Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1901-06-14

at ETdyne before ne le1f was one eli
Maj. Burleigh's own men from Gate
| City. He said the general and his
staff were expected at Emory the
next day. investigating matters, for
old Stevens had got stampeded be-
| cause his sergeant major was assault
| ed and old Folsom knocked out and a
drunken captain by the name of New
hall had been making trouble and it
had all told on Maj Burleigh, who had
taken to his bed with nervous prostra-
| ton.
So, while the garrison went to rest
happy, the commanding officer walked
long, and finally slept soundly and
might have slept late, but that just at
dawn, full half an hour before the time
for reveille, there came sharp knock
ing at the door of his log hut, and the
imperative voice of the officer of the
day:
Colonel, colonel, I say. There's
sharp firing out here in the hills to
the south!''
The peaks to the west were just ting
ing with purple and red, reflected from
the eastward sky, and faint light was
| beginning to steal down into the deep
valley in which the cantonment lay
sleeping, when the veteran commander
came hurrying out, half dressed, and
hied him, with his attendant officer, to
the southern angle of the stockade.
There on the narrow ledge or platform
built under the sharp tops of the up
right logs, were grouped the silent,
grave-faced guard, dozen men, intent
ly listening. Thither presently came
running others of the officers or men,
suddenly awakened-by sense of some
thing unusual going on. Far away
among the wooded heights to the
south, echoing from the rocky pail
sades to the west, could be heard the
pop, pop of distant musl4etry, pune
tuated sometimes with louder bang as
of large caliber rifles closer at hand.
Little time was there in which to
hazard opinion as to the cause. One or
two men, faint-hearted at the thought
of the peril of Indian battle and hope
full of influencing the judgment of their
superiors, began the murmur of "big
hunt buffalo drive" etc., glancing
furtively at the colonel the while as
though to observe the effect. But an
imperative 'Silence, you idiots!" from
the officer of the day put sudden end
to their conjectures. Only a moment
did the commander listen. Then, quick
and startling, came the order: Sound
to arms!" and within the minute the
stirring peal of the cavalry trumpet
was answered by the hoarse thunder
of the snare drum, beating the long
roll. Out from their s'dog tents and
half-fnished log huts came the be-
wildered men. Often as the alarm had
sounded on the frontier there was a
thrill and ring about it this time that
told Of action close at hand. Out from
the little huts. hurrying into their
frock coats and betting on their swords
| as they glared about them for the cause
OF the uproar, came the officers, old
| and young, most of them veterans of
many hard-fought fields of the war
days-one or two, only, youngsters
fresh from the Point. At many door
| way and unglazed window appeared
the pallid faces of women and children,
some of them weeping in mingled
fright and distress. In front of the
log guardhouse the sergeant quickly
formed the two reiefs not on post.
On their designated parades the COM
panies rapidly fell in, while stern
! voiced non-commissioned officers re-
buked the 1aggards and aided them
| into their belts, and each first sergeant
| to call the roll, skulker would have
been detected and kicked into the ranks
at the instant. Over under the rough
| board shelter of the quartermaster's
| employees the workmen came tumbling
| out in shirt sleeves, many of them run
ming to the nearest officer and begging
for gun and place in the fight, for
now the firing was loud and lively.
| Down by the swift flowing stream the
| tethered horses of the cavalry plunged
and neighed in excitement, and the
mules in the quartermaster'sc corral set
up their irrepressible bray. For five
minutes there was clamor, but no con-
| fusion. Then disciplined silence reigned
again, all but the nearing volleying at
the south. Presently, at rapid trot the
cavalry, some so strong, came clatter-
ing up the stony trail from the stream
and with carbines advanced disap-
peared through the main gateway in
a cloud of dust. Two companies were
told off to man the loopho1es of the
stockade. Two others under the COM
mand of senior captain faced by the
right flank, and in double-quick time
| danced away in the wake of the cav
| airy. Eagerly the watchers climbed
the wooden walls or to the tower of the
| ha1f-fnished guardhouse, and, as the
red light strengthened in the east and
the mountain sides became revealed,
| studied with their glasses or with
straining eyes the southwark vista
through the hills. They saw the troop
form line to the front at the gallop as
it swept out over the open ground 400
yards away, saw it's f1ankers scurry
to the nearest shoulder of bluff, saw
their excited signals and gesticulations.