Omaha daily bee., 1888-10-14

tive only OF treasures and rapine, of
gold mines, murder, and the fierce NeZ
Perez and Blackfoot. | was compare
tiuely a young man and had had but
little active experience with the
Indians - Our troupe was stationed
at Browns Hole. | was a first
lieutenant. and one day, in command of
fifteen men was sent by my superior Of
ficer on n scout. The Blackfeet had
becn particularly audacious Of late, and
Just the night before we started, a band
had run off u lot Of government stock
from the corral Just outside the stock
AIDE. We had followed the red ~rascals
pretty close, and by 3 o'clock in the af-
tcrnOon, we were fully thirty miles
north of the fort. The face of the
country was materially different, and |
began to notice change in temperature.
The summer had just closed, | forgot to
mention, and the early autumn was like
the approach of winter. The nights
were cool and chilling, and the days
generally mild at noon, but often keen
and exhilerating. The prairie was
mostly of the rolling kind, but the belts
Of timber were more common, and the
vegetation richer and more eXuberant.
1t was plain, too. that we were ventur-
ing into a section where the foot of civ
iliZation had not been, The vast and
undulating swell of the plain. the
mighty fields of vcrdure, n the broad
rivers and streams, bore only marks Of
the red man and the wild beast.
''It was about mere that the Antelope,
a Navajo scout we had with Us, deserted
the Blackfeet. There were at least
twenty of them, and they were swiftly
approaching. There lances were seen
glistening IN the slanting rays of the
sun, their feathered crests rising and
falling like The waves of the sea, and
their long scalp locks and guady raiment
Haunting in the breeze. They rode
promiscuuuslv, following the lead of a
single warrior, astride n sturdy black
mustang, and who seemed to know pre-
cisely what he was doing. My men had
seen but little Indian fighting thus far,
and it struck me that their faces turned
a shade paler at this intimidating array
Of savage force. However, they com
pressed their lips and r~esolutely awaited
my command. | saw that but few of the
Indians were armed with rifles, and felt
perfectly confident Of our ability to rout
them.
On they came. until within a few
hundred yards, when they suddenly
refined in and road close together. APP
%parantly giving attention to the %in1unc-
tions of their leader. They we're a
merciless looking set, and their looks
and gesticulatlonS revealed that they
were bent upon our destruction. They
shook their lances and bows at US, and
occasionally uttered fierce. impatient
whoops, rs if eager to begin the fray.
They remain in consultation, however,
fully n half hour, not liking the looks OF
| our rifles probably, but suddenly with
an outburst of wild yells the entire
banu came g%alloping toward us.
Every soldier brought his rife to &
level, and we sat our horses like statues
Nearer and nearer came the Indians
but when within three hundred yards
they skillfully turned their ponies tt
the right and left and threw themselves
deXtrously ON the sides of their animals
opposite to us, a feat Of ~horsemanship
ave seen any but II prairie
bedouin successfully perform.
Hanging in this manner, by one foo