The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1895-12-25

canvas SleItef lDcN COulu DdIGlN eulItI
greatly from the cold. He was assured
| that the driver and Pete were with them,
also well provided with robes and blank
cts, aud that they were in no immediate
danger of freezing; but he could not
bear the thought of the long, weary
waiting, the dread anxiety, the dark
ness. the isolation in all that bowling
wilderness. He could picture Winifred
nestled in her mothers arms, wonder
| ing, wondering, as the hours dragged
by, when, if ever, human aid would
come to their relief. At four o'clock
he and his party had searched and
secuted for half dozen miles up and
down the valley. Some of his best and
stanchest men were giving ont, and
these, with Sergeant Brooks, he ordered
to push along with the gale and seek
news and shelter at the station.
Three Others he posted near the main
crossing of the Wolf, under the lee of n
little bluff, where they and their horses
speedily stamped hole in the snow
drifts around the hospital ambulance
and huddled for warmth-fires they
could not light, even had there been a
yestige of fuel-and then.sSith three I'M
daunted campaigners at his back, he
had once again turned down stream, fol-
lowing its wanderings in the darkness
and feeling for ravines he could not see
along the southern bank. Time and
again they dismounted and ran beside
their horses to restore circulation to the
numbed and stiffened feet ard fingers.
Time and again they plunged waist
| deep into drifts and the horses founder
ed TO their girths in the powdery snow.
| AT last Brewster noted that here and
there far in the northwestern skies the
stars were beginning to peep; the clouds
We're driving away, the dawn was nigh,
the hurricane abating. Broader and
brighter the daylight stole over the
storm swept prairie, streaked here and
there with feecy, winding veins, and
when at last the sun arose in its un-
clouded splendor the gale had died away
to a mere ghost Of its furious self, and
they rubbed the icy fringe from their
battered eyelids and gaZed long and
wistfully up and down that shallow,
winding valley, all heaped and tumbled
with the driven snow, and saw not a
sign of those whom they had rushed to
save.
Never for an instant did Brewster re-
lax his efforts. Giving each of his men
a pull at the flask, he selected little
Murphy as about the most compact and
certainly the lightest of the THO, and
bade him make his way to camp and
tell the colonel that up TO sunrise no
yestige of the lost ones had been found,
and suggest that additional parties be
sent out at once.
Tell somebody 10 bring my field
glass;" he added, as Murphy was about
to ride away. "If | had dreamed we
would have found nothing Of the ambu-
lance until this time, | never should
have left it. Good luck to you now
corporal Ride as lively as you can"
Murphy turned promptly away, spur
red his unwilling horse through the ice
into the black and racing waters of the
Wolf and was presently following a lit
tie break in the north side which led by
more gradual ascent to the prairie be-
yond.
Now, men, one of You ride back to-
ward the party at the ford. poke into
every rayine to your left-they're all full
| of snow; it may be the ambulance is so
deep in the drift they could hear no
sound. If you find anything, the faint
est trace, ride up on the prairie and
circle your horse to the left. Morse,
You come with me-"
BEG pardon, lieutenant, think Muir
ply sees something row." said Morse,
indicating the farther shore with a nod
of his fur covered head. Whirling Gag
erly about, Brewster was surprised TO see
his little Irishman, hundred yards or
so away, crouching low on his horses
back, still in the ravine and up to his
girth in snow, and peering cautiously
eastward. his eyes just level with the
bank. Then he was plainly seen to sig
nal. In an instant Brewster and his men
were plunging into the rapid stream,
crushing the ice that skirted the shores
and bounding out upon the frozen
ground beyond. Again Murphy held
| forth a hand-a warning gesture, not a
beckoning one. Keep down, keep
down." he signaled, and wondering, the
little party Of troopers cautiously fol-
lowed into the ravine.
"What do you see:" queried Brewster,
eager and agitated.
Upon my soul, sir. wish | knew;
but it's more like Indians than anything
can think of"
Indians: where away" And with a
wild fear at heart Brewster gazed over
the bank in the direction indicated.
Indians. and coming this way. sir, or
Tn a tenderfoct," muttered Morse, a
man who had served in the Twelfth for
many year.
What on earth can they be doing so
far south Of the agency? You don't
think any of the hostiles have got down
this way?"
They're all hostiles, sir, when there's
only three or four ag'in them. It don't
| matter whether these are from the
rgency or the Bad Lands now, if they
can catch white man a-napping. and
something has brought them out here"
MY God, man! you don't suppose
they've heard of the ambulance?'
They hear things quicker than we
do, lieutenant. Day or night, calm or
storm, those fellows can all around beat
us in getting news"
"And they are coming from the north
east, heutenant," chimed in Murphy.
That means if they are from the vii
lages near the agency they've circled
around oCr people"
Breathless the little party watched the
coming dots. The stream bore 10 the
northeast after a deep bend about half
mile away, and on the farther bank.
moving nearly parallel with the valley.
about dozen dark objects could be seen
moving at rapid lope, the springing. tire
less gait of the Indian pony. Ponies they
were unquestionabiy, and each with his
| rider. Every moment brought them
nearer and nearer, until, rs they spread
out in extended order across the level
surface, it was possible to count their
number, eleven; possible to note that
every now and then some one of the
number in front or on the fianhs would
rein in suddenly and circle around and
stop, as though examining tracks upon
the prairie.
1T is not possible the ambulance can
have got so far ever as that" lnuttered
Brewster. 1T is not possible that they
can have heard of it in all that fearful
storm. Why. Morse. it's madness TO
think of it!''
u don't know how far the team may
have been driven out that way. lut