Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-12-14

The men arc objects Of pity and sympathy
and have almost become children. Let me
go. I will either win a victory or it will
be the last of the troop"
The spirit Of the old soldier was stirred.
He had given many a young soldier oppor~
tunity to distinguish himself and but for
the hoodoo he would not have hesitated in
this case. Dispirited men, an officer who
had never seen q hostile redskin, Il hoodoo
which had walked at a company's heels
like "a ghost-it would simply be sending
ont more scalps for the war party. lie
shook his head and decided that the scout
must ride hard and last, but ride alone,
and warn the pioneers of their danger.
IT beg of you've all beg of your
pleaded the lieutenant, with tears in his
eyes. Cavalry is needed to head those
Indians off. If the settlers are wiped out,
it will be said that you thought us COW
ards and were afraid to order us out"
"There will be so of you and 100 Of the
Indians" said the colonel.
''But we will turn them back, sir; we
will fight them!'
"And if they are too many for your"
IT know the history of the troop, sir"
said the boy in trembling tones. 1T has
lost almost 70 men by desertion, suicide
and skirmish. 1t has not lost a mar in a
real fight. They shall say of it in the next
three days that it has won a fight or been
wiped out. I would rather be lying dead
there on the sands than to continue to
serve in a troop which has not a single
victory on it's banners!'
"You may CO." said the colonel. "If it
is a mistake, then God help me! Turn
those Indians back, and I will recommend
you for promotion. If they are too many
for you"-
"Then you will know it by the buzzards
lowering over the battlefieldl'
Half an hour later the 32 men of B troop
rode out of Fort Brown and headed across
the desert to the south. They were one of
the arms of a v. The apex was Panther
gap. As they moved along one arm the
Indians would move along the other. The
Indians had nearly a days start, but their
route was rougher and their pace would
be slower.
"There goes the last of B troop" whis-
pered every soldier left behind as the troop
ers rode away, and as they said it they in
stinctively looked up at the flag as if ex-
pecting to see it at half mast.
The troopers had received that order
without enthusiasm. They knew they
were to make a hard ride and that a fight
was probable, but they were neither OK
ultant nor respondent. Like the Arabs,
they shrugged their shoulders and whis-
pered "Kismet." They were in the hands
of fate, and fate was likely to be against
them. With scarcely a farewell and with
never a look over their shoulders they
rode away, two by two, and it was not I'M
til long after dark that the boy officer at
the head drew rein and ordered the camp
for the night. Before they slept he said to
them:
1--WE shall be up and away at the first
signs of daylight. Men, listen to me. We
are riding to reach Panther gap ahead of
a wal. party of 100 Indians. We shall get
there first and beat them back or die fight
ing. 1 have promised the colonel this.
You have had one disaster after another un-
til your fellow soldiers sheer and pity and
wonder if cowardice is not at the bottom
of it. do not believe it is. 1 believe ev.
ery mai of YOU to be game, and we will
win q victory which shall place the old
troop at the frontr'
A cheer burst from every man, the first
cheering uedTu Ill lTOOD ID lOE YEARS. EACH
man drew himself I'D more proudly, each
man muttered to himself that if need be
he would die In his tracks. Their mind
worked even as they slept, and when day
light came the officer looked from face to
face and wondered at the change. There
was an eagerness to make him glad, a per-
sonnet to make him proud. Breaking
camp as soon as 1t was light enough to see,
the troop rode at a gallop until midfore-
noon and reached the gap ahead of the
hostiles. Only a short hour, though. Their
horses had not yet ceased blowing when
the advance of the Indians was made out.
Panther gap was a narrow road through
Panther mountain, and Its southern end
debouched into Browns valley, five miles
away. The boy officer knew nothing Of
war, but common sense and his veteran
sergeant suggested a breastwork across the
entrance to the gap. One was constructed
of rocks and logs and stones, and it was
hardly finished before the skirmishers of
the wal party were firing upon it.
No mar will ever read what is called
"Cunningham's Defense" without his
pulse quickening. One hundred and twen-
ty-three Indians pressed forward against a
force of 82 troopers, commanded by a boy.
Three different times, once on horseback,
the Indians charged right up to this breast
work. but each time were driven back
with slaughter. The defenders did not
escape death, however. When the last
charge was beaten back. eight of them
were stretched out on the rock soil, and
there were but "a to fall back for a mile
and build another breastwork. This move
was necessitated by the Indians working
up the sides of the mountain and securing
a flank fire. The second breastwork was
evacuated next morning for the same rea.
son, and a mile in the rear of it another
was built, When this had to be aban-
doned, only ten men were left alive.
"hen iiaiheu ouo " ~ iouroh uo.
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