Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1888-11-15

denly found myself between two bod
les. There wasn't one chance in
thousand of my getting away. and In
the minute they gave me for reflection
I determined to down as many of them
as could. l therefore rode straight
at the larger party. which consisted
of about a hundred warriors, having
revolver in either hand and my horse
rushing like a wild locomotive. 1t
seemed as if every man fired at me be-
fore l got up, but l was not hit
rode through and over them, and then
wheeled and rode back, and it was
only after my revolvers were empty
that a warrior knocked me off my
horse with a blow of his rifle. I had
killed two and wounded seven with my
twelve shots. Even the other three
had not been lost. as l had downed
two ponies. Mad! Well, if they were
not the maddest gang of redskins ever
heard of on the plains! l should have
been cut to pieces at once but for the
chiefs, of whom there were three o.
four along. White Horse was head
chief, and as he fought the warriors
back he explained that l was to be
saved for torture. l could understand
the lingo, and made up my mind tina.
l had taken my last scout.
There were thirty soldiers in the
command l had brought out, and this
large band of Indians was afraid OF
them. They signed to me to mount
my horse again, and we went off at &
pace which hardly slackened until We
had travelled fifteen miles. They then
went into camp at the head Of 8
ravine, and the ponies had scarcely
been unsaddled and sentinels posted
when they assembled at fire to de-
bate my case. 1t was as we'll known
before as afterward that was to be
tortured, but an Indian has regular
programme to follow in such cases. A
dozen warriors spoke. but none for
me. l did not expect any one to.
There lay their dead and wounded.
and of the latter two were sure to die
before morning. 1t took them about
half an hour to bring in their verdict,
and by that time it was shutdown. !
had been disarmed, of course, and my
arms were also tied behind my back.
This latter piece of work was a sloven-
ly job, as l soon ascertained, and
while lying on the ground and waiting
the verdict felt sure that could re-
lease myself. Two warriors pulled
me to my feet and led me forward to
hear my sentence. White Horse had
just risen to his feet when couple of
bears came up the ravine, and some of
the warriors opened fire upon them.
supposed, and no doubt all the
Indians around me believed, that the
camp had been attacked by my friends.
There was confusion and a general
movement, and at the same instant ]
twisted my arms loose, knocked over
two or three redskins in front of me,
and few out of the mouth of the
ravine, calling to my horse as l ran.
have no doubt that one hundred bull
lets were fired at me inside of three
minutes, but my horse came at my
call, swung myself to his back, and,
as we went tearing away, both of us
were untouched. gave him his head
and his pace, and he ran like a race
horse for at least fifteen miles. Then
he slackened down and looked for our
band, but they had retreated ten miles
before going into camp. We reached
it safe and sound, but l had lost an
outfit worth three hundred dollars.
An adventure of mine much talked
of, and which is twice referred to in
military orders, happened between
Fort Sully and temporary post on
the Big Cheyenne, fifty miles away,
called Camp Terry. AS the whole
route was swarming with hostiles, ]
left Sully early in the evening, forded
the Missouri, which was then at low
stage, and struck off to the northwest.
l meant to ride all night and lay up
the next day, and every thing went
well by to midnight. had dismount-
ed to walk and rest my horse when l
heard the hoof-beats of horses behind
me. There was half moon, and one
could see an object as large as horse
three hundred feet away. They had
either seen me leave the fort or blum
dered over my trail and were now rid
ing me down. mounted and sought
to gauge my pace by theirs. l knew
that it was their custom to spread out
in a long line, and that it was no use
to attempt to flank them. 1 would
ride ahead, save my horse as much as
possible, and hope to reach the camp.
had the instinct of wild animal
as to the points of the compass, but
there were so many Instructions in my
path that was forced to bend more
and more to the west, and l finally felt
that l must hit the stream several
miles above the camp. The Indians
did not rush me. perhaps not knowing
of the camp and my destination. Be-
tween two and three o'clock there was