Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1905-07-21
THE INDIAN TRACKER
HE IS A REAL WIZARD IN HIS ABILITY
TO FOLLOW A TRAIL.

Ii nm Open Book wherein He Rap
Idly Reads Signs That an Ordinary
scout Would Never See.
The westerner pulled his horse into a
walk and lit q cigar, dropping the
match carefully on to a wet place In
the trail, for fear Of prairie fires.
Eyes," he said, there are a 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 OF a ranch and wears a cow
boy hat and long spurs he's a sort OF
combination of Misunderstanding and
Sherlock Homes. Now. a man may be a
good enough scout to avoid walking in
to a trap and to find his way about in
a strange country and to take cover,
but when it comes to tracking he's a
sucking babe compared with some of
the Indians and half breeds. A scout
may be made, but a tracker must Be
born so. Let me tell you the kind of
thing l mean.
II was managing the X ranch some
years ago, about 100 miles from the
American border. One night some
horse thieves dropped in suddenly and
carried off sixteen Clydesdales-'heavy
horses we call them here. Next morn
ing early | started In pursuit with a
couple OF my cowboys. The trail
wasn't difficult at first, and we man
aged to pick 1t out all right at a walk,
but the men we were hunting were
riding at a gallop, and | saw we should
have our work cut out to catch them.
We talked the matter over for a bit,
and then l made up my mind that |
knew the locality they were making
for, about q hundred miles away, so |
dropped the trail altogether, and we
rode to the point as hard as we could
go to cut them off.
"When we got there we camped and
strung out a 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
M, the Indian agent. | 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. l could attend to the rest of the
business myself. They held a bit of a
powwow, and then three of them,
White Wings and two more, whom l
called Jack and Charlie-I couldn't
tackle their Indian names-stepped out
and volunteered to accompany US.
ut was about the first week in Au-
gust, and the prairie grass was long,
dry and yellow. They took up the trail
at a smart canter and made for the
border not quite straight, but so that
they struck it about 100 miles or 140
miles southwest from the ranch. The
country vas mostly prairie, some fiat,
some rolling. There were some deep
valleys and coulees and one or two
ranges of hills. We followed them at a
fast trot, but sometimes they were 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 q pace that | couldn't believe
they were on the line at all. We
couldn't make out anything, not even a
bruised blade of grass. But every now
and then we came to a soft place,
where the hoof marks were discernible,
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. 1
neve 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 a long rope and fas-
tened it to the saddle of the leader. At
the other end rode a second man, try
Ing to keep 1t as taut as possible. The
stolen horses were battered along this
rope, eight on each side, and the third
man rode alongside, with a whip, to
keep them moving. Now and then the
leading pony and the trailing pony
would stop and change places. When
eyer this had happened the Indians
called our attention to 1t. They always
knew the exact position of each of the
men we were hunting. We rode eighty
miles the first day and reached the Dor
der on the second, and after that we
struck q trail that was as much trav-
eled as the main street of a big city.
1--WE followed that for thirty miles
or more. and we hardly s~iackenei
speed either. One of the hunted horses
had a 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.
having averaged over eighty miles a
day during the chase. We communi-
Gated with the local authorities, and
the men were arrested almost imme-
dfately and taken TO Fort Beaufort,
while | sent back to Canada for Sher-
IN Chapleau to come and extradite
them. Unluckily In those days there
was ~extradition for pretty nearly CIV.
cry form OF crime except horse thiev-
f~. 49, A.. - -