The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1901-06-25

I ings in and comings out had left some
trace, for they seemed to notice the en-
trance at once and presently / saw a
head peering over. The dim light of the
cave might have prevented the owner
from seeing me, but, as i'll luck would
have it, the infant child l spoke of walled
| out just at this particular moment. The
cry was stihed in an instant, but it had
been heard, and the head craned over fur
Their, while another and another popped
over. I was crouching down as close as
could, but hearing the click of a trigger
l knew concealment was no longer posi-
BILE and blazed away. Two screams told
me couple of heads had been hit and
the third disappeared. l heard a voice
shouting for the others to come up and
could distinguish the tones of a colloquy
being held, though without hearing what
was said.
Presently a lighted torch was flung
into the cave, but had retreated into the
farther one, and, nothing being visible,
the Indians were nonplused, and l heard
one cry out that there was nothing there.
Another retorted angrily that some one
had killed Blue Water and Leaping Tur-
tle This was followed by a patter Of
shots on the floor of the cave, one of
which, rebounding, struck one of the chill
dren on the breast, but, though the bullet
imbedded itself in his skin, the plucky
little fellow did not utter a sound. AS
their firing still produced no effect, the
Indians did not know how to account for
matters and presently one of them was
imprudent enough to stick his head over
the edge, but l made no move, and they
haI1 \ bok
they feared to enter the cave, not know
ing how many lay concealed within it,
and at last they hit on the very plan l
had been dreading.
"a lighted torch was thrown over, and
a quantity Of leaves and moss was pushed
after it, but their amiable intention of
smoking us out failed, owing to the damp
ness of the leaves and moss and my hav-
ing deluged the earthen floor Of the cave
with all the water we had on hand See
ing this fail they summoned up courage
to enter the cavern, and as we saw the
FIVE forms leap into our hiding place we
opened fire on them. killed my man in
stantly, and so did Mrs. Ridley, who i'm
mediately let dusky devil who, scream
ing, rushed upon her have the full con-
tents of the other barrel in his breast.
The other woman missed her aim and
the next moment was in the grasp of one
of the Indians, but before / could come
to her rescue her son, boy of r. had
flung his arms around the redskins neck
and hanging on his back, kept him from
striking, when the woman, picking up
tomahawk, struck him tremendous blow
on the forehead. He dropped like log,
crushing the boy beneath him. The re-
naming Indian, seeing his companions
fall, made a break for the entrance and
was just climbing out when caught him
and, firing, brought him down with bro
ken arm and ball in his side.
"Seeing him helpless and thinking him
dying, l did not shoot again, but went
back to the women, whom found shrek
ing with excitement. quieted them and
congratulated them on their courage,
which, however, was entirely gone as
soon as the call for it was over rolled
the Indian off the boy, who was consider
ably bruised by the weight of the dead
body, but otherwise not hurt The
wounded Indian I found to be an old ac-
quaintance of mine, and. seeing he was
dying rapidly. / did not disturb him. He
told me that. finding Ridey's Camp de-
serted, the main party had gone back
home, but that, suspecting me of having |
warned them, some of the young hot |
bloods had followed US to be avenged on
me. They were pretty certain that was
the only man in the party, but did not
know but what others had joined u.s.
"Wel, we took possession of the ponies |
and were able to travel much more rapid |
ly, though had it not been nearly desper-
ate to think of walking in our exhausted |
condition l would not have risked riding |
them. for man on foot has 20 chances
on the plains to one the mounted fellow |
has. We reached Carson City without |
further adventure. though starvation and |
thirst and fatigue were our constant COM
panions, and there found the woman's |
husband and the other man, who were
just starting home. l had to get a doctor
to give me something to quiet my nerves,
for for eight days and nights | had not |
slept more than 80 minutes out of every
"a hours, and even after all were safe |
could not quit listening for noises"