Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1905-08-18
CHAPTER xXIy.-Continued.

sured head high in air, while that on
the right was sleeper and lower, with
a line of cliffs at the top. AS we Jared
IN, the valley narrowed to a mere
chasm, with the river laundering along
the base of the tonsured mountain, and
the Indian path hugging the cliff on
the right.
In the gloomiest depths OF this defile
we came upon the hunters stumbling
block. A tributary stream, issuing
from a low cavern in the right-hand
cliff, crossed the indian path n the
chasm at a bound n plunged noisily
into the flood of the larger river. On
the hither side of this barrier stream
the trail of the powder convoy led
plainly down into the water, and, so far
as one might see, that was the end of
1T.
AS we made sure, we left no stone
unturned In the effort to solve the mys-
terry. No horse, ridden or led, could
have lived TO cross the pouring torrent
of the main river, or to wade up or
down it's bed: and il the cayalcade had
turned up the barrier stream its prog
ress must have ended abruptly against
the sheer wall of the cliff at the en-
trance to the low-arched tavern whence
the tributary came into being But III
Falconnet and his following had ridden
| neither up nor down the bed of the
barrier stream, it seemed equally GER
tain hat no horse of the troop had
crossed it. The Indian trace, which
held straight on up the gorge and pres
Lently came out above into a high up
land valley, was unmarked by any hoof
print, new or Did.
"Well. now, I'll be daddled If this
here amt about the beatin'eSt thing l
ever chugged UP ag'inst,' was
the old borderer's comment. when we
had fogged our wits to small purpose
In the search for some clue to the mys-
terry. What's your mind about it, hey.
chief?"
Uncanoola shook his head. Heap
plenty slick. No go upstream, no go
down, no cross over, no go back. Meb-
be go up like s~moke-w'at?"
The hunter shook his head and would
by no means admit the alternative. b
Itallow that would az for a merrtcle;
and I reckon eZ how when the good
Lord sends a chariot o fire after sech
a clantamfrey as this'n o the hoss-cap-
sain's, it'll be mikhty dadblame apt TO
go down stead Of up
We were standing on the brink of
the barrier stream no more than a fish
erman's cast from the black rock
mouth that spewed it up from It's UNI
foreground NAV. While the hunter was
speaking, the CataWba had lapsed INTO
statue-like listlessness, his gaze fixed
npon the eddying flood which held the
secret Of the vanished cavalcade. Sud
denly he came alive with a u and
made a quick dash into the water.
What he retrieved was My a small
piece of wood, charred at n nd. But
Ephriam Yeates caught at it eagerly.
Now the Lord be praised for all His
marcies!" he exclaimed. 1T do take
an Injun to come a-running whenst
&. l,,-nh haAf n,rft Nn'nr
another one of us had an eye sharp
enough to ketch that bit O. sign a-foat-
ing past. What say, Cap'n John?'
shook my head, seeing no special
significance in the token; and Dick
asked: What will it be, Ephriam, now
that it is caught"
The old man looked his pity for our
iullard wit, and then set a moiety of
It in words.
well, well, now; I'm fair ashamed
of We! What all dye reckon black
aned the end O. this bit O pine
branch?"
why, fire." says Richard, beginning.
as / did, to see some glimmering of
light.
I'm course. And it come from yon-
Ter, didn't it?" pointing to the cav
arm under the cliff. More than that,
twas cut wi a hatchet-this fresh end
of it-no longer ago than last night,
at the furdest; the pitch that the fire
fried out'n it is all soft and gummy, yit.
Gentlemen all; whenst we find where
his here creek comes out into daylight
again we're a-going to find the boss
captain and the whole enduring passel
o. redskins and redcoats, immejitly, if
not Sooner!"
What comment this startling an
nouncement would have evoked ! know
not, for at the moment of its u~tterance
the CataWba went fat upon the
ground, making most urgent signs for
us to do likewise. What he a seen
we all saw a fitting instant later; the
painted face of a Cherokee warrior as
a setting for a pair of fierce basilisk
eye peering out OF the loW-arched
tavern whence the stream sissusd, an
apparition looking for all the world like
a dismembered head floating on the
surface of the out-guShing flood.
Twas the old borderer who took the
initiative in the swift retreat, and we
followed his lead like well-drilled SOL
diers. A crook in the stream, and the
tickets underwood, Screend us for a
moment from the basilisk eyes; and in
q twinkling we a rolled one after
another into the mimic torrent and
we're quickly swept down to it's mouth.
Here death lay in wait for us in the
mad %plungings of the main river; but
we made shift to catch at the over
hanging branches of the willows in
passing, to draw ourselves out, to
scram BILE up the gorge and to gain a
great boulder on the mountains. side
whence we could look down upon the
scene Of our late surprisal.
BY this we saw, from the wings. as
st were, the setting OF the stage for a
tragedy which might have been ours.
One by one a score Of heads with paint
ed faces foated silently put Of the
spewing ~rock-mouth, One by one the
glistening, bronZe-red bodies appertain-
Ing thereto emerged from the water,
each to take its place in an ambuscade
encloing the stream-crossing of the
Indian path in a pocket-like line of
crouching figures, with the mouth of
the pocket open toward the lower val
ley.
Ephriam Yeates chuckled under his
breath and smote softly upon his thigh.
They tell eZ how the good Lord has
a mighty tender care for chillern and
simples,' he whispered. "Whenst we
was a-coming a-rampaging up the
trace a hou r two ago, / saw the moe
casin track o that there spy, and was
too dad-b blame biggity in my own con-
safe to ak what it mought mean
What spy" says Dick, matching the
hunters low whisper.
why, the varmint hat tracked me
back from here 'twixt dawn and day
break, TO be sure. He waited till we
broke amp and then took out up here
ahead of us to tell his chief twas
e'ena' time to set the trap for
three white simples and a red one.
Friends, I'm a-tel!ing We plain that the
lperrit's a-moving me mighty power
iul to get down on my hunkers and,
For heavens sake. don't do 1t here
now!' gasped Dick. Let's get out OF