Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-02-02
OVER THE CHASM.
How Retribution Came to Six BIoOdthirsty
 Indians.

Indians.
 We had gone up into the Big Horn mountains from Fort Phil Kearny to bridge a chasm and make n short cut for the teams hauling wood and timber. It was a chasm B feet across by the tapeline. and stone tied to a string dropped down exactly IFS feet before it struck the rocky bottom below. There was not a soldier among the l2 of us who dared stand on the edge of the chasm and look down into its dark depths A fall down there meant that one would live a year in the few sec ondS il took him to fall, and the end would be the most cruel of deaths.
 The engineers had marked the trees for us, and We soon had them down and the trunks squared. Three men had gone up un the other side, and when the first stick of timber was ready it was hauled across by means of rope and tackle, and night put an end to further work. There was a camp on either side of the chasm. No man dared try that footbridge. though the timber was foot square. The ends must first be secured on the rocky banks. At our end it rested near the edge of a rocky shelf and was three feet higher than at the other
 For two hours after supper we talked back and forth and congratulated our. selves on getting the first timber across, Then one by one the men wrapped them selves in their blankets and turned in to sleep By 10 o'clock all was quiet on either side. There had been no talk of In dians The last battle had driven them to the north, and it had been weeks and months since redskin had been seen. A single sentinel was stationed, but more because of military discipline than from any fear that the savages might be skulE ing about. Tho one sentinel would guard both camps. He was stationed on a rock to the left of the timber, and when relieved at midnight reported that all was we'll The man who relieved him was wide awake at o'clock, because he crept doN j to the fickering campfire to consult hi: watch. He had scarcely returned to hi: post when he fell asleep. Like many an other soldier. he fell asleep with his eye: wide open. His eyclids did not grow heavy, nor did he find himself nodding and thus receive warning. As he sat there his carhine between his knees and hii thoughts far away, sleep came to him, ant when that terrible cry rang out he awok' | with the rest of us.
 As suddenly as the scream of the prowl ing panther strikes the car of the hunter | thcrc came to us death shriek-a chorus of death shrieks Every man knew tha the voices were human before he had cas- aside his blankets-not only the voices O human beings, but of Indians. The full moon had come up at midnight and nov threw such a light upon the two camp I that one could see almost as well as a high noon. On the stick of timber bridg ing the chasn were six Indians in war paint They had not attempted to wall over, but sitting astride the beam hal hitchtd themselves along by the use O their hands They wero close together ant the one nrarcst Us was not ten feet iron the hank There had come just that on chorus of shricks and not another sound | As We siuUd there and looked down upoI the lnuiaHs they gaZcd at Us in return and not a word was spoken. For lonl minute We failed to make out what hal happened Each Indian had his rife stun, to his hack, and the one nearest us had bloody knife in his mouth. his teeth hold ing it by the hilt
 Its the timber" whispered one of th men at last "See-it's sliding down am turning over!"
 It was the first movement Of the sticl which had brought the shrieks- Althoug the savages had ceased to move, the end c the long beam was slowly but surely sliE ping of the shelf. We could have checke it in an instant, but no man moved. Thos death shrieks had not alarmed the thre soldiers across the chasm. We knew wha that signified. The end of the timber ha 12 inches to go before it dropped cleal Then it must turn over. We watched i slip down, an eighth of an inch at a time and the foremost Indian never took hi eyes of 1t For five minutes the silenc was so deep that we could hear each othe breathing, and so bright was the moo that we could see the beads of perspiratio stand out on the faces of the doomed red skins. Why should we save the lives ( those seeking ourss Why should they, wit 1 the blood of OUT comrades still warm O their knives. ask for mercyi
 l They deserve it. Let 'em go into th canyon!" whispered the sergeant.
 We no longer looked at the Indians, bu at the end of the timber. It gave out finty, grating sound as it moved. 1t di not hurry; it did not delay. By and by reached the edge, stopped there while 70 could count 80 and then dropped dow and rolled over twice before it rested again There was no more shriekInR. The IT dians either let go or were jostled of b the shock, and We heard their bodies strik with terrible sound below. Not 0 cry, nc a groan, ascended from the terrible pIt Ashamed of that first cry, they went { their deaths Us a warrior brides himself O going
 When morning came and the sun she its rays down upon the three soldiers o the other side of the camp, 1t told us notl ing new We knew they were dead knifsd as they slept and as cur ssnsin' slspt-and at the belts sf thres of ths aaN ages seeking also to GufpriD us wsrs thrs