Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-04-03
TALES OF PLUCK
AND ADVENTURE.
Observation-Disclosures


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Little Cayuse.
After the big rush for gold in Cali
fornia in 1S49, firm in st. Louis es-
tablished the Pony Express, to carry
mail over the plains and mountains
from st. Joe to Sacramento. At
White Horse Station, i'll Wyoming,
which was particularly subject to In
dian raids, an cid trapper by the name
of Whipsaw was placed in charge.
One day Sioux Indian came to the
station with naked and half-frozen
Pawnee boy, whom he offered to sell
for knife. Whipsaw took mercy on
the boy and bought him. He proved
a valuable aid, for the lads keen ears
detected the approach of horses, the
scream of panther, the growl OF q
wolf, when Whipsaw could hear moth
ing at all. In the dead of night he
would rise and whisper "cayuse,
cayuse"- Pawnee name for horse
and "Little Cayuse" became his
name
One night, according to Cy War
man, who tells the story in his new
book, "Frontier Stories," the Pony
Express was two hours late, and the
two men keeping the station were
| growing very anxious.
presently the Pawnee crawled out,
put his ear to the ground, came back,
and shook his master
"'Cayuse?' asked Whipsaw.
"'Heap cayuse, was the boys re-
ply, and they understood.
'Little Cayuse seized his rife,
slipped out, and the two men followed
him. To guard against surprises
of this sort, Whipsaw had dug short
trenches, deep enough to hide man,
all about the cabin, and now, to his
surprise, Little Cayuse planted him
self in one of these holes. Without q
word the two men took places, one to
the right the other to the left of the
boy, and waited.
'The clouds were breaking, and in
the starlight they could see the Sioux,
six of them, near the cabin door.
They listened-one of them pushed
the door open. Now an Indian went
in, came out moment later, and
they all filed in, at the very moment
that Whipsaw was about to open fire.
Instantly he changed his plan. They
would charge on the cabin door and
fight the gang, which outnumbered
them, even counting the boy, two to
one. Without word, Whipsaw got
to his feet, and instantly his compan-
ions were at his side.
"Little Cayuse grasped his rifle
with fourteen shots in the magazine.
There was no word of command, but
as Whipsaw leaned forward they all
started double-quick for the cabin.
Ten PAGES from the door they stopped,
the boy still sandwiched between the
men. The Sioux must have heard
them, for now they came pouring out.
Before they had gained the open air
the little regiment opened fire. Two
of the Indians fell, the others re-
turned the fire, but with bad aim. An
other round from the white men, and
two more Sioux bit the dust. Bob was
pumping his rifle, when q ball from
the cabin door shattered his right
shoulder. Dropping the gun, he
pulled his six-shooter and continued
to fight. Having emptied both OF his
revolvers, Whipsaw slammed one of
them into the face of Sioux, who
came for him with knife. The two
| men began fighting close now, while
Little Cayuse kept pumping small
shot into the other remaining Sioux.
Seeing Whipsaw hard pressed, the boy
began to watch for chance to use his
little rifle. Bob succeeded ut last in
stopping his man, and then fell in q
faint from loss of blood. Whipsaw had
been shot and badly cut, when his an
tagonist paused to get advantage. In
stantly Little Cayuse showed the rifle
as near the Sioux's left side as he
could get it and pulled the trigger, and
the big, bad Indian sank in a heap.
''The next day, when they were
caching the carcasses of the dead In
dians, Little Cayuse shocked and
surprised the white men by constant
ly clubbing and kicking the corpses.
OF sudden he gave wild yell, seized
his rifle, and began emptying it into
one of the dead Indians. Whipsaw
took the gun away from him.
"See! see!" cried the boy, pointing
at the dead Indian, and the trapper
recognized in :the object of the boys
wrath the hideous features of the
scar-faced Sioux who had sold the
child, by whose hands he had in his
own good time been taken off,"
An American Sailor-Boy.
"Ben Porter" was about fifteen wears