Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-29
lead them whittier the white man could not

lead them whittier the white man could not
follow At all events, he made this quarrel
the pretext for his withdrawal with full five
score fighting men, and Lame Wolf cursed
him roundly as the wretch deserved, and,
all short-handed now, with hardly five hum
dred braves to back him, bent his energies
to checking Henry's column in the heart of
the wild hill country.
And this was the situation when the gen.
erals first dispatches were sent in to
Frayne-this the last news to reach the
garrison from the distant front for five long
days, and then one morning, when the snow
was sitting softly down, there came tidngs
that thrilled the little community, heart
and soul-tidings that were heard with min
gled tears and prayers and rejofc!ngs, and
that led to many visit Of congratulation
to Mrs. Hay, who, poor woman, dare not
say at the moment that she had known 1t
all as much as twenty-four hours earlier,
despite the fact that Pete and Crapaud were
banished from the roll of her auxiliaries.
Even as the new couriers came speeding
through the veil Of falling fakes, riding
jubilantly over the wide-rolling prairie
with their news Of victory and battle, the
post commander at Fort Frayne was puz-
Zling over a missive that had come to him,
he knew mot how-mysterious as the an
arehists' warnings said to find their way to
the very bedside of the guarded Roman
offs. Sentry Number 4 had picked 1t up on
his post an hour before the dawn-a letter
addressed in bold hand to Major Stanley
Flint, commanding Fort Frayne, and, pre-
Stunning the major himself had dropped 1t,
he turned 1t over to the corporal Of his re-
lief, and SO 1t found its way toward reveiIle
into the hands Of old McGann, wheeling
about his work Of building fires, and Mich
ael laid 1t on the ajor's table and thought
no more about It until two hours later
when the major reused and read and then
a row began that ended only with the
other worries of his incumbency at Frayne.
Secretly Flint was still doing his best to
discover the bearer when came the bold
riders from the north with their thrilling
news. Secretly he had been over at the
guardhouse interviewing as best he could,
by the aid Of an unwilling clerk who spoke
a little Sioux, a young Indian girl whom
Crabb's convalescent squad, four in num-
Der, had most Unexpectedly run down when
sent scouting five miles up the Platte, and
brought, screaming scratching and protest
ing, back to Frayne. Her pony had been
killed in the dash to escape, and the two
Indians with her seemed to be young lads
not yet well schooled as warriors, for they
rode away pellmell over the prairie, leaving
the girl to the mercy of the soldiers. Flint
believed her to be connected in some way
with the coming of the disturbing note
| which was why he compelled her detention
at the guardhouse. Under Webb's regime
| she would have been questioned by Hay OF
some one of his household. Under Flint NO
one Of Hays family or retainers could be
allowed to see her. He regarded 1t as most
| significant that her shrillest screams and
| fiercest resistance should have been re.
| served until just as her guardians were
bearing her past the traders house. She
had the little light prison room to herself