The Opelousas courier., 1897-06-19

o'uei"ise DICK CIack, laugh
ingly Audiates most of the
!. 6 deeds and adventures attri-
butedto him by the dollar annie dime
novelists, but is willing to admit that
he has been in some pretty tight places,
and is duly thankful that he lives to
tell the tale. Clark is in the employ
ment of the F., E. ard NJ. V. Railway
Company, at Whitewood, and now
goes about q daily routine, utterly de-
void of romantic features, but if prop.
erly approached he is not averse to
'sp1nning q yarn" about the DAYS
when he was an adventurous boy,
scouting for Uncle Sam. He gives the
story of his most thrilling experience
as follows:
"The highest pinch I was ever in
was in the spring Of '73, on a ride
from Fort Pemhina to Fort Stephen
son, away up North. Jimmy from
Cork well known scout of those
days, had the ride to make, and in
vited me to go along, with the assur-
ance, however, that it would he at the
risk of my scalp.
cit was lovely weather when we
started, and we had q pleasant, I'M
eventful trip to within q couple of
days ride of the Missouri. Jimmy
was jolly company, always telling
stories and cracking jokes, like the
happy-go-lucky Irishman he was. He
was not only good company, but he
was a good man to have with you in q
s%crimmage, for, although he was q lit.
tie chap, he was strong and wiry and
vas totally devoid OF fear.
"One evening, couple of days be-
fore We expected to reach the river,
we had stopped to camp, and had the
horses picketed out and the fire going
for supper, when Jimmy suddenly laid
his ear to the ground, then looked up
and remarked quietly: 'Injuns, Dick!
Get tn horse, an be quick, too, t'r
we've got t. rode f'r ut!'
"We didn't have much of q start,
for by the time We got into the saddle
they were within rife shot of US. AS
soon as he was mounted Jimmy, who
wal q splendid marksman, drew a bead
on the foremost red and got him
and for a moonlight shot from the
back of q nervous horse l thought it
was pretty good. Then we flew, with
the bullets pelting all around us.
"Our objective point was a place
known to Jimmy as the Dogs Den,'
about sixty miles from where the reds
flushed us; and the question was
uppermost all the time, Can We make
it? Well, to make a long story short,
we did make it, running right through
another bunch of Sioux to get there,
just as we began to think ourselves
safe. Jimmy shot one reds pony, and
was hit on the leg himself; but it
wasn't much more than a scratch. His
horse was grazed on the flank by the
same bullet.
"We were mighty glad to get into
the Dogs Den,' which was al ex-
cellent place for defence. 1t was q
little rock strewn terrace, backed up
by a perpendicular cliff. The rocks
in front made a natural barricade.
There was q little grass and q spring
of water ; and, properly prdIsione6a
half dozen or SO of men misANve
withstood an army there. AsAsson as
we got inside the barricadeTTe disa
mounted and looked back. I>a redY
half a hundred or more, were sWaf5R-
ing right after us.
"'Kin yez sthand thin off, T1cb,
.ontell Oh get tn harses out O soigSt?"
asked Jimmy.
eyes I told him, and Jimmy dis
appeared for a few minutes. The reds
stopped down near the foot of the hill,
and I took a shot at one of them,
although he was in the shadow. He
was hard hit, to judge from the way
he yelled, and the rest OF them pulled
out of range.
Gail day we stood off the crowd
without much trouble, but when the
shadows began to lengthen We got un-
easy, for we knew we couldn't hold
out against so many in the dark. We
had done it for the hour or SO before
daylight, but we couldn't do 1t all
night. So, just as the dusk began to
gather, Jimmy told me to go and get
the horses. I saddled them in good
shape and joined Jimmy, and presently
he gave the word, and the way we flew
down that hill was worth the price OF
admission. I didn't see anything dis
t1nctlY, but I knew that We were going |
through a lot of Indians punched to-
gether that they were shooting at US,
and we at them. and the next thing !
Jimmy and I were side by side skim
ming over the level prairie toward the
source of the Jim River.
! "For about an hour we rode, with
the red ~rascals none too far behind, |
and taking an occasional shot at us,
until we came suddenly to a little
stream that flowed toward the Big
Chey enne. 1t wasn't very wide, but
the banks were high and almost per-
pendicular, SO we did not try to cross
the stream, but turned and followed
it. From the yells that followed this
movement we knew that the reds had
seen us, and thought they had US
trapped. Then suddenly half a dozen
little fires sprang up in our rear and
in almost less time than it takes in the
telling these merged into one great
wall of flame that bounded across the
prairie behind us like a ace horse.
sit looked as though we must surely |
die, in one Wy or another, but we in,
tended to die fighting. We found a
place where, by going down the bank