Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1893-07-28

any vi tile HODle Ieu nlell WltDlll
miles of that lovely valley.
had not gone far when scream
in camp attracted my attention.
wheeled round and saw DarrOw in the
act of wrenching my rifle from the
hand of an Indian, who WAS trying to
make off with it. He had been seated
on his horse behind few willows,
about twenty feet from our wagon,
unseen, yet silly watching his oppor-
tunity. When all the men were away
from the wagons, except Darrow, he
dashed forward through the campfire,
his horse setting his foot in the frying
pan, leaned over his horses neck and
seized my gun. But Darrow was too
quick for the sneaking Indian. The
Indian was mounted on fine large
American horse, and armed with a
flint-lOck brass pistol, probably the
property of some unfortunate emf
grant that he had caught mapping.
| took my gun, and with some others,
made thorough examination of the
little valley, but the sly foxes had re-
treated to the hills. For time this
occurrence caused us to be a little
more cautious, but it soon wore off.
a week or more after, we had to
drive day and half through lava
and sand without water. When we at
last came to the river We found the
ground eat out so bare that no one
thought that anything as large as a
buck-rabbit could find hiding place.
In front Of my wagon, a short distance
away, there was a single greenwood
about two feet high, otherwise the
ground in that direction was entirely
bare. After the teams were watered,
the women were cooking, the men
laying in the shade of the wagons
and l was leaning against the fore
wheel of the wagon reading, when ]
heard an arrow whistle past me. An
Indian had raised up behind the green
wood and shot, before any one was
aware of his presence. He had been
buried in the sand, with only his nose
and mouth out, 80 he could breath.
When the Indians bow twanged, a
body of Indians came out OF the will
lows along the river, and another rose
out Of the sand to the east OF us.
Darrow picked up the arrow, asked
for the bow, and sent the arrow
through the center OF the bush, this
he repeated three times then pointing
his finger to the place where the In.
dian had hit, he returned his bow and
arrow. The poor Lo" was beaten at
his own game, and was confronted by
mountaineer who could speak his
language by words or signs. The
Indian skunk out of sight as soon as
possible. like a chicken.thief caught
in the very act. Not SO readily did
we get rid of the traders that now
came forward. Trade they would,
trade they must, and they would take
no haiwet, no put of, and trade they
did. A fine fore-skin coat worth fifteen
dollars, for six-bit hickory shirt, and
the unfortunate purchaser OF the coat
got badly bitten, for the live stock
were thrown in to boot, and they per-
secuted the whole train before we got
through. Like the frogs of Egypt, they
entered into the beds, the clothing,
the kneading troughs, in the day time,
they played hide-and- seek in our boots,
and in the seams OF our pants, and
had jolly times climbing and sliding
down our backs. BY night, they
nestled easily by our sides, pinching
and scrouging to make US lay over
and give them the warmest place.
Still more, they would willingly have
given daily exhibitions of trspize and
lofty ground tumbling, that would
have laid Fourpaugh's circus in the
shade, to while away our time while
on the march, but we were going to
Oregon and had no taste for trifling
amusements, so we sighted their kind
offers.
The next little adventure, it is as
we'll to pass over with hop-skip-and-
jump, since the only excuse there was
for it was the necessity of a little in
cident to restore healthy circulation
to our blood. The recapturing OF
stock stolen from others may be
praisworthy, though attended with
great risk, for the value of an old
crippled COW. But the lesson to be
learned from this case, was this, that
to 60 back a half days travel while
the the teams are going ahead, places
a gap between weary person and his
supper that is not quite as desirable as
one could wish: however, twelve
O'Clock at night saw that gap closed.
Good resolves were formed round the
camp fires, the next morning, only to
be kicked higher than a kite the first
opportunity that presented. We re-
solved that from that on no one
should leave the wagons for any pur-
poses, except to rescue our own stock
when it was driven away. An hour
alter, we saw one of our men floating
down the river, a mile away, on an
Indian boat. He succeeded in getting
back to camp in time for supper. He
was uncommunicative on the subject
OF Snake river boating, except that il
any one wanted to enjoy it they could
for all Of him.
Que day as we passed through the
point OF a rocky ridge we ca me on to a
grave BY the side OF the road, that had
been robbed. 1t had been dug about
four feet deep in kind of clay and
gravel cement, walled with flat stones
and covered with fiat stone, four by
SIX feet square, and four to five inches
thick, and two persons placed in q