Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1888-09-06
"'Never expect to-
And how about mep'

plSdb HodNcuo, Critu, jumping |
up. Do you think / hired to get
killed for sixteen dollars a month";
" Soldiers do it for about that much,
said old Slower, as calmly as If it were
an everyday bargain.
80 Yes, but soldiers know what they
are hiring for. didn't
"Well, you can give me month S
notice and quit II you want to-
"a months notice! Where will
we be in a month if the Indians get on
to usP'
"'Blamed if l know said old Sto-
yer.
"Well, next day the old man laid
out system of Notifications and set
me at digging. He ran shallow
trench down to the river and took out
of oneSof the boxes a 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-all 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 | had the earthworks fin
ished Slower had his machine set up
and it was the queerest looking ar
rangement l ever saw. 1t had 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 row, and one
row under the other. The muzzles Of
the barrels were slightly further apart
than the butts, so that the battery had
sort of fan look. The next row
under was the same way, but the bar
rels were not exactly under each other.
l saw that II 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
a swivel and could be made to sweep
the whole horizon. Then the old man
made me get 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. | pointed this out to old
Slower, but he merely smiled in his
superior 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 q
lot of thin steel bars punched with
ten holes, and in each of these holes was
placed 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
correspondent with those on the inside
and when it was closed he pulled lever
like one on an old-fashioned printing
press, and the whole thing went of
with q roar and rattle that was ter
rifying. Every outside steel bar hat
ten brads, one opposite each cart
ridge. and jerk on the lever set EN-
all off. Then he threw down the door
flung the bars with the empty shells
on the ground and put in the mex
loaded set. Then the first set wa
loaded up again.
when the first volley was fired i
Just moved down the bushes arount
one of the stakes as if lawn mower
had been run through them. Now
Bolder, he said, Il don't see no sign
of Indians and we have been here owe
three weeks. l must use you for bait
You get on Sam, the fastest horse, ant
scour around the country. Keep |
sharp lookout, and the moment you So
an Indian make for here. Sam will
outrun EN- every time, if you dom
get so close as to be within range O
EN-. Igrowled good deal, but hat
to go. My month wouldn't be up TO
another week.
The first day l didn't get a nibble
Next day took compass and wen
further from the camp. In the after
noon l thought saw couple of NOV
ing dots on one of the far-away hills
Anyhow, made for camp as quick a
l could. and before evening the Indian
were all around the hill, but they KEEP
out of range and seemed to be sizin
us up. We kept watch all night, bu
they made no move.
=" In the morning they made thei
attack. They seemed to have pickete
their horses and were crawling at u
through the grass. Old Slower was i
| high feather. He watched them wit
l that eagle eye of his and could tell b
the movement of the grass just wher
they were.
"sNow them he said, you lie lo'
| and fill up the steel bars with cal
tridges as empty them. When | hav
, fired two or three times be ready wit
, a pail of water to throw over the GU
barrels
"He kept moving the machine froI
one side to the other and at last got
where he wanted it. Then he too
} | x-ot..l,<,I