Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-24

from under their blankets Out in the
glade, hoppled and ''lariated'' to their
picket pins, the horses were cropping the
scant but dewladen grass, and prieking up
their ears and saluting their riders with
neighing inquiry for oats.
BOOT AND sADDLEl
On the low branches hung saddles.
brides and carbine slings; here and there
among the trees the smoke of tiny cook
fires was beginning to curl skyward, and I
was shifting appreciatiYely the fragrant
aroma Of coffee, while my captain was be-
ginning to yawn and look about him. and
sit up to pull on his boots, (not a man Of
our troop had symptom Of uniform about
him, by the way. We all wore the rough
| fame, canvas or buekskin scouting dress
we had learned to value in Arizona) when
down stream I heard sudden eommotion,
General Merrill's orderly came running
through the trees and called suddenly to rs
as be ran: "Indians coming up the Valleyl
General Merrill wants X company quick
as possible"
saddle up, men! Lively nowp' is the
| order. Down go curry combs and brushesl
Down come the saddles and brides from the
low bushes; away run the men to their as
tonlsned and excited horses, and almost in
less time than it takes to tell it the whole
troop has saddled; the men have 'slung"
earbine and belted on revolver and the
6ristling array Of cartridges. My Captain,
Mason, war veteran, who commanded the
whole regiment most of the time during the
great rebellion, and is an old hand at these
morning alarms, finds time to swallow a tin
mug Of coffee and piece of hard tack while
am bustling about among the men, and
striving to hasten my orderly, who has two
horses to saddle to others one. Quickly
they lead into line, count fours, mount, and
there they sit, so bronzed, bearded, seasoned
troopers, in old slouch hats and flannel or
buckskin shirts, with two war-tried Ser.
geants, Staufer and Schneider, as their
principal guides. / ran about at my place
in front of the first platoon, and Mason
orders 'Fours, right, trot, and away We
go-out through the dewy willows; out past
the deserted cook fires where lies our
neglected breakfast; out through the cotton
woods at the edge of the water, and then out
upon the broad, dry, sandy waste Of the
stream bed just as the red disk of the sun
peeps over the low ridge, far, far down the
valley.
OFF AND AWAY.
The first man we see is Buffalo Bill, be-
striding great strawberry roam, plunging
across the sands below u.s. and waYing his
hat. "This way! This wayl'' he shouts,
and Mason and I, riding side by side, now,
break into rapid lope, and the whole troop
with carbines grasped in brawny hands,
comes cantering at our heels. Where are
they, Cody?" shouts the captain.
"Of yonder somewhere" shouts Bill in
reply as he swings his new rifle by the
small Of the stock. "There are two of the
scouts waving to us on the ridge. haven't
seen them myself yet at all.
We form front into line at the gallon an
we clear the bottom, and begin the gentle
ascent to the ridge in question. 1t is only
few hundred yards away. Two or three
of Bills frontiers men, hired as scouts, are
there excitedly waYing their hats to US, and
signalling come on" We confidently ex-
pect to see the game as we dash up 10 the
ridge, but when we get there and rein in,
surprised, there lies mile wide "swale' or
depression-and Eot an Indian in sight.
Obeying Bill s signals we had crossed the
stream and started out southwark. Now
the scouts. far ahead, are waving "come
on, and we veer southwestwald, but Mason
sternly checks the men who would 90 of in
mad gallop. ST won'thave any horses used
up in wild goose chase" he saws. 'If
there are Indians in any force we won'thave
10 chase far to catch them. If there are only
few they are miles away by this time
Bill still rides with US, and together we go
at brisk canter this next mile stretch, and
scouts waving their hats on a third "hog
back" another mile away-eastward this
time-and when we have crossed that they
are at the crest of still another inst as far
away as ever.
IN HOT PURSUIT.
But now,a having taken a shorter cut, +.
Captain kellogg and Lieutenant Reilly
with ''I'' troop at their heels come riding
aloureido tho
parallel columns, and in this order five or
six miles below the bivouac we strike the
Valley of the Cheyenne once more and still
following our hatrwavers far in the front 90
plunging through the sand. Mason orders q
moments halt to water our steeds under the
willows on the northern bank; then we go
on again, and now, at last, we see something
of the foe we are pursuing. Pony tracks BY
the dozen cross the stream bed as though
scurrying in hot haste. Here and there a
bag of provisions, bacon, -four or sugar
Clearing the mark of the Bed Cloud
Agency)-a dirty red blanket or some other
discarded item of impedimenta decks the
soil; but the scouts are waving "come on,
and now we ride at speed.
The next half hour, full trot, we 90 north
westward toward high range of bluffs that
spans the horizon, and, with almost level
summit, stretches far to the north. Bill has
overtaken two of the scouts, and is giving
them a hearty damning for taking us south
of the river at all, but they swear the In
dians were first sighted on that side and
only took to the stream and turned north
ward after they had fallen back on their
main body. Their numbers were anywhere
from 80 to 50-'talI bucks. e., warriors,
and many of them had ponies loaded with
provisions besides their mounts. In an hour
the foremost scouts declared that the In
dians could be seen riding along the range
we were approaching, but they kept a strong
party of active young warriors well out to
the rear, who let drive their Wincbesterz
and Henrys whenever the scouts pressed
them too close, and yet scurried away on
their nimble ponies as soon as we came
within range. At last we caught SIGHT of
some of them, gaudy and glistenlng in war
paint and feathers. as they rode full speed
up the slopes in the beams of the cloudless
sun.
FRUITLEss CHASE.
We spurred and pressed on, all eagerness
to overtake; we reached the summit of the
lofty range, and followed it northward two
mortal hours, occasionally exchanging a
long range shot or two with their rearunost
riders, and pressing them so hard that sew
eral of them dropped their cooking kits and
one fellow abandoned his saddle and
blankets, but at last MONDAY came. We
had trotted, galloped, chased and panted
just about 45 miles, and never got within
striking distance of them. The trail was
still shot, T" but our horses had had enough
OF it, and were fairly worn out Far down
in the valley to the west, and over along the
bluffs of the Mini Pusa, we could see through
my field glass that other companies of the
regiment were halted to rest after fruitless
search for the nimble light riders, and at
last Mason sent out word to me to halt and
wait for the main body to come up. He
had directed me, with a few other light
weights, to take the lead in the chase, and
catch them if we could-but we acouldn't for
they had two horses to our one, and could
swap in an instant when either was tired.