The Yale expositor., 1906-12-14
AN ADVEM TURE
With IN0iANS
BY HARTLEY c PRESTON

He was imprisoned for several weeks,
and some of his friends declared that
| should pay for the indignity with my
life.
The three whom / had to fear were
called Red Earth, Half Moon and
Cloudy Day. They drew rations at the
agency, and were supposed to live
within the limits, but as a matter of
fact, were proving over the country
most of the time, ripe for any mis-
chief.
was then riding between two posts
about so miles apart, and the Indians
knew full well where to find me at
any time within the week, for, count
ing the halts at each end of the route,
the round trip was made every seven
days.
For % miles of the journey had q
stage road and was sure of company.
For 20 miles farther the country was
fairly safe, because of the hunters,
trappers and scouts about. The dam
gerous portion of the journey was con.
fined to about 20 miles. l believed
me if they held to their threats. 1t
was where the trail left the base of
the mountain TO take to the valley,
where was canyon making into the
HILL and the trail ran within 80 feet
of its mouth before turning to the left
If the weather was good l always
passed this point in going west at
about nine o'clock in the morning. In
going the other way l arrived about
sunset, and made my camp in the
bushes growing around a spring.
l figured that the Indians would
shoot me down as | rode up to the
spring, or very soon after l had dis
mounted. 1t is the unwritten law Of
the frontier that when a man threatens
your life, even If he is drunk at the
time, you are expected to protect your
self by shooting him first / had wit
nesses that these Indians had threat
ened to wipe me out, and / was eX-
pected to shoot any one of them on
sight.
/ knew they would not act upon their
threat at once, as they would expect
me to be on guard and perhaps have
an escort. Therefore, / waited until
my second trip before carrying out
my plans. The Indians would reach
the canyon in the afternoon, and a
lookout could see me five miles away.
Half a mile from the spot, however,
was a wooded ridge to hide my i'm
mediate approach, and this ridge ran
around to the canyon.
Moderating the pace OF the horse to
suit my plans, ! approached the valley
half an hour ahead of my usual time.
| When three miles away / dismOunted,
tied a string tightly around my horses
right knee and then advanced, leading
him. The cord caused him to limp
as if he had gone lame suddenly.
slouched along as careless as possible
until / reached the ridge. Then | sent
my horse forward alone, knowing he
would halt at the spring and wait for
me.
AS soon as he was gone I struck into
the timber and circled around to get
as close to the mouth of the canyon
as possible. The last 200 feet of the
| distance l crawled upon hands and
knees.
My horse had stopped by the way
to catch up mouthful of grass here
and there, and got my first look into
the mouth of the canyon just as he
approached the spring. For a moment
| was ready to acknowledge that l was
beaten at my line of reasoning, as
could not see a redskin, but while the
horse was drinking the wouldbe assas-
sins came into view, each with his rifle
| for use.
They waited three or four minutes
to see why / did not come up, and
then were about to move forward when
| opened fire. / dropped Half Moon in
| his tracks, tumbled Cloudy Day over
as he sprung for shelter, and fired
upon but missed Red Earth as he
lodged behind a great bowlder. Had
he jumped backward into the canyon
he would have had all the advantage.
but in his sudden surprise he made
three or four leaps and took shelter be-
tween me and the spring.
/ should not have fired upon him had
he run off, and if he had asked for a
truce 1 would have come out had we
been left undisturbed, but the horse
presently came to my aid. The firing
excited him, and he had been trained
to look upon an Indian as an enemy.
He saw the redskin behind a rock and
charged him savagely. The fellow
sprang up, thus exposing himself, and
was waiting for the opportunity.
The three Indians had come to the
ambush on horseback. / took their
rifles, ponies, and other truck TO the
post, and turned them over TO the COM
mandant. He sent word to the head
men of the tribe at the agency of what
had happened and three men came for
the goods, but never one of them had
any complaint to make. it being well
understood that simply defended my.
self.
| a HopeTess Case