The Portland daily press., 1892-12-13
I|esieged by Cheyennes.
BY A. n. GIBSON.

BY A. n. GIBSON.
downright. 1892. by American Press Associa
toni
CHAPTER I.
In the fall of eighteen hundred and
seventy-eight band of nearly five
hundred Cheyenne Indians escaped
from their reservation near Fort Reno,
in Indian Territory They had formed
the bold design of returning to their old
hunting grounds in Nebraska from
which they had been removed by the
authority of the United States govern
ment.
So sudden was the outbreak that the
military authorities could not be IN
duced to believe there was any occasion
for fright ON the part of the settlers. or
any need of their taking the matter in
hand until the redmen had committed
many appalling atrocities, destroying
much property and wounding and
butchering many persons in western
Kansas.
Settlers and stockmen who received
warming soon enough rushed into the
nearest towns and were very active III
helping forsify them against attack.
They came in covered wagons, on horse
back and on foot, many Of them loaded
down with various and nondescript ar
ticles, which they had snatched from
their. abandoned homes. There were
many amusing situations and some very
ludicrous s'scares," as were related after
the terror had subsidized, but no one felt
disposed to indulge in laughter at the
time of their occurrence.
AS soon as it could be effected numer-
GUS military companies were formed and
armed by the state government and sta
toned near the scenes OF attack.
Many of the border villages were pa
trolled during the night and scouting
parties, armed to the teeth, were dis
patched in various directions to give
warning to the outlying settlements or
to keep keen eye on the movements of
the red enemy.
After reaching the settlements in Kan
sas the Cheyennes began to separate into
small bands, some going in one direc-
ton, some in another, and falling upon
the unsuspecting settlers Of the prairies
they committed most fiendish depreda-
tions.
1t was the first week in October, and
the golden glamour of autumn had en-
veloped the prairies, dulling the rich
emerald hue of the grass and leaving
only a few stray clumps of white and
pale lilac asters TO nod dainty farewell
of the long, bright summer.
A lovely picture Lois Gilbert made as
she sat upon her sturdy Indian pony in
the rosy flush of the morning sun and
watched her fathers cattle Craze on the
prairie.
She wore plain. dark print dress,
and from beneath the short cape of her
pink sunbonnet strayed waving tendrils
of dark hair, which the south wind play
fully tossed about her shoulders.
The bonnet, pushed back slightly from
her brow. revealed fresh, oval face,
with a complexion like one Of her own
prairie roses and dauntless, dark eyes
that looked intelligently from between
long, jetty lashes.
The Gilbert family had come from
Kentucky two years before. The first
year had been spent on rented farm in
eastern Kansas. Then Moses Gilbert
had once more loaded his wife and
daughter, with their household belong
ings, into the covered wagon and jour
neyed to the western part of the state,
where there was plenty of vacant hand.
Moses Gilbert had an ambition to be-
come a stockman, but his meager
finances obliged him to begin on small
scale. He took a claim suitable for
grazing purposes and built sod shanty
for his family on bluff overlooking the
Arkansas river In its sandy bed.
With what money he brought with
him he bought thirty-six cows, from
which he hoped to be able to start a
ranch. The neighboring stockmen
might laugh and crack all the jokes
they pleased at his expense, because of
the littleness of his start. Nose Gilbert
did not care. His claim was good one
for stock, with plenty Of grass and
water, and with much patience and
work he felt assured of success in the
end,
If Mrs. Gilbert and Lois found a lack
Of comforts in the sod shanty, they
never complained. Their faith in the
plans Of husband and father was of an
unwavering nature.
They We're quite willing to endure
hardships and privations for his sake,
and never doubted that he would one
day be one of the most successful ranch
men of western Kansas.
Like the sensible, loving women they
were, they battled bravely with their
poverty, and tried faithfully to make
their wild claim assume as homelike an
appearance as possible.
Lois was the only living child, but
back in the old burying ground in Ken
lucky were three small mounds, toward
which the mothers heart SO often
reached out How often, too, the tears
fell from her eyes as she pursued her
lonely tolls!
Lois was now eighteen, strong, active
and brave. She was a valuable assist
ant to her father, for when called away