Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1896-07-16

were scattering. In front Of me was
beaten ford. and | made for it. | was
the only one Of the party to cross this
particular ford, and didn't wait to al
low my thirsty animal to drink, but
hurried him over and almost before |
knew it was on the land again and GO
ing along at gallop. Under ordinary
circumstances, when my horse was not
tired out, he was as sure footed as a
cat, but just then he was very uncertain
and felta little lump rise ID my throat
as / saw directly in front Of me, less
than a mile off, little bunch of braves
coming for me- | never halted, but
pushed along until the reds began to
circle about. By this time firing was
going ON about me, and i'll another sec
ond four of the Indians in front of me
left the circle and without firing shot
came directly at me, their ponies ON q
dead run
Il have never felt just that way be-
fore or since. | can't describe my feel
lngs for "A minute, but there was no
time to hesitate, and / slowed up and
finally dropped to the ground, with my
carbine uDslung The Indians did not
offer to open fire, 50 | dropped on one
knee, and when they were near enough
/ opened fire and shot as careful as
might. Nv frst shot took effect. and /
knew | had made hit when one Of the
braves let out a yelp. | had not fired
more than the third shot, when the reds
turned and made off again and joined a
larger force which was coming up from
the west.
Il reloaded, mounted and took after
them again. They We're running freely
in front of us, and, as their ponies were
fresh, they had little trouble in keeping
out of the reach of our shots. Our men
We're pretty well scattered, but finally
to the east l saw little knot appear on
the brow of slope, and among them
was Cody. They galloped down after
the reds, and the direction taken by
them soon brought me in their midst.
Then it became steady trot. The reds
loafed and did not seem particularly
anxious to get away or to stop and give
battle. This seemed to bother Buffalo
Bill considerably and after we had been
on the chase for over an hour he called
a halt He had tumbled to the little
game planned BY the Indians He ex-
planned that by their manner he knew
they We're leading us into trap, and
that it was more than likely that some
distance on, hidden from view, there
was big village encamped, and if we
kept on we re liable to find ourselves
in trap, and no one in the party would
live to tell the tale. I don't exactly
know whether Bill was right or wrong.
He was not riding his own horse at the
time, and had tried to exchange the
animal he had for one of ours, but no
one would change, and kind Of thought
he was fearful of risking a fight on the
horse he rode, because he would stand
no chance in getting away in case it
was necessary TO retreat. Subsequent
developments demonstrated that he was
right when he said we were being led
into a trap, and it was lucky for us that
we followed his advice.
''We abandoned the chase and rode
back to the stream, which we reached
by nightfall. Here we found the entire
command encamped. Colonel Crittenton
had come up with the main body Of
troopers, but instead Of sending out
detachment to aid us be had quietly
gone into camp and sat down and waited
for us to return or to receive word that
we had gone to that land from which
there is no return.
The next day we moved on to the
point where we had turned back, and
less than a mile farther found the re-
mains of big Indian camp containing
no less than 800 braves. The camp was
hidden in canyon, and the fires We're
still warm, and it is certain that we
would have met our fate the day be
fore but for the timely advice of Buffalo
Bill Cody. Detroit Tribune.