The Iola register., 1900-10-26
cussednsss q the creatures wii


tried il with those very mules, between
Emory and Medicine Bow a dozen
times, and he'd risk II. The driver
could get off his seat If he wanted to,
and run alongside, but he'd stay where |
he was.
"Let me out, please" said the en-
gineer, and jumped to the ground,
and then the cavacade pushed on
again. The driver, as ordered by an
employer whom he dare not disobey,
let the reins drop on the mules backs,
the troopers falling behind, the
yellow ambulance and the big baggage
wagon bringing up the rear.
Then, with a horseman on each side,
the mules were persuaded to push on
again, and then when fairly started
Burleigh called TO the troopers to fall
back, so that the mules should not, as
he expressed it, "be Influenced" ""Leave
them to themselves and they can get
along all right" said he. but mix
| them up with the horses, and they
want them TO take all the RESPONSE
bility."
And now the command was barely
crawling. Brooks, heavy, languid with
splitting headache, lay in feverish tor
por in his ambulance, asking only to be
let alone. The engineer. n subaitern as
yet, felt that he had no right attempt
ing to advise men like Burleigh, who
proclaimed himself an old campaigner.
The aid-de-camp was getting both
sleepy and impatient, but he, too, was
much the quartermaster's junior in
rank. AS for Dean, he had no volition
whatever. Escort the party" were his
orders, and that meant that he must
govern the movements of his horses and
men by the wishes of the senior staff Of
fetal. And so they logged along per-
haps 20 minutes more. and then
there was q sudden splutter and plunge
and stumble ahead. sharp pull on the
traces, a marvelously quick jerk back
on the reins that threw the wheel team
on their launches. and thereby saved
the outfit" for when men and matches
were hurried to the front the lead mules
were discovered kicking and splashing
in mud hole. They were not only off
the road by a dozen yards, but over
bank two feet high.
And this last bound broke the back
of Burleigh's obstinacy. 1t was nearly
midnight anyway. The best thing to
be done was to unhitch, unsaddle and
bivouac until the gray light of dawn
came peering over the eastward prai-
rie, which in that high latitude and
"long-day" month would soon he after
three. Then they could push on TO
Reno.
Not until nearly eight o'clock in the
morning, therefore. did they heave in
sight of the low belt of dingy green
that told of the presence of a stream
still long miles away; and here, know
ing himself to be out of danger, the
, major bade the weary escort march in
at walk while he hurried on. In Is
minutes the black-hooded wagon was
y twisting and turning over the powdery
road good mile ahead, its dust rising
!. sgh over the sage-covered desert, whii'
the other two, with the dust-begrimeC
!, troopers, logged sturdily On. Loring
a the young engineer, had waved cor
dial good-Dy To his old cadet acqqaint
= ance. See you later, old man. h
/. cried. Stone, the aid-de-camp, nodde'
and said; Take care Of yourself" ant
p Burleigh said nothing at all. lie wa
n wondering what he could do TO muzzl
4 Loring in case that gifted young gradu
j. ate were moved TO tell what the quar-
/, termaster actually did when he hear
Il the rush and firing out at the front ol
Il the road from Warrior Gap.
K But when al last the black wago
bowled in at the stockaded quadrangl
+ and discharged its occupants at th
3 hut of the major commanding, ther
p, were tidings of such import to gree
IS them that Burleigh turned yellow
W white again at thought of the peril
Il they had escaped.
N "My God, mani" cried the post con
mander, as he came hurrying out t
il meet the party, "we've been in blu
Ie funk about you fellows for two whol
d days. Did you see any IndiansY'
e. "See any Indians!" said Burleigh, ra
ID lying TO the occasion, as became
,e man who knew how TO grasp an oppol
r tunity. 1--WE stood off the WHOLE Siou
10 nation over toward Crazy Woman
10 fork. There were enough TO cover tn
lie country, red and black, for doze
lie miles. We sighted them yesterda
about four o'clock, and there wei
rs enough aSound us to eat us alive, br
IN we just threw out skirmish lines an
IN marched steadily ahead, so the
ly thought best not to bother us. They'i
as shy of our breech-loaders, damn 'eu
er That's all that kept them at reepectf'
a distance"
he The majors face as he listened toe
ir on a puzzled, perturbed look' He d
On not wish TO say anything that migl
I'd reflect on the opinions of so infuenti
II, man as the depot quartermaster
at Gate City, but it was plain that the
az was train of thought rumblir
sc through his mind that would collie
he with Burleigh's column of events unle