The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-02-05

ST have not yet exhausted the subject
of the pony express" began Colonel Viii
lam T. Cody. .'Let me tell you of one
Of my bear stories. Captain Slade OF the
express bad taken a great fancy to ms and
| had made me kind of supernumerary
rider who only went when i. was necessa-
~. So 1 had a good deal Of time on my
hands. To put in my time would fire.
quently go hunting for bears.
lone COO, autumn day took an express
pony, good rife ard pair Of revolvers
| and started for the foothills of Laramie
peak. / rode along until : O'Clock in the
afternoon. Although / knew from the
tracks in the snow that bears were in the
neighborhood, 1 had not succeeded in ind
ing any. Feeling hungry, shot sage
hen, tied my horse to tree and built q
fire, on which 1 proceeded to broil my
chicken. After good dinner and short
rest started out again. As my friends
all knew that had gone out for bears,
thought that l would rather spend all
night in the place than go back empty
handed.
Might came on, and still no bears. I
decided to camp out Shooting a couple
more sage hens, 1 hunted up an empty
place in the tim Der near little mountain
stream Here l dismounted. l made all
preparations to build fire when / was
startled by hearing not far off the ne;gn
OF horse. Where there is horse there
undoubtedly must be man. But what
sort of a man was he: Was he white or
Indian, al honest man or a CROOK: That
was the question ] determined to solve
before let him know I was in the neigh
IL %,.
and taking my rife with Ine l crept eau
tiously up the stream.
81 had not gone IGore than 400 yal IS
when, turning the bend in the stream,
came in sight of dozen horses grazing.
On the opposite side OF the stream light
was shining high up On the mountain
bank waded across, and cautiously ap
preaching the light soon found that it
came from dugout, or cave, il the bank.
Soon heard voices. Then could dis
tinguish words and found that they came
from white men who spoke my own Ian
euase concluded that they must be
parry OF trappers, SO boldly walked I'D
and knocked at the door. Instantly the
voices were hushed. to whisper. Then
one of them called OUT
Who's t1ere?'
~
IAN upcouth looking man opened the
door and invited me TO come in. The
light then revealed a dozen other occu-
pants of the room of an equally repu!sive
appearance. Among them ] recognized
two men who had once been teamsters in
the train of Lew Simpson, had been dis
charged few months before and had then
disappeared 1t was said that they had
robbed and murdered rancbman and
gone off with his horses.
Il acknowledge that my heart failed me
for the moment, but ! gave 30 outward
sign Of the fact. / determined to chat
with the men for few moments, to tell
them as little as / could about myself and
take the earliest opportunity of leaving.
".Well, young man, said the fellow
who appeared to be the leader, who are
you, and what are you doing here?"
al came from Horseshoe station this
morning, replied. I am searching for
bear, and as did not find any decided
to camp out aud stay here all night, but
hearing your horses neigh came up here
Are you alo,e?'
t'Quite alone
"'Where is your hcrsef
Il left him down the stream
well, said the captain, we will go
down for it
THAT was exactly what / wished to
avoid, for if they were to get my horse
they would cut me off from all possibility
of escape l had sbrewd suspicion that
they were a party of horse thieves. and
that / would find them ugly customers.
mo, captain, said as cheerily IS
could. L will leave my gun here, and
will go back for my horse and stay with
you all night if you will give me the &C.
commodations.'
Il thought that If left my gun behind
| me they would be sure L would como back
for it. My real intention, however, was
TO sacrifice it ard get away from that spot
as quickly IS possible. The ruffans evil
IDENTIFY saw through my plal, for two OF
them spoke up and said, 'Wewill go down
with you . get your horse. and you will
leave your gun behind you
There was nothing TO do but TO COD
sent. After all, l thought to myself,
will ne better of with two of the scoun-
dres than with the whole party, and de-
cided ia my own mind to lock out for. the
first opportunity of giving them the 60
BY. When we came up to the horse, ore
OF the men unbitched it and said, ! will
lead it
"'Au right said /. with assumed care
lessness. 4 have a couple of sage hens
! here that killed for my supper ard break
/ fast guess 1 viii take them along.
Il clicked up the hens and followed
the man who was leading the horse. 1t
mad now become quite dark. ! put my
| hands n my pocket and drew ont my re-
volyer. The gang had omitted to searei.
me. Then. as if b. accident, dropped
! one of the sage hens.
"'Will you kindly pick &c up:' said to
I the man who was following me-
He stopped down. Instantly l knock
! ed him over the head with the butt end OF
! the revolver He fell senseless. The crash
startled the man in front Of me, and he
/ wheeled round quick as a fash, with his
hand upon the revolver. But / was quick
( er than ne One shot, and he fell 10 the
/ ground IN his death agony. l jumped
upon my ho.se and urged him 70 race for
3 his life From the noise behind me could
dimiy make cut that the shot had been
: heard By The men in the dUguut; that they
had rushed out IN body and had learned
the story frcm the man l had knocked
down and had started in pursuit of me.
They were OF foot, but in that rough and
wooded county man could make his
war Quicker on foot than he could or
, horseback. I found that they were gain
I ing on ne A. last l had TO abandon my
horse lesped of his back, gave him
I vigorous slap or the launches, which sent
him flying Down the valley, and l creps
( up the mountain side. Ny pursuers Kept
on Hearing tire sound of the horse ;
Y - sGr-