Gulf Coast breeze. [volume] (Crawfordville, Fla.) 1897-19??, 1898-02-18

they had gone WITHIN lOU yards OF the
Indians, who had notheard them walk
ing upon the muified earth, they
stopped 10 discuss the work that was
beforethem. The Indian, putting her
hand on the sheritf's rifle pushed it TO
the ground and shook her head, mean
ing that she would not have them kill
the Indians, whom they outnumbered
two To one. The sheriff was Mt loss
20 understand how he was to capture
this band without firing, for he had no
doubt the Indians would fire upon him
the moment they caught sight of him.
But the squaw was equal to the emer-
gency. She began to form the men
in two lines. Taking hold of their
coats she would place man on the
right flank and another on the left,
until she had divided the sherir's
posse. She then PLACED the sheriff ut
the head of one column and the con-
ductor, whom she regarded as II sort
oil captain, nj the other, and then
made sign to them to go forward, one
half to the right and the other to the
left. Then she made it plain to them
that she would have them surround
the Indians. She brought her two
bony hands together slowly, with the
fingers spread ont, and when they
were quite together she closed her
fists. So the sheriff made ont she
would have them steal upon the In
dams and disarm them or awe them
into surrcndering at the mu2zles of
their guns, and he gave instructions
to the men accordingly. OF course
each individual must nov use his
Judgment, and SO the little band sur
rounded the Indians.
In the meantime the squaw stole
into the camp and squatted near the
fire. As the sherifl's men closed in
upon the Indians the squaw leaped to
her feet and put out n hand as n signal
for the band to be STILL The Indians
listened, but the sheriffs men seeing
it all, stood still in the snow. Now
the squaw spoke to the Indians, say
ing that she had seen great many
soldiers coming down the hill that
evening and giving it as her opinion
that the camp would be surrounded
would all be killed. When she had
succeeded in persuading them that it
would be best to surrender in case the
soldiers should come, she snt down
again. This, the sheriff concluded,
was a signal for the men to advance,
4
they were quite near, the Indians were
made aware of their presence by the
swapping of dry cedar bough, and
the sheriff, knowing that delay would
be dangerous, shouted to his posse TO
advance. At the sound of his voice
the Indians sprang for their rifles, but
when they had got them and got to
their feet again, the sheriii's posse,
coming out of the woods from every
direction, held the glittering steel
barrels of their rifles in the glare of
the campfire and the Indians laid down
their arms.
The brakeman, who had concluded
that he was TO he butchered or roasted,
was almost wild with JOY. When
asked by the sheriff why they held the
brakeman, the leader said the white
man was lost, they found him and
were only waiting for daylight, when
they would take him back to his peo-
pie and get heap rum" The sheriff
pointed to the white mans fettered
hands and asked the Indian to explain.
and the Indian said that the man was
cheap mad" and they We're afraid
that if they left his hands loose he
would take their guns and kill them
while they slept, and if they left his
feet uufettered he would wander away
in the storm and be lost.
After consulting the conductor and
the more important members of the
posse, the sheriff concluded, rs il was
manifest that the Indians were only
holding the brakeman for ransom, that
he would allow them to go their way,
after exactinE a promise that they
would return at once to their reserva-
ton on the other side of the range.