The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1893-01-04

valleys there was fne pasturage, while
others were badly quilted out BY rains.
As We rose on one of these ridges We
heard firing, and proceeding with due
caution, We finally located it beyond the
last ridge. The ground there broke
away into an als.ost level plsin, where
the earth was baked hard and the rock
outcropped in great profusion.
Half mile from the ridge stood smo
dead cottonwoods. Around the base,
of these the stones had bsen piled up
two or three feet high. AS We crept tn
the top of the ridge on hands and feet,
and looked over, We saw . temporary
Indian camp right below as at water.
hole. There vera three or four Indiana
lying uader shelter of skins, and be-
yond them We counted nineteen who were
crouched behind knolls and bou lders, and
firing at the breastwork.
We saw at once that some one waa
being bessiged, but we made no move
until we could learn the particulars,
While We we're watching afais puf
of smoke shot ont from tho breakfast,
and an Indian who was raising his head
above boulder to get shot, sank down
dead. We were ready to help tho do.
tenders, but We waited q few minutes to
see how strong they were and how much
game they had. In about three minutes
there was loud report from shotgua,
and redskin who was hugginE the earth
at tho roots Of q bush was bit by some Of
the shot, and uttered yell snd rolled
down the hill to safer cover.
"Thers are only two white men thore, /"
whispered enc of the citizsns, "and they
are not over stocked with ammunition.
They are firing only when they have a
dead sure thing, Let Us give those red
dsvils a surprise party"
We crawled few yards TO the right,
to spot furnishing good cover, and
then each picked his target asd opened
nre. What followed WIS dimly ludi-
srous: The FIRE In the rear broke the
Indians all up In q minute, and they
made rush Cor aheir ponies which were
grouped to our right, aad half a mile
away. We wounded two and killed one
before they got out of range, and de-
acended 10 the camp to find four wound
ed warriors lying there, every one hit
With buchshot. One Of them got hold
of hii rife and sent a bullet through my
conrades' cap, and with that we turned
and wiped them out.
Than it was that the beseiged showed
themselves. Who do you suppose they
were2 A woman, 40 years old, widow
and her 15-year-,ld sonl You had to
be right there to credit the fast. They
had started out from Nebraska to find a
suitable place and take up q claim.
They had wagon drawn by two horses,
aad, Two days before, within FIVE miles
of the place, had been discovered by .
war party of Indians. They had run the
horses to within half mile of the spot,
when the wasoa breke down aHd they
had to abandon 1t. The mother seized
q double-barrsl shotgun aud the boy bis
Wiuchestsr rife, and made for the
trees.
Tho Indians halted to plumber the
wagon, and this gave the psir time to
fortify. They hndn't drop of water
nor nouthful Of food, and were not too
we'll supplied with ammunition. They
were thirty or forty miles from assist.
ancs, realized that only some special In.
terposition could save them, and yet
they never had thought of surrender.
The Indians went into camp and sought
to cgole thsm, bat 1t was no 60.
The real attack began at daylight on
the morning we got there. Tho four
warriors in camp and one who got away
were wounded by the woman. The
boy killed two. Neither had slept q
wink for two nights, rot tsnted water or
food, and yet they rather made light Of
the whole affair.
"I told ma" ,"explained the boy, "that
we'd cover and hold out ~ long as We
could, bat guess it was just as we'll you
cum up as you did"
"I was mad at GJself for bein' 80
shaky," added tho woman. II ought to
have killed every one l drew bead on,
but nay nerves went back on me, and the
gan wabbled. Do you happen to have a
bite Of foodf"
Neither one felt that they had dose
anything out of comnon, and l was really
vsxcd with them for taking the master so
coolly.
The next Summer 1 was an eye wit
ness to an affair that shall ever rsmem-
Der in all its details. I was scouting to
the north of where the town OF Sheridan
can now be found, and had for a comrade
young fellow Is years old named Abs
Smith. He was in the employ Of the
government, and this was his first scout.
We were Feeling" for body of 250 sci.
diers, part of whom we're infantfy, and
as they had wagons and ambulanees
along, our pace was slow.
At neon, one July day, ss the men
were finishing dinner, Abe and l rode
on ahead to sec what lay before us.
Half mile beyond camp We rose a
ridge, descended into a valley, rose an
other, passed big boulder and we're de-
scending gentle slope, when about fifty
redskins, each one concealed In the bush.
es and grass at che foot of the slope,
-,1