The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-03-17

I'M
"There had been drunken roao at tn
Empire late last Might" satd Hdnntias.
cess to Mrs. Stannard 1t was propose,
that they should find Rackets, the BIO,
messenger, and question him again, ant
find him they did at noon, but not be
fore, and his story was straight as {
string The man who gave him the jol
at the railway platform was there IL
wait for him when be got back. He tool
the package, paid the dollar bargained
for and walked rapidly away up into
town. Where he'd gone Rackets didn't
know. Who he was Rackets didn'
know, neither did anybody at the depot.
Him and two other fellers' had
reached Cheyenne by the Denver train
the day before.
Troubled and perplexed, these would
be rescuers turned their horses heads
and drove back into town, hardly know
ing what to do. The one police official
the doctor had an acquaintance with
was at the Railroad House and had
there declared that no one of their force
Of five or six "occasionals" had seen
anything Of the young lady or knew
anything Of the men, but they were
straining every nerve to know. "What
we do know is that there was a knife
fight at the Empire between these stran-
gers and this fellow Boston, who's been
| knocking about here for some ten days,
but what has become Of him is moro
than we can find out The town is full
of strangers getting ready for the hills,
and we're just as apt to run inthe
wrong man as the right one. What we
hope is to corral them on the night
train. But where they carried Boston
to after be was knitted is what gets me. "
To think Of having to return to Mrs.
Barry with report so meager as thisl
Mrs Stannard could not bear it, but re-
turn was imperative, for the doctor had
patients who needed his attention, and
be had not seen Maynard at all that
day. Reluctantly they abandoned the
investigation after few more words
with the police and promise to return
that afternoon if nothing were heard of
the young lady in the meantime.
Then the horses were headed for the
open prairie, which they reached at
spanking trot, and there, far out across
the breezy level, was trundling briskly
toward the post the little team of grays
and the covered spring wagon owned by
an old retired soldier who had ranch
near by, and before the surgeons we'll
matched bays had covered half the dis
lance the leading equipage disappeared
within the gate, and ten minutes later,
when Mrs. Stannard sadly stepped from
the carriage at Mrs. Barry's door, she
was accosted by Mrs. Turner, who came
tripping from Miss Maynard side to
meet her and to say with eager dilation
Of the eye and pursings of the mouth:
"She's back-she's just got here.
Where on earth can she have been?'
And turning, unsatisfying, from her
questioner, Mrs Stannard rang at the
Barrys' door and entered and found
Nathalie sobbing her heart out as she
knelt by Mrs Barry's side, encircled by
that lady's loving arms.
II declare" said Mrs. Turner that
afternoon, there's just ten times as
much mystery and misery about this
old post when the men are away as
wien they're here" for that night the
doctor had patient at Barrys' who
needed all his care-Nathalie' S strength
had given way and she was very i'll ill.,
deed.
And then came stirring thrilling
news next day from the front. Both
battalions of the til. diving after the
Cheyennes into the sand hills, had sud-
denly been brought to bay. Yellow
Wolf and his desperate band, finding
themselves confronted, SO said the young
men sent far out in advance, by strong
forces of cavalry and infantry from the {
northern agencies, had recoied to Ger
tain well known old Businesses in the
deep breaks to the south Of the Niobra-
ra, and in recoiling had stumbled [
against STANDARDS advance, thereby l
bringing on sharp and rafting fight
that had warmed the cookies of the old ,
heart and shown even his
recruits to be fellows of excellent met 8
tie. :
All the same, Yellow Wolf was in no +
mood for general melee, or he could I
have made it hot for Stannard that crisp +
April morning, for he had only four {
troops, Barry being some miles away to |
the southeast. The two battalions were
as they hastened northward, =
and had Yellow Wolf been strategist +,
ne had excellent opportunity to beat his 7
opponents in detail. The Indians, how r
aver, really wished to avoid conflict n
with the cavalry. Every life was pre- 81
,ious in the long badgered and fast di- n
tribe, and there was some o
hing almost pathetic in the efforts of
The old chief and leader of the Chey- |,
,nnes to get his people, warriors, wom- I,
N and children, safely in touch with G,
heir kindred Of the northern tribe, the o
'ery thing which the interior depart. f. /,
nent was most anxious to prevent. +,
For an hour his young men had kept
Ip their dashing, long range fight with 4,
S skirmish line, striving to kill W
nd wound as many Of the soldiers as Ii
ossible SO as to hamper their subse-
uent movements Others at the same ;r
line far to the north kept watch over X,
be slow aoI7ance of the force from the hi
genoes, while other braves still safely m
scorted the village-the old men, wom- or
n and children-far in among the fast. oil
esses Of the sand hills to the west. 81
here, as among the Bad Lands along n,
,e Dakota border, were natural fortifi- m
atoms and tOrtuous intricate trails, n,
long which only in single file could sb
ursuers march, and 20 braves could ~
old the passage against q regiment Of
'ldiers. So perfectly was this masked al
ON tho sight Of tho cavalry, cautious oy
advancing from the north, but still NJ
early.s dozen miles away, and from
vinNs sh.-uL" T., tL~ .interver. l..