Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1903-01-27
Copyright, 1902.)
CHAPTER XIV.
"Dunder and Blixen."

t1COpS dllIbSu IL was dlSO LAlS nOuI
before the Indians had quieted down
to sleep. The afternoons war dance
over their captive victims, the wild
excitement of the torture and the ar
rival of the Follett party with the
two captives had aroused the blood
of the savages and many tales of
former acts of bravery, and deeds of
I daring were told beneath the willows
and the tepees in Hells Trap, that
night.
Hammersley had decided to go on
his mission Of rescue alone 1t was
decided first to station the troops at
every point at which the Indians
could possibly escape and then for the
trapper to attempt the rescue.
Should he fail or fall in the attempt
it was the purpose to force the best
terms possible with the savages
but should he succeed, it was
the determination to wreak that mer-
ciless revenge upon the Indians that
the occasion seemed to justify.
The men had all been informed of
the torture and death of the four
white men and of the arrival of the
two new captives, and this stirred the
soldiers to a revengeful spirit that
caused them to forget their tired and
AuhS1y SoA1u1tiOA anu 1O0S VI o1COP.
They now felt that they had at last
encompassed the enemy and they
were eager to strike the blow.
Ten well armed and equipped sol
diers accompanied by five cowboys
were placed in each gap in the rim
rocks and 100 men, including cow
boys and soldiers under General
Crook, guarded the neck of the pen
insula.
It was half way between midnight
and dawn when the trapper started on
his perilous mission. Armed suitably
for the occasion he entered the chan
mel of the stream and hugged the
banks with the silence of a beaver,
always keeping in the shadows of the
willows and never risking his weight
upon his feet until he knew they
were firmly placed
While his task did not prove a diff
fcult- one, it was tedious one. His
bearings had been so well taken that
he recognized the very elump of
bushes in which Bertha's tepee was
pitched without trouble. Farther
away from the stream he saw the dis
NAL thicket to which Oscar Metzger,
the other captive, had been taken, and
from which the four cowboys on the
previous evening had been taken for
their last walk.
Like snake he craw1ed up the
embankment through the dense un-
dergrowth, moving inch by inch, un-
til he reached the rear of Bertha's
tepee, and while the guards dozed
near the front he ripped hole in the
rear wall of the tent and soon gave
Bertha an assuring touch that told
her a friend was with her.
In few moments time they had
retraced the tEapper's steps to the
bed of the stream, in the same man
ner as he had approached, and Ber-
tha hiding in dark nook under the
willows which hung over the en-
bankment, Hammersley went to at
tempt the release of the other
prisoner.
He found Metzger so securely tied
that even the Indians did not fear his
escape. Bound hand and foot and
stretched full length between two
sapplirgs, his body barely touching
the ground, he was enduring tor
ture that would have killed an ordi-
nary man. But his was one of those
iron cons 1itutions of the desert.
The trappeF was a welcome visitor
and his knife furnished immediate re-
lief When released from his cramped
position the cowboy stood erect and
exercising his limbs noiselessly for
a moment he indicated that he was
ready to go. The trapper handed him
a revolver end a knife and the two
walked silently away ready to defend
themselves, even unto death.
When they reached the place where
Bertha was concealed the trapper was
struck with awe. He saw twigs of
willows and tops of sage brush and
chunks of wood floating down the
moment. Selling the woman he drew
her after him and Metzger followed
at a rapid pace.
1t was two hundred yards to a shall
low place in the stream and when this
was reached the river was already ris-
ing at a rapid rate. The trapper
seized Bertha in his arms as if she
were a mere child and plunged into
the foaming rapids, followed by the
cowboy. Against the heavy current,
which almost swept their feet from
under. them, they made the farther
shore, and as they ascended the bank,
the trapper exclaimed:
''Great luck, head rise!" Ham
mersley and his companions ran
across the open meadow for the near
est opening in the rimrocks. The
light of breaking morn made them
RECOGNIZABLE to their friends on guard
in the rimrocks who could scarcely
restrain applause. But the drilling of
a soldiers life prevented this out
break
The water came with a rush down
the mountain stream. The sound
changed from murmur over the peb-
bles to a ripple over the rocks; and
then to roar over the boulders and
against the angular banks. So loud
followed the growing roar that the
savages were wakened. Dan Follett
rushed to the tepee of his fair cap
tive and finding that she was gone. he
kicked the drowsy guards in their
sides and gave the alarm.
The whole camp was astir instantly.
Discovering the fleeing fugitive3, Fol
lett plunged into the stream, follow
ed by some of the most daring war
rfors, and gave pursuit. But when
within SO yards of the opening in the
rimrocks where the fugitives had
passed safely through, cloud of
smoke rose, a report of dozen rifles
air