Waterbury Democrat., 1900-11-06
CHAPTER XVII.
lCe3y;acat Losy. svF T.ne7sen Neess. ]

ford was fordabls within two days march of either Emery or Frayps.
 Not courier creased ths Box Elder, going either way until the food went dCWl, ana then 1t trapsp1red that 2 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 days
 watchers along the lower Box Elder dragged out upon the shallows the
 bodies of horses that once upon q
 time might have horne the "U. 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 Sam's men. much as two, at least, of the drowned had been wanted by the federal authorities but a week before What the dcnizens 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 q sign Of them remained along the storm-swept ravine. What most peo- pie of Gate City and Fort Emory could not understand was the evi- dence that 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 sunup, and there, re- enforced, they had gone westward to the Sweetwater trail, and, old iron tiersmeu though they were. had been caught in the whirl of water at Can on Springs, losing two of their num- Der and at least dozen of their horses. What could have lured them into that gloomy rift at such time? What inspiration had led Dean out of it?
 Singly, or in little SquadS. many of them afoot, bedraggled, silent. cha grined, the outfit" described by Trooper Carey had slunk away from the neigh borhood of the Box Elder as soon as the storm suSsided. SOlemrly, as betitted soldiers. silent and alert despite their dripping accoutreInents, 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 sun came out and they camped in a bunch of cottonwoods on the old Casper trail and slept the sleep of the just and the weary. Early next day they hastened on. reaching the usually shallow stream, with Devils Gate only q few miles away, before the setting of a second sun. Here they feasted and rested well. and before the dawn f,,i,. rnI 1,a irfr dow ont from Emory they were breasting tho turbid waters and by noon had left the valley far to the south and were well out toward the Big Horn couu- try, where it behooved them to look wa1iIy ahead, for from every ridge, though far to the west of their prob able raiding ground, Dean and his men could expect to encounter scout ing parties of tho Indians at any mo-
 ment. and one false step meant death. The third night passed without alarm, though every eye and ear was strained. The Ioornin. of the fourth day dawned and the sun soon tin@ed the misty mountain tops to the far north, and Dean saw before him an open roll ing country, over which it would be ina- 1 possible to march without attracting Indian eyes, if Indian eyes there were within 20 miles. And with proper eau tion he ordered his men to keep in con- cealment, horses grazing under guard in a deep depression near a stream, men dozinS soundly by turns until the twi- light came. and then the stars-tLeir night lights for a long, long march. Dawn of the fifth day found them bud q I1of in of ba ba1,T foot hills, with Warrior Gap not 30 miles away, and now, indeed, was prudence necessary, for the. faint light showed the fresh prints of innumerab.e pony hoofs on every side. They were close on Machpealota's lurking braves. | Which would see the other first?
 It must have been somewhere toward | five o'clOcirin the afternoon that Dean,
 searching with his feldglass the sun | lit slopes far out to the east. heard the | voice of his sergeant close at hand and | turned to answer. Up to this moment,
 beyond the pony tracks, not sign had they seen of hostile Indians, but ths 1 buffalo that had appeared in scattered ! herds along their line of march were shy and scary, and old hands xaid that i that meant they had recently been hunted ard. Moreover. this was not section favored Of the buffalo. There
 waa much aI1ali and sage brush along | their trail, and only hers aEd there in. scanty patches any of the rich, rut-i- tious bunch grass which the ro'inG ari- mals so eagerly Sod.ht. The day had 1 been hot and almost cloudless. The simmer of heat along the lazy roll of | the land to the south had often baffied their blinking eyes. But now the sun | was we'll to the west, and the refraction
 seemed diminishing, and away over to 1 the northeast dull-colored cloud
 seemed slowly rising beyond the ridges.
 It was this that Serst. Bruce was study
 ing when he murnured to his young commander:
 q think that means big herd on the
 run, sir, and if so Indians started them.'
 One or two troopers, dozing close at hand, sprawled full lsngth upon the
 ground, with their faces buried in, or hidden by their blue-sieeved arms, | SlDyyiy rDlled Orpr-Hr,1 ea r-1a cror,cniy,o Q