Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1897-06-24

learn that the soldierly- y-loolling man
who rode all the way from the capital
with him was no loss q person than
the Brevct Lieut.. Col. Sweet of whom
he had heard so much at Tugaloo, and
who, promoted to the rank of major.
was now on his way TO report for duty
nj 4 frontier post The stage with the
colonel rumbled away on its journey
for supper. Lambert went on out 10
camp. cnly to find that Corporal Wal
tor with four men had gone as escort
10 that very stage. as there were Tu-
mors that the Comanches and Lipans
were on the warruth again. 1t might
be four days before they returned. II
would be two before Ii stage went back
t. Austin, and il was now nine o'clock
nj night.
The very next morning brought dire
,ul news. \ big band of hostiles had
swooped down on the stage station At
the crossing of the Ca!iente, so miles
TO the northwest, massacred everybody,
Bnd run off the stock. The cavalry
troop in camp at Lampasas was miles
away by the time the tidings reached
Lambert at the tavern in town. Then
came worse news \ settler rode
spurring in from the Concho trail 10
zay that he had seen the Indians when
they attacked the stage with overpow-
ering numbers, and had just managed
10 escape with his own life. lie BE-
lieved that not one soul WAS left TO
tell he tale. There were many gallant
spirits among the Texans of the from
tier-men who were accustomed to
fight at the drop of the hat, and who,
in defense Of home and friends, were
indomnable. Yet even these we'll knew
the hopeIessness of the situation as de-
scribed. They were far TOO few in
number to undertake the pursuit. and
attack of such Il band as this. More
over, .heir own wives and children
would be left in danger were they to
take the field. 1t was even impossible
| 10 persuade two or three of their num-
! Der TO ride post-hnste on the trail Of
the cavalry, who, at the first alarm
and on receipt of tidings that the In
| dians had ridden away eastward to-
wards the Brazos, had taken the road
| for Waco at dawn in hopes OF heading
them off or driving them should they
attack the defenseless settlements.
! There were, therefore, absolutely no
troops to go to the rescue of the stage
party, if, as seemed beyond hope, any
of them were still alive, and Lambert,
burning with eagerness to do some
thing and tormented with anxiety as
to the fate of Brother Floyd" found
himself helpless.
A sergeant and some semi-invalided
men had been left in charge of camp,
and from these he gathered a little In
formation, but not of an enlivening ma
ture. The nearest posts to the west
ward from which help might come
were McKavett and Concho, each over
a hundred miles away; but Concho, be-
ing on the left bank of the Colorado,
and doubtless warned by this time of
the Indian raid, could be sending cav
airy down the valley in pursuit. 1t
was expectation of this, probably, that
started the raiders eastward towards
the Brazos, where there were no troops,
and where, sweeping northward again
in wide circle, they might confidently
expect to get safely back to their wild
Businesses, leading the cavalry stern
chase all the way. Shrewdest tacti-
clans of modern warfare as they are,
they had indeed already divided, one
party riding eastward as reported after
swooping down on the Caliente station,
and driving some of the stock ahead
of them. for the sole purpose of draw
ing the Lampasas troop OFF In that di-
rection, leaving the settlers along the
Colorado to the mercies Of the other
and larger portion of the savage force
There was no use now in sending
couriers after the troop. 1t had five
hours start 1t would be evening be-
fore the feetest horse could overtake
the command. Lambert urged the
sergeant TO give him horse and arms
mount three or four men, and let them
go with him, if only to reconnoiter
Then some of the Texans who had nc
families to defend might volunteer
| But the sergeant dared not take the
responsibility of disregarding his in
structicns, and was wiser than Lam
bert In the wiles of Indian warfare
ard GO myself gladly, lieutenant he
said. "but orders are orders, and party
OF four or five would be surrounded
and cut off and masSacred before you
fairly realized that an Indian was neal
you" Then Lambert had appeared te
the Texans, and the captain had re-
piled as above; and then, just when he
was giving up in despair, sergeant
and. two men, dust-covered and with
horses in a lather of foam, rode furi'
ously in from the Waco trail.
lis it true?" cried the sergeant, as h
saw the unusual gathering at camp
1--WE met n feller halfway over to Bro
zos riding like hell, warning folks the
Indians were to the north, and he sait
they had jumped the stage this side o.
Cliente. It's true2 And you haven
done anything? Mount every SOUND
man you've got, and give us fress
horses"
''Aly orders were TO take care" be
gan his eomrade.
Damn your orders! l bring later
The old man didn't believe II, and had 6
sure thing ahead of him, or he'd have
turned back with the hull outfit. Why
man, that stage-or what's left OF it
nin't thirty miles away, an you feller'
sitting here like so many damn women!'
And the trooper flung himself from the
saddle at the word, and then caught
sight of Lambert's forage-cap and eager
face.
'Get me y Ise, too, sergeant; II
GO with you. I'm Lieut.. LamperL, I
classmate of your second lieutenant"
you'll go in command, sir, and we're
with you-six of us, anyhow. I've heard
Corporal Walton speak of you, sir
often. How many of you fellers II go?
he demanded eagerly Of the knot o.
Texans, while the few troopers hustlet
about saddling spare horses and levy
ing on the list of invalid mounts, toe
sore or too feeble for long chase, bu
good enough for a thirty-mile dasi
when 1t was life or death at the END
. of it. In an instant the whole atmos
phere seemed changed-charged with
ozone. electric force, magnetism
something-for the snap and spirit OF
the newcomer flashed from man to
man Lambert, a stranger and without
authority in the premises, could effect
nothing; Sergt. Dolan, war veteran
q man they all knew, and clothed Will
power as coming direct from that mill
tary demi-god "the captain, had q dozeI
men armed, equipped, in saddle anc
ready for business, in ten minutes. S!A
were soldiers, six civilians who hall
laughingly ranged their raw-bonec