The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1905-08-18
CHAPTER XX1v.-Continued.

'io ~ " o'Ao oiiN
summit, forest covered save for Its ton
sured head high in air, while that on
the right was sleeper n lower, with
a line of cliffs at the top. AS we Jared
on. 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 detile
we came upon the hunters stumbling
block. A tributary stream. issuing
from a low cavern in the right-hand
cliff, crossed the ndian path and the
chasm at a bound and 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
It.
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 its bed; and ii the cavalcade had
turned up the barrier stream Its prog
:ess must have ended abruptly against
he sheer wall of the cliff at the en-
rance to the low-arched tavern whence
the tributary came into being But II
Falconnet and his following had ridden
neither up nor down the bed of the
barrier stream, it seemed equally GER
tain that no horse of the troop had
crossed it. The Indian trace, which
held straight on up the gorge and pres
emily came out above into a high Up
land valley, was unmarked by any moor
print, new or old.
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 logged our wits to small
in the search for some clue to the mys-
terry. whats your mind about II, hey,
chief?"
U]ncanoola shook his head. Heap
plenty slick. No go upstream, no go
down, no cross over. no go back. Meb-
De go up like smoke-w'at?"
The hunter shook his head and would
oy no means admit the alternative. "Ez
Il allow tina would AK for a merricle:
and | reckon eZ how when the good
Lord sends a chariot O fire after sech
a clanjamfrey as this'n O. the hoss-cap-
tain'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 un-
foreground nav. While the hunter was
speaking, the Catawba had lapsed into
statue-like listlessness, his gaze fixed
upon the eddying flood which held the
secret of the vanished cavalcade. Sud
denly he came alive with a bound and
made a quick dash into the water.
What he retrieved was only a small
piece of wood, charred at one end. But
Ephriam Yeates caught ct it eagerly.
Nov the Lord be praised for all His
marcieS!" he exclaimed. 1T do take
an Injun to come a%-running whenst
everybody else Is plumb beat out! Ne'er
another one of us had an eye sharp
enough to ketch that bit O sign a-noat-
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 il is caught?'
The old man looked his pity for our
.dullard wit, and then set a moiety of
it in words.
well, we'll, now; I'm fair ashamed
Of ye! What all dye reckon black
ened the end O. this bit O pine
branch?'
why. fire says Richard, beginning,
as | did. to see some glimmering Of
tight.
I'm course. And it come from yon-
der, didn't it?" pointing to the cav
ern under the cliff. More than that.
twas cut wi a hatchet-this fresh end
Of it-nO longer ago han 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
this here creek comes out into daylight
again we're a-gOing to find the boss
captain and the whole enduring passed.
o. redskins and redcoats, immejitly, il
not sooner!
What comment this startling an
nouncement would have evoked ! know
rot. for at the moment of its utterance
the Catawba went fiat upon the
,~,,., 49,, ,,,~ ~orr{ .~oS t~t ~
us to do likewise. What he had seen
we all saw a fitting instant later: the
painted face of a Cherokee warrior as
a setting for a pair of fierce basilisk
eyes peering out of the ~low-arched
cavern whence the stream issued. an
apparition looking for all the world like
a d~ismembereG head floating on the
surface of the ~out-gushing food.
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
thickets underwood, screend us for a
moment from the basilisk eyes: and il
a twinkling we had rolled one after
another into the mimic torrent anG
We're quickly swept down to its mouth
Here death lay in wait for us in tho
mad plungings of the main river; bu,
we made shift to catch at the over,
hanging branches of the willows ir
passing, to draw ourselves out, t(
scran BILE up the gorge and to gain 6
great boulder on the mountain side
whence we could look down upon the
scene of our late surprisal.
BY this we saw, from the wings. a!
1t were. the setting of the stage for {
tragedy which might have been ours
One by one a score Of heads with paint
ed faces f1cated silently out of tn
:. spewing rock-mouth. One by one tn
), glistenine, bronZe-red bodies appertain
ing thereto emerged from the water
each to take its place in an ambuscad'
, encloing the stream-crossing of TIL
,, indian path in a pocket-like line o
: crouching figures. with the mouth o
:. the pocket open toward the lower val
: ley.
!. EphIlam Yeates chuckled under hi
breath and smote softly upon his thigh
They tell ez how the good Lord ha
F., a mighty tender care for chillern an,
: simples," he whispered. "Whenst w
i was a-coming a-rampa ging up tn
trace a hour r two ago, l saw the moe
casin track O. that there spy. and wa
4 too dad-blame' biggity in my own con
safe to ak what 1t mought mean"
{ What spy" says Dick, matching tn
hunters low whisper.
why, the varmint that tracked m
back from here 'twixt dawn and day
break, to be sure. He waited till w
broke camp and then took out up her
ahead of us to tell his chief '1wa
! e'ena'most time to set the trap 70
: three white simples and a red one
Friends. I'm a-telling We plain that tn
! rarrSt' n 1y{ ~ ~,{-Hxy o,-