The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1905-09-15


..hout the Gray Wolf and poor Injunt
Catch Oyn white squaw mrs.; then blow
nm up AChelakes camp and catch UNA
knife II San. Heap do mrs thing ORA,
and las thing las. Wahlas
It was the longest speech thin de-
voted ally of ours was ever known to
make; and having made 1t he went
dumb aagt1 say for his ufsinBs of us
forward. But present both he and I
had our hands full with the poor lad.
The swift transition from despair to
JOY proved too much for Dick; and. be-
I sides, the fever was in his blood and he
vas ~srlescusly burned.
So we went stumbling on through the
cloud-darkened wood, locked arm in
arm like three drunken men, tripping
over root snares and bramble nets
spread for our feet. and getting well
sprinkled by the dripping foliage. And
at the last, when we reached the "a
vine at the valleys head. Dick was
muttering in the fever delirium and we
were well-night carrying him q dead
weight between us.
ness, getting the fteeorS ad up that rock
ladder Of escape in the %darkness: for
though I had come out Of the fire with
fewer burns than the roasting OF me
warranted. the battle preceding 1t had
opened the old sword. wound in my
shoulder. So. taking 1t all in all. I was
but a short-breathed second to the
faithful Catawba.
None the less, we tugged It through
after some laborious fashion. and were
glad enough when the steep ascent
gave place to leveler going. and We
could sniff the fragrance Of the pla-
teau pines int feel their wtre-like
needles under foot.
BY this the shower cloud had passed
and the stars were coming out, but 1t
was still pitch black under the pines:
80 dark that I started like a nervous
oma and went near to panic when
a horse snorted at my very ear. n q
voice. bodiless. as it seemed. said:
well, now; the Lord be praised! II
here amt the whole enduring"
What Ephraim Yeates would have
said, or did say, was lost upon me.
For now my poor Dicks strength was
quite spent, and When the chief and
I We're easing him to lie full length up
on the ground, there was d quick little
cry out of the darkness, a swish Of
%petticoats, and my lady darted In to
of pity.
.Oh. my poor Dick! they have killed
you!" she sobbed; ooh. cruel. cruel!"
Then she dashed out at VI Why don't
you strike a light? How can I find
and dress his hurts in the dark"
"Your pardon, Mistress Margery," I
said; "'tis only that the fever has
overcome him. He has no sore hurts,
as I believe, save the fre-scorching.'
"a light" she commanded; 81 must
have a light and Sc for myself"
We had to humor her, though 1t was
something against prudence. Epraim
found dry punk in a rotten log. and fir
aLZ.INaA R 90 M-A--O
great king,s musket-one Of his reav-
Iings from the enemy-soon had a pine
knot torch for her. She gave 1T to the
Catawba to hold: and while she was
cooing over her patient and binding up
his burns in some simples gathered
near at hand by the Indian, I had the
story Of the double rescue from the
,Id hunter.
Set forth I'm brief. that which had
come as a miracle to Dick and me fig
,,pad az as a 4 daring bit Of strategy made
possible by the emptying Of the indian
camp at our torture spectacle.
Yeates and the Catawba. following
within spying distance while vet we
we're in the midst of that hopeless
hac[-to-bac battle. and had most
wisely held aloof. But later. when ey-
ery indian of the Cherokee band was
h,isv at our torture trees. they set to
work.
| With no watch to give the alarm.
twas easv to rifle the Indian wigwam ms
Of the firearms and. ammunition. The
latter they threw into the stream: tho
mmskets thew loaded and trained over
la fallen tree at the northern edge Of
the sayanna bringing them to bear
n%ointblank upon the Iight-horse guard
gathered again around the great Are.
The next stem was the cutting out Of
the M this was effected whilst
the haronet-captain was paving his
Of the Indian camp. twas quickly
PLANNED and daringly done; 1t asked
but the quieting Of the two trooper
guards on the forest side of the tepee-
lodge, a warning word to Margery and
her woman, and a shadow-like fitting
with them over the dead bodies Of
their ate jailers to the shelter Of the
wood.
Once free OF the camp. Yeates had
hurried his charges to a place of tenn
porary safety farther up the valley.
IL