Wichita eagle., 1888-05-17
ana got my revolver out ana spurred ror-

| the rogue reached his second victim He ran
| at full speed, with ears back and lips parted
| to show his teeth, and the sight was too much
for the domestic animal He was on the point
of turning to fly when the other collided with
him Itwas as if . locomotive had struck
him He went down in heap and rolled
over and over four or five times before he
brought up, while the rogue took half circle
to bear down upon the trooper again. The
man was on his feet and lmping off; but he
would have been goner had / been further
away. rode across the rogue's path and
opened fire on him, and after shaking his
| head in an ugly way he galloped into the
grove and disappeared. The troopers horse
did not seem to have suffered any by the
shock, but soon after noon lay down and died.
The man was actually crying when l rode up
to him, although he had taken a hand in sew
eral Indian fights and was reputed a brave
fellow The danger had come upon him so
suddenly as to overcome his nerves. The
horses teeth had not broken the skin through
his thick clothing, and he did not have q
bruise to show, but such was the sudden
/ shock that he was on tie sick list for two
weeks
We were within two days ride of the Bon
/ tia, and had been in camp two or three days,
when one of the hunters rode in just before
| dark with some game, and announced that a
herd of at least 800 wild horses was grazing
about three miles to the east of us. This was
on the opposite side of the Pecos, which just
here spread out over rocky ledge, and was
200 feet wide and about foot deep. Below
our camp was an old grove with many dead
trees in it. 1t was there we got our wood.
In all other directions the ground was open.
We had about twelve tents in camp, aside
from the wagons and ambulances. The best
feeding ground was on the west of the camp,
and all the animals were staked out there.
Outside of the bunch of animals was guard
Of two soldiers, and two more were between
the animals and the wagons. There was no
danger unprecedented from the Indians, and
the guard was set to keep providing wolves
out Of camp and to assist any horse which
might get tangled in his lariat It had been
hot day, with thunder heads" showing in
the sky, but when the sun went down the
sky was perfectly clear, and all signs pointed
to quiet night.
1t was just midnight, when the sharpest
flash of lightning 1 ever saw, followed by
such a crash Of thunder, as made the earth
groan, tumbled every sleeper in camp out of
his blankets. l say the sharpest flash ever
Saw for | was awake in time to see the most
of it. 1t was SO fierce that it seemed to burn
our eyelids l was hardly on my feet before
there came another fash followed by another
roar. knew it was going TO rain great guns,
and | jumped into trousers and boots, and
grabbed up the rest of my clothes and made
for the wagon only few feet away. The
two wagons were close to each other, bat the
forward ends pulled away so that the vehicles
formed V. While the space between the
off hind wheel of one and the nigh hind wheel
of the other was not over a foot, the space
between the tongues was six or eight. The
sky was black as I rushed out of the tent, and
all the camp fires had burned low I flung
my clothes into one of the wagons, and then
hurried back and got my weapons and some
other articles, and during this time the
heavens seemed afiame and the earth fairly
rocked
Men were shouting, horses neighing, and
the din was awful, but as | reached the
wagon the second time there came sound
to drown all others. 1t was steady roar
like the rush of great waves, and it grew
louder all the time could not understand
it for two or three minutes. The noise came
from the west, and | stood upon the wagon
30 that could overlook the tents. A flash
Of lightning was followed by moment Of
pitch darkness, and then came long, tren-
ulous fash, lasting three or four seconds BY
its light l caught sight of the herd Of wild
horses bearing down upon US in mad mob,
and just as the lightning ceased they entered
the stream.
The splash Of the waters had the sound Of
breakers, and though shouted warning at
the top of my voice, no one could have heard
me twenty feet away. Next moment that ter
ror stricken herd was in camp while the clouds
opened and the rain came down in torrents.
/ scrambled back into the wagon, and what
saw during the next ten minutes can never
be forgotten. The frightened horses leaped
over the tents, or ran against them, fell over
guy ropes, bumped against the wagons, and
made clean leaps over the ambulances, and
all the time each one kept up wild neighing.
heard our own animals plunging and rear
ing and neighing, but knew that we were
helpless to prevent stampede.
As the first OF the herd got through our
camp to the wagons two Of them entered the
V shaped space, and others kept them crowded
in there. The lightning was flashing and the
thunder roaring again, and the poor beasts
four Or i've lassoes and O dozen spare iariats
in my wagon, and when saw that the en-
trapped horses were making no move to get
out picked up noosed rope, lifted the side
cover of the wagon, and had the moose over
the head of one in three seconds. The one
behind him tried to turn when 1 sought to
moose him, but nit his heels against some
thing and twisted back toward me until my
he, 7 10
over Then made the other ends fast, got
out the lassoes, and standing on the front of
the wagon noosed three horses inside of five
minutes. It was no trick at all, for they
were pressed right up to the wagon by the
the elements tanned them
The herd was ten minutes working through
the camp, and as they cleared it they took
away every horse and mule that we had
Every tent was Frustrated, much of our pro
visions and ammunition destroyed, and one
ambulance smashed to pieces. One man was
killed and three were injured by the rush of
horses. As an offset a WAGNER had lassoed
two. had five, and TWO more had heAbled
themselves with tent ropes. In the course of
q day we got ali our animals back but one
old mule, and managed TO repair damages
Our captives were the finest wild horses eveT
seen on the plains. Ny lot included three
stations, and sold one of them right there
with the moose around his neck for $500 The
Others | kept until our return to Texas. tam.
ing them little every day, and then 60,
81 600 for the four. The span of stations |
went TO ST. Louis after bit, and one OF them |
proved himself the fastest trotter of the de- |
csde.-New York Sun