The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1896-12-19
AWAIT OF THE PLAINS
BY LESTER KETCHUM.
nor days and weeks those Of us who
ID had not flown to the safety of the
tn,rrs and thn lnrmnr nnnllas hnl

NalCuci IOI Iut GoiIlilS vi Nl!S
Apaches, who had been raiding the out,
lying ranches and the smaller mining
camps by flying forays of small parties not
known to be absent from their reservation.
We had grown tired of standing guard and
spelling our winter holidays and our eye
sight looking in the darkness for the attack
that did not come-althOugh the most re-
cent "tenderfootn knew that it was more
than likely to come at the most unexpected
time-when there came courier from
Silver City to tell us that our camp was
billed fer the next engagement
1t came upon his arrival-or very nearly
so. This courier, who was cowboy from
the ''S-bar," thirty miles north of us, had
hardly gone to his supper when the trouble
arrived.
Within an hour it seemed as though
millions of bowling, sharp.shooting, Gov
ernment-fed loafers had surrounded the
camp and every man who could handle Il
rifle was needed.
Driven back from the surrounding hills
to the confines of the camp proper-driven
by sheer force Of numbers, hack, back, into
our very cabins, where the women and
children were-bullet after bullet sent after
an unseen enemy who lay behind the rocks,
then
There came a bugle call, Of which we
knew not the technical meaning. But we
did know that troops from Fort Bayard lad
come TO our rescue, and that .tc au1 ours
were saved.
The troopers ns.d to this kind Of work
had dismountsd and had surrounded the
redskins; and when some Of the latter
made break through lhe lines they we're
followed by 4 number CT soldiers, ano e
whom, not leading, but an.ious 10 be "in
the thick Of ii, was !.tcutrDaut JOHN
Marcus Horton, late Of West Point, WHO
found himself unaoIc to brandj~h sword
and shout "loIow NC" at one ana the
same time hut who spiutc1 &dwiraI1r,
nevertheless.
Lieutenant Horton never knew what did
happen that night, not exactly. He re-
membered only that when the trouble WIS
all over in this, his inst engagement, he
was the po&sessor of Il shattered arm, Il
broken rib or two, a cut head, and small
blonde prisoner, whom he had captured ut
the point Of the sword when TIE troopers
found the obscure canon in which the In
diaus, who had evidently proposed 70 emf
CRATE to Mexico, despite the season, had
concealed their families.
Horizons prisoner came along with sur
prising willingness. Her complexion was
tanned by the sun and winds almost as
dark as that OF any Apache; but the same
naturally light hair to an Enthusiastically
tow-and-molasses taffy color Or two. She
must have retained some recollection OF her
Scandinavian parents, else she had not
come along with Mr.. Horton so willingly,
for she had a temper, as was presently dis
covered by several persons, Yet she could
NV vi "ouiu hoe) opSph Il WIN iiolii
the Apache dialect, and we could learn
nothing, through the interpreters, of her
origin or as to the time she had lived among
the Indians.
1t was not embarrassing, merely; it was
distressing, really, to all Of us, the question
of what we should do with this waif.
fTbnsa Of ha nn,,IJ Nd
would return to the reservation. But this
one
The women had talked it over with
doubtful shakes of the head, when John
Marcus Horton, with more apparent bravery
toan he ever showed as ''plehe,' a cadet
officer, or III actual fighting service, strobe
modestly into the breach.
"I'll attend to her case, " he said Then,
seeing that the eyes Of tie assembled
motlcrs of the community we're upon him,
he hlushcd, but continued Nrmly, My
people Will see to it that she lacks nothing
in the way of education Or training. Why
not send her to my mother in Ohio and |
will attend to the expenses Of her chaper-
onage?"
That was the end of Olga for the time.
Five years afterward she came back to us,
and her re,adycnt was the undoiug of many
susceptibles.
Meanwhile, there had been changes while
Olga was at school. John Horton was no
longer in the army. an uncle of his having
died and left him his interest in several
valuable mining properties, the sole cor
dition being that he resign his commission
as titled defender Of his country; and
Horton it is needless to state exchanged
his chances for glory for this very substan-
tial consideration with all the aacrity that
army regulations would permit, thereby
becoming "Colonel" Horton by brevet of
his admitting and cuyiouq telIoa-citizens.
That vas three years back, and twice
during that time he had been in Ohio to
visit his people, only to return with glow
ing accounts of the manner in which Olga
was getting on with her music, her other
studies, and the ways of polite society.
AItCg each Of these trips it vas "Olga
this and ''Gi a thas' until We we're tired