The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-02-15
A DEED OF KINDNESS.


 A DEED OF KINDNESS.
 We had come upon an Indian village along the banks of creek close under the steep sides of a. mountain and we charged it at once and soon had pos session. Most of the warriors were away on an expedition, but subchief named Gray Wolf, who was lame from a wound, was in command. Our re- volvers and sabers made quick work of those who opposed us and in seeking to get away Gray Wolf was knocked down by a horse and rendered uncon- scious. He was one of the twenty eight prisoners we safely conveyed back to the fort and as he was known to be one of the most bloodthirsty of his tribe his confinement was rigor- ous one. He was placed in cen in the guardhouse by himself, loaded down with irons and all members of the guard on duty were permitted to stare at and outrageously abuse him by word and mouth. Gray Wolf was a young man of dignity and pride and he perhaps felt the insults more than the confinement, though he made no com- plaint in either case He had been confined for three weeks when, as ser geant of the guard, looked in on him one day and began conversation in his own tongue. It resulted in his showing me that the irons were galling him and of his asking protection from | further insult. reported to the officer of the day and the irons were removed and I got some salve from the hospital | steward to sooth the broken flesh. l gave Gray Wolf news of his fellow | prisoners and of his tribe outside, and l at the risk of censure spliced out his prison fare with a part of my rations. I did these things for him as I would have done for wild animal, and not because I sympathized with him as a human being. An Indian may be called human being, but it is nearer | the truth to refer to him as human devil. In getting the redskin released 1 from his irons I did him the turn he was hoping for. That night, with a l wide-awake sentinel standing only six l feet away Gray Wolf tunneled under | the basement logs of his prison and made good his escape, and 1t was only | by close shave that I escaped a court martial. The fellow showed the | devil in his nature even as he fled. | Coming across teamster lying under his wagon in drunken stupor Gray | f1 toi and from that hour on a price was set 1 upon his head and every soldier in the | west was determined to shoot him | down, even if he offered to surrender. | Two months after the escape of Gray | Wolf and while his tribe was still waging a relentless warfare, was or | dered out of Fort Gray with squad of l troopers to bridge a creek about five miles away. No Indians had been seen within ten miles of the fort, and we | knew for a fact that the main body of them were raiding fifty miles to the west.
 | Seven troopers fully armed and ex- ercising due vigilance were thought abundantly able to take care of them | selves and two hours after leaving the fort we were hard at work. We need | ed a straight tree trunk twenty eight | feet long for one of the string pieces of 1 the bridge. Leaving my. horse at his l picket-pin started out alone in search ! of the right sort of tree. We were on forest-covered foot hill, with masses | of rock outcropping here and there. | was about forty rods from the men | and just passing one of these outcrops l ct, 10 l arm of an Indian and a club and then | there was crash and a legion of fiery | stars It was, perhaps, five minutes before I opened my eyes and found myself lying on the ground. The In- | dians of whom there were three, must | have heard of me through Gray Wolf, l for I was one of the two men at the | post who could speak the Sioux dialect, | and one of them said to me:
 "If you cry out we will kill you! Get up and come alongY
 | I staggered about as I reached my feet and one of them took my arm to l help me along. With one leading the | way and the other bringing up the rear l we set off in a western direction and l were soon out of hearing of the axes of my comrades. For a time my head | throbbed and ached so that l thought my skull had been fractured, and we | had gone a distance of two miles be- l fore I fully realized that I was a cap
 tive The one holding my arm was the one who had struck me with a club
 and by and by I asked of him:
 why didn't you use your tomahawk 1 instead of a oiub?"
 "Didp't want to kill you" he laconi-
 cally replied Have heap more fun to
 burn you at stake!"
 "Who is your chiefg'
 "Gray Wolf chief of all now He
 know you. Go fast now and don't talk"
 The Indians had their war paint or
 and were we'll armed, and had perhap:
 been skulking about for two or three
 days, hoping to get hold of straggler
 After a rough walk of four miles wt
 came upon their ponies and a rougt
 camp and no time was lost in mount
 ing and getting away. I was ord eret
 up behind one of the warriors and they
 let my hands and feet entirely free
 While this was a favor to me 1t di no add to my chances of escape. In fact
 with an Indian ahead and another be