The Coconino weekly sun., 1894-01-25
ti. I saw by the sun that it was we'll | alo i,, ha

alonS III tne afternoon.
 "When did stop, it was when cave opened up so big that l ran right into it, and there fell, almost dead, on rock damp with the lime water that was dropping from above. It seemed like was almost insane from fright and exhaustion, but I still knew enough to look out and see that there were no Indians in sight, and then fell asleep on the rock. That night I dreamed the fight all over, only think. ing that it ended in our clearing out the Indians. instead of being whipped had found the gold bars and had gone overland to Omaha, and there struck train of yellow cars which carried us to New York, where we had a time. You can imagine my feelings when woke up on that rock, wet through with lime water, and so sore and tired and hungry that l almost wished the Indians had got me.
 "Well, l got out of there finally to get something to eat, but there you see was in another fix. I had dropped my gun in order to run easier and had no matches or way to start a fire even ii l had anything to eat l found few berries which I ate, thinking maybe they were poisonous, but not caring much, and there was nothing else in sight Then started boldly down the canyon, having decided to take my chances with the Indians instead of starving to death there. knew it was no use to go back for the Indians had taken everything, and my only thought was to get out of the blamed canyon and strike for Bozeman by the direc- tion of the sun, for my compass was gone with the rest of the outfit. That night l camped again without having found anything to eat, and another miserable night it was, and in the morning l was about ready to die. However, I took bath in the alkali water of a stream running through and made another start
 About noon that day I reached what looked like an outlet from the walled sides of the canyon, and fol- lowed this in the desperate hope that it might lead somewhere. All day long l climbed up the wedged rocks, so that the buckskin shirt was nearly torn off from me. When night came the moon arose, and by the faint light l could see enough to worry along. Along about daylight saw the top, and after no end of clim ping, until my feet were bleeding and my hands torn from hold ing on to the rocks, reached the top. Almost the first thing l saw was bush of Rocky Mountain plums, and the way I went for it was a caution. l eat enough of 'em to give trainload of men the cholera morbus, but l was braced up considerable and able to start along again, having sighted the sun for the north.
 Considerably to my surprise I had seen no Indians, and judged that the ones that attacked us must have been a wandering band, or that big coun- cil was being held somewhere. The next day, however, l came square into an open plot protected by small grove of mountain pines, and what do you think? Right in the center, on a tree behind pile of burned-out ashes, was the body of that Brule cook, tied with deerskin throngs and cut and slashed in a thousand places. The heart had been cut out and the ears and nose slashed off, so that, alto gether, it was horrible sight. It made me quiver to look at it and thank my lucky stars that they had never catched me alive. tell you, got out of there mighty quick after finding a few slices of dried deer meat on the ground, which tasted mighty good, and l guess saved me from starvation. But had a tough enough time after that It was a good ten days travel on horse back from the nearest white man, and l had given up all hopes Of meeting anyone on the way. l was pretty well satisfied after seeing the Brule that nobody but myself had got away alive.
 "To make long story short, got out of the country after such sufferings as never want to have again. lived on berries and grass and fish which l caught by making a small dam on the Yellowstone and letting the water run out until the fish were stranded. 1 boiled them in one of the hot springs scattered over the country, and worried along one way and another until had begun to think that l was lost. Then one morning felt kick in the ribs, and right there before me was trap per called Long Henry, on account of his size. He fed me up and took me to Bozeman, and there found that not a sign had been seen of the rest of the party. The next spring 3 party of trappers came back reporting that they had found three skeletons and the pieces of the wagon and rest of the outfit around an old camp fire. Of course that settled it, though l was satisfied before that they were all dead. Anyhow, l made report to the government and to Maloney's father, who came out in the summer and seemed to feel pretty bad over the boys death, saying that he hadn't used him right.
 Well, all this happened thirty years ago, so long that it had dropped out of my mind until last year when went down to California to see if the climate wouldn't help an old knife wound that l got in the Wolf mountain fight. Of courca thera ain,t m need to SaU that I