Waterbury Democrat., 1900-10-22
hllsa kiss B5Idse Eanilles9: :ilIlissiDs ilIls Danoa

of Indians roamed the lovely valleys of
 the Piney, the Tongue and Rosebud,
 near at hand and rod into full yie.s of
 the wary sentries at the stockades, yet made no hostile demonstration. Off, rcers and men went far up the rocky canyons of the hills in search of fish
 or game, and came back unmolested.
 Escorts reported that they sometimes
 marched all day loEE side by side with hunting bands of Sioux, mile away;
 and often little parties, squaws and boys and young men, would ride con fdently over. and beg for sugar, coffee, ha1 a1dtack-anything and ride off with their plunder in the best of spirits and
 with all apparent good feeling. And
 yet the great war chief of the Brules-
 intogaliska-Spotted Tail. the white
 to trust the Ogallallas. "Red Clouds
 heart is bad.', he said. ''He and his
 people are moving from the resrva-
 tions to the mountains. They mean
 trouble" Old traders like Folsom
 heard and needed. and Folsom himself
 hastened to Fort Frayne the very week
 that Durleigh, and his escort left for,
 Warrior Gap. Visiting at the ranch of
 his son in beautiful nook behind the
 Medicine Bow mountains, the veteran
 trader heard tidines from an Indian
 brave that filled him wlth apprehen- sion, and he hurried to the fort. .-' Z
 ''Is it true,"' he asked, that the gov
 ernment, means to esta biish post at
 Warrior Gap? l. it true that Maj. Bur
 leigh has gone thither?' And when
 told that it was, and that only Capt. : Brooks troop had gone as an escort,
 Folson's agitation was extreme. "Colo- mel" said he to the post commander, 4''solcallly IihaSe tried to warn the gen. eral of the 'danger:of t hat move. l have told him that all the northern tribes are leaGuing now, that they have deter mined to keep to themselves the Big Horn country Rntb the valleys to the
 north. It will take 5,CC0 men to hold
 those three posts against the Sioux, and you've barely got 5C0. I warn you
 that any attempt to start another post
 up there will bring Red Cloud and all
 his people to the spot. Their scouts are
 watching like hawks even now. Iron
 Spear came to me at my sons ranch
 last night and told me not ten warriors were left at the reservation. They are
 all gone, and the war dances are on in
 every valley from the Black Hills to the Powder. For heavens sake, send
 half your garrison up to Reno after
 Brooks. You are safe here. They won't
 molest you south of the Platte, at least
 not now. All they ask is that you
 build no more forts in the Big Horn.'' =
 But the colonel could not act with
 out authority. Telegraph there was none then. What Folsom said was of f sufficient importance to warrant his
 fully 100 mi1es' Southeast, and order-
 ing troop to scout across the wild
 wastes to the north, while Folsom himself, unable to master his anxiety,
 decided to accompany the command
 sent out toward Cantonnlent Keno.
 He long had had influence with the
 Ogallallas. Even now Red Cloud might
 listen if he could but find him. The
 matter was of such urgency he could
 not refrain And so with the gray
 troop of the cavalry, setting forth
 within an hour of his coming, rode the old trader whom the Indians had so
 long sworn by, and he started none
 too Soop. ..;iu.-,-,.
 Reno was some 90 miles away, and not until late the next evening did the grays reach the lonely post. Not sign of hostile, Indian had been seen
 or heard, said the officer in command.
 Small bands ofShunters were out to-
 ward Pumpkin Butte two days before. Yes, Ogallallas-and scouting par | ty, working down the valley of the Powder, had met no band at all, though trails were numerous. They were now
 patrolling toward the Big Horn. Per
 haps there'd be q courier in to- morrow. Better get a good nights rest mean time, he said. But all the same he doubled his guards and ordered extra vigilance, for all Iaen knew John Fol
 som. and when Folsom was anxious On the Indian question it was time to look alive. Daybreak came without sign, but Folsom could not rest. The grays had no authority to go beyond Reno, but such was his anxiety that it
 was decided to hold the troop at the cantonment for a day or two. Mean l time, despite his years, FolscIn decided to push on forsthe Gap. All efforts to diSsuade him were in vain. With him rode Baptiste, n half-breed French I man, whose mother was an Ogallalla s9uaw, and Eat" had served him many a year. Their eantecns were filled, 1 their saddle-pouches packed. They led along an extra mule, with camp equip- age, and shook hands gravcly with the officers ere they rode away. "All de-, pends," said Folsom, lon whether Red l Cloud is hereabouts in person. If he
 is and T can get his GET l can probably stave off trouble long enough to get
 those people at the Gap back to Rear
 ney, or over here-! They're gonersr if
 they attempt to stay there and build i that pest. If yea don't have word from us in two days, send for all the l troops the govcrnnent can raise It will take every mothers son they've l got to whip the Sioux when once they're leagucd together"
 ] ''But our men have the new breech- i leaders now. MT, Folsom said the
 officers. The Indians have. only old 1 percussion-cap rifles, and not too many i of them.' s,,ss,a 5g "But there are 20, warriors to every l soldier" was. the answer, land all are