The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1891-10-17

indians ahead" and prepared to
shoot but as looked back | saw a
half dozen guns levelleds on me, so /
played the Indian dodge, threw my
self on the side of my horse and
made myself as small as possible.
Bang! bang" went their guns and
zip, zip, came the bullets but none
struck me that time.
was perfectly cool by this time
but will own up that my hair stood
straight when / first saw the dew
ills. My horse made few more
Jumps when they banged away again
this time with more Succession
they shot me in the shoulder, plough
ing a furrow four inches long and
splintering the shoulder blade slight
ly; another ball took piece out of
my gun stock. They gave us third
volley, but we were out of range by
that time and the balls only battered
loudly against the trees behind u.s.
just then my horse tripped and fell
headlong and | thought he was shot
In moment the reds were nearly on
me again and trying to get another
shot. | made them dodge lively with
a load from my repeater; by this time
(all in couple of seconds my horse
had regained his feet and l sprang
into the saddle and spurred ahead.
In turning to take another shot at
"the noble red man" a limb caught
me under the ear and took my hat
off 1t is needless to say that did
not stop to recover that hat
Wilkie had gottea considerably
ahead of NE but / soon made up for
lost time and we speedily got out on
the open prairie again. We circled
around mountain then got back
into the timber. The Indians did
not follow us there so we dismounted
in order to get through the heavy
underbrush more easily.
Wilkie asked if l was hurt | told
him Judging from the hole in my
back and the way the blood was run
ming down into my boot there must
be scratch or two some where" He
bound up my wound the best. he
could and we pushed ON to try and
reach camp and warn the boys, but
we afterward learned the Indians
had attacked them first, and we would
have been in the scrimmage there if
we had not been delayed while on
our scout trying to capture a stray
Indian pony. (The Indians had
probably turned it loose as a decoy.
We reached the camp but found it
had been looted by the Indians.
They stole IA head of horses, and
either carried away or burnt up our
tent, blankets, saddles, provisions;
our extra guns they had rendered
useless by bending them round
tree.
When the Reds began firing on the
camp Ben Stone, the colored cook, was
building fire. He thought it was
Wilkie and l firing to scare the
boys and he said, "Stop dat foolish
in, or you'll hurt somebody. Vol
cant scare dis chile" when he look
ed around and saw the boys breaking
for cover he lit out too, the Indians
firing at him as he ran. After run
ming 200 yards he fell into creek
and lay in the water for several
hours, as the Indians thinking they
had killed him did not follow him
any further.
Roberts and Fuller made good
their escape and struck out for Vir-
ginia City, $50 miles away. All they
had to eat for three days was two
small fish which one of them
caught.
One of them was in his shirt
sleeves (being very cold) be would
lie on the lee side of log and the
one with the coat would lie close to
him and try to keep him warm.
Kenck was instantly killed and
Stewart was shot in the leg and in
the side. As he lay on the ground
the Reds came up to finish him.
He begged for his life and handed
them $3.50 and his watch and they
left him.
Alter they had gone he dragged
himself down to creek and bathed
his wounds. q
Stewart had a horse that never
could be caught by fair means. He
had always had to keep a 80 foot
rope trailing to her in order ever
again to get his hands on her after
being turned out. AS he finished |
washing his wounds he looked up
and saw her coming towards him.
She stood quietly while he put hal |
ter on her and painfully crawled on
her back. { Was this a special Prov
idence or did sense of mutual mis-
fortune draw her towards her mas
ter many
Weikert and Wilkie not finding
any one in the camp took the back |
track for the Mammoth Hot Springs.
so miles away where they hoped to
find friends and food and such of the
party as were still alive. They had |
not gone far before they overhaued |
Ben Stone and Stewart moving pain
fully along. Ben with his rheuma-
tism much worse from his cold bath
and Stewart suffering from his
wounds, so that he could not ride
bare backed horse
Weikert and Wilkie dismounted |
and put the other two on the saddle
horses. They made the fifty miles
in Is hours. At the Hot Springs
they fortunately found an English
tourist who was physician and he
dressed their wounds nicely and they
felt much better
l had not slept any for As hours
so laid down for nap but was
worrying SO about the rest of the boys
| could not sleep for their folks look
ed to me to see after them. Soon af-
ter Duncan came in and said Deit-
rich was about two miles away COM
pletely worn out, so / saddled the
horses and went out and brought him
in. still watched and waited for
the others to come in but none came,
so decided to start back and look
for them, travelling all night. A man
by the name of Mccarthy volunteer
ed to go along.
As we rode away poor DIETRICH
called out, candy if get killed you
will give me decent burial wont
your" I assured him jestingly /
would little thinking how soon /