The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1896-12-10

UCCu UlO 4uCdl16 VI ulM W Uu0
temporary refuge of the ranks
For the first few weeks, too, he drank
but little, and wearing his uniform with
the ease and grace of one long accus-
toned to the buttons, and being erect
and athletic in build, he presented
very creditable appearance. The bloat-
ed, bloodshot look he wore on his ar
rival, the result Of much surreptitious
whisky en- route, passed somewhat away,
and it was only when one studied his
face that the traces of intemperance,
added to the sullen brows and shifting,
restless eyes, banished the claim to good
looks that were at first accorded him.
From the first, however, the old SER
geants and such veterans among the
corporals as Terry Rorke looked askance
at Trooper Graice. "Another guard
house lawyer, said the first sergeant
of Leale's troop, as he disgustedly re-
ceived the adjutant's notification of
Graice's assignment. Another wan
Of thin jailbirds like Mr.. American
Blood, the newspaper pet" said Rorke,
in high disdain. "We'l have circus
with him, too, as they had in the Eiev-
enth, or I'm Jew. Where have I seen
that sweet mug Of his before?" he
added re1ectively, as he watched the
newcomer surlily scrubbing at his kit,
and the newcomer, glancing sideways
at the Irish corporal, seemed to read his
thoughts, although too far away to hear
his muttered words. It was plain to
every man in G troop that there was
apt to be no love lost between Terence
Rorke and Tommy the Tough"
And there was another still who wore
the simple dress Of a private soldier,
whose eyes, black, piercing and full of
expression, were constantly following
that new recruit, and that was the Sioux
Indian, Grow Knife, a youth barely 10
years Of age. He had been boy scout
before the days of the ghost dance craze.
A valued and trusted ally of the white
soldiers, he had borne dispatches up to
the very moment when Kill Eagles
mad Drained ultimatum drove his band
into revolt and launched them ON the
waTpath.
With them went Crow Knife's father
and mother, and the boy rode wildly in
pursuit He was with them, striving to
induce his mother to abandon the vii
lage, when the warriors made their de-
scent on the ranches of the Dry Fork,
and later, when Farrar's fierce attack
burst upon them like thunderbolt
through the snowclouds. Selling his
mother in his arms, the boy had shield
ID 1o,, rr,Lop + o1o3 FL
men rushed upon the nearest Indians,
when unquestionably, yet unavoidably,
some squawsreceivedth their death wounds
in the furious fight that followed Far
rar's assassination. Recognized and res
cued by his former friends, Grow Knife
went back to Frayne when the brief but
bloody campaign was ended and then
was sent to the Indian school at Car
lisle Returning in the course of three
years, he had been enlisted in what was
left of the Indian troop of the Twelfth,
and was one of the few of his tribe who
| really madS. 4 success of soldering. By
/ the aut5umI If this eventful year Crow
Knife's comrades were rapidly being
| discharged md returning to their blan-
kets and lodge life at the reservation or
hanging about the squalid cattle town
across the river Grow Knife, sticking
to his cavalry duty and showing I'M
looked for devotion to his officers, was
regarded by the Twelfth as an excep-
tional case and was made much Of &C.
cordingly.
"What dye think Of that fellow,
Crow?" asked Corporal Rorke one day as
he watched the expression in the Indi-
ans face. ''Ye don't like him any
more than I do. What's the reason?''
"There is a saying among my peo-
ple," was the answer in the slow, meas
ured tones Of one who thought in an
other tongue, "'Eyes that cannot meet
eyes guide hands that strike foul. He
Observation-Disclosures is the name we
give such as that man."
''D'ye know him, Grow? Did ye
never see him?" persisted Terry. ever
since the day he came the captain has
had his eye on him, and SO have ye,
and so have I. I can't ask the captain,
but I can ye. Where have ye seen him
before:''
DuU OIOW hu11S SuOOA LIS uOdus
cannot remember his face. It is his
back I seem to know. My people say
that way they see their enemies. %
And so Rorke could find no satisfac-
tory solution of the ever vexing ques-
ton. Twice or thrice he accosted Graice
and strove to draw him into talk, but
the newcomer seemed to shut up like al
oyster in the presence of the Irish cor
poral, great contrast to the joviality
he displayed when soliciting comrades
to take hand at cards. The recruits
had hardly any money left Graice had
won what little there was on the way
to Frayne, and now he had wormed his
way into the gambling set that is apt tt
be found in every fort-all corners who
have money being welcome-and for &
few weeks fortune seemed to smile upor
the neophyte. He knew, he protested
very little Of any game, but played fol
fellowship and fun. Then he kept sober
J when others drank, and so won, and