The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1894-07-19
A WILD RIDE.

around our campfire, THAT twas pilot
ing small party OF Uncle Sans men
up to one of the new forts on the upper
Brazos--I believe they called it Fort
Belknap or some such name. The sojers
was precious set Of greenhorns-new
recruits, / should think
tWell, these fellows were under the
command of white skinned, girlish
looking young chap, fresh from West
Point. But young and green as he was
the lieutenant was gentleman and at
heart as good fellow as ever lived.
''The party was mounted ON such nags
as the quartermaster could purchase for
them in hurry, for though they We're
infantry the journey before them was
too long to he undertaken afoot over the
grassy prairie. -
Scarcely any of the men had ever
before thrown leg over hogslxin, but the
lieutenant knew something about rid
ing. I believe he said he had been
learned il where he learned sojering,
and after few days could sit his saddle
and bear the fatigue as well as any old
Texan.
'I'd been down to San Antonio about
three weeks, and when the quartermas-
ter engaged me to pilot the sojers
Strawberry had had the quiet range of
the prairie all that time, and when we
took the trail he was in prime order.
1.-THE more ] got acquainted with the
lieutenant the better liked him. But
the fellows he had along with him were
of no account, and i knew IL the Co
manches or Kiowas should cross our
trail they couldn't be depended OIL. st@
1--WE journeyed with the Brazos on
our left and in a northwest direction
till, after about week or So, we
reached the headwaters of the Leon riv-
er, and as we'd discovered no signs of
Indians / was glad to think we'd have
no occasion to try the spunk Of our
greenhorns in fight.
1--WE had reached the foot of the
Black Hills, where the country is badly
cut up with deep barrancas, crossing
each other In every direction, and hav-
ing had hard days travel i proposed
an early camp. While looking for suit-
able SPOT discovered fresh horse tracks
and knew that large party OF Indians
were in the vicinity. / informed the
lieutenant of my discovery and advised
him to secrete his men as soon aa possi-
BILE, for as yet was convinced our app
proach had not been detected. "a
but as soon as the men heard the
word Indians they set up suchsa hur-
rah that you'd "a thought them the
bravest chaps in the world, and it was
not long before l knew that the Indians
had discovered rs, for we could hear
them calling to each other in the bottom
,of one of the deep gullies, and presently
o score or two showed their heads above
the edge of the bank, aud letting fly q
volley lodged out Of sight again.
'fI was for getting out Of the prairie
as soon as possible and reaching spot
among the rocks at the commencement
of the rising ground. where we wecould
receive them at a better advantages hut
the lieutenant was 80 greedy for q fight
that he wouldn't listen to me moment
and gave orders for his men to dismount
and form in regular line and await the
attack. sp H fle1
'sBut scarcely had some Of them
oheyed the order than we heard q yell,
and the next moment the prairie was
covered with a host of mounted Kio-
was that came pouring out Of p bar
ranca and charged right down upon us
The sojers who had not obeyed the or
der, trusting more 10 their horses heels
than to their rifles, put spurs to their
broken down nags and attempted to es-
cape But they might as well have es-
sayed TO fly from the swift tornado as
to get beyond the reach of those wild
riders. A part of the whooping sayages
made dash for the cowardly fools and
soon had their scalps, while the rest,
ranging past us with o headlong gall0p
and lying over upon the farther side OF
the fiery little mustangs, sent volley
into our ranks. And now, taking my
advice. the lieutenant ordered his fellows
to remount and in close order make an
effort TO gain the rocks. But two OF the
men were past mounting, and we had 20
leave them.
1--WE had about half mile to go TO
get among the nearest rocks, but to do
50 we had to run the gantlet Of the In
dians, who. kept up q hot discharge
which made desperate work in our lit
tie ranks. We spurred through the saw
ages. who attempted co cut i'm ahead Of
NC and with nr1r cnhnrsa and ,.nxyf,1vnra