Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1892-11-14

/ SUdnCn0SC 1u0H W0T0 SlNlug OUT, ana
these, with Sergeant Brooks, he ordered
to push along with the gale and seek
news and shelter at the station.
Three others he posted near the main
crossing of the Wolf, under the lee of
little bluff, where they and their horses
speedily stamped hole in the snow
| drifts around the hospital ambulance
| and huddled for -warmth-6res they
could not light, even had there been
yestige of fuel-and then, with three I'M
| 1aunted campaigners at his back, he
had once again turned down stream, fol-
lowing its wanderings in the darkness
| and feeling for ravines he could not see
along the southern bank. Time and
again they dismounted and ran beside
| their horses to restore circulation to the
numbed and stiffened feet ard fingers.
| Time and again they plunged waist
| deep into drifts and the horses founder
ed to their girths in the powdery snow.
| At last Brewster noted that here and
| there far in the northwestern skies the
stars were beginning to peep; the clouds
were driving away, the dawn was nigh,
the hurricane abating. Broader and
| brighter the daylight stole over the
storm swept prairie, streaked here and
there with feecy, winding veins, and
| when at last the sun arose in it's I'M
| clouded splendor the gale had died away
| to mere ghost of its furious self, and
they rubbed the icy fringe from their
battered eyelids and gazed long and
wistfully up and down that shallow,
winding valley, all heaped and tumbled
with the driven snow, and saw not
sign of those whom they had rushed to
save.
Never for an instant did Brewster re-
lax his efforts. Giving each of his men
pull at the flask, he selected little
Murphy as about the most compact and
certainly the lightest of the trio, and
babe him make his way to camp and
tell the colonel that up to sunrise no
vestige of the lost ones had been found,
and suggest that additional parties be
sent out at once.
Tell somebody to bring my field
glass;" he added, as Murphy was about
would have found nothing of the ambu-
lance until this time, | never should
have left it, Good luck to you now,
corporal. Ride as lively as you can"
Murphy turned promptly away, spur
red his unwilling horse through the ice
into the black and racing waters of the
Wolf and was presently following lit
tie break in the north side which led by
a more gradual ascent to the prairie be-
yond.
"Now, men, one of you ride back to-
ward tie party at the ford. poke into
every ravine to your left-they're all full
of snow: it may be the ambulance is so
deep in the drift they could hear no
sound. If you find anything, the faint
est trace, ride up on the prairie and
circle your horse to the left. Morse,
you como with me"
BEG pardon, lieutenant, think Muir
ply sees something now" said Morse,
indicating the farther shore with nod
of his fur covered head. Whirling Gag
erly about, Brewster was surprised to see
his little Irishman, a hundred yards or
so away, crouching low on his horses
back, still in the ravine and up to his
girth in snow, and peering cautiously
eastward, his eyes just level with the
bank. Then he was plainly seen to sig
nal In an instant Brewster and his men
were plunging into the rapid stream,
crushing the ice that skirted the shores
and bounding out upon the frozen
ground beyond. Again Murphy held
forth hand-a warning gesture, not
a reckoning one. keep down, keep
down." he signaled, and wondering, the
little party of troopers cautiously fol-
lowed into the ravine.
sWhat do you seer queried Brewster,
eager and agitated.
''Upon my soul, sir. | wish | knew;
but it's more like Indians than anything
can think off,
Indians? where away" And with a
wild fear at heart Brewster gazed over
the bank in the direction indicated.
Indians, and coming this way sir, or
I'm tenderfoot," muttered Morse, a
man who had served in the Twelf III for
many a year.
'sWhat on earth can they be doing so
far south of the agency? You don't
think any of the hostiles have got down
this way?'
s.Theyre all hostiles, sir, when there's |
only three or four in them. 1t don't |
matter whether these are from the |
agency or the Bad Lands now, if they
can catch white man a-napping, and
something has brought them out here"
"My God man! you don't suppose
they've heard of the ambulance?'
ssThey hear things quicker than we !
do, lieutenant. Day or night, calm or
storm, those fellows can all around beat
rs in getting news"
ssAnd they are coming from the north
east, lieutenant" chimed in Murphy.
sThat means if they are from the vii
lagos near the agency they've circled
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