Willmar tribune., 1900-11-21


Take my horse, sir. g said the ser.s
geant, dismounting, and the officer
thanked him and rode swiftly out ia
join the young commander at the
front. Together they gazed and con-
suited and still no signal came to re.
sumo the advance. Then the troopers
saw the staff officer make q broad
sweep with his right arm to the south.
and in moment Deans hat was up
lifted and waved well out in that di-
rection. Drop carbine, Z growled the
sergeant. BY twos again. Incline to
the right. Damn the Sioux, I sayl
Have we got to circle five miles around
their hunting ground for fear Of hurt
ing their feelings? Come on, Jimmy"
he added to the driver Of the leading
wagon. Jimmy responded with Wig.
orous language at the expense of hia
leading mules. The quartermaster and
engineer silently scrambled in; the
ambulance started with q jerk and
away went the party of to the right
of the trail, the wagons. jolting q.
bit now over the uneven clumps Of
bunch grass. @5.4-# Esj.~s a.55~.y54:
But once well up at the summit Of
the low divide the command reined in
for look at the great Indian caval-
cade swarming in the northeastwaax
valley, and covering its grassy surface
still a good mile away. Out from
among the dingy mass came galloping
half a dozen young braves, followed
by as many squaws. The former soon
spread out over the billowy surface,
some following the direction of the
chase, some bounding on southwest
ward as though confident of finding
what they sought the moment they
reached the nearest ridge; some rid
ing straight to the point where lay
the carcasses of the earliest victims
of the hunt. Here in full view of the
soldiery, but vouchsafng them no
glance nor creating whatever, two
young warriors refined in their lively
ponies and disdainfully turned their
backs upon the spectators on the di-
vide, while the squaws, with shrill
laugh and chatter, rolled from their
saddles and began the drudgery of
their skinning and cutting up the
buffaloes slaughtered by their lords.
"Dont you see," sneered Burleigh,
tits nothing but village out for a
hunt-nothing in Gods world to get
stampeded about. We've had all this
show of warIke preparations for moth
ing" But he turned away again as
he caught the steady look in the en-
gineer's blue eyes, and shouted to his
more appreciative friend, the aid-de-
camp: 'We1l, pardner, haven't we
fooled away enough time here, or have
we got to await the pleasure of people
that never saw Indians before?"
Dean flushed crimson at the taunt.
He we'll knew for whom it was meant.
He was indignant enough by this time
to speak for himself, but the aid-de-
camp saved him the trouble.
II requested Mr.. Dean to halt few
moments, Burleigh. 1t is necessary
I should know what band this is, and
how many are out"
swell, be quick about it, snapped
the quartermaster. II want to get to
Reno before midnight, and at this
rate we won't make it in a week."
A sergeant who could speak little
Sioux came riding back to the camp,
grin on his un-blistered face. ''Well,
sergeant, what'd he say?" asked the
staff officer.
HE said would I plaze go to hell,
sor," was the prompt response.
wont he tell who they are?"
"He won't, sorr. He says we know
widout askin', which is thrue, sorr.
They're Ogallallas to man, barrin'
the squaws and pappooses, wild ould
Red Cloud HIMSELF .5
"How'd you find out if they wouldn't t
talk?" asked the staff officer, impa.
tiently.
"'Twas the bucks wouldn't talk-ex-
cept in swear wurruds. I wasted no
time on them, SOFT. I gave the first
squaw the last hardtack in me saddle
bags and tould her waa it Machpealota,
and she said it was, And he was wild
Box Karesha-that's oti:d Folsom-not
six hour ago, an Folscse's s gone back
to the cantonment.'
':Then the quicker we skip the bet
ter" were the aid-de-caup's words.
"Get us to Reno fast as ya~: can, Dean.
Strike for the road again as soon as
we're we'll beyond their EaSfalo. Now
for it! There's something behind all
this bogus hunt business, and Folsom
knows what it is.'' = -.-..~
And every mile of the way, until
thick darkness settled down over the
prairie, there was something behind
the trooper cavalcade-several some
things-wary red men, young and
wiry, who never let themselves be
seen, yet followed on over wave after
wave of prairie to look to it that no
man went back from that column to
carry the news of their presence to the
little battalion left in charge of the
new post at Warrior Gap.
It was the dark Of the moon, or, as
the Indians say, ''the nights the moon
is sleeping in his LODGE" and by ten
p. m. the skies were overcast. Only
here and there a twinkling star was
visible, and only where some trooper
struck a light for his pipe could a
hand be seen in front of the face. The
ambulance mules that had kept their
steady jog during the late afternoon
and the long cleaning that followed
still seemed able to maintain the gait,
and even the big, numbering wagon at
the rear came briskly on under the tug
Of its triple span, but in the intense
darkness the guides at the head Of the
column kept losing the road, and the
humping Of the wagons would reveal