The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-09-28

Crawling on their hands and knees
they were able only 10 make three mile:
before dawn that night. They saw IN
dams on every hand and were forced
4 10 lie still frequently. The three mile.
brought them TO the. divide between the
Arickaree and South Republican and
there they concealed themselves for the
day in a washout. or the head of q
hollow. where the banks had been over
grown with tall grass and sunhovers
+ They LEFT no trail behind them and they
were satisfied that they would not be
discovered. From over the hill they
could hear firing all day. which told
| them that their comrades still held out
When the darkness came they start
/ ed south gain. During the night they
saw two parties Of Indians in front Of
them. which delayed them greatly and
/ yet daylight found that they had reach
ed the South Republican. They also
discovered. TO their surprise and cha
grin, that they were about half mile
frcm the Sioux and Cheyenne village.
How that happened they did not know
then, but it was afterward learned that
the trail turned south about a mile west
-
and that turn had led them into the
very heat of the danger.
As the sun was about 10 rise they
FASTENED 10 cover under the river bank
in the tall grass of kind OF bayou. and
there they lay in the water all day with
out moving. Indians crossed very near
70 them during the day. for il was a
kind of ferry. Once some warriors stop
ped not thirty feet away from them
to water their horses and they heard
them talking aoout the white men on
the island and how soon they would
be starved out. They could hear the
beating OF the tom-toms in the village
nearby as the squaws mourned their dead
and saw them carrying out several bodies
to the sepulchre or scafoId.
That night almost crazed By the men
tai worry that the noises of the day had
caused them, they crept away across
the south fork Of the Republican. and
the morning Of the fourth day found
them on the prairie near the head of
Goose creek. The Indians seemed TO have
been left behind, and the boy and the
nan concluded TO travel by day, for
about o'clock in the morning they saw
coming toward them the advance guard
o. what they afterward found out was
the Dog Soldiers
Fortunately. the Indians had not dis.
covered them yet. It was encessary to
hide, and hide quickly. In looking for
4 place to conceal themselves on the
open plain they accidentally discovered
some yellow weds growing about a buffa-
10 carcass. The weeds were not high
enough to conceal them. but they crawl
ed to the carcass intending to break
eff the stems and cover themselves. The
buffalo had evidently been killed the
winter before. for the skeleton was intact
with little pieces OF hide adhering TO the
ribs in places.
In a moment they had era wled into the
skeleton. But they could not come out,
because the mounted Indian scouts ap-
very near during the day and
scanned the country In all directions for
more than an heur at time
While one of these scouts was sitting
ris horse not fifty yards away occurred
the 'rattlesnake'' affair which has been
so widely published There was a snake
in the carcass and he erawled around
and made it exceedingly uncomfortable /
for the two scouts who seemed TO be !
his home They could not move !
q hand to kill him for fear OF the In
dian. They. could only lie still Stillwen I
finally spit tobacco juice on its head by /
4 well directed shot. and the snake |
vacated the premises at once.
But this was the lase straw to the /
,amels back. Trudeau broke down COM |
oletely after the Indian scout had sat (
SIZED himself that there was no white \
nan near. He seemed to lose his mind 4
md wanted TO shoot his revolver and /
ing. Stiwell kept him quiet until night
all, when he persuaded him TO go to the
iearest river and drink.
The waters did wonders for him. and
hey Travelled on as rapidly as possible
he fourth day was foggy day and
hey could travel by daylight without
rouble About Il o'clock. when they
ere nearly exhausted they saw. com
ng cut OF the haze OF the Denver wag-
n road. on which they were travelling
wo mounted men. They could not tell
whether they were Indians or not but
hey had horses. and the weary scouts
ieeded the horses. They had come over
lightly miles on foot in FOUR days.
When the horsemen drew near Still
veil discovered that they were soldiers,
wo couriers on the road to Colonel Car
enters command. lying ct Lake Slater
ONE sixty miles from where General
forsyth was besiesed.
As soon as they heard OF Forsyth's
redicament they spurred away to Col
mel Carpenters. who responded prompt
+. marching his entire force 10 ForsYth's
elief
Trudeau never recovered from the ter
lble strain Of that journey. but died the
ext spring He lies barred at Fort sin.
. T.