The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1896-05-27

interrupted nm As be oo.gg;s?l to speak
tho thought flashed through, NY mind:
''Tl.ora!! As I had expected, he IS going
to presunle on his position as al old
soldier and s:,,-o NE advice did not
want ;;ny advice I wanted tho credit.
and the Who'll" credit.
I knew that his advice wGuld 5e g@cd,
for he WAS al old Indian tighter and Il
! level headed ,lsn, but that WAS al the
more reason for my not wanting to hear
his advice, for no doubt I should bn III
fuencel BY IT. ;.;.d then I should feel III
hone. b0urd to acknowledge h;:' share
in the success Therefore, IS l." began
to speak, said. perhaps rather too
abruptly:
''Never mind sergeant what yor
think Join the troop and have ii ready
to attack rs soon as I come back. .
With suspicion Of u smile cn his
face, bat true to his reputation as Il
splendid soldier he ob~rcd without 4
word I again clept forward to the crost
Of tho hill, and protected by my mask OF
grass laadc a thorough survey Of the
| ground.
The Indians, as I had expected, be-
lieying themselves absolutely safe, had
ra]zon no precautions TO guard against
surprise. They had gone into camp on
the bark of small stream, which at
this point made bend away 4rcIa me
and then back again, forming a V, with
the Indian camp at the vcrtcx. Th"
stream had at the bend cut into the op-
positn bank, making it steep and hard
to scale.
Their campfires were lighted, and the
Indians We're evidently preparing sup
Der. Their rifles We're stacked a little III
advance on one side.
Nv plan was quickly formed. I Would
send small detachments up and down
the stream to Gu. off escape i'll those di-
rections and wc,lld draw up ny main
body behind the crest where I was.
They would have perfect command Of
the camp and could also pick off any
one who attempted to escape by scaling
the opposite bank.
When everything should be ready, l
would advance alone as tar down the
slope as possible, and as soon as discov-
cred would call on the camp to saIren-
der. AT my call my men would appear at
the crest with their rifles cooked and
aimed. I hoped by this plan to capture
the whole camp without firing a shot.
returned to r.y troop and carefully
explained the plan. Again I thought
that noticed one CT two peculiar smiles
on the mems faces I paid no attention
to them. but made the details fo2 the
two parties to cut off the retreat up and
down the stream.
selected trustworthy noncomlnis-
stoned officers to command these parties
and started them for their designated
places. I then deployed my raen IS skir-
nishers, and after waiting q sufficient
length Of time for tie two detached par
ties to reach their places gave the or
der for the men to advance cautiously to
the crest of the hill.
It was quite dark by this time, and
with a sigh Of relief I saw my plans
completed without any alarm having
been given.
cautiously advanced alone till with
in easy speaking distance, when | step
ped into plain view and called for the
surrender of the camp, at the same
time telling them that escape was I'M
possible.
was perfectly astounded to see no
commotion, no confusion III the camp,
but i'll reply to my summons voice an
swered in good English:
''All right, old fellow, we surrender.
Now march your men in and have some
supper.
recognized the speaker as one Of the
captains from the next post, who was
IN command Of Il company OF Indian
scouts, that I had mistaken for Z band
OF hostil2s.
The joke v;as On ne, and had moth
ing to do Dut to make The best OF II. So,
hiding ny cll;e22ri21 Is best l could, l
gave the or(irr f,r the li.cil to return for
their horses and march into camp.
The captain told mo that all the hos
tiles had returned TO their reservation,
but when his scouts had reported to
him that we were following him he
had guessed that we had not heard OF
their return, but had mistaken his COM
pany for the Indians. He had thought
that it would be a good joke on me to
let me go ahead and capture his COM
pany.
After supper, when went to inspect
the horses, the first sergeant SAID to me:
Lieutenant, I started to tell you
that I thought that these We're friendly
Indians. and when you sent me back to
the troop cautioned the nen not to
shoot unless I proved TO be mistaken.
1t would indeed have been a dreadful
mistake if any one had been hurt. So l
thanked the sergeant for his thoughtful
ness and at the same time mentally re-
solved that the next time would listen
| fO his o1yicn