The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1906-02-03

ana soon dlleT Dreaming camp IL DtStU
to rain and kept on raining all fore
noon. The Major went into camp as
soon as he could find grass and wood.
We did not need TO look for water.
We had all we wanted of that and
some more.
The timber here was cypress. and
there was a lot of blocks of it that
had been cut to make shingles out of
which had been left; Indians had pro-
badly interrupted the shingle making
before it had got well started. That
had been some years ago, before the
war" probably, to use Crawfords IA
vorite expression when giving the date
of his numerous fights with Indians.
We tried to start a cook fire with these
blocks but they We're wet and would
not burn, only smoke.
| got a liberal dose of this smoke,
a cure Then | hunted up something
that would burn more and smoke less,
and found a lot of dead cedars, but it
took hard work to get wood off them,
the branches had to be broken off. We
had no axe; we never carried one on a
pack mule then, and there is hardly
anything that can be carried on him
that is needed oftener. When | had
anything to do with the pack trains
in after years | always carried at least
one axe in a leather sling and a spade
While riding through the rain today
~
lunches of cattle. They belonged to
ranches away east of us and had wan
dered out here.
Nearly every COW had a different
brand, some had none at all. They
were still tame and would let a man
ride close enough to examine them,
but further west could be found thou
sands of them that we could not get
within a mile Of; they had been born
wild Crawford would examine every
bunch we passed; he wanted to see il
any of them had his brand on, he said.
This was what had brought him and
us here; he had seen no Indians, but
wanted a cavalry escort so that he
could come out here and look up his
and his neighbors' cows.
These men would not think of COM
ing out here alone. If they did they
Indians they wanted.
l noticed the Major watching Craw-
ford while he was engaged in taking
the census Of these cows, and | knew
that if Crawford cid not find Indians
in a day or two he would hear from
the Major. The Major had risen from
the ranks and could swear not only
like the proverbial trooper, but like
half a dozen of them. He dare not
curse an enlisted man, and never did:
he would stand chance OF being
urt-martialed if he had, or else have
to give the man he had cursed an
apology in front of his troop. 1t was
given to me by another officer In the
presence Of the Colonel once, after |
har reported this officer for cursing
me- But the Major could curse a
teamster or citizen guide, and he often
did, and | expected Crawford to get
the full benefit of the Majors eXpe-
rience in the line of cursing before he
was a week older. When in camp
Crawford kept down among us. He
would not go near the Major unless
he was called, and we kept him busy
blowing about the Indians that he had
killed. l had found out from him that
he had been in the Confederate Army
of Northern Virginia, Lees army, and
r I, iv nS hn Dntn
mac at the same time, so got him
started telling about the time that
I'VE uns had fit you uns," and we put
in some hours fighting the War of the
Rebellion over again.
The weather had cleared up this
afternoon and gave the ground
chance to dry. | had been thinking
that l would have to sleep tonight
seated on my saddle with my back to
a tree; l often had to sleep that way.
We carried no bed blanket; we were
not allowed to put one on the horse;
l would not put it on anyhow; | never
carried anything on him l could do
without; l did not want to make a
pack mule out of him, then ride him.
It had been good weather when we
left the post and no one had an over
coat along with him. | had a rubber
coat, though few were worn then. 1t
did not weigh much and often came in
handy. In dry weather l used it to
lie on at night.
Soon after dark tonight We were
gathered around the fire and Crawford
was giving us an extended account of
the Indians he had killed before the
had killed after the breakup yet
When he was about in the middle Of
this interesting narrative the sentry
on post outside of the horses fired a