Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1903-01-20
CHAPTER XxII-Continued.

DaE Follett rose to his feet IN sur
prise. But the chief remained calm
and continued his conversation. He
told him the. facts of her escape, and
the fraud in the scalp he had given
him, at the same time repeating that
he and the Canadian were friends
now.
"But where is she?" inquired the
Canadian. A hundred things entered
his mind With Bertha Lyle in his
possession, he could get revenge on
Hammersley, on the Lord of the
Desert, on everybody! With her
under his control, he could demand
a ransom. He could make terms with
General Crook, he could possibly get
possession of that $4,000. Plans
came on so thick and fast that they
clouded his brain, and he saw
thousand advantages in the posses
sion of Bertha Lyle as prisoner in
an Indian village.
Where is she?" he demanded
again.
"But wait!" said the chief. "You
are too impatient to make a good
brave for Egan's band. I told you she
escaped. The trapper still has her!"
"But have been to his home in
his absence" said Follett. "and she
was not there!"
"He hide her when he go away"
replied the chief. "He fear someone
steal her! Now, me and my men will
hurry away tonight. We will go to
hell trap, where soldiers never find
us; and If they find US they can
never get us. You take two, four, ten
braves, go to trapper's home while
he away and get girl and bring her
with you! See! make trapper mad,
you get even, and you have white
squaw. Egan a good friend as we'll
as bad enemy"
Within another hour Dan Follett
and four Of Egan's most stealthy
braves were riding across the plains
toward the trapper's abode, and
Egan and a majority of the chiefs
and warriors had quilted the vicinity
of the Stone House as silently as the
desert night breeze. Only small
scouting party remained behind.
The cowboys stood at their posts,
and the Lord of the Desert kept watch
over all with the vigilance of a
trained general waiting to see what
the ekfly morning would bring.
1.-THE birds have fown," was the
first expression of General Crook
the Stone House. "There are no In
dians about the place" he said, "but
they may be close at hand. We will
wait until daylight before We ap-
proach nearer"
He secreted his men in grove or
jumpers on the mountainside, some
distance from the premises, and wait
ed dsepments.
Ash kn as the morning light be-
gan A break, the general, accom-
panied by Hammersley, began TO
reconnoiter. ''The whites are vigil
lant," he remarked, as he pointed to
the rifles in the loopholes in the
wall. "They are evidently expecting
the Indians, but I see no cover be
hind which the redskins could con-
ceal themselves from our view. 1 am
of the opinion that the red rascals
have 'smelt mouse and left during
the night. We must communicate
with the whites as quickly as possi-
BILE and get on the trail. Can't you
creep up near that guard and man
age to communicate with him?"
"That will be easy" replied the
trapper, and he started in a STOPPING
posture, keeping himself well hidden
behind the runty jumpers.
"Hello, there!" spoke the trapper
in low tone, at short distance
from the man at the loophole.
The astonished guard looked in a
dozen different directions in an in
stant.
'I am the trapper. returned from
the fort with aid. Tell the Lord of
the Desert wish to speak with him"
him."
In a few moments this parsonage
was at the loophole and -Hammersley
walked to the place, being well
shielded from the main points of the
plain.
Daylight was rapidly coming on,
and the Lord of the Desert, upon
consulting his men, soon concluded
that the Indians had made their es
cape. The guards, however, were
certain that some of the Indians had
remained until a late hour in the
morning ,as they had been seen
skulking about the place just before
dawn.
A short reconnoitre was made and
General Crook was informed of the
result His men were marched in
side the stone wall surrounding the
Stone House and were ordered to
prepare their breakfast and to take
a few hours rest.
In the meantime, the general held
an interview with the Lord of the
Desert and began preparations to
pursue the Indians as soon as
his men were refreshed. Scouts
were sent out upon their trail under
the leadership of the never-sleeping
but ever-fresh Hammersley, and they
soon struck the trail and sent word
back to the Stone House accordingly.
When General Crook Informed
Martin Lyle of the episode with Dan
Follett, the Lord of the Desert went
to his treasury and found a large
sum of his money missing. He be-
came frantic. He wanted to go to
the fort and lynch the half-breed;
but General Crook informed him
that they had whole" breeds to deal
with just now, and that he would
take up Fo1lett's case later.
Hammersley, at the head of the
band of cowboys, had followed the
trail of the Indians all day and kept
General Orook posted. The latter