The new North-west., 1892-12-10

heartened at their bloody repulse, had
quietly withdrawn behind the ridges in
hopes to lure the white men from their
stronghold.
They would have waited until the
wagons We're strung out i'll line and
pressing forward, and then a charge
would have brought victory. The man
who volunteered to act as scout had be-
trayed the plot His willfulness would
cost him his life, but it would save
twenty three Others e..
Two minutes after that cry of alarm
had reached the men i'll the fort the In
dians could be seen all about them.
Concealment was useless, and the red
demons circled about the fort on their
ponies and kept up such a yelling that
one would have thought they regarded
sound as powder and bullet They kept
up the hubbuD for an hour, and then
dismounted out Of rifle range to rest.
I'VE shall hear from that renegade
before long" said the captain, as he
noted a crowd Of Indians at a certain
point. "Have any Of you men got an
old fashioned rife?"
II have" replied a man named Peters
tits not only old style, but heavy
enough to use as artillery. l brought it
along because | couldn't even give it
away at Brule."
The gun was fshed out Of his wagon
and brought forward. L; was the old
fashioned buffalo rifle, carrying bullet
like a cavalry carbine, and its owner
had brought along few charges for it.
It had scarcely been loaded when the
renegade stepped out from the crowd
with white flag and advanced to with
in pistol shot Of the fort. Then he halt
ed and sung out:
:'Boys, you have made a brave de-
fense, but it's no use in trying to hold
out agin us. Thar's over two hundred
of US yere yet, as you kin see by countin
up, and you don't show sense by holdin
out. out'
.What do you want of us?" demanded
the captain.
"Waal, when | summoned ye the
other day all we wanted was fur ye to
turn back. Ye refused to. and ye've
killed couple of warriors and wounded
a lot more. We can't let ye off quite Sc
easy now"
''What are your ter1ns?"
''Now ye begin to talk sense. If ye
want to walk out and leave the wagins
and horses fur us I'll give ye my word
ye shall go in peace. That's lettin ye
off powerful easy, being as the reds are
mad all the way through"
'.Shan't we also leave our guns and
revolvers behind?" asked the captain in
sarcasm.
"As to that replied the renegade,
taking him seriously, sit might be a
good ijee. It would show yer faith
in us"
''You captured one of my men over
the ridge an hour ago.
'sWe did. That is, we didn't capture
him, but axed him to stop with us for a
visit. He's injoyin hisself as hearty as
you please"
"Let him count your numbers and
come in and give us the figures. If you
are as strong as you say we may decide
to surrender"
"We-we couldn't do that, ye know,
That's rayther agin the rules of war
However, the mint ye march out we'll
SCI ulIu lIee " JlHe ye.
''It's no use!'' called the captain in de.
cided tones eve won't talk surrender
until the man comes in"
The renegade returned to his friends
and held brief council, after which he
came forward to say:
'.Boys, can't hold 'em in much longer
no, can't. Ye must cum to terms
or take the consequences
"Wont you release the man?'
"We can't. It would only make one
more to fight u.s.
them We'll shoot down every horse, burr
every wagon and shoot each other be
fore we surrender!'
There was general howl of rage
among the Indians when this news wa:
communicated, but no movement to at
tack. A water hole in the bed Of one O.
the gullies furnished them and theil
ponies with limited supply of tht
liquid, and they knew that the belea
guered white men could not obtain {
drop. It was only question Of time
when the climax would come. The red
skins were therefore content to pre-
serve an life5 uAdI CuC1e diouuu CAe 1Oi
and wait.
Noon came.
OF sudden each suffering hors'
pricked up his ears, held his head higl
and gazed intently toward the east.
..The soldiers!' whispered dozel
men.
.'No-rain!'' replied the captain, as h
pointed to the sky.
All looked to see black cloud loom
ing up over the ridge mile away, ant
in a moment there was flash Of light
ming and heavy peal of thunder.
sRain-rain-rainl shouted the mel
as they rushed here and there like 81
many boys. but under the orders of tn