The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1909-06-12

holding the tails, decided to ford the
river under darkness at the place
where they had crossed in the norm
Ing. By making a detour round the In
dams and as 1t was dark they passed
close to three bands of red men with
out molestation, O'Neil and De Rudio
on the occasions keeping alongside the
horses and out Of sight. The fourth
party came along and shouted to them
In Sioux. and Jackson and Gerard cut
loose and the two afoot dropped and
hid in the sagebrush.
The Indians pursued the horsemen
a short distance. firing shot at them,
but did not see the two lei In the
sagebrush, although they passed in sin
gle file within three or four feet of
them.
O'Neil and he reached the ford and
decided to secrete themselves and wait
until daylight. The moon came out but
dimly. and they saw a party that look
ed like American cavalry, as they were
on American horses and dressed in the
soldiers uniform, the leader riding a
sorrel horse with four white legs. He
was sure that 1t was Captain Tom Gus
ter. Elated, he cried out. Hello, cap
tainr' The rider stopped, and. although
they could not see him, a fiendish yell
and a volley Of bullets told them they
were Indians. They rushed through
the brush, the Indians firing at the
moving bushes volley after volley.
Their escape was miraculous.
1t turned out afterward that these
Indians by their firing spoiled a bit Of
stratagem they had arranged to deceive
Reno by dressing in the clothes of
dead soldiers of Clusters command.
and, equipped with climbing sabers and
on American horses, they expected TO
deceive him In the night by pretend
ing to be men of Clusters party. This
firing at De Rudio and giving the In
dian yell put the Reno men on their
guard. Proceeding on their way, two
Indians came hunting for the fugitives,
| believing, of course, that 1t was only
some wounded soldier. While hunting
for them they approached within five
yards. and. evidently having seen
them, one jumped from his horse,
when De Rudic fired and dropped him
dead, O'Neil's carbine knocking the
other one out of his saddle and killing
him. The Indians In the hills saw the
fash and puff and fired another volley
In that direction, but the two desperate
men hastily concealed themselves be
hind a big log which several bullets
had struck. The bullets struck the
inches Of them continuously.
Again the woods were fired at this
point, but as it had been rainy In the
evening the smoke was stronger thar
the flames and was thus their saliva
ton, and they hid in a deep part o.
the creek with only their heads out o.
water, but with their cartridges ant
firearms on the bank ready for action
They remained there and In a little
oasis of bushes that the fire had no
touched, without moving OIL speaking
until 0 o'clock on the Goth of June
About 4 o'clock there were two sigma
pistol shots fired, the Indian vedett
left his post at the ford and a lout
voice was heard haranguing the In
dams, and a band of three or four hun
bred passed closely and rode off. The.
could see them for miles down tn
river and heard them singing a pecul
lar chant. By $50 they had gone a
far as they could see, and 1t was evi
dent that something had caused then
L m nnnUn uvQv ac n annoa rod m fhar
that the troops must have also left tn
hill.
Hungry, exhausted and dispirited
their condition can be imagined-th
command gone, and they a hundre'
miles from the Yellowstone river
However. when everything was quie
In the dark night they started in tn
direction Of Reno's retreat. and afte
about five miles they came to a hig.
hill, from which they saw a fire. A
times the fire disappeared. and the
concluded that there must be humai
beings passing around 1t, which hid
occasionally from sight. But wha
kind OF human beings-Indians @
white? There was the rub. The
crawled on with great c~autiousness
fearing the Indians would have to b
crawled through even to reach Reno
II 1t was Reno, when their hearts wei
raised by the braying Of a mule. Still
he might be a captured mule, so the,
crept along on their bellies cautiousl,
until they got SO lear that they hear
voices talking In English. The,
crawled within a hundred yards o
the visible party and called out to tn
picket who they were. De Rudio ant
O'Neil. "For Gods sake, don't shoot!
A cheer from the picket, and In a few
MINUTES the tired ana Vanished SUI
vivors Of many Mental deaths wer
munching crackers and coffee witt
Captain Varnum.
De Rudio's reception by his com
rades brings to mind the time wheI
an army was drawn up in battle lin,
to receive me.
l will refer to one Of the press dis
patches sent from Terry's command tc
give an account of this incident:
"Our march now lay through a sue
cession Of abandoned Indian camps,
showing that we were on the trail OF
the Sioux. The bleached bones Of buff
| faloes and now and then the shaggy