The midland journal., 1893-10-06


captain to tell him to sound the
Charger
Well, we loved him as the best of
ouglers, but we loved him for more
than that. When / was down with
malarial fever in Fort S., and al
though / was reckoned surly fellow
enough, little Billy brought me grapes,
and he must have paid through the nose
for them, the poor little angel, and l
guess other fellows had some sort of
the same experience. Never a man in
the guardhouse but Billy would find
some way to ease his mind and
raise his spirits, and cheerful he
was, always, and the clev-
crest jockey in the regiment, except
but there, he was very light weight.
He used to sing, too-and the boys
would be cleaning up for Sunday morn
ing inspection, and Billy would chip
up something jolly and we'd yell cho-
rus; and then he'd sing quietly some
homelike song, and we'd forget the
snow on the prairie and the trouble to
get wood, and the half ration, and the
boys wouldn't join in that chorus, but
just keep on wiping the rust from the
carbines, and some of them maybe
dropping something on the barrel that
would turn to rust very soon.
Well, well, Custer was there and that
meant fun and fighting-more of the
last than the first-and down we went
in the chill of late autumn afternoon,
just our old troop under the captain, to
do something. / don't recollect now
just what it was. Maybe to break up
a small village-maybe to bring in a
the captain didn't seem
from his manner to think it was going
to be very serious, whatever it was, and
Billy kept chirruping away as he rode
behind the captain, as jolly as if we
were going to break up the whole Sioux
nation.
We took up a trot, after getting out
of the post, and made for the Canadian
river, and we kept up trot for long
time, saving when we halted every hour
for four or five minutes to tighten girths
and breathe the horses-a good prac-
tice. We had coffee at sunset, while it
was drizzling rain, and it looked like a
bad night. The scout that was with US
we thought little better than green
horn, but he was supposed to know the
country, and, at any rate, none of us
expected any trouble, or the use of a
revolver or saber.
These came, however.
Whether the guide blundered, or the
captain, as some say. was obstinate and
stuck to his own opinion, it is needless
to argue here. The 'big chiefs did
that afterwards, but instead of keep
ing to the trail and going the ordinary
way down to the ford, we branched off
and struck right into a wandering band
of Comanches. The devils saw us be-
fore we knew they were anywhere near,
and the first thing we knew we were
greeted with as horrible yell as ever
Comanche managed to make. 1t
was, as I have said, raining, and
that, we did not expect them; so
when we dimly saw them whirl-
ing round us at top speed, some lying
on the otfside of their ponies bellies
and some of them leaping to their feet
in the saddle, and all of them firing
into us as best they could, we were too
ratified just at first to do much. We
had walked right into a nest of them.
The old captain just realized the state
of affairs. He devoted just thirty Sec
onds to cursing the guide and then be-
gan business. We were near the river
and our immediate safety was to get
across that. Forming us up-for we
had already opened scattering fire on
the Indians-the old man charged in
one direction, feinted and forming in
column of fours, turnedGto the river, and,
swimming and struggling, we reached
the other bank. There we formed as
dismounted skirmishers, while the re-
serve held the horses behind the bluff
and waited the crossing of the Indians,
but they either thought we were
stronger than they, or we really were,
or. as is likely, they remembered the
Indian principle, ''never fight in the
dark" At any rate, they did not come,
and the roll of us in the gray of the
dawn was called in whispers. 1t was a
disgraceful affair, we all thought, but
we could not have done any more In
the darkness, not knowing the strength
of the enemy. However, we were
pleased to find that only two of us had
dropped from their saddles, and we
hoped we had hit some of the enemy in
the few minutes fight. say we were
pleased for moment, but before day
light it was whispered along the line:
''Billy's missing"
The poor little rascal He had al
ways had fancy for riding Tip"
when he could, because the brute was
the hardest.mounted, most unmanage-
able horse in the troop. and Billy, as
they say, fancied himself on his rid
ing, and Tip" was now with us, rider
Jess!
l don't remember much talking or
swearing or lamenting on the part of
the men that night, but Big Healy was
next to me, and 1 know l heard him
sobbing. He wasn't alone in that
weakness either. At last morning
came, and we looked across the Cana
dian, and there was never a sign of a
Comanche
We didn't talk much about what
ought to be done. The captain didn't
say word until we hastily boiled
some coffee, and ate biscuit with q
bit of cold 'sow belly" for those who
had been wise enough to put piece of
pork in their saddle bags Then we
fell in and the captain gave orders to
mount.
He was as grave as a judge, and
spoke quite softly, as he drew his saber
and faced the center of the troop.
Men," he said, 81 was sent out here
with you to scout for cattle thieves
round the rancbas bara, Co,,,o4L;ro.