The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1891-05-14


! saw, when my eyes got accustomed to
the dim light, that she had two cubs in
the den with her which she was going
to defend. So, aiming as carefully as
could, fired at her, breaking her skull,
after which killed the two cubs and
transferred my party to the cave. The
last of the cold meat and bread was
then eaten, and the women and chill
dren, creeping into the larger division
which was, however, only about four
feet in height-went to rest. But 1
was too anxious TO sleep, tired as I
was, so / hoisted myself out of the
| cavern and climbed to the top of the
hills to sec if l could sec aught of the
Indians.
Several times it seemed to me that
saw band moving along the line of
the horizon, and, while the speclzs
might have been cattle, l thought it
best to stay where we were all that
day, that night, and the next day. Our
great trouble vas water, which had to
be brought from spring on the other
side of the hill, and as only small
quantity could be brought at time
my cap being the only vessel we had
the children especially suffered good
deal. At last one of the women dis
covered fiat rock with hollow dip in
the middle, which would hold about
two quarts or SO, and I kept this filled
as cistern. Iventured that night to
| roast a piece of the bear in hole in
the ground, which change of diet was a
| welcome one. l never passed such a
time since l was born, for dare not
sleep an hour for fear of a surprise, and
the weight of responsibility felt with
those poor, helpless creatures on my
hands was simply awful.
'Late on the second day, when 1
climbed the hill for last look, saw q
| small band of Indians not more than
an eighth of a mile away. They did
! not number more than seven, but were
armed and in full war dress, and were
heading straight for the hill. Dropping
on my all fOurs l ran as fast as could
for the mouth of the cavern, and
scram bling down soon had the women
and children crouched up in the far
end of the larger division, where no
shot fired into the smaller one could
reach them, though l hoped the Indians
would either pass by altogether or fail
to find US if they halted. Silence then
| was absolutely necessary, and the
women impressed this on the children
l then went back, and, by clinging to
! one Of the bushes across the entrance
! to the cave, peered out to see what the
| redskins meant to do. could see they
! had struck our trail and suspected we
! were somewhere about, for they dis
mounted, and, scattering, began to
1 search about the woods.
AS they drew near our hiding place
! dropped down into it and cooked the
guns the women had brought and my
own trusty rife. l suppose my fire.
quent goings in and comings out had
left some trace, for they seemed to
notice the entrance al once, and pres
emily saw a head peering over. The
dim light of the cave might have pre-
vented the owner from seeing me, but,
as i'll luck would have it, the infant
child spoke of walled out just at this
particular moment. The child was
stifled in an instant, but it had been
heard, and the head craned over fur
Their, while another and another
popped over. was crouching down as
close rs ] could, but, hearing the click
of Il trigger, l knew concealment was
no longer possible and blazed away.
Two screams told me that couple of
heads had been hit and the third disap-
pcared. l heard voice shouting for
the others to come up, and could distin-
guish the tones of u colloquy being
held, though without hearing what was
said.
"Prescntly a light torch was flung
into the cave, but had retreated into
the further one, and, nothing being
visible, the Indians were nonplused
and heard one cry out that there was
nothing there. Another retorted angrily
that some one had killed Blue Water
and Leaping Turtle. This was fol-
lowed by patter of shots on the floor
of the cave, one of which, rebounding,
struck one of the children on the breast,
but though the bullet imbedded itself
in the skin, the plucl<y little fellow did
not utter sound. AS their firing still
produced no effect the Indians did not
know how to account for matters and
presently one of them was imprudent
enough to stick his head over the edge,
but ! made no move and they held an
other council. 1t was evident that they
feared to enter the cave, not knowing