Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1905-09-06
THE INDIAN TRACKER.
A WIZARD IN HIS ABILIRY TO
FOLLOW A TRAIL.
EVEN THE DRY PRAIRIE GRASS is AN
OPEN BOOK - HE RAPIDLY
READS SIGNS.

The westerner pulled his horse into
walk and lit a cigar. dropping the
match carefully ON to wet place in
the trail, for fear of prairie fires.
Yes" he said, there are lot of
people, not only in the old country, but
| right here in the colonies, who think
| that because a man has spent a couple
of years on a ranch and wears cow
| boy hat and long spurs he's sort of
combination of Misunderstanding and
good enough scout to avoid walking in
to trap and to find his way about in
strange country and to take cover,
| but when it comes to tracking he's q
sucking babe compared with some of
the Indians and half breeds. A scout
may be made, but tracker must be
born so. Let me tell you the kind of
thing | mean.
II was managing the Y ranch some
years ago, about 100 miles from the
American border. One night some
horse thieves dropped in suddenly and
carried off sixteen Clydesdales-'he heavy
horses we call them here Next morn
ing early | started in pursuit with
| couple OF my cowboys. The trail
wasn't difficult at first, and we man
aged to pick 1t out all right at walk,
but the men we were hunting were
| riding ut gallop, and | saw we should
have our work cut out to catch them.
| We talked the matter over for bit,
and then | made up my mind that /
knew the locality they were making
for. about hundred miles away, so l
dropped the trail altogether, and we
rode 10 the point as hard as we could
| go to cut them off.
when we got there we camped and
strung out lot of sentries and wait
ed. Well, we waited and waited and
nothing turned up, so we saddled up
again and went home, feeling a bit
| sick. Then we did what we should
| have done at first. We went on to the
Indian reserve and asked for Colonel
NJ. the Indian agent. l got him to act
as interpreter, and l put 5000 into his
hands. asking him to explain that this
sum would be paid to any Indians who
should bring me in sight of my lost
horses. That was all wanted them
TO do | could attend to the rest of the
business myself. They held a bit of
| powwow, and then three of them,
| White Wings and two more, whom 1
| called Jack and Charlie-I couldn't
| tackle their Indian names-stepped out
and volunteered to accompany us.
| 1t was about the first week in Au-
gust, and the prairie grass was long,
| dry and yellow. They took up the trail
| Mt smart canter and made for the
border not quite straight, but so that
| they struck il about 100 miles or 40
miles southwest from the ranch. The
| country was mostly prairie, some fiat,
some rolling. There We're some deep
valleys and coulees and one or two
ranges of hills. We followed them at a
| fast trot. but sometimes they We're so
| far ahead that we had to fire shots to
attract their attention and make them
stop We had some difficulty in max
| ing them understand, and they travelled
at such pace that | couldn't believe
| they were on the line at all. We
couldn't make out anything, not even
bruised blade of grass. But every now
and then we came to a soft place,
| where the hoof marks were discernble,
and some of the stolen horses played
out here and there, and we passed
them. still following the main body.
one mare was a confirmed jibber. l
never could do anything with her my
self. and they turned her loose, so that
when we struck the border there were
only nine horses left in the bunch.
There were three horse thieves, and
they had taken long rope and fas-
tened II to the saddle Of the leader. At
the other end rode a second man, try
Ing 10 keep it as taut as possible. The
stolen horses were battered along this
rope, eight on each side, and the third
man rode alongside. with whip, TO
keep them moving. Now and then the
leading pony and the trailing pony
would stop and change places. When
ever this had happened the Indians
called our attention to it. They always
knew the exact position of each of the
men we were hunting. We rode eighty
miles the first day and reached the bor-
der ON the second. and after that we
struck u trail that was as much trav-
eled as the main street of big city.
I'VE followed that for thirty miles
or more, and we hardly slackened
speed either. One Of the hunted horses
had broken shoe. and the Indians
would point out that particular track
whenever we We're in doubt of their
being on the right line. At last we
came to a place where the band had
divided. six horses going in one direc-
ton and three in the other We fol-
lowed the SIX.
"Well, TO cut a long story short, we
came on three horses at last in the
Yellowstone park tied up to trees and
400 miles from their starting point.