The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1896-08-20

know as l had an enemy in the world,
and I'm sure I ever injured man, wo-
man or child till five years ago. One
day our little girl Minette had a bad
tooth, which set in to ache so bad that
I took her with her aunt about twenty
miles up the Platte to a government
stockade, to get the surgeon to extract
the tooth, which he did. and we came
back the next day. What do you sup
pose we saw when we got here?''
What was it,"
"A %smoldering ruin! Excuse me,
stranger" said the man, covering his
face with his hands: II don't tell this
story often! Destroyed-wife and two
children stolen away--all gomez he
sobbed.
What did it L. camp
THE red devils had been here. They
knew l was absent, so they stole what
they could carry off, and burned the
rest. There was nothing left
standing. My first step was to yet
a half-dozen men / could rely upon ami
to follow their trail, to get hack my
wife and children. We overlook the
devils. They would not parlcy or l
should have tried peaceable menas, in
order to insure the safety of my wife
uhNNt ~ oAN ANos tllVl NIioN-
ed fight at once. And uring the scrim-
mage brought out my wife and killed
and scalped her before our very eyes,
then dashed out the brains of my two
children. That was pronouncins their
WI doom! There were but fifteen of
the gang, and we killel thirteen of them
within twenty-four hours, two only es-
Gaping after we had pursued them near
ly a hundred miles.
1--WE buried the mutilated bodies Of
my dear wife and children, and came
back to this spot. The first night I lay
on the ground and tried to pray. but it
was no use. 1 couldn't do it. The next
morning l swore an oath that l would
be fearfully avenged upon the hated
ace of ~treaCherous devils. 1 tOok Il
solemn oath wherever and whenever l
saw an Indian I would shoot him like
a wild beast: I rebuilt this ranch, pref
ty roughly as you see, but securely. l
can resist a whole cloud of redskins
for t%wcnty-four hours. and pick them
off through these loop-holes. l have,
as you see, plenty or arms" pointing
to a half-dozen Spencer's seven-shoot-
ers, and as many excellent revolvers
hanging in a rack on the wall; 'and I
never go about without a pair of these
fellows" pointing to his belt, in which
were a couple of Wesson ri1ed revol-
verS.
'They will pick me off one of these
days. but / am making minced meat
of them in the meantime, and Minette
will sell her life dearly when the time
comes. You saw her shoot just now
l have taught her so that she can fire q
rifle or a revolver better than most
marksmen; and last fall, when the red
skins made a raid upon us, and 1 got
some fine practice before they beat a
retreat, she shot a chief dead in his sad
die out Of that loop-hole.
In vain were the moral aXioms l ad.
duced. and the arguments tending to
show that vengeance is mine, saith the
Lord" In vain | pointed out to the
mar his better duty to the brave and
Intelligent child, whom he was rearing
under such terrible auspices. Though
I really felt and seriously so, what
said to him, it was worse than useless
seeming only to confirm him in the
course he had laid out for his fixed aim
in life. His provocatiOn was terrible,
but his present career seemed to me tC
be more so.
The redskins are getting scarce
about here. They know that l will
shoot them at sight. and that 1 can Kill
farther than any man west of the Mis-
souri, with my rifle. This vas their ia
vorite ford, but they abandoned it alto
gether some three years since, afte,
losing, at different times, yer thirt!
of theiY chiefs at the crossing. The!
have paid dearly, but they haven't hal
paid yet for the murder of my wife an
children"
The deep large black Eyer of the iron
tiersman had been all on fire while h
told his tragic story, which is wei
known to travellers by the North Platt'
route. His cheeks were sunken and hi
body extremely thin, but he was al
muscle and vigOr.
will you take a little more punch
strargerY'
mo. I thank you"
won't you have some dinner, strln
ger?"
MY people will be expecting me bel
to camp at noon," I said as 1 prepared
to depart.
AS I went by the small narrow coun
ter, which formed the bar of the rancl
I observed a long pine stick hung up b.
a string against the wall, and MCKEE
apparently by a pocket knife. Hawk
Eye Jack noticed that l regarded
curiously. and took it down and handed
it to me. After a moment he said:
"You observe those notches cut II
the stick-each one represents the lf
of a redskin. When l shoot one, | GU
a notch. If you count these notche
you will see they are rising seventy i
number. 1 call it my Indian Deaf
Tally"