Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1889-09-11

of the distant shots, which, however,
had ceased long before he reached q
belt of cottonwood and willow firing
ing a stream that flowed down from q
defile in the rocky sleeps which rose,
barrier like. before the mountain slopes.
But-what is this? Behind spur OF
the bluff an overturned mule wagon
with the CORRESPONDING cut into
Sits! { Four dead mules in the traces
two with throats slit from ear to ear!
The ground, torn up and trampled as in
a conflict, was strewn with broken
boxes and canned provision tins-with
stores laid wantonly waste. with
And here Dick Prater began. to feel
sick and faint Death he had seen in
It's usual form like most men. But
death by violence-mutilated after
such fashion, as only fiendish ingenuity
could conceive, never-sent thrill of
horror through the young mans
healthy, vigorous frame.
One, two, three, four dead whites
lay stretched, with ghostly uniformity,
side by side! Three were presumably
Mexicans-the fourth a gray-bearded
guide in well-worn hunting suit. All
had been scalped as matter OF course.
But the further atrocities perpetrated
on the lifeless corpses will not bear
recital.
The mighty oath which Dick Prater,
forgetful alike of hunger, thirst and
fatigue, ground between his set teeth.
will. l hope and trust, never be re-
corded against him on high.
While his pony was eagerly shaking
its thirst, Dick looked about him, hop
ing to find among the scattered Debris
some overlooked weapon. with. Heaven
only knows what, wildly-vague plans
for pursuit and vengeance.
But, all in vain. Even the bodies OF
the slain had been plundered of their
revolvers and hunting-knives.
As, sick at heart, Dick turned away,
his foot encountered hard substance
in the short grass. It was a very
new and acknowledgements hunting
knife with six-inch blade and ivory
haft, in which was inserted a silver
plate bearing the not-unfamiliar name
OF Cyrus Manning. Esq''-the Esq"
settling its ownership beyond the shad-
ow of a doubt.
Then Dick remembered having once
heard Millionaire Manning declare his
intention Of building hunting-lodge
in the wilds of Nebraska, where he
owned a few thousand acres of land
''some day.
Some day had come, and presumably
on his way to the lodge, the train was
attacked, his guide and wagon crew
were massacred, and he himself taken
away a prisoner-perhaps with others.
Dick reverently covered the multi
lated fragments of humanity with what
was left of the wagon-tilt- Then the
claims OF very healthy appetite as
serted themselves vigorously.
The red men had evidently not been
educated up to canned provisions.
Tins of various comestibes strewed
the ground on every side. Cold
chicken, ham and dessert of English
plum pudding, with preserved peaches,
made a most satisfying meal for a man
who had tasted nearly twenty-four
hours. And Dick arose from a cracker
box like a giant refreshed.
AS he turned his eyes in the twilight
toward more distant range of bluffs
he saw the dark base illumined by a
sudden rudy glow. That it was a
fire-the campfire Of the Indians who
had attacked the wagon, was his most
natural conjecture.
Dick was no hero of the Roaring
Bisbe of the Range order. Far from
it. But he had pluck and determina-
ton. and his blood was at white
heat OF wrath by reason of what Law
under the slit wagon-tilt. And with
no very definite purpose in mind he
tethered his pony, after which, imitat-
ing as far as possible the stealthy
steps OF the old trapper. who has done
duty for SO many years in dime and
half-dime literature, he made his way
through the night shadows in the d.
rection of the distant campfire.
This proved to be built in deep
rift of the irregular-shaped bluffs, and
it was but the reflection that he had
seen. The tall form of a half-naked
Indian, rifle in hand. standing sentinel
like in the entrance, was unpleasantly
silhouetted against the blaze, which
effectually precluded a further re-
connoissance in that direction.
Now, with the going down of the
sun, the sky had cleared. And as Dick,
crouched behind clump of sage
brush, watched the sentinel with a
thorough sense of his helplessness to
do more, the full moon began creeping
slowly up over the edge of the wide
plain he had traversed but q few hours
before sg@
Higher and higher climbed the
great oval shield which. to use a
strictly original phrase, ''bathed every
thing in food of silvery light
a clump of sage bushes included.
But the same moon-rGys illuminat-
ing the face of the bluff show Dick