The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1891-05-02

An occasional glimpse could be caught
from beneath the overhanging cloud of
dust with which they were enveloped,
while so perfect was the discipline of
this wonderful savage that no word
was spoken, the silence being broken
only by the pounding of unshod hoofs
and the snorting of the ponies, who
scented the coming fray.
The Indians had advanced so that
the dull sound of their coming was
audible, and had reached level piece
of ground adjacent to the post, when
the command Forward" was given by
the cavalry Captain, and the troop
moved out This, in rapid succession,
was followed by the commands ''Trot!"
and "Gallopr' Then, in the clear,
brisk notes of the bugle, came the
sCharge!''
With ranks unbroken, and cleaning
sabers high in air, sped the gallant
troopers, with the swiftness of the
wind, to meet momentum with momen-
tum. Five hundred yards were passed,
and the white man and the red were
for an instant face to face, eye glaring
into eye, with silent, deadly purpose;
then the wild whoop of the Apaches
filed the air, echoing back from the
mountain-side as from thousand say
age throats, mingling with the loud
cheers of the soldiers as the surging
bodies met.
Turning in his saddle the Captain
called: ssNow, men, each one pick his
Indian!'' There was no time for more.
At the head of the Indian band rode
the herculean Cochise, with lance al
ready poised, who now, in broken En-
glish, shouted: Here, white man! We
to fightr'
The point of the Indians lance was
near the Captains breast, when, with a
quick stroke of the saber, he severed it
from the staff and sent it whizzing
! through the air. Then bending as he
rode, he pierced Cochise's arm; but ere
he could seize the advantage which for
an instant seemed within his grasp, the
crowding horses of his troopers forced
him on.
Now the soldiers and the Indians
|
tinguishable mass, each fighting des-
perately for life. Quickly flashed the
saber, alternating the thrusts of the
lance dexterously parted by the prac-
ticed trooper, while from the tightly
drawn bows too surely few the muir
derous fiint-pointed arrows of the
Apaches. Here in the dust they rolled,
side by side, the endorsed trooper and
his willy foeman. Then on foot they
fought, with carbine, with pistol, OF
still with lance and saber, with the
ferocity of war, and for self-preserva:
ton, this unto the death. Riderless
dashed the frightened ponies of the Ir.
dams and the larger horses of the faller
soldiers, with nostrils wide apart, wildly
snorting, into the thiclest of the fight
then. as some faithful brute received
his death-wound, sounded that cry o.
equine terror heard mid the scenes O.
carnage where Destiny has ever lee
humanity. There was no quarter; Il
fall was almost certain death. Quickly
was the ground strewn with the bodies
of those who but now sought eacl
others lives; together, silently ant
peacefully. lay the white man and thu
Indian in the arms of Death.
All this passed in almost the space o
time it has taken to tell it, and the op
} posing forces has passed through eacl
; other" On the other side the trumpe
had already sounded the Rally.
Quickly did the Captain assemble tn
remainder of his men to renew TIL
charge, but the Indians did not wait; j
was not their method. The Apache
. seemed almost to vanish, SO rapidly di'
they gain the cover of the trees ant
rocks bordering the stream at poin
above the post
II While the cavalry was charging tn