The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1907-07-13
CHAPTER I.
Hampton, of Placer.

the west. If slightest chronicle of it |
survive, it must be discovered among i
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 IS of them when, like so
many hunted rabbits they were first |
securely trapped among the frowning |
rocks, and forced relentlessly back I
ward from off the narrow trail until |
the precipitous canyon walls finally |
halted their disorganized flight and |
from sheer necessity compelled a rally |
in hopeless battle. Sixteen,-ten in
fantrymen from old Fort Bethune, I'M
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 a 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
had anticipated trouble.
In all the fancied security of I'M
questioned peace these chance trav-
elers 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 adj
vance, walking beside the stranger,
the latter a man of uncertain age,
smoothly shaven, quietly dressed in
garments bespeaking an eastern tailor,
a 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
,PrNv-x ton,
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 a diminutive copy of The
Merchant of Venice" from which he
was reading aloud a disputed passage,
when the faint trail they followed sud
| denly dipped into the yawning mouth
! of a black canyon. 1t was narrow,
| gloomy, contracted gorge, a mere cash
| between those towering hills shadow
! ing 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
a short hundred PAGES when those ap-
parently bare rocks in front famed
| red. the narrow defile 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 a revolver which appeared
to spring into his hand as by magic
the latter coolly dragged the faintine
soldier across the more exposed space
until the two found partial security
among a mass of lOosened rocks litter
ing the base of the precipice. Tbs
others who survived that first scorch
ing discharge also raced toward thi:
same shelter, impelled thereto by the
unerring instinct of border fighting
and finging themselves fiat behint
protecting powders, began responding
to the hot fire rained upon them.
Scattered and hurried as these frs
volleys were, they proved sufficient Il
check the bowling demons in the open
1t has never been Indian nature Il
face unprotected the aim of the whit
men, and those dark figures, whicl
only a moment before thronged tn
narrow gorge. leaping crafty in tn
riot of apparent victory, suddenl.
melted from sight. sinking down int
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