The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1896-12-24
A WAIF OF THE PLAINS.
BY LESTER KETCHUM.

and the larger camps had watched TOT
the coming of the ApacheS, VINO hau
been raiding the outlying ranchos ana
the smaller mining camps by hElhg
forays OF small parties not known to be
absent from the reservation. we hd'.
grown tired Of standing guard ana
spelling our winter holidays and our
eyesight looking into the darkness lot
the attack that did not come-althouSh |
the most recent "tenderfoot knew una
it was more than likely 10 come at the
most unexpected tlme-Wheh tlele
came . courier from Silver City to tel
MS that our camp was billed for the
next engagement.
1t came upon his arrival-or very
nearly so. This courier, who was cow
hoy from the "S-bar," 80 miles north
of us, had hardly gone to his supper
when the trouble arrived.
Within an hour it seemed as though
millions of bowling, sharp-shooting'
8 government-fed loafers mad surround
ed the camp, and every man who could
handle a rifle was needed.
Driven back from the surrounding
hills to the confines of the camp proper
driven by sheer force of numbers,
back, back, into our very cabins, where
the women and children vere-buIlet
after bullet sent after an unseen enemy
who lay behind the rocks-then-
There came bugle call, of which
we knew not the technical meaning.
But we did know that troops from Fort
Rayard had come to our rescue. and
that we and ours were saved.
The TROOPERS. used to this kind of
work. had dismoupted and had sur
rounded the redskins. and when some
of tbp latter made q hrcalI throuUh
the lines. they were followed bv a num-
der of soldiers. among whom. not lead
ing. but anxious to be lin the thick
of it," was Lieut.. John Marcus Horton.
late of West Point. who found himself
unable TO brandish a sword and shout
Follow mel" at one and the same
time. but who sprinted admirably.
nevertheless.
Lieut.. Horton never knew what did hap
pen that night. not exactly. He remem-
bered only that when the trouble was
all over in this. his first engagement
he was the possessor of a shattered
arm, a broken rib or two, cut head,
and small blond prisoner, whom he
had captured at the point of the sword
when the TROOPERS found the obscure
canyon in which the Indians, who had
evidently proposed to emigrate to Mex
leo despite the season. had concealed
their families
Horizons prisoner came along with
surprising Willingness. Her complex
ION was tanned by the sun and winds al
most as dark as that of any Apache;
but the same influences had served only
10 bleach her naturally light hair to an
unmistakable tow-and- enthusiastically
color or two. She must have retained
some recollection of her scandinavian
parents, else she had not come along
with Mr. Horton so willingly. for she
had a temper. as was presently discov-
cred by several persons. Yet she could
not or would not speal, a word aside
from the Apache dialect. and we could
learn nothing, through the interpreters
Of her origin or as to the time she had
lived among The Indians.
1t was not embarrassing, merely: ii
was distressing, really, to all Of MS, tbs
question of what we should do with thj,
waif. Those of the Apache parentage
we could and would return to the reser
walton. But this one
The women had talked it over, witt
doubtful shakes Of the head, when join
Marcus Horton, with more apparent
bravery than he ever showed as ;
''plebe," cadet officer or in actua.
fighting service, strobe modestly int,
the breach
I'll attend to her case he said
Then seeing that the eyes of the assem-
bled mothers of the community were
upon him, he blushed, but continued
firmly: My people will see to it tina
she lacks nothing in the way OF educa
lion or training. Why not send her Il
my mother in Ohio, and will attend t.
the expenses of ner chaperonage?
That was the end of Olga for time
Five years afterward she came back Il
Us. and her readvent was the undong o
many susceptibles.