Evening star., 1896-12-26

that the Opportunity seemed to be at hand
L had no wish to deprive them of the ex-
cftement and glory of being killed I'm real
battle AMI so sat noddlng I'm the cab of the
OLD ~ until the flash of the bulls-eye
caused me to look ahead
The report of the rifles in the hands of
the Indians had teen answered by a dozen
guns from the interior of the building and
Immediately shower OF lead rained and
ratified upon the wooden doors from with
out. One OF the scouts picked the bulls
eye lamp UP and placed IL upon the work
bench, training the light upon the double
ccors Immediately in front Of my engine
Our men knew how useless II would be TO
fire into the sand-stuffed sides OF the
building, ard not caring to put themselves
into position where they could fire ef-
fectively above the wainscoting, they very
wisely kept close to the ground and allowed
the Sioux to empty their guns into the
sand.
Presently. hearing no sound from with
IN, the attacking party ceased firing and
began to prowl about the building in search
OF weak spot through which they might
eject an entrance. The fate of the three
early callers who had hogged IT under the
door kept them from fooiing about that
trap for the remain der of the evening In
little while the whole place was as stiIl
as the tomb, save for the soft futter Of
steam from the safety valve of the ~.
Bear Foot knew what was going on. Even
though he could see nc thing, he knew that
his faithful followers were working for his
release. and now when all was silent he
shouted from the coal tank to his braves
to break the door and come in Before
the Pawnee scouts could pound him into
state Of quietude he had impaired to his
people the particulars of his whereabouts.
and Immediately the whole band threw
themselves against the front of the build
ing.
The Fierce Savages.
The house fairly trembled, the Indians
surged from without and the great doors
swayed to and fro, threatening at any
moment to give way and let the flood OF
bloodthirsty redskins in upon us.
Stand together called the captain TO
his men.
1 called to the fireman. for 1 knew the
frafl structure could not withstand the
strain much longer. AS often as the fire.
man opened the furnace door to rake his
fire, the glare of the fire-box lit up the
whole interior and showed three dead
Sioux near the door One of them lay
across the rail, and 1 found myself specu-
lating as TO whether the pilot of the ~
would throw him of, or whether L must
run over him. Now ii seemed that the
whole band had thrown themselves against
the building. and the yelling was deafening.
Above 1T all 1 heard our captain shout:
Get ready, Frank
L am ready said 1.
"'All right said he, shoot il to EN-
and opened the sand valves and the throt-
tie. 1 have often thought what a tempta-
tion ii was for those soldiers to leap upon
the engine and make their escape, but,
although they all understood perfectly
what was going on, not one of them took
advantage of this last train out
Just as the Big Hoss moved with all
her ponderous and almost Irresistible
weight toward the front of the building,
the double doors sagged toward me like
the head gate of a great reservoir that is
Cyerclarpp1 and then i hff The bif-
doors. being forced from their hinges fell
out upon the redskins and they were
caught like rats in a trap. The pilot
ploughed through them, manning and kill
ing a score Of them, and on went the 40
over the safe switches, which had already
been set for her before the fight began.
The confusion caused by the awful work
Of Big Hoss, which they regarded as little
less than the devil. was increased when the
Indians. who remained unhurt realized
that the engine was making away with
their chief, for, he had told them how he
was held captive in the belly of the big
horse
"All effort for the capture of the round
house was Instantly abandoned and the
Sioux as one man turned and ran after the
locomotive. The captain in command of
the scouts, taking advantage of the confu-
sion Of his foe, and of the fact that his
force was In the dark building, while the
Sioux We're out upon the whitened earth,
quickly massed his men at the open
wicked fire into the baffied Sioux who, like
foolish farm dogs, were chasing the 40 out
over the switches.
'AIl the Indians who were crippled by
the engine were promptly, and / thought
very properly, killed by the Pawnee scouts
and the rest were driven away with fearful
loss.
1T was a desperately risky run from
Srnokv Hill n n wifi M pipe
ders and due to collide with westbound
special, or an extra that might be going out
to the rescue with a train load of material,
but the officials fearing that something
might arise which would cause us to want
to come in, had very wisely abandoned all
trains the moment the wires went down.
and SO We reached Lawrence just before
day without a mishap.
MY first thought was of captive,
Bear Foot, who had made track laying
dangerous business for our people for the
past three or four weeks. but upon looking
about 1 saw only four Pawnees. and con-
cluded that the fierce fellows had killed the
chief and rolled him off.
where's Bear Footy L demanded.
Here said Pawnee, who was quietly
seated upon the manhole of the engine
tank, and he pointed down. During the ex-
citement in the round house at Smoky Hill,
the Sioux had made desperate effort to
escape and had been quietly dropped into
the tank, where he had remained through
out the entire run.
Now, it's one thing to stay In a tank
that is half filled with water when the en-
gine is In her stall. and quite another thing
to inhabit place of that kind when a To-
comotive is making fly run over a new
track. After much time and labor had
been lost fishing for the chief with a
clinker hook, one of the scouts got into the
tank, which was now quite empty, and
handed Bear Foot out.
when we had bailed him out and placed
him along side the depot where the sun
would catch him early, the coroner came
and sat on him and pronounced him good
Indian" CY WARMAN.
Deeply Interested.