The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1895-07-11
1.-THE GROUND OF THE DEAD"
Bullets Were Not the Only Deadly Things
ON This Night.

| by half mile wide. The soil was
light and without grass or bush. One
could not look down upon it without
thinking of the ashes of the dead. Be-
yond this strip was the dry bed of a
creek at the foot of our ridge was a
creek not yet run dry.
just at sunset two rabbits which had
been hiding in the bed of the dry creek
| came running towards us in great af-
fright, though we could find no reason
for their action Behind them came a
wolf and fox, and we finally sus-
pected that an Indian scout had
crswled down the bed of the stream
from the hills to ascertain our strength
and spy out the lay of the camp. SEN
tinels were posted on that side of the
camp at an early hour, with instruc-
lions to exercise the greatest vigilance,
and as we rolled ourselves in our
blankets each man placed his carbine
and revolver where they could be
seized at moments notice.
At midnight the sentinels heard
strange sounds from that ground of
the dead" as some had named it. 1t
was a sound akin to that made by
grasshoppers as they swarm over the
earth, devouring every green thing as
they advance. Ten minutes later three
or four rabbits came rushing across
the strip and through the sleeping
camp, but the sentinels saw nothing in
pursuit. The rabbits were followed by
half a dozen coyotes, and minute
later wolf down by the dry creek set
up great yelping, as if wounded by
bullet or arrow. AT half past twelve
the sentinels heard faint splashes in
the creek at the base of the ridge, but
they looked in vain for sight of man or
animal. They finally decided that the
noise was made by beavers swimming
about, and the half-formed idea of
calling out the corporal of the guard
was abandoned.
At one o'clock there were sixty
Indian braves crouched in the bed of
the dry creek opposite our camp. They
had crept and crawled and slxulked a
distance of two miles to reach the posi-
ton. The scout had reported that
we were the paymaster's escort-twelve
troopers and paymaster and clerk.
An Apache Indian always wants scalp
and money, but seldom finds the COM
bination. Here it was on this night,
and sixty to fourteen ought to win, es-
pecially as they planned on sudden
and complete surprise. Fourteen
scalps, six Thousand dollars in cash,
fourteen saddle horses, four mules and
an ambulance. with an outfit of
carbines, revolvers, overcoats, blank
cts and small stuf-that was the prize.
Its taking would enrich the whole
tribe and crown every warrior with a
laurel wreath.
At half-past one the warriors formed
for the charge-siXty men in single
line. The light, ashy soil of the
ground of the dead" mufled their
footsteps and the darkness hid them
from view. The bark of wolf was to
be the signal to rush forward. They
would be at least half way to the
ridge before discovery. At the flash of
the sentinels carbine they would raise
| their warcry, dash ahead with new i'm
petus and they might figure on finding
at least half the white men dazed and
/
and therefore easy prey for bullet or
tomahawk. At a quarter of two
the signal is given and the line
clashes away as one man. 1t is
half way across the field of des-
olation when warrior cries ont
then another and another-and the
sentinels fire their carbines and shout
an alarm. The line dashes ahead, but
mingled with war whoops are cries of
alright, and the line bends and
wavers and is broken. 1t reaches the
creek under the steady fire of the
sentinels-a few warriors leap the
stream and ut ter shouts of victory.
Twenty seconds after the alarm is
given every sleeper is on his feet with
weapons in hand. Five seconds later
every man is pulling trigger on the
black objects swarming up the hill
side. 1t is a strange battle, inasmuch
as for every war whoop there is a
scream or shrek. 1t \ over in two
minutes and the Indians are retreat
ing-all who can walk or limp or
crawl. The war cries cease, but the
strange cries and shrieks ring in our
ears for the next ten minutes. Two
wounded Indians creep up the hillside
into camp and beg to be taken prison
ers, and they look down upon ''tbe
ground of the dead" and shiver like
children who hear strange sound IN
the darkness. We ask them to explain,
but they cannot.
Morning comes with mist hanging
over the desolate strip. The sun
comes up to drive it a way, and then
the mystery is solved. There are four
dead warriors between us and the
creek-all killed by our bullets. There
are six more dead beyond the other
bank. Half way to the bed of the dry
creek are three more. On the bank
of the stream is single one, and we
doubt not that under the bank, hidden
from our sighk are yet other corpses
in war paint and feathers. We stand
and stare and wonder, but only for u
moment before finding the solution.
The ground of the dead" is swarming
with centipedes and serpents, driven
from the plains to the west by the
continued drought. They came be-
fore the line of warriors, and they
had slaked their thirst and were