The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1908-07-24

the tribe.
'By this time we had moved sew
eral days journey to the Canadian
River. / now had gun to use and
| a pony to ride, and somehow the kind
ness of my captors, the genuine af-
lection Of my brother my admira-
tion for him, his enormous size, his
| strength, speed and marvellous endur-
ance, took hold of me, and ! stayed
on month after month. / knew that
the Indians would go in as usual to
the trading posts in the spring, and
| then, I finally concluded, ] would
part company with them.
$50 the winter came and passed,
and l had learned the Kiowa tongue,
and had so drifted into Indian ways
that / doubt if l would ever have left
them of but for the frightful awaken
| ing of an Apache attack on our vii
lage.
"We'd spent weeks of spring wealth
| err fishing, hunting wild fowl, and
lying about camp, growing careless,
as Indians always do in long spell
of peace and quiet. when two or
three hundred Apaches swooped upon
our village.
ut was high noon of warm day,
and most of the Kiowas were lolling
under their rolled-up teepees, or
among the willows on the river-bank,
when the rout came laundering out
of the breaks less than mile away.
"The hostiles were sighted and a
| yell raised the moment their dust hit
| the flats; and what was done in our
village in the three minutes we had
to. spare was simply astounding.
Some of our horses were picketed
close by and some were penned in
| willow corral, while a good bunch
! was in charge of herders on the other
side of the river. ! was sitting on.
the river-bank when the alarm was
raised, and ran for my gun and
pony, as others were doing. And when
I had reached Katzatoa's lodge. his
mother, Mountain Woman, had al.
ready stripped the skins from the
poles, and was rolling them, with her
other effects, into bundles. On all
sides the teepees had gone down in
| magical fashion. In thirty Sec,
onds there stood only village OF
pole skeletons!
81 snatched my gun and bride and
ran for my horse at the corral. BY
the time had mounted, it seemed
that every fighter in the village was
astride his pony, and yelling to the
women and children to get behind the
river-bank.
| "Katzatoa was not at hand at the
moment. He had gone fishing lit
tie way down the river. A glance
showed me that the old woman had
| just returned to her lodge from drag
! cling a bundle to the shelter of the
bank and was at work tying up an
| other. / saw, too, that the cloud OF
hostiles was almost upon us.
Their number was SO great 1t
seemed that annihilation awaited every
one who had not swift horse. Yet
| / couldn't run away from that old
woman. She'd been as good to me
/ as she could have been to an own
son. caught her pony, threw rope
| corral
THE foremost Apaches were within
| fifty yards of US, and bullets and ar
rows were buZzing like flight of
yellow-jackets, when came up with
Mountain Woman, tugging at her bun
die.
Il jumped from my pony, seized
her about the waist, flung her up on
her own animal and thrust its lariat
into her hand. But twas no use;
she slipped off on the other side and
| pounced upon her pack again.
by this time we were in the thick
of the fight. saw the Kiowa woman
lanced within ten PAGES, and even as
my bullet drove through the chest of
the savage who did it.
"In the next breath could not dis
tinguish securely friends from foes.
On every hand Indians, naked to the
waist, were driving at each other,
spearing, hacking and clubbing. their
faces distorted by tribal hate and the
lust of fighting. Only as I recognized
a mans horse could I hope to dis
tinguish Kiowa from Apache; and
there were so many cayuses looking
alike that dared fire upon no one.
So l actually sat my horse in the
midst of the melee, waiting to be at.
tackled!
THE Apaches had mostly emptied
their quiyers in the first onset. and
the fighting now was hand to hand,
the savages using their lances, war;
clubs, hatchets and dubbed guns. In
the brief moment that I sat, saw
enough to note that the Kiowas were
making grand fight in defense of
their women and children. and that
most of these had gained the shelter
of the river-bank.