The Van Buren press., 1893-09-23
A THRILLING INCIDENT.
One OF Kit Oarson's Many DARING
Adventures.

crossing the great plains en- route to
Cah1ornta. We numbered thirty-eiQht
mon In all. and our outfit, with its
eight wagons, teams and necessary SUD-
plies, was very valuable one, In those
days overland emigrants hal literally
TO fight their way. Eternal vigilance
was the price at which life and proper
| ty were preserved.
| Nevertheless we had reached well
into Arizona without a serious mishap.
having lost neither man nor an ami
NAL on our long Journey.
| one day we were toiling along be-
tween Mogollor mountains and Blacl,
Butte when far away to the left, riding
diagonally across our course, we saw
single horseman whom, even at that
distance, we knew to be white man,
Splendidly mounted on jet-black
horse he was making rapid progress,
but we could not at first imagine why
he pressed on SO furiously, nor why, as
he could plainly see our white-topped
wagons, he did not make directly for
us. Our surprise at his apparent avoid
ance Of us was increased when our
guide, Joe Carroll, riding In advance of
the train, presently called out:
"Close up, boys, and form corral.
Well likely have fight before long.
There's sixty or more Apache chasing
that lone rider, and they'll have him,
,urel See how they're spreading out,
the numbering villainsl They know
| khn nd oh -
Sure enough, we could now see, just
coming over the ridge of distant rise
In the plain, band Of mounted In
dams, who, as they advanced, gradually
extended their line as If to prevent the
hunted man from swerving to the right
or left.
"Why in thunder don't the blamed
fool ride straight for us?" impatiently
exclaimed Tom Ross, our captain.
For mighty good reason" replied
Joe. "Between us and him, right in
the middle Of that smooth-looking
plain, and running square across his
path, lies DEVILS gulch. It's more than
three miles long, very wide In places,
and no living thing has ever seen the
bottom Of It. Tho reds say it has none.
There's no rise on either side Of it, and
II can't be seen till one gets close up;
but those devils and that poor fellow,
too, know it's there. He's opposite the
center Of 1t now, and the bloodthirsty
brutes see that he won't have time to
clear either end before they overhaul
him. So they're sure Of his scalp, but
they'll have to ride around the gulch to
get at u.s."
They'll pay dearly for that scalp,
them" savagely shouted Capt. Ross
"Grab your rifles, boys, and thirty of
you come along. Let the others stick
10 the corral. I'm afraid we can't
save the man, but II lot Of you can
get to the gully before the reds retreat
beyond rife-shot well have revenge,
anyhow"
We had no saddle horses except three
ridden by Ross and Carroll, and as we
were barely half mile from the ra-
vine, no time would be gained by un-
Harvesting and mounting the draught
snimals So our leaders spurred on
ahead and we followed on foot as fast
IS our legs could carry us.
At the moment we started the beset
horseman was about as fur from ono
side of the gulch as we were from the
other. He was still riding at top speed,
but to our amazement, Us we judged
within four hundred yards OF the bar
rier he brought the pace Of his horse
down to hand-gallop, thus enabling
the yelling, exultant savages to gain
rapidly on him.
il seemed strange that the apparent
ly doomed man should deliberately, IN
this manner, shorten his brief span OF
life. II must be, we conjectured, only
because he wished to sell 1t more dear
ly. for now we saw him half turn IN
the saddle and throw up his rifle. A
Duff of smoke, a report, almost inaudi-
ble to us, and the foremost warrior,
who had come within hundred and
fifty yards Of his hoped-for prey, reeled
In his seat and pitched headlong to the
earth, his trained pony remaining mo-
tionless by the dead body
Never checking the easy lope OF his
horse the white man reloaded with IN
credible speed, turned once more and
brought down another OF his pursuers'
while the scattering volley fired at him
In return proved harmless.
Our mounted comrades had by TINS
time nearly reached the gulch. Sud.
denly one of them, Joe Carroll, turned
hack and, galloping toward us,
shouted:
otis Kit Carson, boysl And sure as
you live he's letting his horse gather
himself for an attempt to leap the gully
In one particular spot where its oniy
twenty feet wide. Hurry along ike
lightning 80 as to get within shot OF
the reds IL they're fools enough to fol
low him to the edge" at
Loud cheers greeted this startling
..ve,ation. and every man OF us ran as
n the worlds fate depended upon ms
individual speed. But, strain rs WE
might. we were still over three hundred
uards from the to us invisible ra'
yine when Kit Carson twisted about
ered again with unerring aim' ana
.h;rd savage fell. Then he dropped ms
rifle. threw his heavy holsters ana prs,
tolls to the ground, and sitting wen vel
down in his saddle, rode straighe ior
W" Tom Ross had gained the hither-slde
- the culch, and the guide was hurry.
tho hack to join him; but We now 'na,
the crisis had come, were SO fasc,ha ':'a
bv tho sight of Carson's sublime o . ,,,I
INT we involuntarily came to a iuil
ton breathlessly awaiting the result
stoP' ..,. .hort springy bounds,