The Hot Springs star. (Hot Spings [Hot Springs], Dakota [Dakota Territory, i.e. S.D.]) 1886-189?, 1890-07-11

came etratght toward me. He evidently
thought that was done for, but I soon
cured him Of that idea, for my ride
barked sharply and Nj. Indian, With .
yell Of agony, doubled up In death.
I heard . dozen snswering yells,
apparently not fifty yards away, and,
realizing chat I must be flying IL wanted
to ave my scalp, Ibroke out Of there
~ fast - ! could 90 toward the river,
for II hard pressed I knew my only
safety would be in returning to the
Iowa side.
had not gone far when I heard the
angry yells Of the savages o. they dis.
covered the dead body oftheir comrade,
and then the whole gang came on IN
pursuit along the plain trail which I was
compelled to make in my rapid flight.
I was . pretty good runner in those
dsys, and ct first believed that / could
distance the Indians In q short time,
but I soon found that two Of those red.
skins could run too; In fact they were
better at 1t than I was, for they were
gaining on me steadily, while the rest
Of tho band we're scattered along at va.
rious distances behind them. Before /
had made . mile they had got close
enough to use their bows and arrows,
fol, fortunately for me. they did not
have guns; they sent :
that went whistling by my head in q
manner anything but comfortable. !
kept on running, however, till suddenly
I felt . singing blow On my right leg,
and looking down, / saw the feathered
shaft OF an arrow projecting out behind.
I could feel the warm blood trickline
down into my boot. The pain, to.
gether with the savage yells of the two
Indians. who say that / was wounded,
angered me; and then. too, there was .
chance that they might put an arrow in
my back, which would stop my running
forever. Accordingly I determined TO
check those fellows up q little, and,
whipping out . heavy Colts revolver
which I carried, I stopped short and
whirled about, facing them. They
stopped, too, but I downed one Of them
before he could think Of using his
weapon; the other, however. managed
to send an arrow 81 I fred
my second shot, which carried
the cap from my head and
rasped roughly over the top of my
head, but it was the last arrow he ever
shot. I turned and ran % swiftly as I
could, for the pause, while Of only q few
seconds duration, had permitted the
other pursuers to gain Q good deal on
me.
Before I had gone far, I found to my
CONSERVATION that my wounded leg was
L $nt1Snu vnn a~I k1nkT no,.NJ 80 r.zY1
up to my ordinary rate of speed.
I saw that my pursuers were slowly
but surely gaining and that I would be
compelled to get TO q place of safety
shortly or my time on this earth was
short. I was running close to the river
at the time and was nearly opposite the
place where my friend lived, with
whom I had been stopping. I knew
that the recent warm weather might
have weakened the ice so as to render
it very unsafe, but I reasoned that it
was my only chance to trust to the
river; 20, thrusting my revolver,
which I had been carrying in
my hand, into its holster, and
picking M q pole which was
about ten feet long and as thick as my
arm. I trotted boldly and as lightly as
I could out on the ice.
1.-THE pole 1 carried so in case 1 broke
through, it might catch across the open
ing aud sustain my weight till I could
get back on the ice, for I did not be-
lieve the Indians would come close to
me il I should break through, though
they might stand back and try to pick
me of with their arrows.
/ could hear the ice crack under my
weight, and in glancing over my shout
der I saw that the Indians had paused
at the edge of the ice; SO I slackened
my trot to walk. They were evidently
holding Q parley IS to whether or nc
they should follow, and, one of their
number. who carried a rifle, tried his
hand at q shot but missed me.
They only paused o moment. then
four Of them ran out boldly on the
ice and came after me in q
long, swinging trot; then three more
followed them some ten yards behind,
and ten yards behind them came the
other three.
Twenty feet more and I would have
been on dry ground once more, when
the ice suddenly gave way under my
right foot as I put It forward, and down
I went. My pole caught across the
opening and held me up, and there /
Icy, one leg and arm on the ice. NV
wounded leg down in the water, and my
other arm over the pole, on which NV
body partly rested. The arrow had
caught as / fell and broken short off to
the flesh.
The Indians yelled joyfully as they
saw my new trouble and advanced more
slowly.
threw my weight on the pole and
tried to lift myself ON the sound ice,
but to my borrow I felt the ice under
one end Of my pole give away and felt
myself going down, down.
I wasn't much of q praying
man those days, but 1 did man.
age to utter . few words fol
mercy as I felt myself sinking. The
next instant the end Of mypole touched
bottom, and then my feet, and I stood
erect with the water up to my arm pits.
The instant I felt my feet touch bot.
tom I turned about to look for the In.
dams. and as my eyes rested on them
they gave q yell Of mortal terror and
then went plunging down from view.
Their combined weight had been toe
much for the ice, and it had given
away under them, and thereby saved
my life.
The others, witnessing the terrible
fate OF their companions turned and
made their way to the Nebraska shore
IA fast an khov dorod IN M