our ammrrftion
oy the discharge Of single shot At lass
they succeeded in firing the stables, snd the
old wood burned like finder.
fatty and Frenchy got Up to the root at
once to try and save the place, brs hardly
had they shown themselves whea there was
deaiening gun fire, and Fatty fell dead az
our feet, shot through the bead.
We were determined that the Indiana
kaaudHot IssthM body d ussflaso ana di.,