Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1892-07-03

WNht A&h1hf anu tndNt OuA Nttf~rE Two i
seemed like some good old folks who
had lived out well rounded lives and
been translated back 20 earth 10 begin /
over again
To these children Janets presence
was the one happiness Of their day. nor |
eoula she ten stories enough to satisfy |
them. Once Janet, coming unobserved, |
heard the youngest Pike telling baby |
Rose, who was cross. one of her own
stories.
You sorrerful little things" cried
Janet, cant You make 'em up your
selves of your own
For week nj night the sentry Mt the
stockade saw far off. black, moving
specks ON the horizon. and weary and
anxious wer. the hours of darkness,
early the start. eager the hope to get ON
withont the attack. Each man would
mutter i'm the gray dawn, rs haggard
and white he harnessed his team,
Thank God, another night of peace;
no Indians YETI
Janet, said Chase one morning,
when she came to watch him harness
his team. ''ef them lnjuns comes an
gifts the better o us you git on that ere
leetle gray pony, Nance, thor, an take
Rose an set out fer them low hills
cross thar"
''Nance likes me; feed her my
bread"
IAN of us like We, ye Maverick, ye're
so chipper allus," Chase said, admiring-
ly. The Injuns sha'n't git ye ef we
kin help 1t.
That day a young wife was sick, and
all the long hours Janet tended the
wailing baby its mother was too III to
care for. She looked back at the line
OF wagons and thought of baby Rose.
that she loved best Of ALL
Those good little Pixies will see to
her, she thought. hopefully. But the
two little Pixies were weary that day
they lay in n strange stupor, those pa
thetic guardians-and no one noted
them. Locked in each others arms
they lay unheeded, and one was drift
ing away beyond earthly aid.
At the night halt Janet, freed from
her charge, ran for Rose. Then the news
few from wagon to wagon. The child
was gone, and no one had seen her all
day. Miss Reed remembered seeing
her running among the sunfiowers at
breakfast time.
'Ain't nobody going for herr cried
Janet, in agony. She ran to each
a.. A. .n& ,..teh lsn
swer. 1T cannot be done"
"You see, Janet, said Chase, a sob
In his voice, there's fifty women an
children here an only thirty men to
guard 'em; there may be hundreds Of
Injuns out there. We daren't leave
camp or they'll know it, an we've
searched all the plains with glass an
there's no sign of her."
But ter-morner'- choked Janet
She'll not be awanderin', missy
don't ask rHe to tell We, but there's In
juns an perarie wolves"
I'VE must only tell her father she
died-neyer the whole truth" said Miss
Reed, coming to the wagon for her
rubbers, which she wore on the driest
nights.
Chase walked away and sat down by
the fire. No, don't talk no more,
Janet, as the child went TO him, ''it
aren't no use. I'm the only old Injun
fighter in camp. I've got ter take the
lead"
Janet went quietly to her wagon.
BY the light of a Pickering candle she
printed, in a round, childish hand, ON
bit of paper, these few words
Mr.. Chase, I goin' TO flnd Rose an take
| Nance l Amt no good In hghtn Iniuns an
heard you say my folks was dead Don't you
come for me cause they need you They don't
uie that Is only a Maverick, JANET
She pinned this note to his blanket,
then went softly out in the starlight to
the corner where Nance stood. Fear.
lessly she blanketed the animal, fas
tened the surcingle. then led her quietly
out to an open space between two
wagons.
She looked back at the dying camp
fires, the group of men sleeping In the
light of them, their guns by their sides,
the silhouettes of the women against
the wagon curtains, Miss Reeds prim
and queer with the funny curls. How
safe Ii was here, how lonely and dread.
full outsidel She climbed ON the pony
and turned her head toward the east /;
the animal, thinking of her home,
struck into run. The sentinel saw
Nance disappear in the darkness, but
did not note the little rider.
That onery gray pony as amt been
worked all the way hev got loose an
gone,r he said to the crowd of excited
men who ran out at the noise.
Every unusual rattling of gravel un.
der Nance's hoofs quickened the beat
ing of Janet's heart; every dark object
was to hera beast of prey; every sound
the coming OF the red men. She thought
of the old time stories OF Indian war
fare and cruelty her grandmother had
told her; Of the horrors of the plains
the men spoke of by the camp fires
But I'm the only one In all that
train as hasn't anybody TO care for me, >
she said. bravely There was only me
TO be spared"
When the moon rose Il showed no
living object on the great plains. The
camp was far out Of vision, and not
even spark from It's fires glimmered
on the still air Absolute quiet and
solitude; the world asleep.
| ..um Il. n. -