Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1899-06-15
THE EXPLOIT OF ANTOINE AND PIERRE.
BY Franklin welles Call<ins.

river would not hesitate to accuse him
of having hand in such wholesale
robbery unless he could prove his i'
nocence absolutely, and they woul
trust him with no more horses.
1t was barely daylight, so early was
he out of a morning, when Antoine
aroused his mother and Pierre. The
woman Immediately took a canoe and
owners OF the stolen horses. AS for
Pierre, he suddenly awoke to the i'm
portance of doing something His In
dian blood was aroused, and he readily
joined Antoine in an arduous chase
after the horse thieves.
Sunrise saw the brothers we'll
mounted and galloping hard to west
ward. The broad trail of the herd
led straight away toward the Bad
Lands of the Little Missouri. The ami
mails had evidently been taken from
their corrals in the early night and
were being pushed hard, for when the
pursuers had mounted the bluffs above
the Missouri they saw no cloud Of
dust upon the miles and miles of near
ly level plain. At night they passed
down into the valley of Thunder Creek,
which marked the limit of the country
they knew. They camped on this
creek, nearly 70 miles from home.
They were up and off again at break
OF day, and night brought them to the
breaks of the Bad Lands warm, at
last, upon the trail of the stolen stock.
Hitherto they had passed three camps
where the Ogalallas more than 20, as
the brothers had made out by the
sign-had halted to rest aud aze the
stock, and at one of them the skull
and freshly picked bones of horse
were found.
Just before sunset the brothers rode
to the summit of a red butte and
looked back over their trail. Were
the stockmen following the stolen
horses? Ga all the vast stretch of
sun baked plain there was no slightest
cloud or trail of dust to cheer the boys
with hope or aid from the settlements.
In another direction lay rough ridges
of chalk cliffs and . narrow, gorge
like valley cast in forb!dding shadows.
At some point or turn In that tortuous,
fading canyon the stolen horses would
be guarded for the night But dared
any two pursuers venture their lives
in that narrow pass?
Did the brothers turn back? Did
the lazy Pierre, dust-begrimed, ch oked
by thirst and half-famished from a
slender diet of dry, chopped beef, want
to go home? Not he. The Sioux's
persistence and the white mans bold.
ness had seized upon the lads and
urged them on to deed almost in
credibly daring and yet planned with
great shrewdness.
From the appearance of the trail be-
low they knew the stock thieves were
two hours ride in advance and that
they would go into camp sooD after
dark. So, with plans already formed,
the two rode down the red bluff into
the narrow valley.
Upon reaching the creek-a swift,
shallow stream-they turned their
ponies loose, quenched their thirst and
imme 1iately set out to search the
banks. They found bog hole where
were tufts of old dry grass which had
escaped the fall fires. Of this they
gathered enough for their purpose.
With dry twigs and bark OF willows
they twisted dry grass ropes some two
inches in diameter and half the length
of lariat. To prevent these ropes
from untwisting they tied them here
and there with interlacing twine.
The task finished, the brothers ate
some stringy chips of dried meat and
stretched themselves on the ground
| for an hour or so of rest.
Thus refreshed, they remounted and
rode leisurely and cautiously along
the trail. Turn after turn of the mar
row valley was made. They moved in
a silence broken only by the light
footballs of their ponies. Their ami
mails were kept at the shuffling. nearly
noiseless trot characteristic of the Iu.
dianbred pony.
On either hand loomed the chalk
cliffs; fringes of cottonwoods and
willows marked the crooked channel
of the creek. The trail, broad swat.
in the thin, tall grass of the bottom
lands, was easily followed
The thieves were depending upon
their advantage in start, their celebrity
of movement and the unlikelihood OF
pursuit except from fort or settlement.
This they hoped to elude finally among
the intricacies of the Bad Lands.
Leaving the trail, the boys hugged
the little stream, keeping we'll within
the shadows of its bordering trees.
1t was after midnight that the rustling
murmur they had listened for came to
their ears. Quite plainly now they
could hear the trampling of herd,
hungrily cropping the coarse, thin
grass. But no fires, no sign Of In
dians or of horses could be seen in the
night.
The brothers dismounted and LED
their ponies deeper within the shad
ows of cluster of cottonwoods. They
stripped the animals OF saddles and
brides and turned them loose. Each
then wound his surcingle and grass
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