Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1888-09-13

"Never expect to.
"'And how about me?'
don't expect you will either. l
hired you.'
"Great heavens l cried. jumping
up. DO you think l hired to get
killed for sixteen dollars q month";
"Soldiers do it for about that much, y
said old Slower, as calmly as if it were
an everyday bargain.
Yes, but soldiers know what they
are hiring for. didn't
"'Well, you can give me month S
notice and quit if you want to.
"a months notice! Where will
we be in a month if the Indians get on
to us?'
"sBlamed if know said old Sto-
yer.
"Well, next day the old man laid
out q system of Notifications and set
me at digging. He ran shallow
trench down to the river and took out
of one of the boxes coil of lead pipe
and uncoiled it down the ditch into the
river and fixed up natty little pump
inside the lines so that if the Indians
did come they could not cut us off from
the water. Then he covered up the
trench and there we were-al right as
far as water was concerned, which is
an important thing when you're fight
ing redskins. One of the boxes was
fixed so that it was water tight and
that we pumped full of water. Then
Slower left me working at the embank-
ments. went down to the timber belt
and got out some logs which he snaked
up to the top with the six horses and
in the center of the Notifications he
framed his timbers together, making
mighty solid structure, partly sunk
into the ground.
"When 1 had the earthworks fin
ished Slower had his machine set up
and it was the queerest looking az
rangement l ever saw. Ithad all been
made in Kansas City and put together
there. Then he had taken it apart,
numbered each piece, and it went
together again without hitch. There
were four rows of short rifle barrels,
about ten barrels in a row, and one
row under the other. The muzzles of
the barrels were slightly further apart
than the butts, so that the battery had
a sort of fan look. The next row
under was the same way, but the bar
rels were not exactly under each other.
saw that if the thing would shoot it
would cover quite bit of territory,
and cover it pretty well at that.
The whole affair was very clumsy
looking, but it turned quite easily on
d swivel and could be made to sweep
the whole horizon. Then the old man
made me get a lot of poles and sent
me out around the fort and had me
set up the poles at different points all
around, while he sighted the machine
gun. There was one disadvantage about
the thing. and that was that it could
not be raised or lowered, and if the en-
envy once got within its range it would
be useless. l pointed this out to old
Slower, but he merely smiled in his
way and said he would like to
see any one get past his battery.
After the poles were set all around we
tried the gun. Slower had set out a
a lot of thin steel bars punched with
ten holes, and in each of these holes was
placed a rifle cartridge. He put the
four loaded bars in position, and
closed up and clamped a sort of steel
door or lid against the breech. On the
outside of this door were our bars that
with those on the inside,
and when it was closed he pulled a lever
like one on an old-fashiOned printing
press, and the whole thing went off
with a roar and rattle that was ter
rifying. Every outside steel bar had
ten brads, one opposite each cart
ridge. and a 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 up again.
When the first volley was fired it
Just moved down the bushes around
one of the stakes as if a lawn mower
had been run through them. Now,
he said, 4 don't see no signs
of Indians and We have been here over
three weeks. Unjust use you for bait.
You get On Sam, the fastest horse. and
scour around the country. Keep a
sharp lookout, and the moment you see
an Indian make for here. Sam will
outrun 'em every time. if you don't
get SO close as to be within range of
EN- Igrowled a good deal, but had
to 60. My month wouldn't be up for
another week.
The first day didn't get nibble
Next day took a compass and went
further from the camp. In the after
noon thought saw couple of NOV