The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1905-08-11

Ho! no! Cap'n John; l reckon ez
how ye're a-taking that word from
Nonder down-hearted boy of our'n
Wait a spell till ye're ez old ez l be;
then you'll never say die till ye're
plumb dead"
Now, truly, though l was dismally
disheartened, ! could reassure him or
the point of perseverance. Ills an
! lreton failing to lose heart and hope
When the skies are dark: but his is
co~unterbalanced in some of us by Il
certain quality of u~nreasoning persist
ence which will go on running long aft
er the race is Wei lost. My father had
this stubborn virtue to the full: and 50
had that Old Ironside Ireton from whom
we are descended.
That's the kind O. talk" was the old
mans comment. Now We'll set to
work in sure-enough arrest. Ez l said
a spell back. my stummick is crying
cupboard till l can't make out to hear
my brain a-sizzling. Maybe you took
notice o me a%-praying down Wonder
that the good Lord'd ~vouchsafe to give
us scalps and ~provender. For our on
faithfulness He's seed fit to withhold
the one; but maybe We'll find a raven
r two. or a widder's mite r meal-bar'l,
somewheres in this bowling wilderness,
yit."
SO saying. he summoned the Cataw-
ba with a low whistle, and when In
%canoola Joined us, old him to stay
with Jennifer whilst we should make
another effort to find the ford.
There's nobody like an Injun for a
nuSS when a mans chin-deep into
trouble quoth this wise old woodsman.
when we were feeling our way cau-
tlously along he margin of the swift
little river. IF Cap'n Dick rips and
tears and pulls the grass up by the
roots, the chief'll only say. 'Wah!' If
he sits up and cusses till he's black in
the face, the chief'll say .Ugh!' And
that's just about all a mar hankers
for when his sores a-running in the
night season, and all Thy waters have
gone over his head. Selah!"
Now you are to remember the sky
was overcast and the night was pitchy
dark, and how the old borderer could
read a sign of any sort was far beyond
my comprehension. Yet when we had
gone a scant half-mile along the river
brink he stopped short, shifted the air
and stopped to feel and grope on the
ground like a blind man seeking for
something he had lost.
Right about h~ere-away is where
they mad out to cross he
the whole enduring passed. of 'em, ez
| ~reckon-our seven varmints and the
hoss-captain's powder train. Give me
the heft O. your shoulder till we take
the water and projec' round "A spell
on t'other side."
We squared ourselves, wholly by the
sense of touch, with the rivers edge,
locked arms for the better bracing
sayed the ford. 1t was no more than
thigh deep, and though the water
dashed and foamed owe the shoal like
a torrent in flood, there was a clean
bottom and good footing. Once safe
across, we turned our faces down
stream, and in a little time came to the
deserted glade with the emhers of the
kidnapers' fire glowing DULY in the
midst.
Here n sign of some later visitants
than Falconnet's horsemen set us war
lily or our guard. The teDee-lodge OF
dressed skins, which had Deer left UNI
disturbed by the sham rescuers, a
vanished.
"Umph! The redskins have been
back to make sure O what they left be-
hind said Seates, in a whisper. Il
jung! that's jest the one thing was
%a-hoping they'd forget to do. reckon
e2 how that spileS our last living
chance O finding anything that mought
help slack off on the be!!y-pinch.'
So he said, but for this once his wis
dom was at fault and tricky fortune
favored us. When W. had found the
covert in the bushes where the two
horses had been concealed we lighted
upon q precious prize. Twas a bag
of parched corn in the grain; some
share of the provision of the captive
party overlooked by those who had
returned to gather up the leavings.
With this treasure-trove we made all
haste to reioin our companions. And
now behold what a miracle of reanima-
ton may be wrought by a few hand
fuls of bread grain! In a thrice the
Catawba had found a water-worn
stone to serve for a mortar, and an
other for a pestle. These and the bag
of cor were carried back to a shell
tered ravine which we had crossed on
our late advance; and here the Indian
fell to work to grind the corn into
coarse meal, whilst Yeates and l kim
died a fire to heat the baking-stones.
In these preparations for the break
ing of our long fast even Richard be-
stirred himself to help; and when the
cakes were baked and eaten-with
wha: zestful sharp-sauce of appetite
none but the famished may ever know
we were all in better heart, and bet
ter able to face the new and far more
desperate plight in which our lack of
common foresight had entangled us.
For now, since we knew the full
measure of the peril menacing our dear
lady. there was need for swift deter
mination and a blow as swift and sure;
a coup de main which should atone in
one shrewd push for the sleeveless
failure of the night. So we would grip
hands around, even to the stolid Indian,
and swear a solemn oath to cut the
women out or else leave our bones to
whiten in the forest wilderness.
You'll laugh at all these vowings and
handstrikings. l dare say. and protest
there was a deal of such fustian he
roles in your dOddering old chronicler's
day.
Mayhap there was. But, my dears,
| would you might remember as you
laugh that we of that Supplemented
elder time lived by some h~alf-century
nearer to that age of chivalry you dote
on-in the story books. Also, l would
you might mingle with our merriment
a little of the saving grace Of char
ity; letting it hint that, perchance,
these you call "heroics'' were but the
free, untrammeled ~folk-speech of h
sincerer natural heart which you nave
learned to silence and suppress. Fol
l dare affirm that now, as then and al
ways, there will be some spark of the
Promethean fire in every heart of man
or maid, else this would indeed be a
sorry world to live in.
SO as l say, we four struck hands
anew on the desperate venture; and,
after carefully burying the fire to the
end that 1t might not betray us while
we slept, we burrowed in the nearest
leaf bed to snatch an hour or two of
rest before the tolls and hazards of
the chase should begin afresh.
In the thick darkness following hard
upO the dOutine of the fire 7 cmty MT