The Press., 1894-02-01
A HEROINE.

purCnaSeS, they C1Q IL W1Cn many m1S- givings. Little Crow and his band had been committing some recent depreda- tions several miles away, but had been followed by two regiments of govern ment troops and driven over the Dakota border. There was really no cause for alarm, they said, but 8 neighbor had kindly offered to send his colored woman servant, lately brought from Kentucky, to look after household matters and stay with the children, and MT. Gardner told his wife that they could not leave the house in better care. The family con- sisted of Katherine, a girl of IA; Harvey, aged 9, and Bruce, the baby, years old. With many injunctions as to the care of the colt in the stable, to look out for prairie fires and to keep the children from straying too far away on the prai- rie, Mrs. Gardner departed, feeling that she was very unreasonable to entertain for moment the vague fear that filled her mind and made her pause with her foot on the wagon step, uncertain wheth- CT even at this last minute it would not be better to abandon the journey. At last, however, they were off, and once out of sight of the house she felt her misgivings grow weaker. A few hours after they went away 8 strange sultriness was apparent in the atmosphere.
 What makes the light so queer, sis teri" asked Harvey, standing ill the open door.
 Katherine went to the door and looked around. Twelve or fifteen miles to the north a belt of wooded countrywide Great Wood of Minnesota-rose clear against the horizon, while in every other direction the prairies stretched away in undulating slopes, yellow with golden rod. No clouds were to be seen in the sky, which hung above them, dull and murky, like copper dome. The sun looked like brassy sphere suspended in midair.
 A close, sultry atmosphere surrounded them, dead calm, only relieved by an occasional puff of hot wind that passed by and left the same dead calm as be- fore.
 Beulah, the colored woman, came to the door and stood looking off to the west. her hand shading her blinking eyes.
 ''Lawsl Miss Katherine, dat ar colt am whinnyin right smart. Kain't be he gwine to die on us, honey? Yer paw tux good look at him las ting fo' he lit out, shuah?"
 She waddled along slowly, for the day was warm and Beulah was fat, toward the lumber shop, or stable, where the colt was kept at night, being tethered on the open prairie during'the day in sight of the house. Katherine, more swift of foot, flew on before and quickly gained the summit of the gradual ascent on which the barn was built.
 Her hand was on the latch and she was about to enter, when on the distant horizon she saw sight that held her motionless with sudden terror.
 The Indians were comingi Away to the northwest an irregular line of horsemen were riding directly down upon them, and though at that dis tance she could not distinguish clearly she knew by their peculiar mode of rid ing that they were not white men. For one moment her heart sank in terror, the next her resolute spirit asserted itself. Save themselves they must, but howl Poor, foolish old Beulah, clever enough at concocting choice dishes over the kitch- en range, was an added burden in this emergency. Could Katherine take the children with her on the colts back and ride with them to the nearest cabin? What in such case would become of Beulahp
 She and her brothers might gain the sides of the ravine near by unobserved sides, but there was Beulah.
 "If papa were only here," she thought, and with the thought came, like an in- spiration, suggestion of hiding place.
 She turned to Beulah, who had just waddled up to the stable. "Untie the colt and turn him loose, Beulah"-she spoke rapidly and with authority-"and then hurry back to the house and help me put the children and some things we shall need down in the cistern. The h. dians are coming"
 ''Great day in de mawnin!' exclaimed Beulah, turning sickly gray and sink ing, mass of quivering flesh, to the ground.
 "Get up; they'll catch you," screamed Katherine in Beulah's ear, but she might have talked to stone as well, so stupefed was the poor creature with fright. @
 ''Pm going to leave you here," added Katherine in the hope of rousing her, and started for the house, when Beulah out of sheer terror, gathered her wits to- gether and ran clumsily after.
 The eisterp had been newly plastered and was yet little damp, but no water had been conducted into it.
 ''Go down that ladder" commanded Katherine, pointing to the ladder that had been left in the cistern by the work men, and Beulah, not without difficulty, and indeed not without danger, since it had been constructed for no such weight as hers, obeyed. Katherine dared not take time to run to the top of the knoll for further observation. Every moment was precious,
 A blanket and pillow. 8 tin pail con- taining bread and cold meat, pail of water that her father had brought from the distant spring that morning, were hastily let down to Beulah, and, last of dli, Iue Doys were helpeu uoWn, ana Katherine herself was about to descend when breath of hot wind swept across her face.
 She recognized now what the keener instincts of the colt had told before. ' The prairie was on firel
 in that moment intense mental agony took possession of the brave girl. The fire was coming straight toward them; of that there was no doubt. What could she do? She climbed swiftly up the lad der and looked around.