The record-union., 1897-03-11
CHARGING THE HOSTILES.
A Brave Little Fellow Rides Through
Band of Indians.

In the January "St. Nicholas" Ger
trude P. Greble has a story of from
tier life called Danny and the Ma
jor.' Danny was the 1-year old son
of an army captain, and the Major
was favorite horse. One day he was
riding him in company with his friend,
a Scotch corporal, when the horses of
the post were stampeded, and the cor
poral was thrown and injured. Danny
started to ride for assistance, and this
was his experience:
Away to the north cloud of dust
marked the recent passage of the herd.
On every other side swept the table
land, empty and placid and smiling.
And beyond, to the south, stood the
fort and home. Danny took heart,
settled himself in the saddle and put
the Major into a smart canter, hold
ing the reins firmly, and trying to re-
call the corporaps instructions while
he rode, thinking with an ever-recurr-
ing pang of his friends condition,
happy that the distance to the necess-
airy Succor was diminishing SO rapidly,
and totally forgetful of the anxiety
which had agitated the veteran before
the accident that had separated them.
Suddenly, at the end of some fifteen
riinutes of tranquil riding, as the Ma
ior galloped along the edge of the tim
Der which fringed the bluff. there was
a loud cricking and crashing in the
bushes and a gayly decorated war
pony scrimbed through them, his rider
grunting in surly surprise; while at
the same moment, from the thicket
beyond, three other half-naked mount
&c figures appeared and lined up in the
path which led to safety.
The child's heart stopped beating.
His frontier training told him that all
that had gone before, even the tragedy
which had darkened the afternoon was
as nothing compared with this new
and awful danger. In a paroXysm of
terror he tried to stop Major-tried
with all his small strength to turn
him side toward the open plain to
check his mad plunge into the very
AIMS of the enemy. But for the first
time the horse paid attention neither
to the beloved voice nor to the tiny
hands pulling so desperately upon the
reins
Whether it was the sight of an old
and hated foe, or whether the wise.
kind heart OF the animal realized the
full extent of a peril OF which the
child was as yet only half aware, it
would be hard to say But little Dan
found himself going faster than he
had~thought possible-and faster-and
faster--tin the tawny, sunburned plain,
and the pitiless smiling sky, and the
nearer, greener foliage of the willows,
and even the outlines of the dreaded
savages themselves became as so many
parts Of great rushing, Whirling
whole, and all his strength was alb
sorbed in the effort to retain his seat
upon the bounding horse.
And SO, like some vision from their
own weird legends, straight down upon
the astonished Indians swept the great
bronze beast with its golden haired
burden! Down upon them, and through
them, and away-till by the time they
had recovered from their amazement
there was a good fifty yards between
them and their flying prey, And that
distance, hard as they might ride, was
not easily to be overcome.
After that first wild rush the Major
settled into q steadier pace-a smooth,
even run, SO easy to sit that the lad
relaxed his clutch upon the animals
name and turned his eyes to the hori-
ION, where gathering swarms of saw
ages showed like clusters of ants
against the slope Of the hillside. In
his track, with shrill, singing cries, like
hounds upon trail came his pursu-
ers. And far to the south there was a
Duff of white smoke from the walls
of the fort, and moment later the
first heavy, echoing boom of the alarm
gun Numbered across the plains.