The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1894-11-03

trail: and Thornton and LETTERS dis
mounted to lead and rest their pant
| ing horses The others in silence fol-
lowed their example. Slowly they
| clan1bered up the winding path. each
moment nearing the crest, and at last
within half a dozen yards OF the top
/, .Jeffers signa)led with his bare brown
| hand. tossed his reins to the nearest
! trooper. and then, bending low and re-
moving his scouting hat. went crouch
| ing towards little cairn of stone, an
old Indian guide post made to keep the
runners from losing the way in the
| dep. s Of a Dakota winter. when all
| the face Of nature was yelled IN snow
One after another as they closed up on
the leaders the weary men halted. and
some at once threw themselves upon
the sod; all allowed their horses to
craze. For moment LETTERS lay fiat,
peering over the crest; then Of a sud-
den he seemed to catch sight Of some
thing that set him all of a culver. He
shaded his eyes with his hand and
stared. slowly rising to his feet, the
muscles Of his lips and jaws tWitcl1lng
ton. busily engaged at the moment in
opening the case Of his field glass, did
not at first see him. Just as he had
drawn out the binocular and wiped the
object glass with silllen handl1er-
chief. one of the troopers muttered:
sLook. lieutenant, he's beckoning.'
And in a moment, with beating heart,
the boy had crept to the veterans side.
It was q wonderful view that opened
before his eyes. They were halted ON
the eastward slope of bold, rock
ribbed, pine-covered range that seemed
to stretch away northward without
pass or break for many a league until
lost in a maze of similar blacl-crested
heights that, perhaps forty miles away,
yeered around to the east again, cur
tanning the intervening slopes and foot
hills and valleys until it was merged in
the general haze Of the far eastern
horizon. All the rude, rugged chain
of hills bristled with it's growth of pine
and cedar, glistened here and there
with it's outcropping OF bowlder and
quartz. or glinted when the searching
sunshine fell on the duller hues of
gneiss and granite. All the rolling
foot hills, tumbling sea Of spotless
green, shimmered in the uncloutled
rays. Far as the eye could reach,
northeast, east southeastward again, q
glorious stretch Of upland prairie. Of
wind-swept, woodless turf. once the
roaming ground Of countless thousands
of the wild ca tile of the western world,
H. Il {f<,1<
away to the southeast, dim and indis~
tinct, a dark winding fringe told
where the Mini Ska rolled smoothly
through it's wide and open valley.
Far away to the northeast,
among rounded bluffs and palisaded
buttes, a shining blue ribbon turned
and twisted. dove out of sight under
grass grown walls, only TO come CLEAN
ing into view again still farther on, the
Wakpa Wakon--Spirit river curling
through the heart Of the reservation,
the sacred lands of the Sioux. There.
somewhere to the north, sheltered
from the fierce wintry gales by the
grand curtain OF bearded mountain to
it's west and north, hidden from sight
by it's surrounding citadels of bluff, lay
the substantial settlement OF the
agency, a long days march away.
There in every deep sequestered valley,
along every babhling stream, lay the
lodges of the pampered tribe-old men
and children. old women and Young.
living 1ndolcntly and in plenty at their
guarded homes, while the sons and
brothers and braves, the war-chiefs
and the turbulent young men, swarmed
into the forbidden grazing grounds OF
the settlers, far beyond the treaty line,
and in rude and bloody foray found
their soul content. The trail the
cavalry squad had followed in the
early morning along the windings of a
feeble tributary Of the Mini Ska had
left the broad valley thirty miles away
to the south, and, bursting through a
dividing ridge by way of Wagon gap,
Left the old beaten roads at the springs
where they made their monday halt,
plunged into the tinbered ascent close
to the backbone of the ridge, while the
road, by sweep Or detour to the east,
climbed gradually to the level Sf the
upland and could be family seen in
places 1--we TX DIN IlI1CS a" oy LINZ a S4uA1
colored ribbon gathering the green
carpet Of the prairie. To their left and
rear frowning gorge in the heart OF
the range opened the narrow way
that led to the basin Or cove among
the pine-covered hills-the Slaughter
cove the guide had pointed out at
noon. To their right, therefore. all
was bold, open, undulating. smiling in
unclouded sunshine; to the left-the
west-all was dark, frowning and for
bidding; and yet the one was the path
of death and danger, the other the only
line of escape.
by Jove, what a magnificent view!"
is Thornton's exclamation after a mo-
ment's gaze. What did you see, SER
geant? You looked as though some
thing lively was up. Any sight Of the
chase?" ~
But LETTERS, crouching low and point
ing over along the slope not quarter
OF a mile away, simply said: 'sLook
there, sir"
q Two 1.-the, painted objects, crawling
slowly on all-fours, with feathered
war bonnets trailing along their bare