Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-09-01
M they must not find her alive. That's

us they must not find her alive. That's
allr''
I rode back to the third wagon and
placed my horse at the nigh fore wheel,
and lifted the cap to the lady. who had
| been provided with a comfortable seat by
herself She was a little bit of a woman.
not over twenty five years old, and married
| to the colonel only two years before. She
| looked at me out of her big blue eyes and
| smiled, but she could not steady her voice
| as she leaned forward and inquired:
Corporal, do you-you think we shall
| be attacked"
Quite likely, ma'am. but we may
squeeze through"
"And If attacked, and you can't beat
| the Indians off. your
II have the captains orders, ma'amY
Eyes; very we'll"
We both understood had been spe-
cially detailed to kill her II / saw that we
were to be wiped out! The thought OF It
made me dizzy as 1 rode along. Now and
| then glanced up at her to find her face
white and her eyes anxiously searching
| the horizon. I had my orders and was
| there to obey them, but could do it! II
| l was the last living man of that train,
| could 1 raise my carbine and become her
| murderer
At2 o'clock on the afternoon OF the SEQ
| ond day out we saw a dozen mounted In
| dams on a ridge to the right and closed up
| the train. To the left were a succession OF
ridges, and If there was any force of hostiles
about they were hidden behind them. The
| colonel's wife was one of the first to dis
| cover the Indians at the right. She was
looking at me as 1 glanced up.
1--WE shall be attackedt" she queried-
"Within ten minutes, ma'am.
"Well, you-you"-
s.v~ I,,< 7 ho1 hoa tharrr
off"
The redskins on the right now began to
ride to and fro and whoop and yell and seek
to draw our attention and force the train to
halt. Orders had been given the day be-
fore to keep moving in case OF attack In
closing up the wagons had doubled the
line, moving two abreast. The horsemen
fell into their places at once-twenty on a
side five in front and five in rear. Some
of the teamsters had carbines, while all had
revolvers Half a mile beyond where we
had seen the first Indian the attack was
made and it was a bold one AS we came
opposite valley running back into the
ridges a hundred or more mounted Indians
came charging down on us The valley
was Just about wide as the train was
long, and therefore the twenty OF us on
that side had a chance at the reds as they
came on in n mob shooting, shouting and
seemingly determined to ride over u.s.
"Corporalf'
1t was the voice Of the colonel's wife, just
as we were preparing to fire
"Yes'm, l remember" l replied as l
lowered my carbine to look up at her.
We poured the fire of our carbines into
the charging mass and checked its rush.
The Indians then passed to our front and
rear, so as to assail us on all sides. There
were fully 300 of them, and had the train
halted but for n minute they would have
had us wiped out. part of them had
been ordered to fire only at the mules at
tached to the wagons. AS they We're kept
moving only three or four were struck and
none disabled
"Corporal!''
There was fighting on front and rear and
both sides. and tho bullets were flying
about us in spiteful way. No less than
five had passed through the cover OF the
wagon beside me.
1t Was the colonel's wife calling to me.
looked up into her white face and she
gasped:
Corporal, are you going to-to"-
Not yet-we are holding our own!" re-
piled as 1 turned to open fire again
We were gradually getting out of the
trap. Farther on the ground was open
and to our advantage. The Indian always
does his best fighting at the start Here
and there We had man wounded, but there
was no confusion-no haltinS. Whenever
they gathered as If to charge We opened ire
on the spot and scattered them. Our fire
was rapid and well sustained, and At the
end of a quarter OF an hour we had them
beaten. Wewere just drawing clear OF the
ridge when bullet struck the third wagon
teamster in the shoulder and he fell for
ward on his saddle. It happened right I'M
der the eyes of the colonel's wife and she
called to me:
Corporal, obey your orders"
She had her hands over her face 50 that
she might not see me as I raised my gun.
The next few seconds must have been ter
rible to her.
BEG pardon, ma'am, but the reds are
drawing off and the victory Is ours"
Size dropped her hands and stared at me
for a minute as if she could not compre-
bend. Then she fell back in dead faint,
and it was a long half hour before her blue
| eyes opened to the sunshine again. A
week later, at the new post, Colonel Blank
called me in one day and asked:
Corporal, weren't you ordered to shoot
Mrs. Blank"
Yes, sir
Then why didn't you do its" he sternly
demanded.
II was going to, butt
'But what, sir? 1t was gross disobedi-
ence OF orders, and you are no longer a
corporal"
But that was the old martinet's way Of
promoting me to q sergeantcy.
NJ. QUAD.
Water n Solid.
We usually think of minerals solid
| things, such as metals and rocks and
| jewels and various chemical salts But
when we consider the matter a little we
see that all these things il melted by
| strong heat are minerals still, only they
| are now in a fluid instead of a solid state.
L<.%r . 1.x.-a lie a 4