The Anaconda standard., 1890-08-03


horses and stationed themselves behind
their animals, placing one hand ON their
| saddles while In the other they held their
long bow and arrows. In the rear was
a large grove of timber and at one side
the stream of water. rode round the cat
| tie, threw up my hands boldly and gave
| one or two terrific yells. The braves
looked like men condemned to be hung,
stood perfectly still and offered no resist
ance, as started on the back trail. On
same tribe, but was not interrupted
until about half the journey
was completed, when the chief of
the tribe and % warriors suddenly loomed
| up in view. The party was attired in full
dress regalia. and was evidently out upon
mischief. Upon perceiving single white
man approaching i'm charge of a herd of
cattle. the red skins held hurried con-
sultation and concluded by setting up
hideous yell and turning the cattle back
upon the trail. At the same time the
chief, who rode n magnificent horse. and
carried a gun, started toward me with the
butt end OF his gun raised as IL TO knock
me oil my horse. ! was mounted on an
animal Of good speed and easily kept out
of his reach. After chasing me away the
chief turned aud the cattle were contin.
ued on their way down stream. Having
no intention Of losing our draft
animals so easily followed and
| was chased away several times
by the chief. At last he seemed
To grow tired of such arrogance and or
| tlering his warriors To surround the cattle,
he motioned for me toadvauce. Near the
| chief was stationed brave of immense
| size and strength who seemed to be acting
as body guard. As stopped my horse at
a distance Of a rod from the chief the
| brave slid from his horse and made "a
quick grab for my bride rein. In this he
was frustrated by the shying of my horse,
10y which | narrowly escaped he q thrown
| from the saddle. The brave Immediately
remounted his horse and rode savagely
toward me, bringing his animal 10 a sud-
| den stop when about eleven feet from my
side. An instant later. aud before had
time To take thought of the situation into
| which had foolishly thrust myself. the
warrior had me completely AT his mercy.
| A great bow six foot long, with the cord
stretched To its utmost tension. in which
| was set sharp pointed iron spike arrow.
thrust within five feet of my breast and
pointing directly toward my heart, caus-
| ing me to experience sensations which
| had never known before.
"A devilish look, the most mnrderous
| had ever seen, appeared on the Indians
| face as he held the arrow over my heart
| i felt a spot about the size of "a mans
| hand violently cramped i'm the region of
the heart, but kept my eyes fixed as IL 10y
| fascination upon the eye OF the warrior.
In the meantime he was exclaiming. 'sa,
|
derstand, but which meant 'Whatwill you
give for n ransom upon your life?" The
| chief came to my rescue 10y holding up
ten fingers. This meant will you give
| ten cattle for "A ransom" As i knew we
| only had cattle enough for the journey to
New Mexico shook my head i'm reply.
The chief held up five fingers. Again
shook my head. He motioned for me to
make a proposition. i held up one finger.
Whirling upon his horse the chief gave n
whoop To his warriors who dashed into the
| herd, culled out the fattest steer i'm the
bunch and in few moments the whole
| party had disappeared over the rocky
| range, driving the steer at a break
neck rate before them. The sepa-
ration of that steer from the herd was
one of the quickest and most adroit move
ments | ever Witnessed. As the Indians
disappeared "A load of many tons seemed
lifted from my shoulders. While the In
dian held the arrow over my breast re-
membered that debated in my own mind
whether was as large as a humming bird
or a mouse. ! seemed in the immediate
presence of death and yet felt no fear
From this experience am convinced that
the actual experience of death is not SO
full Of terror as is usually supposed"
Incredible though il may appear there Is
a citizen now living in Denver who once
was driven to such extremity by starvation
as to feast upon the carcass of an Arapa-
hoe Indian. As il is the only instance on
record of white man subsisting on such
diet. IL may he stated that the individual
referred tn was member of n party Of
Santa Fe traders on their way Ia New
Mexico when scarcity of water compelled
them To leave the beaten path i'm search Of
n water course. There were four persons
i'm the company of the survivor of the
story, and after wandering on foot three
days they realized that they were lost in
the pathless desert, with neither food nor
water in sight. To make their situation
still more desperate. "A band of Indians
, crossed their trail, and on the fourth day
, il was evident that their scalps would IN
all probability dangle from the belt of an
} Indian warrior before the sun went down
A council of war was held and il was lie.
cided 10 die in battle rather than from
starvation and thirst, and the four men
scattered at a distance from each other in
plain view of the redskins i'm order 10 in
vite assault. The warriors were on horse,
, back and came down at sweeping gal
. lop. A bullet from the well-slirected riil,
of one of the plainsmen brought a saw
age to the ground, and before the aston
ished Indians could recover from theil
J surprise the white men had collected
! around the Cying brave and defied thcii
enemies to renew the attack. The In
dians, for some unknown reason, He'd
, from the spot, and taking with them Ill,
warriors horse, were seen no more. IL
make the story short, for il is not "A pleas
ltg snDJsct tD uweIi upon. anu ttlc sur
yivor has never consented To enter int
| details, the ravenousiy hungry wanderer'
fell upon the body of that Indian while i
was still warm, and foI the first tim,
tasted human flesh and blood. Choice
> bits, cut from different parts of the Ara
; pahoe's anatomy. sustained the traveller
, for two days, until they had rejoincd thc
companions.
! The Santa Fe mail was carried IN
, Concord coach. whose body hung low
: supported upon long, heavy springs eN
Z tending lenRthwise. The coach was draw
Dy six mules and was accompanied by
z guard OF four men. One man acted a.