The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1900-12-28
CHAPTER XVII.

had turned for "a hours every noun
tain stream into foaming torrent
for n hundred miles. Not bridge
remained along the Platte. Not
ford was fordabe within two days
march OF either Emory or Frnyne,
Not n courier crossed the Eos Elder,
going either way. until the flood went
down. and then it transpired that
tide in the affairs of men had also
turned, and that there was trouble
ahead for some who had thought to
find plain sailing. For two Gays
watchers along the lower Box Elder
dragged out upon the shadows the
bodies of horses that once upon a
time might have borne the ~. s.
brand, but were not girthed with
cavalry saddles now. Nor were there
lacking other bodies to prove that
the victims of the sudden storm were
not Uncle Sans men, much as two.
at least, of the drowned had been
wanted by the federal authorities but
week before. What the denizens of
Gate City and Fort Emory dreaded
and expected to hear was that Dean
and his little party had been caught
in the trap. But, living or dead, not
sign Of them remained along the
storm-swept ravine. What most peo-
pie OF Gate City and Fort Emory
could not understand was the evil
dence that a big gang of horse thieves,
desperadoes and renegades had sud
denly appeared about the new town,
had spurred away northward in the
night had kept the Frayne road till
they reached the Box Elder, riding
hard long after suuup, and there. re-
enforced. they had gone westward to
the Sweetwater trail, and. old from
tiersmen thonghfhey were. had been
caught in the whirl of water at Can
on Springs, losing two of their num-
Der and at least "A dozen of their
horses. What could have lured them
into that gloomy rift at such a time
What inspiration had led Dean out
of it?
Singly. or in lttleHsquads, many OF
them afoot. brdraggled. silent, cha
| prined, the outfit" described by
Trooper Carey had skunk away from
the neighborhood of the Box Elder as
soon as the storm subsidized Solemnly
az betitted soldiers. silent and alert
despite their dripping accoutrements
the little detachment of cavalry had
pushed ahead. riding by compass over
the drenched uplands, steering for
the Sweetwater. Late in the after
noon the skies had cleared, the sur
came out and they camped in bunch
of cottonwoods on the old Casper
trail and slept the sleep Of the just
and the weary. Early next day they
FASTENED on. reaching the usually
shallow stream. with DEVILS Gate only
few miles away. before the setting
OF a second sun. Here they Toasted
and rested well. and before the dawr
was fairly red on the third day on
from Emory they were breasting thu
turbid waters and by noon had LEFT
the valley far to the south and were
well out toward the Big Horn coun
try, where IL behooved them TO lool
warily ahead, for from every ridge
though far TO the west of their prob
able raid6np ground. Dean and hi
men could expect TO encounter scout
ing parties of the Indians at any mo
ment and one false step meant death
The third night passed withou
alarm, though every eye and ear wa
strained. The morning of the fourtl
day dawned and the sun soon tinged tn
misty mountain tops to the fer north
and Dean saw before him an open roll
ing country, over which il would be i'm
possible to march without attracting
Indian eyes, if Indian eyes there wer
within 20 miles. And with proper eau
tion he ordered his men to keep in con
cealment, horses grazing under guar'
in deep depression near stream, mel
doziag soundly by turns until the twi
light came, and then the stars-thei
night lights for long long march
Dawn of the fifth day found them hud
died in a deep ravine of the southern
foothills, with Warrior Gap not 30 mile
away, and now, indeed, was prudence
necessary, for the faint light showed
the fresh prints of innumerable pom.
hoofs on every side. They were clos
on Machpealota's lurking braves
Which would see the other first?
1t must have been somewhere towart
five o'clock in the afternoon that Dean
searching with his tieldglass the sun
lit slopes far out to the east, heard tn
voice of his sergeant close at hand ant
turned to answer. Up to this moment
beyond the pony tracks, not "A sign hat
they seen of hostile Indians, but tn
buffalo that had appeared in scattere,
herds along their line of march wer
shy and scary, and old hands said tina
that meant they had recently beei
hunted hard. Moreover, this was not
section favored of the buffalo. Their
was much aikali and sage brush alonl
their trail and only here and there il
scanty patches any of the rich, nutri
tious bunch grass which the rowing ami
mails so eagerly sought. The day ha'
been hot and almost cloudless. Tn