St. Paul daily globe., 1889-01-13
FOLLOWING A TRAIL.
just previous to the
late war l was a cap
toin IN tho Spoond rap-


plains of that great state were rOamed
over by numerous bands of Indians,
some professedly friendly, others at
war among themselves and with the
whites. Subsequently these tribes were
concentrated at agencies and placed un-
der an agent who issued ratiOnS to
them. The old and deerepit were sat-
ISfled with this arrangement, but the
young warriors lOnged for daring adj
ventures and chafed under the restraints
imposed upon them by the rules of their
reservations. Often they would organize
small parties and SwOOp down upon the
frontier settlements for the purpose OF
stealing horses and mules, and rarely
did these war parties return without the
scalp of some innocent, unoffending
frontier man or woman. To ayenge
these murders and to recapture the
stock, if possible, small parties OF
cavalry would be sent in pursuit. As
was young and active. it fell to my lot
frequently to head these small ex-
petitions. Rations were issued for ten.
twenty or thirty days, and these sup
plies would be transported on pack
mules, as wagons could not travel
fast enough. neither could they
be taken over the hills and
through the mountain gOrgeS, which
generally marked the course OF
the fleeing Indians. 1t was noticeable
fact that our appearance III that part OF
was indicated by the absence of all
game, which had been killed or chased
away by the red man in search of food.
Ii our rations gave out after passing the
game belt it would become necessary to
kill pack mule, and the command
would subsist upon its flesh until the
animal was disposed of, then another
would be slain. 1t was never necessary
for me to partake Of mule steak, for the
reason that had the best set of men in
the world, and some one of them would
kill bird or catch a fish and insist
upon it that l should have it for my
repast. An Indian guide was furnished
these scouting parties for the purpose
of following the trail, which, from their
quick eye and habits of life, they could
do almost as well as bloodhound.
The guide who ordinarily accompanied
me was a Seminole Indian, who went
by the name of John Mclaughlin.
When he was notified to get ready he
would invariably get drunk, and be I'M
able to move out with the command,
but would surely join us on the second
day and remain sober until we returned.
Once l asked him why he always got
drunk when ordered out on a scout, and
his reply was: 'May be so; thirty days
before git any more whiskily."
kk
The Untutored This untutored In
dian was as true as
Indian. steel and as brave as
lion, and did all in his
y,nr,or %o Jaa1 ,,c +o ho Tprianc in
which he rarely ever failed. He would
ride on ahead of the column and look
out for the trail, and the command
would follow after him. The trail could
be easily followed by him when / could
see no signs to convince me that an In
dian, horse or mule had ever passed
that way before. Once, while stopping
for few moments to rest the men and
horses, asked him how he managed to
keep the trail, and he said, "You see
here a stone which looks black now that
stone has been turned over by a horse
or mule. Had that surface always
been uppermost. the rains would have
washed it clean and the sun would have
made it look bright and fair. Now look
ahead and you will see a black line of
Stones"-which | could easily see when
my attention was called to it. "NOw
look beyond this gravelly ridge, you
will see what appears to be a white
streak in the grass. Some animal has
passed along there and his feet have
turned the grass, the under side of which
looks light. 1t is this black and white
line that | follow" After this | be-
came quite an expert and could follow
trail almost as well as an Indian. There
was one thing that he could do that he
could not teach me, and that was
to determine the location of water
if within ten or fifteen miles.
This he did by observing the
the relation the valleys sustained to-
wards them. The great scarcity of water
on the extended plains of Texas rem
dered scouting somewhat hazardous,
and hence the absolute necessity of an
experienced woodsman or prairieman
with every expedition. White men
might perish for the want of water
when within few miles of bountiful
supply. When not following trail and
after good days march desired to go
into camp, would signify my wish to
John, who would scan the hills and
valleys and point in certain direction
and say: ''Water hole, five or ten
miles," Strange as it may appear,
never knew him to fail single time in
all nay experience with him. When he
said there was water within given dis
tance followed him in perfect conf
dence, knowing that we should soon
reach what we were in search of-water
in abundance.
A Fresh On one occasion
had been out thirty
Trail. days and was on my
return and within
twenty miles of the post when | saw
him stop, then move around suspI-
clously. l rode up to him and he said,
'Here is trail three hours old, crossing
the general direction in which we are
moving" I directed him to move ou
on it, and we marched sixty miles day
for three days; and on the third day, as
the sun was going down, we came upon
their camp. captured all of their ami
mails and camp equipage and killed
quite a number. My command was now
about 200 miles from the post, and it re-
auired about ten days to do what we had
of the chase. When we reached our
regular station we had been absentabout
forty-three days. There were no tele-
phone or telegraph stations by which
word could be sent in of our safety, and
those who looked for US from day to
day of course became alarmed at our
protracted absence. [ believe it was
during this absence that my faithful
dog, which had been left at home, was
in the habit of taking position in
font of my house every night to make
it bideous bv bowling and yelping. Our
old negro woman, the embodiment of
imagined that the freak of
terrible having happened to me and to
my command, and expressed her fears
to the members of my family, which in
tensified their anxiety in regard to US.
My guide was an excellent shot, and
when he fired at deer or antelope we
were sure of having supply of fresh
meat. When he brought a deer into
camp he would cut off the head and