Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1892-05-14
A DASH TO THE VILLAGE

Midnight and the scouts are not yet
In. For twelve hours the battalion
rode through the hot July day, mostly
at the trot, sending the dust clouds
sailing high over the winding trail and
powdering the rearward troopers with
thick coating of their mother earth.
There were eieht companies IN the long
column when We came filing out Of
the misty valley just at the gray of
dawn, but those wagons had 10 be
guarded. and SO N troop was ordered
to remain with and fetch along the
train.
The rest of us are pushing north.
ward as fast as our steeds can bear us,
for somewhere ahead OF us--somewhere
between that low ridge where the coy
otes are yelping and sneaking about
under the rays of the waning moon
and the bread valley of the Platte
with its sandy wastes and shallow wa
ters, Is n big band of renegade Indians
Sioux, Cheyennes and Arapahoes are
''streaking it, for the great reservation
TO the north, and every man in our
army knows well that when they left
the burning settlement on the Solomon
they bore away with them two poor
women whose husbands and brothers
and children they inassacred i'm cold
blood.
IF kill every horse in the regi
ment" said the colonel when the news
was brought to him, 'T'n run those
scoundrels to earth before they can
reach the river. Five hundred of 'em,
you say, Billf he continued, as he
looked up from the dispatch he was
writing on his knee. 'I don't care II
there's s, 1000"
And that was practically what the
regiment thought All the livelong
day, from dawn TO O'Clock in the af.
ternoon, we had trotted in the wake OF
our scouts, hoping vainly that every
ridge we neared would prove TO be the
one from which the fleeing foe would be
sighted. How we strained our eyes in
I, watching the movements of our few
Pawnee allies darting about far in the
advanced How we followed every
move that body madel
Was there ever such prince among
scouts as buffalo Billf' II was he
who made the long. perilous ride cross
country to where we were camping far
to the east he who warned us Of Tai
Bull and his savage warriors and o
their rapid retreat, scalp and plundel
laden. 10 scatter among the villages %
the still distant reservations. Ii was 4
war party. unaccompanied by women
unencumbered by lodges, that mad,
the dash along the Solomon valley, bu
the Pawnees swear that somewher,
lover that way" still toward the snow
peaked Rockies, these marauders hay,
big village Of their own If we en-
only reach the Platte ahead of them
All day long, Jog, jog, jog, sometime
through deep ravines, sometimes clam
bering over grassy bluffs, but all tin
while taking the shortest possible rout
that Bill Cody's plainscraft enables hin
to select, heading for the fords Of tina
river of quicksand and shadows. One
there, II we make it ahead of them, W
can turn and bar the way.
mo water between here aud the riv
er," said Bill, rs the dusty column halt
ed on the banks OF tiny rivulet
"Dismount." rang the trumpet TN
saddle" came the brief order. Her
the horses well back along the slope
and don't let EN- near that stream ii
they're perfectly cool. said the colope
We rummaged our saddle bags for
u a I.a
''Bili Arp" would call branch water,
and those of Us not detailed for guar
or picket threw ourselves on the TIM
to snatch what sheep We might. Til
sun went down unseen by more tina
half the eyes in our grimy little fpres
and here 1t is midnight now and no r,
port from the scouts There is littl
knot Of officers gathered about tn
colonels pillow--an old Mcclellan sac
die, for there isn't a stitch of canvs
nearer than the wagon train SOM
where Tar 10 the rear-and leaning O
his elbow that officer explains the sta
alton.
I'VE pail out at o'clock-wagol
or no wagons, If they reach us and v
can give the horses hatful OF grai
and the men cup OF coffee, well an
good. II not. Wen push ahead Q
empty stomachA That's all there
about It.
All around the silent bivouac--silei
except for snoring troopers-the heiS
of the different companies ore clustert
''sidelined'' upon the rolling prari
Most Of the horses, worn out. are iyir
down. Out beyond them the sentries a
crouching. for only three nights II
the Cheyennes charged the camp, ho
Ing TO stampede our stock, and We
nearly succeeded.
Out beyond the pickets the prair
wolves are lifting up TO the starry ski
thsis eaeralous yelp, but sudden