Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1893-09-23

had slept on my post with vengeance,
and doubtless nothing but the fear of u
possible interruption in their supposed
sacred duty Of securing their dead had
prevented the savages from slaughtering
every man of us!
felt uncommonly mean and cheap at
my own negligence. but made clean
breast of it so soon as my comrades
walked up None of them reproached
me, however. each one generously blam-
ing himself for having slept SO soundly
through it all
Don't you suppose. WILL said Dick
Harding. that the Indians have been
REINFORCED? Surely the IA we drove into
the gulch could not have got away with
26 corpses in thar short time"
Il don't believe they have, Dick"
replied; -even 10 men (about the num-
Der Of the unwounded warriors) could
easily remove the bodies in two hours.
They were scattered along. You know,
all the way from here to the canyon. If
the reds had been numerous enough to
fight and take care of their dead. too, we
would not be alive to talk of it. They
got such a surprise on their first attack
that guess they thought we might be
playing possum again and were only
too glad to get away without another
battle. Getting their dead comrades
out of the hands of any enemy is consid-
cred an imperative duty among these
plains Indians They're superstitious on
this point above all others and will risk
everything rather than leave their killed
and wounded behind
We'll" said Harding refectively,
the devil himself is not quite so black
as he's painted Even these murderous
villains possess some virtues, it seems.
But, Will, the horses must be taken to
water at once. They're beginning to
suffer-
1t was quite true. The poor beasts
had passed IS hours without drink and
were now showing unmistakable signs
Of distress. Whatever the possible dam
ger. an immediate trip must be made TO
the river. So after a hasty breakfast
we divided our force, seven fully armed
men riding off with the horses and the
same number remaining to guard the
wagons
The watering party had little over
mile to go and could not be molested by
the small band of savages left in the can
yon unless these had some way of egress
other than the mouth Of the pass, on
emerging from which they must be seen
by us All seemed to be going well, as
we heard no shooting from the direction
of the river, but three-quarters of an
hour passed away, and our men had not
returned. Shortly afterward, however,
they hove in sight, riding very slowly
and apparently bearing some kind of
burdens strapped on the backs of the
three led horses.
The coast being clear. we walked out
to meet them, and soon, to our infinite
horror, saw that their sad freight con-
sisted of the scalped, scorched and mutt
lated bodies of six white men.
In little hollow close to the river
bank, our comrades told us, they had
found the irons Of two recently burned
wagons and mixed with them the charred
remains Of what few hours before had
dou btless been a party of hopeful emf
grants. Whether butchered by the band
which had abducted the women or by
that which had attacked us they could
not tell. Neither could we be sure that
the unfortunate party had contained only
six men. Others there may have BEEN
now prisoners in the hands of the mer-
CHESS Apacnes and reserved FOR neII1sn
fortunes.
While digging graves in order to give
the pitiful fragments decent burial none
of us could refrain from shuddering as
we thought of the cruel fate which had
oyertaken the hapless travellers, and re-
fecting how easily that fate might have
been our own we bitterly regretted that
we had left a single savage alive.
Charlie Blake exactly voiced the gen.
eral sentiment when he said: II only
hope those hellhounds may pitch into
us again. If they do, not mothers son
of them shall escape this time"
And remember. boys" added Dick
Harding, "those innocent women are in
the power of just such scoundrels."
Its an awful business" put in Hugh
Elliot. IF Kit Carson fails to rescue
the girls. all the gold in California won't
comfort Secord; no. nor Frank Austin
either"
HE won't fail" confidently rejoined
Blake. He'll bring them back all right;
see if he don't Why, I've read some
where that Kit. single handed, once fol-
lowed squad of six Indians for five
days. killed every man of them and saved
a white woman and her baby"
"Yes, Charlie" said Elliot, but on
another occasion when nc and his party
had wiped ont all but one OF band of
Apaches that one, the instant before he
was himself shot down, cut the throat of
a woman prisoner, whom tho villains
had tied and hidden behind bush be-
fore the whites overlook them"
While thus conversing we reverently
smoothed the earth over the humble
graves of our murdered countrynen, for
tidings of whom relatives and friends,
perhaps wives and sweethearts, would
long wait in vain-no book. paper, scrap
Of writing by which the bodies might
have been identified having been found
by our men. All had been consumed or
carried away, and who and whence were
the victims of this one among scores Of
similar wayside tragedies might never
be known-yet. over all. in the azure
vault of a heavenly sky. the sun shone
as brightly, wandering birds scared as
ioyously as if the delnoniacal passions of
men had never stained with the blood Of
their fellows the rolling surface of this
vast solitude.
Wishing to economic our dry feed as
much as possible. we led the horses
about the middle of the afternoon a lit
tie way out on the plain to Craze. 1t
was very pleasant to see how greatly the
animals enjoyed the sweet buffalo grass
after their "a hours deprivation. They
had fed for some minutes, and we were |
watching them and the |
mouth of the pass by turns, when we
saw single mounted warrior ride ont |
Of the latter and speed away northward.
parallel to the course of the canyon.
|
Il