The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1889-01-31

| Black Serpent would not be in hurry.
When an Indian is trailing you he likes
to enjoy his triumph. lie plays with
you as a cat does with mouse. Ten
o'clock would be soon enough for him,
and sat in plain view of my fire smok-
inf until after O. Then smothered the
blaze for five minutes, and during this
interval rugged up my blankets to make
q dummy When l retreated into the
darkness and looked back, the figure was
good enough to deceive anybody. Black
Serpent would not approach on my trail
but from exactly the opposite direction,
and crept away In the darkness until l
was fifty feet from the fire.
1t was, as near as l could figure 1 {
about an hour when the young buck
came creeping up from the direction
anticipated. I'll give him credit tor
passing over the ground as noiselessly as
a rabbit could have moved. lie had left
his rifle behind, calculating to use his
knife on me. He was all Of twenty
minutes creeping his last twenty feet.
ard sometimes doubted If my eyesigbt
had not deceived me. He was within
six feet Of the dummy before he detected
1t, and then he sprang high in the air and
uttered his death-whoop, knowing that
! was laying for him. He came down
in heap at the crack Of my rifle, and he
was dead when l got to him. kept
his entire outfit sending word to his
friends what had happened, and that 1
held myself answcrable to them, but no
one troubled me about it, even to Law
claim to any of the property.
A year later, when things generally
were more settled, but with dissatisfied
bucks breaking away from the agencies
at intervals to make raids, an Indian
quarter breed stole some things from
Fort Larned, and run him down and
captured him. He was imprisoned for
several weeks, and some of his buck
friends declared that l should pay for
the ''indignity" with my life. 1t was
honorable enough in their eyes to steal,
but great indignity to pay the penalty
of thieving. The three bucks whom 1
had to fear were called Red Earth, Half
Moon, and Cloudy Day. They drew ra-
tions at the agency, and were supposed
to live within the limits, but as matter
of fact were providing over the country
most of the time and ripe for any mis-
chief,
was then riding between two posts
about eighty miles apart. took two
days to go and two to return, and, then,
after rest of two days, made the trip
again. This had been the programme
for two months, and the Indians knew
it and could count on my whereabouts at
a certain date. For twenty-ti five miles of
the journey l had stage road and was
sure of company. For twenty miles
further the country was fairly safe, there
beng many hunters and trappers and
scouts out. The dangerous part of the
country was confined to about twenty
five miles. The route lay along the base
of mountain-up avalley-over sharp
rise, and across several gulches. l
selected the spot where the Indians
would attack me if they held to their
threat. Just as the trail left the base of
the mountain to take to the valley there
was canon making into the great
mound, and the trail ran within thirty
feet of its mouth before turning to the
left. If the weather was good l always
passed this point in going West at about
8 o'clock in the morning. In going
the other way arrived about shutdown,
and made my camp in the bushes grow
ing around spring.
me down as rode up to the spring, or
very soon after had dismounted. They
would then drag my body up the canon
and conceal 1t, and lead my horse as far
up as possible and then kill him.
would be missed and searched for, but
it might be week before any trace was
discovered. BY that time the wolves
and vultures would have left nothing to
identify, and the assassins would have
been conspicuously present at the
agency. 1t is still the unwritten law of
the frontier that when man threatens
your life, even if he is drunk at the time,
you are expected to protect yourself by
shooting him first had witnesses that
these Indians had threatened to wipe me
out. was expected to shoot any one of
them on sight. I'd have been called a
fool or coward to take any other course.
1t was the cunning of the red man
against the wisdom of the white If
was wrong in my conclusions then my
life would pay the penalty. knew they
would not act upon their threat at once,
as they would expect me to be on my
guard and perhaps have an escort, and
l waited until my second trip before
carrying out my plans. The Indians
would reach the canon in the afternoon.
A lookout could see me five miles away.
Half mile from the spot, however, there
was a wooded ridge to hide my imme-
date approach, and this ridge ran
around to the canon.
moderated the pace of my horse to
suit my plans, and approached the valley
half an hour ahead of my usual time.
When three miles away l dismounted,
tied string tightly about my horses
right knee, and then advanced leading
him. The cord caused him to limp as If
he had gone lame, through accident. l
felt that was under the eyes of one of
the Indians, and that before / reached
the timbered ridge he would rejoin his
two companions in the canon.
slouched along as carelessly as possible
until reached the ridge. Then sent
my horse forward alone, knowing that
he would halt at the spring and wait for
me. AS soon as he was gone struck
iuIo tue tlUDeT anu ClTCleQ around TO get
as close to the mouth of the canon as
possible. The last 200 feet of the dis
lance l crawled upon my hands and
knees.
My horse had stopped by the way to
catch up mouthful of grass here and
there, and got my first look into the
mouth of the canon just as he approached
the spring. For moment was ready
to acknowledge that was beaten at my
line of reasoning, as could see nothing
of the redskins, but while the horse was
drinking, the would-be assassins, who
were crouched in the semi darkness,
moved forward into view. Yes, the
three of them were there, and each had
his rifle, and they had come to kill me-
Their actions proved it. They waited
three or four minutes to see why | did
not come up, and were then about to
move forward when l opened fire. 1
dropped Half Moon in his tracks, tumbled
Cloudy Day over as he sprang for shell
tor and firad ,1pOu h,,t r,ioeaJ Dal