Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1907-08-23
CHAPTER |.
Hampton, Of Placer.

STlHr En- j.
Hampton, Of Placer.
II was not an uncommon tragedy Of
the west. II slightest chronicle of it
survive, It must be discovered among
the musty and nearly forgotten rec
ords of the Eighteenth regiment of in
'fantry.
Yet the tale is worth telling now,
when such days are past and gone.
There were 16 of them when, like so
many hunted rabbits, they were first
securely trapped among the frowning
rocks, and forced relentlessly back
ward from of the narrow trail until
the precipitous canyon walls finally
halted their disorganized fight, and
from sheer necessity compelled a rally
in hopeless battle Sixteen,-ten in
fantrymen from old Fort Bethune, IN
der command Of sgd. Wyman, a gray
headed sergeant of 80 years continu-
Gus service in the regulars, two cow
punchers from the XXI" ranch, a
stranger who had joined them unin-
Vited at the ford over the Bear Water,
together with old ellis, the post
trader, and his silent chit of girl.
Sixteen-but that was three days be-
fore, and in the meanwhile not a few
of those speeding Sioux bullets had
found softer billet than the limestone
rocks. Six Of the soldiers, four al
ready dead. two dying, lay out
stretched in CHASTITY silence where they
fell.
Then the taciturn ellis gave sud-
den utterance to sobbing cry, and
burst Of red spurted across his white
beard as he reeled backward, knock
ing the girl PROSTATE when he fell.
Eight remained, one helpless, one a
mere lass of Is. 1t was the morning
of the third day.
The beginning of the affair had burst
upon them so suddenly that no two in
that stricken company would have
told the same tale None among them
8 had anticipated trouble.
In all the fancied security of un-
questioned peace these chance trav.
eiers had slowly toiled along the steep
trail leading toward the foothills.
ellis and the girl, as we'll as the two
cattleherders, were on horseback; the
remainder soberly trudged forward on
foot, with guns slung to their Shout
ders. Wyman was somewhat in ad-
vance, walking beside the stranger,
the latter man of uncertain age,
smoothly shaven, quietly dressed in
garments bespeaking an eastern tailor,
bit grizzled of hair along the tenn
pies, and possessing a pair of cool,
gray eyes. He had introduced himself
by the name of Hampton, but had vol
unteered no further information, nor
was it customary in that country to
question impertinently.
Hampton, through the medium Of
easy conversation. early discovered in
the sergeant an intelligent mind, pos
sessing some knowledge of literature.
They had been discussing books with
rare enthusiasm, and the former had
drawn from the Concealment of an
inner pocket diminutiye copy of The
3 Merchant of Venice" from which he
was reading aloud disputed passage,
; when the faint trail they followed sud-
. denly dipped into the yawning mouth
of black canyon. II was a narrow,
gloomy, contracted gorge, mere cash
between those towering hills shadow
ling its depths on either hand. A swift
mountain stream, noisy and clear as
crystal, dashed from rock to rock close
beside the more northern wall, while
the ill-defned pathway, strewn with
powders and guarded by underbrush,
chung to the opposite side, where low
scrub trees partially obscured the
view.
All was silent as death when they
entered, yet they had barely advanced
short hundred PAGES when those ap-
parently bare rocks in front famed
red, the narrow defle echoed to wild
,screeches and became instantly crowd
ed with weird, leaping figures. 1t was
like a plunge from heaven into hell.
Blaine and Endicott sank at the first
fire, while Wyman's stricken arm
dripped blood. Indeed, under that
sudden shock, he fell, and was barely
rescued by the prompt action of the
man beside him. Dropping the opened
book, and firing madly to left and
right with revolver which appeared
Sts spring into his hand as by magic,
the latter coolly dragged the fainting
soldier across the more exposed space,
until the two found partial security
among a mass of loosened rocks litter.
. ing he base Of the precipice. The
others who survived that first scorch
ing discharge also raced toward this
same shelter, impelled thereto by the
unerring instinct of border fighting
and fiinging themselves fat behind
protecting powders. began responding
10 the hot fire rained upon them.
Scattered and hurried as these frs
Volleys we're, they proved sufficient Il
check the bowling demons in the open
II has never been Indian nature tt
face unprotected the aim of the whit,
men. and those dark figures, which
only a moment before thronged tn,
aar5ow gorge. leaping crafty in tn,
riot o! apparent victory. suddenl,
Vnaltad from sight blinking dnwn inf