, 1892-03-22
Highest of all in Leavening Power-Latest U. S. Govt Report
Re-! Rssi9s
ABSOLUTELY PURE

up for ten minutes rest. Then on again
smother brief rest-and when daylight
comes we have covered over half the dis
lance and our horses are still strong and
fresh.
The east reddens-shadowy specters race
across the plains-we can see the rocks and
bushes to the right and left of us, and day
gradually dawns. The upper rim of the
blood red sun is just showing above the
ridges far away when we look back to the
northwest over our trail.
Indiansi Like tigers they nave kept the
trail through storm and darkness, and are
only three miles behind. They are punched
and we cannot count them, but there must
be a full dozen. We can hear a faint shout
as they catch sight of us, but no one is sur
prised at the spectacle or startled by the
shout. We had figured on only one chance
In fifty.
We now move on three abreast. The
horses would go off at the top Of their
speed, but we pull them down and speak
soothing words. The gait is just a bit
faster than during the night. TIL Indians
will make a squirt and gain q mile or more.
We figure on that. Then will come the
test. Scarcely more than a mile separates
us When the pace settles down to a steady
gallop which would allow us to converse
had we anything to say. Why talk Miles
ahead is Carter's pass-beyond that the
plains and the Loup. Behind are the Indi-
ans. If our horses tire out there is but
one hope for us-dismount and stand the
red men off until help arrives or We are
wiped out. Words woul be wasted. The
corporal looks pack to gauge the distance,
and as he increases or slackens the pace we
follow suit.
The entrance of the pass at lasti 1t is u
roadway-a gully-twenty feet wide, sep
: arating two long and barren hills. 1t is
five miles long, and the edges Of the hills
have been cut by storms until they are
bluffs, up which only an active man can
Chamber Here and there a great bowlder
has dropped down-here and there tons OF
earth rave fallen and raised the natural
bed a foot or more. Beyond the pass the
Indians will make another squirt, and we
shall lave to increase the pace. An hour
more will settle the matter.
There has been no shouting for the last
hour. As the corporal turns his face after
q look over his we read the news
as from a printed page. They still hang
to the trail, of course. 1t would be folly to
expect they had given over the pursuit.
They have even gained a little. AS we
enter the pass you might figure it one
chance in sixty. Half way through you
can make it one in seventy. Terrible odds,
you say, but we were even grateful. Now
we hear for the first time the echo of their
ponies feet, and it is plain enough that
they are gaining, Every buck utters a
long drawn yell, and the impulse is to in
crease the pace. A look from the corporal
checks this, and after a minute the heart
beats regularly again.
What's that We are within half a mile
OF the end of the pass when a black object
suddenly appears ahead. More Indians'
Caught in a trapf Almost as speedily as
we can ask ourselves the questions a buf-
falo bull. head down and tail up, rushes
past us on the left hand, and he is followed
by another and another. Without a word
we check up and fall in behind the cor
poral single file, and he increases the pace.
We seem to fly over the last n rods,
hugging close to the right hand bank, and
we are only clear Of the pass when it is
choked with affrighted animals. But for
the great rocks a few yards to the right
we should ave been picked up in that
rush. A halt of thirty seconds would have
been our doom. From right to left-from
the pass as far to the east and south as the
eve could discern-was a solid mass OF
| stampeding buffaloes. The clatter of their
horns was deafening; the tramp of the
thousands of hoofs made the earth tremble,
As the rush contracted at the pass hun,
dreds of animals went down to be literally
trodden into the earth, while scores Of
others were lifted up by the squeeze unit
they were carried along as chips on the
surface of a rushing river.
BY and by there was a rampant of dead
and dying so high that it could not be
jumped over or broker through, and the
stampede bore off to the right. AT the end
of two hours the last animal able to move
had passed out of sight and we drove
ahead for the camp on the Loup. Next
day we rode through the pass again, this
time at a walk. There were dead b4ffa-
loes, savage old bulls with broken legs,
patches of hair and blood and bones at in
tervals, scores of horns knocked off and
flung into the banks like SO many spears.
Had the Indians escapedf Never a onel
They had not caught the alarm as soon as
we did, and seconds were minutes there.
To go back was the only choice left them,
but that meant a ride of four miles and a
half before a stampede. Every pony had
gone down; every rider had been tossed
4 and trampled and flung about until you
could hardly believe that those objects had
once been human beings. NJ. QUAD.