The Portland daily press., 1899-01-27

enorr OF tne rnoIans, wnIcn was doubtless
moro of a reconnaissance than an stteck,
we were left In peace, though all through
the night we heard sounds 20 prove they
were taking up positions on all sides Of us
and making ready for tho morrow.
None Of us except the woman slept an
hour all night long. We used levers to
kosen powders and roll them into the
circle, and with our knives we cut OIL
limbs and cut down small trees to further
strengthen our fort We got the horses
Into a sort OF gully below us and made tho
position as cafe as possible, and when day
light came there was nothing moro to be
done. We had above 600 rounds of am
munition, food for three days and water
was at hand.
Daybrcak found us ready for an attack.
The colopel's wife took her place, rifle In
hand, between two men, and for half an
hour we expected n sudden rush. At the
end of that time a single warrior appeared
to view at the base of the hill and in bro
ken English demanded our surrender. The
sergeant answered him that we were ready
for them and at the same time fired shot
which rolled the redskins pony over
Three minutes later there was n circle OF
fire about us Indians had mounted into
trees to the right and left Of us TO get a
pluneing fire, and from tho tops Of two
lower hills they poured In their bullets at
random. We simply crouched down be-
hind tho rocks and smoked our pipes,
pleased that they were throwing away
their cartridges. At the end of an hour
they ceased firing. Not man of us had
been touched, but stray bullets had killed
one of the mules and wounded two horses.
There would be rush now, and as we
made ready for IL the colonels wife sank
down beside me and quietly said:
"Ive tumbled over sage hens and jack
rabbits, and l ought to be able to hit an
Indian. Do look frightened"
"You arc as white as ghost ma'am,"
answered as l turned to her.
"But I'm all right, she smilingly said,
"and here they come. "
So they did With every painted war
rior yelling at the top Of his voice the en-
tire band charged us at once, taking in the
whole circle 1t was not until they got
close up that we could see anything to
shoot at, and every few seconds the SER
geant cried out to ne to hold our fire. 1t
WINS over in a minute They did not ex-
pect to find us intrenched, and we Knocked
them over like ninepins.
score, and 1t took the fight out Of them 80
thoroughly that not rifle was fired at us
again until afternoon. Then, soon after
O'Clock and without the slightest warning,
we were charged again, and for three
minutes II was a wild melee. We fired into
their very faces as they sprang upon the
defenses, and two warriors were shot down
inside our fort, and both by the coloneis
wife 1t was their final and supreme Of
fort and well IL was for US that 1t was
thus. When we had beaten them off, Ser
geant Gregg and another man lay dead,
four mon were badly wounded, and they
had cut our animals out of the gulch and
run them of Had the attack lasted a
minute longer or been renewed two men
and a woman would alone have opposed IL.
And among the queer things of that last
dash was the behavior of the colonel's wife.
With my own eyes ! saw her shoot down
the two warriors who leaped the breast
work, and | believe she killed two or
three more outside Of it, and yet when the
attack had been repulsed the little woman
fell over in dead faint, and for ten min
utes we believed her dead from bullet.
When she came back to life, she had fit
Of weeping, and when that was over she
turned 10 and attended our hurts and was
ready for another brush.
We put in another night right there, not
knowing that the Indians had drawn of,
but soon after sunrise next morning were
relieved of all anxiety by the appearance
OF a scout, who passed on and sent us aid
from tho fort. The colonel's wife did not
get down to the railroad for that was tho
opening Of war which lasted for months,
but there was no blame attached to any OF
the living who returned with her. On tho
contrary, the old martinez of colonel
took each one of us by the hand breaking
over military etiquette" once more in his
life and said.
"You did well, my man, and here's my
hand on it, and l won't forget you"