Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1902-06-17

tley WAS. HeTe Was tue Hlsht 'h"' -
on a village with snow Il foot deep an
freezin' hard. Twas before your time.
| got an arrow from papoose that
night myself right in the shoulder
There's devils an devils, but them was
devils.
1T was one day the old troop was
caught slick when we never though;
there was Comanche or k!cwa
within ten miles Of us. "Twasn't an
ambush zactly. for Daddy saw II in
time. but ii give us the chills for an
| hour or two There was a creek-sec:-
an we was Soin' TO camp near the
headwaters OF that creek. we was. II
was gettin' toward Sundown. an we
was tired. Where the beggars come
from don't ask ME. but all III onct II
looked as If the troop was surrounded.
Gee, they come! We fought an We
fought, skirmish line. mount an charge.
dismount, skirmish line. commence hr
in, rally by company, TO the rear. gal
lop-oh. say, it was hot, an. by gum.
we retreated. we did. Twas Il lire
moonlight night. an the moon was up
when the sun went down. We was
dead tired after a long march an no
time for chuck. an by S o'clock We was
nigh beat. Curious for lnjuns. they kept
on lightin' after dark, for II Was a Tine
moonlight night. see! There WAS bit
of a hill with scrub bushes on II back
Of the creek. an Daddy-he did II line,
too-retreated TO that hill. where we
might hold the red devils off until Phi!
could come up.
"We couldn't get there al onct.
though. The lnjuns saw what Daddy
was after. an they got there before we
did. Well. we WAS fEhtin' down on the
creek side. an Buck Bill he went an
got killed. an. worse'n that he'd drop
ped off his horse. bein' wounded-h"
got scalped Bill was all right. he was.
an we liked him. we did When we
tumbled to what he'd got, we got mad,
an Daddy was mad too. We charged
an scattered the blackguards for o
time, an we got Bits body before they
had time TO mutilate it, save the scalp
in. We liked Bill we did. an Daddy
liked him. He was a fine build of n
man. The troop held the position. Hot
shootn' il was, an we dug grave. an
we buried Bill TO save him from mu.
tilation. We blowed taps over him. too.
an all the time the lnjuns was tearin
around on their ponies, shootIn in on
us like mad Bein' so. we hadn't time
to dig the grave very deep. but we put
Bill under. all accordin' TO the rules an
regulations an revised statutes. We
was sorry. an we was mad. for Bill
was Il fine build Of n man an played a
good game at poker.
"Well, we had to hurry up n bit an
then we retreated in good shape. got
over the creek. cleared out the lnjuns
from the hill lively. that was an
had time 10 think what we WAS doin'.
We throwe ed up Il few bits of rifle pits
an got bite. to cat. Ni:I! you. all
the UlSUI lllp SbiII'1.4h 49, '' - Nihi'
round the hill an putt-a in Il GOOD.
steady fire. 1t looked almighty rough
for us, for there was no chance to
send out Il runner with word to Phil.
So when it was near mornin' Daddy
spoke up.
Boys says he, we're trapped
saws he. There's no way to get help
sent to us. So,' says he, as them dew
lis are all about us an we're short of
chuck an water an ammunition, he
says-not just like that, but them was
his meanin's-he says: I'm gOin' to cut
my way out. Is it rightT he says.
Fright it was. 1t was our only
chance. for we was completely sur
rounded. an what he said about the
ammunition was correct. We had Fred
Colvile with us, the bugler You've
heard of him. He'd played taps over
Buck Bill when we buried him. There
was no use in layin' low. We didn't
care how much row we made. Fred
I'D an gives roarin' call, full blast
an to hades with the rest. Boots an
saddles! Yup! l never got my fingers
twitchin' ut a call as l did that time.
Up we went into the saddles. revolvers
at the carry, carbines loose In the
boots, an faced the reds. I never
thought I'd live through 1t, but all l
was mad about was to empty them six
chambers into the Comanches that was
thick about us. They saw what We
was up to. Trust them. They're cute.
,Ehe beggars got together on the only
road we could take to find the COM