Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1905-08-17
CHAPTER XIV.
HOW CNCANooLA TRAPPED THE
CpI-A'r RE A \,

Twas Richard Jennifer who first
broke the noontide silence of the noun
tain top. voicing the query which was
thrusting sharp at all OF us.
Now how in the name of all the
fiends did they make shift to burrow
from yonder bag -bottom into thus
he would say.
"l.z L allow, flats jest what the good
Lord fetched us here for-to find out,
was Yeates rejoinder. DO YOU and
the chief, Capu John, Circumamnyl late
this here pitfail yon way, whilst Gap II
Dick and l go tother way round. by
time We've made the circuit and j'ined
company again, reckon Well know for
sartin whether r no they ciinm the
mountaing to get in.
So when we had breathed us little
the circuiting Was begun, Ephrain
Yeates and Jenniter going toward the
lower end of the sink, and the Cata@ la
and l in the opposite direction.
Since we must examine closely every
rift and crevice in the boundary cliff
it was most tedious undertaking; and
/ do remember how my great trooper
boots. sun drying on my feet, made
every step a wincing agony. They say
an army goes upon its belly, but an old
campaigner will tell you that YOU can
march soldier till he be too thin to
cast a shadow if only he hath ease of
his footgear
Taking 1t all in all. 1t proved a SLOW
business, this looping of the sunken
valley. and when we had worked
around to the eastern cliff and to Il
meeting point with the old hunter and
Richard Jennifer the sun WAS level in
our faces and the day was waning.
Coming together again, we made
haste to compare notes. There was lit
\ i.. IN "A m hf fin n
of information, and the mystery of the
lost trail remained mystery. True.
We the Indian and had found a ra-
vine at the extreme upper end of the
valley through which, we thought a
sure footed horse might be led at a
pinch, up or down; but this ravine had
not been used by the powder train, and
apart from il there was no practica BILE
horse path leading down from the
plateau.
As for the hunter and Richard, they
had made a discovery which might
stand for what it WAS worth. AT its
lower extremity the sunken valley was
separated from the great gorge with
out only by a ridge which Was no more
4 than huge dam; and this diking ridge
was evidently tunneled by the stream,
since the latter had no visible outlet.
Inasmuch as the most favorable point
(. of espial upon the camp below was the
/ cliff whence we had first looked down
4 into the sink, we harked back thither,
/ passing around the lower end of the
valley and yet along the barrier ridge.
4 Plan we had none as yet. for the pre-
4 liminary to any attempt a a rescue
( must be some better knowledge of the
/ way into and out of Falconnets cum
ningly chosen stronghold True, we
might win in and out again by the
ravine which the chief and l had ex-
plored at the upper end, and Dick was
4 for trying this when the night should
1 give us the curtain of darkness for a
shield. But the old hunter would hold
1 this forlorn hope in reserve as last
/ resort.
Sort 1t out for yourself, Cap'n Dick, -
| he argued. "Whatsomedever we make
out to do-four on us ag'inst that there
/ whole enduring army o their MAS
got to be done on the keen jump, with
a toler'b!e plain hoss-road for the
skimper- per race when it is done
For, looking it up and down and side
to side, we've got to have bosses some
O their HOSES, al that. i jung. if we
could jest make out somehow 7 other tc
| law our claws on the beasteses afore-
hand"
/ We had reached the cliff and were
once more peering down at the enemy's
4 camp. Though for the cliff shadowed
/ valley 1t was long past sunset and AL
4 the depths were blue and purple in the
/ changing half lights of the hour, the
! shadow veil was but a gauZe Of color
softening the details without obscuring
them. So we could mark well the
metes and bounds of the camp anc
prick in all the items.
The camp field was the largest OF the
savannas or natural clearings. On the
/ margin of the stream the Indian lodges
were pitched in a semicircle to face the
water. Farther back. Falconnets troop
was hutted ia rough and ready shelters
made of pine boughs-these disposed te
stand between the camp of the Chero-
KEGS and the tepee-lodge of the captive
women which stood among the trees ir
that edge of the forest hemming the
slope which buttressed our cliff Of OBJ
servation.
At first we sought in vain for the
storing place Of the powder 1t was the
sharp eyes Of the Catawba that finally
deserted 1t. A rude housing of pine
boughs, like the huts Of the troopers
had been built at the base Of great
boulder on the opposite bank Of the