The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-12-12
CHAPTER XIII.

CHAPTER XIII.
And now indeed came for Marshall
Dean a time in which he could see a
divided duty A camp of wood. chop
pers in one of the deep, sequestered
valleys of the mountains had been sud
denly set upon by a host Of mounted
Indians that seemed, like the warriors
born of the dragons teeth, to spring
up from the earth, and yelling like
fiends, bore down upon the little guard
Happily for the wood choppers, but I'M
luckily for Lo, the commander was
cool-headed veteran of the late war
who had listened time and again to
yells as frantic and had Withstood
charge after charge ten times as de-
termined. Most unluclIily for Lo the
infantry company was armed with the
new Springfield breech-loader, and
when the band came eXultantly on,
having, as they supposed, drawn the
fire when full 400 yards away, they
were COMPOUNDED by the lively crackle
and sputter of rifles along the timber
I'm front of them, topping many
dashing warrior to earth and strewing
the ground with slaughtered ponies.
That charge failed, but they rallied In
furious force. There were only forty
soldiers; they had 500 braves, so on
they came again from three different
points, and again did POWelPs shelter
ed blue-coats scatter them like red
autumn leaves before the storm. Thrice
and four times did they essay to
stampede the soldiers and sweep off
their own dead and wounded, and each
time were they sOundly thrashed,
thanks to cool courage and the new
breech-Ioaders. And Red Cloud, ours
inc his medicine men, drew off his baf-
fled braves, and the hills that night re-
sounded to their vengeful WarWhoops
and echoed back the Wailing Of the In
dian women mourning over the slain.
"All well enough so far, lads" cried
Folsom, when he heard the news.
"Machpealota is unmaSked. It's war
to the knife now, so for Gods sake send
all the troops you can muster to the j
aid of those already up there in the 4
Big Horn. Next time he hits he'll have
all the Northern Sioux at his back, you
mark my words"
But, who the devil is John Folsom ?
said the bureau again. Arrest Red
Cloud. Bring his band in prisoners,
were the orders to the agents. and the
agents called for troops to go and do
their bidding It's one thing, as I've
had occasion to say before, to stand
off with breech-loaders a thousand In
dams armed only with old percussion
cap muskets, squirrel rifles, bows, clubs
and Iances; it's another thing for SOL
diers. armed even with the best the
market affords, to march into an In
dian position and arrest an Indian
chief. There were not soldiers enough
north of the Platte to do it, and the
war department knew 1t, If the bureau
didn't. Hence the mastering in force
along the river and the mounting In
hot haste of perhaps ten more troops
and companies, nowhere near enough
for the work in hand, but all the ma
ton had within a months march that
could possibly be spared from other
work and work more important.
And there was wrath at Emory,
where the colonel found himself or
dered to send all his transportation
to Frayne forthwith, and all his re-
naming troops except one of foot.
Domination! I've only got two COM
panies of foot" he screamed, in the
shrill treble of piping senility. And
they mean to rob me Of my cavalry,
too! &C. troop is ordered to be held in
readiness for special service.
The transpo1 tation, consisting OF
three wagons and two ambulances,
with the somber company of infantry,
started next day, however, and Dean,
with eager expectancy, kept his men IN
camp, cooked rations ready, ammunl-
ton pouches filled, arms and equip
ments overhauled and in perfect order,
horses examined and reshOd, ready for
the word that might come any minute
and carry him-he knew not whittier.
Folsom and the girls had to drive back
to dinner without him. Despite the
permission sent by the colonel, he
would not leave his troop and go in
town. SO back they came in the soft
moonlight and spent a long, lovely
summer evening with him, While the
band played melOdiously in the fort
Enclosure, and the stars tWinkled over
the peaks of the Rockies in the south
eTn skies. Folsom spent the hours wiz
ing to Omaha and cOnfeE%ed with such
officers as he could reach. They thought
the lesson given Red Cloud would end
the business. He knew it would only
begin it. Burleigh saying that he
must give personal attention to the
selection of the teams and wagons,
spent the early evening in his corral,
but sent word to Folsom that he hoped
to see him in the morning on business
of great Importance He had other
hopes, too, one of them being that now
the order to send that big sum in cur
rency to the new stockade would be
revoked. He had lost no time in sug-
costing to the chief quartermaster Of
the department the extreme hazard
He quoted Folsom as saying that be-
fore he would send 100 men to Warrior
Gap Red Cloud could call 5000, and
the chief quartermaster, being a man
of method and a stranger to the from
tier said, as said the bureau: "Who
the devil is John Folsom? Do as you
are told" But that answer only came
the following day. Meantime there was
respite and hope.
Long lived that beautiful evening
in the memory of four young hearts.