The Iola register., 1891-02-06

|
guns the women had brought and nv
own trusty rifle. lsuppose my frequent
goings out and comings in had left some
trace, for they seemed TO notice the en-
trance at once, and presently | saw a
head peering over. The dim light of
the cave might have prevented the
| owner from seeing me, but. as i'll luck
would have it, the infant child spoke
OF walled out Just at that particular
| moment. The cry-was stiliied in an in
slant, but it had been heard. and the
head craned over further, while another.
and another popped over. was crouch
ing down as close Is | could. but, hear
ing the click of trigger. / knew that
concealment was no longer possible. and
blazed away. Two screams told me q
couple of heads had been hit. and the
third disappeared. | heard a voice shout
ing for the others to come up. and could
distinguish the tones of cOilOQuy be-
ing held. though without learing what
was said.
Presently lighted torch was flung
into the cave but | had retreated into
the further one. and nothing being Wis
ible. the Indians were nOnpiussed. and |
heard one cry out that there was moth
ing there. Another retOrted aurriiy
that some one had killed Blue Water
and Leaping Turtle. This was followed
by patter Of shots on the floor o. the
cave, one of which. rebounding. struck
one of the children on the breast. but
though the bullet imbedded itself in his
skin, the plucky little fellow did not
utter sound. As their firing still pro-
duced 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
another council. 1t was evident that
they feared to enter the cave. not know
ing how many lay concealed within it,
and at last they hit upon the very plan
| had been dreading.
"A lighted torch was thrown over.
and a quantity of leaves and moss was
pushed after it, but their amiable inten-
tion of smoking us out failed. owing to
the dampness of the leaves and moss
and having deluged the earthern floor
of the cave with all the water we had
on hand. Seeing this fail they sum-
mOned up courage enough to enter the
cavern, and as we saw the five forms
leap over the women and | opened fire
on them. | killed my man instantly,
and so did Mrs. Ridley. who Immediate
ly let a dusky devil who. screaming.
rushed upon her. have the full contents
of the other barrel in his breast. The
other woman missed her aim, and the
next moment was in the grasp of one
of the Indians, but before | could come
to her rescue her son, a boy of II, had
flung his arms around his neck and,
hanging on his back kept him from
striking, when the woman. picking up
a tOmahawk. struck him tremendous
blow on the forehead. He dropped like
a log, crushing the boy beneath him.
The remaining Indian, seeing his COM
paniOn fall. made a break for the en-
trance, and was just climbing out when
| caught him, and firing, brought him
down with broken arm and ball in his
side.
Seeing him helpless and thinking
him dying did not shoot again. but
went back to the women, whom | found
shrieking with excitement. | cOngrat-
ulated them on their courage, which,
however, was entirely gone as soon as
the call for it was over. IrOlled the In
dian off the boy, who was considerably
bruised by the weight of the dead body.
but otherwise not hurt. The wounded
Indian found to be a. old acquaintance
of mine, and seeing he was dying rapid
~ did not disturb him. He told me
that, finding Ridley's Camp deserted,
the main party had gone back home,
but that, suspecting me of having warn.
ed them, some of the young hotblOods
had followed us to be avenged on. me.
They were pretty certain that was the
only man in the party, but did not know
but what others had joined us.
well, We took possession Of the
ponies, and were able to. travel much
more rapidly, though had it not been
nearly desperate to think of walking in
our exhausted condition, | would not
have risked riding them, for man on
foot has twenty chances on the plains to
one the mounted fellow has. We reach
ed Carson City without further adven-
ture, though starvation and thirst and
fatigue were our constant companions,
and there found the woman's husband
and the other man, who was just start
ing home. had to get a doctor to, give
me something to quiet my nerves, for,
for eight days and nights l had not
had more than thirty minutes out of
every twenty-fours hours, and even after
all were safe could not quit listening for
noises. Cor. Globe-Democrat.