The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-11-20
PRISONERS Or ELSBN7IyBL
BY LIEUTENANT ". A. CURTIS.


| Utes knew il was there, but didn't know
how to get it out. He would vet return to
Spain a rich man. Visions OF gayly liyef-
led outriders clearing the streets of Madrid
for the state coach of the rich g~obernador,
Dor Gaspar do Sandoyal, tloated before his
| mind.
But should he teach the Indians to be
| miners2 No; he would have it all. Let
the Ute go to prison. But Don Gaspar did
not give the order. He was n more honora-
BILE man than his predecessors In the gov,
ernorship. Sapaya was an ambassador and
as such he should be respected.
Tell the boy said Don Gaspar to the
interpreter, that | cannot teach his people
to be miners; that the prisoners shall Do
prisoners in Santa Fe until they die or are
ransomed. Tell him that grant him safe
conduct for three days, and If after that
time he be found within my territories that
he too shall be made a prisoner" =.
On the outskirts OF the plain where u
meets the foothills of the Ratones noun
tai.ss stands q great mass OF sandstone
rock that rises to the height OF iOO feet.
Slanting shelves jut out here and there
from the otherwise smooth sides, but
nowhere do they afford the slightest foot
hold to one who would ascend or descend.
Lighter colored patches on the face of the
cliff show where the action OF the weather
has split off pieces and cast them down to
form the heaps of broken stone below.
The rock stands there like II warder of
the plain against attack from the noun
tains, and perhaps this 10 the reason why
the Spaniards called it Ell Sentinel, the
sentinel. The Pueblos had a tradition that
once 1t really was a watch tower, that bale
fires were lighted on its top to warn the
plain of danger from the mountains. BE
that rs it may, a sort of very low and mar
row tunnel cut by hands long forgotten
penett ates into the center. Then it leads
.-,nrl .,,.Ja oNa,,o AVA 0, Itc Hnnr and
ig-zagging back and forth through the
heart of the rock it comes out or the sum
init.
Sergeant Gomez with seven troopers, re-
turning from an up-country pueblo con-
veying q train of mules laden with corn for
the Santa Fe garrison, was passed by I'll
Sentinel. when Corporal Romero called out.
IAN Indian! ITS! Ute! See him there in
the grass"
Two hundred yards from the troopers.
crawling along the ground in the direction
of FL Sentinel, was Sapaya. The time OF
his safe conduct had expired. for he had
fingered two days in Santa Fe trying to
obtain news of his brother. He had seen
the soldiers approaching when they were
more than a mile away. There was no hid
ing place on the open prairie and he started
toward Ell Sentinel. But before he could
reach the rock the soldiers were 80 near that
he was compelled to throw himself into the
grass.
Now he was discovered. Leaping to his
feet he ran toward the rock with all his
speed. Three of the troopers spurred in
pursuit, their sabrss and accoutrements
making a mighty jangling, the heavy hoofs
of the numbering horses shaking the earth.
Sapaya was a swift runner and he ran with
the energy of despair; the pursuing horses
were fat, slow ANIMALS. so he reached the
rock first. He ran around two sides with
out seeing any place of c~oncealment. Sud
denly he espied a black opening partially
concealed by long vines hanging down
from above. He dashed in, blindly follow