The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-09-05
A THRILLING INCIDENT.
One Of Kit Carson's Many Daring
Adventures.

{
In the summer of 1851 our party wa
: crossing the great plains en- route t
j California. We numbered thirty-eigh
{ men in all, and our outfit, with it
eight wagons, teams and necessary SUP
plies, was very valuable one. In thos
days overland emigrants had Gterall..
to fight their way. Eternal vigilanc
was the price at which life and proper
ty were preserved.
Nevertheless we had reached wei
into Arizona without 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, rldins
dlagonally across our course, we saw :
single horseman whom. even at tina
distance. we knew to be white man
| Spiendidly mounted on a jet-blacl
horse he was making rapid progress
but we could not at first imagine why
he pressed on SO furiously. nor why, a:
he could plainly see our white-toppe6
wagons, he did not make directly for
us. Our surprise at his apparent avoid
ance of us was increased when on,
/ guide. Joe Carroll, riding in advance o1
the train, presently called out:
! CLOSE up, boys, and form corral.
Wen likely have fight before long.
There's sixty or more Apache chasing
that lone rioer, and they'll have him,
sure! See how they're spreading out,
the numbering villains! They know
the ground ahead of them"
Sure enough, we could now see, just
coming over the ridge of distant rise
in the plain, band of mounted In
dians, 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?" impatientiy
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. The reds say it has none.
There's no rise on either side of it, and
it 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 it now, and the bloodthirsty
Drutes 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 us"
They'll pay dearly for that scalp,
then" savagely shouted Capt. Ross.
Grab your rifles, boys, and thirty of
you come along. Let the others stick
to the corral. I'm afraid we can't
save the man, but if lot of you can
get to the gully before the reds retreat
beyond rife-shot We'll have revenge,
any how"
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-
harnessing and mounting the draught
animals So our leaders spurred on
ahead and we followed on foot as fast
as our legs could carry us.
At the moment we started the beset
horseman was about as far from one
side of the gulch as we We're from the
other. He was still riding at top speed,
but to our anazement, as we Judged
within four hundred yards of the bar
rier he brought the pace of his horse
down to a hand-gallop, thus enabling
the yelling, exultant savages to gain
rapidly on min. a
1t seemed strange that the apparent
~ doomed man should deliberately, in
this manner, shorten his brief span of
life. 1t must be. we conjectured. only |
because he wished to sell it more dear |
~, for now we saw him half turn in |
the saddle and throw up his rife. A |
puff of smoke, a report, almost inaudi- |
bic to us, and the foremost warrior,
who had come within hundred and I
fifty yards of his hoped-for prey, reeIed !
n his seat and pitched headlong to the
Earth, his trained pony remaining mo-
.ionless by the dead body.
Never checking the easy lope of his
horse the white man reloaded with in
.rcdible speed turned once more and
brought down another of his pursuers,
while the scattering volley fired at him
n return proved harmless
Our mounted comrades had by this
ime nearly reached the gulch. SUD
lenly one of them, Joe Carroll. turned
'ack and, galloping toward us,
houted:
Its Kit Carson, boys! And sure as
'ou live he's letting his horse gather
Iimself for an attempt to leap the gully