The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1905-07-28
CHAPTER xx.--continuet

cdt IL! lIe Itdu, oHtdHUOlb NJ Ills neeIS
and the two of us hcavler-footed one!
bringing up the rear. Knowing the wood
ed wilderness by length and breadth, tn.
old man held on through thick and hin
straight as an arrow to the mark: anC
so we had never a sight of the road agar
TIL we came out upon 1t suddenly at The
ford OF violence.
Here | should have been in despair for
the lack of any intelligible hint to poinI
the way; and I think not even Jennifer
with all his woodcraft. could have read
the record of the onfall az Yates and the
CataWba did. But for all the overlapping
tangle of moccasin and hoof prints Meth
er of these men of the forest was at fault,
though ten minutes later even their skill
must have been baftled. inasmuch as the
first few splitting raindrops We're patter-
Ing In the tree tops when we came upon
the ground.
That's Jest about what ! was most
afeard of" said the bordcrcr, with n
hasty glance skyward. Down on your
hunkers, chief, and help me read this sign
afore the good Lord takes 10 sending his
rain on the Jest and the %unjest,' and
Herewith these two fell 10 uuartering oil
the ground like trained dogs nosing for a
scent.
We stood aside and watched them, Rich
ard and l., realizing that we were of small!
account and should be until, perchance,
4, should come to the laying on of hearty
blows. After the closest scrutiny which
took account of every broken twig and
trampled blade Of grass. this prolonged
until the rain was falling smartly to wash
out all the footprints In the dusty road.
Yeates and the Indian gave over and cnnc
to join us under the ahcltering branches
Of an oak.
"'1is a mighty curtis sign: most mighty
~cur'is,' quoth the hunter. Singing the
rain drops from Ills fur cap and employing
the pan of his rifle. not mon the ground,
as a soldier would, but saving even preci-
GUS grain. "iiz ! allow, | never hecrd tcll
Of any lnjuns a-doing Hathaway afore:
have you, chief hey"
The Catawba's negative WAS his gut
tural "Wah," and Ephralm Yeates. hav-
Ing carefully restored the final grain of
the printing to his powder-horn, proceeded
to enligflten us at some length.
Mighty curtis, ez | was a-saying. Them
fnjuns iiXed5ttp an ambuahment, blaZed in
a voliey at the closest sort o range, and
folloWed 1t up with a tomahawk and knife
~rush-lessen that there Afrikin was TOO
plumb daddled to tell any truth, what
somedevef. And, spite of all this here
r~ampagine, they never drawed a single
drop o. blood in the whole enduring serum
mage! Mighty curtis, that; amt it, now?
And that amt all: some o. them came
lnjuns, or leastwise one of 'e,n. was "a
wearing boots with spurs onto 'em. What
say, chief?"
Uncanoola held up all the fingers of one
hand and two OF the other. "Sebben In
Jun: one pale face he said, in contirma-
ton,
i looked at Richard. and he gave me
back the eye-shot, with a hearty curse to
speed it.
"Talconnet!" said he, by way of tall
piece 10 the oath: and ! nodded.
Twas that there same hoss-captain,
sure enough, ez I reckon" drawled Yeates,
Maybe one o. You two can tell whal-ali
he mought be. arriving at"
Jennifcr shook his head. and I, too, was
silent. Twas out of all reason to suppose
that the baronet would resort to sheer
violence and make "A terrified captive OF
The woman he wanted to marry. 1t was
a curious mystery, and the hunters next
word involved 1t still more.
And yit that ain't all. Whilst some o.
the Injuns was a-whooping it up acrost
the creek, a-chasing the folks that was
making tracks for their city o refuge,
t'others run the two gals off into the big
woods at the side O. the road. Then
Mister H~oss-Captain picks up the Afri-
kin. chucks him on a boss and sends him
u-kiting with his flea In his ear: after
which he climbs his boss and
makes tracks hisself-not to ketch
up with the gals. ez you mought reckon,
creek and down the road to the south
ward.
~Jennifer heard him through. had him
set II all out again in plainest fashion.
and n tier all could only say: You are
sure you lave the straight Of It. Eph?.
The borderer appealed to Upcanoola
Come, chief; give us the wo'th OF your
{alxrSr.nn H La, kl.HulA .y..-.s rar.tz ....
stun-blind? or did he read them sign like
they'd ort to be read?'
"Wah! the Gray Wolf has sharp eye
sharp nose-sharp tongue. sometime.
sig no can lie when he read 'um.h"
Jennlfer turned to me. What say you,
Jack? It's all far enough beyond me,
III confess"
was as much at sea touching the mys-
terry as he was; yet the thing to do
seemed plain enough.
Never mind the baronet's 81 mystery tits
Mistress Margery's hazard that concerns
us.s.l would say And then TO Ephraim
Yeates: VIII this rain kill the trail,
think you ~
He shook his head obviously. II dunno
Tor sartaM; twill make a heap o. diner
II they was anyways anxious to hide II.
III IL starts out, with The women a-hos--
back, It's plain enough for a blind man
to$lift on the run,
Then let US beat ii, said II eve can
very welt afford to lefsthe mystery untan.
gle itself az wesgo.1s And with this the
pursuit began In relentless earnest.
The trail of the WI horses ridden by
Margery and her woman cut a RICH,
angle with the road. turning northwest
along the left bank of the stream: and,
Despite the rain, which was now pouring
steadily even in the thick wood, the hoof.
Prints were 80 plainly. marked that we
could follow at a smart dog-trot.
In this speeding the old hunter and the
india easily outwearied .Jennifer and
me. They both. ran with a slow swing
ing leap, like the racking gait, half pace
half gallop. of a w~ell-trained troop horse
Mile after mile they put behind them III
these swinging bounds: and when, wei
on IN the afternoon, we stopped to eat 4
snack of the cold nee and to lake our
thirst at n of the many rain pools.
was fain to follow Jennifer's lead throw,
Ing myself fiat in the soaking mold Il
pant and gasp and pay Off the arrears q
breathlessness.
This breathing halt was OF the brief
est; but before the race began again
Ephrafm Yeates took time to make {
careful scrutiny of the trail, measuring
the stride of the horses, and IopkinE
sharply on the briars for some bit O
cloth ~ other token OF assurance. Wher
we came up with him he was mumblins
to himself.
"Um-hm; jes, SO. They was a-makins
tracks along hereaway; sarta.n. sure
%larruping them hosses to q keen jump
Iickity-split. Now, says / to myself
what's the ~tarnation hurry? Amt they
all the time there Is to get where
they're a-going, immejitly. II not sooner? r.
Then he turned upOn me. 'CaD,n John