The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1899-04-05
WALTERS FIGHT WITH INDIANS.
By sIDFoRD F. HAMP.

him, John Hansford rode up, and
without waiting to shake hands or to
get off his horse, said:
Martin, you had better call your
herders into camp mighty quick.
They say, down at Truebury's, that a
small band of bad Indians is knocking
about the country somewhere north
Of here. They've killed a Mexican
herder and burnt his cabin, and now
they've crossed the railroad coming
this way"
1 lost no time. "Dick Taylorl'' I
shouted, and out ran the cock, the
only other man on the place at that
time of day.
Saddle up-hurry," I said, 'rhere
are Indians betwixt here and the rail-
road. We must gallop to overtake
Sally and Walter"
With his paper cap on his head and
his hands covered with dough, Dick
rushed with me to the stable; out
came the horses; on went the saddles.
and in less than five minutes we three,
all we'll armed, were galloping north
ward.
Meanwhile Walter and Sally had
travelled some fifteen miles. They
were jogging along, laughing and
chattering and watching the shifting
mirages which are always to be seen
at that time of year, when my girl
cried out:
"Oh. lookl There's funny onel
Then Walter saw what appeared to be
the legs of five horses trotting along o
foot from the ground.
Presently the scene changed, the
horses legs vanished, and the young
sters saw the heads and shoulders of
five men, large and underlined, sailing
through the air. Sally told me after
ward that this frightened her.
Suddenly the mirage cleared, aud
the girl and boy saw, about two miles
to the northwest, five horsemen, one
behind the other. They were riding
as if to intercept the wagon, and there
was something very unusual in their
appearance. Walter pulled up and
took out his feld-glass.
II don't like thel looks Of them, !"
said he. .'They aren't cowboys;
they've no hats, and 1 think no saddles.
I'm afraid they're Indians"
Turn back, said Sally, "and then
we shall know If they're trying to cut
us of"
That's sensible" said Walter, aad
turned at once.
The riders Immediately broke into
a hard gallop, and headed straight for
the wagon. Walter urged his horse
to trot, and then the desperate race
began.
Fifteen miles OF level plain lay be-
tween the team and the home ranch.
Could the horses hold out? At first
Walter tried trotting, but the gallop-
ing Indians gained so much in the
first mile that he lashed his team into
O run.
But what chance, in that race for life,
had two steady old ranch-horses hitched
to heavy road wagon? Though they
began with two miles start, the light
footed Indian ponies came up SO fast
that my girl, as she turned her head
to watch them, could soon distinguish
the forms. They grew from dark
patches to definite figures OF men on
running beasts. Sally could make out
the heads, arms, and flying hair of the
Indians. the heads Of the ponies and
their moving legs.
They're gaining fast, Walter" she
cried.
Waiter didn't look at her then. Her
voice had been jolted out of her by the
humping wagon, and he thought it was
all of tremble. He just stood up in
the bouncing, rattling wagon and stared
round the skyline.
He had some hope that he might see
other riders, and if he did he would
head for them; though that wasn't the
thing in his mind. But
there was not living figure clear
against the blue or dim against the
plain-nothing but the bare, burnt
prairie and the gray streak of road.
ITS all right, Sally, cried the boy,
not looking down at her, for he feared
she would go into Mysteries, as he had
once seen an Eastern girl do. '1t's
all right, Sally; we'll beat them yet"
At that my girl laughed.
81 guess" she said. you're not
such a tender foot as they call YOU"
She told me that he stared down at
her in surprise for moment, and then
changed his tune and took her right
into his confidence.
I'm looking for a good place TO
fight, he said. 1--WE can't get away
from them by running. But we must
keep on until we see some cover within |
reach"
Covert said Sally. "we'l be
better off in the omen IL II comes 10