The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1909-01-20

a. I was, and n Of their horses in
particular, a spotted animal, was
gaining on me all the time. Nearly
all the other horses were strung out
behind for a distance of two miles,
but still chasing after me.
The Indian who was riding the spot
ted horse was armed with a rifle and
would occasionally send a bullet whis-
Ting along. sometimes striking the
ground ahead Of me. l saw that this
fellow must be checked or a stray bull
let from his gun might hit me or my
horse. so, suddenly stopping Brigham
and quickly wheeling him around, I
raised old "Lucretia" to my shoulder,
took deliberate aim at the Indian and
his horse, hoping to hit n OF the
other, and fired. He was not over
eighty yards from me at this time,
and at the crack Of my rifle down
went his horse. Not waiting to see
If he recovered, l turned Brigham.
and in a moment we were again fair
~ flying toward our destination. We
had urgent business about that time
and were in a hurry to get there.
The other Indians had gained on US
while I was engaged in shooting at
their leader, and they sent several
shots whizzing past me, but fortunate
~ none Of them hit the intended mark.
To return their compliment I occasion
ally wheeled myself in the saddle and
fred back at them, and n of my
shots broke the leg Of one Of their
horses, which left its rider hors(e) de
combat, as the French would say.
Only seven or eight Indians now re-
manned in dangerous proximity to me,
and rs their horses were beginning to
lag somewhat I checked my faithful
old steed a little to allow him an op-
portunity to draw an extra breath or
two. l had determined, If it should
come to the worst, to drop into a buff
falo wallow, where I could stand the
Indians off for awhile, but I was not
compelled to do this, as Brigham car
ried me through most nobly.
The chase was kept up until we
came within three miles of the end
Of the railroad track, where two COM
panies of soldiers were stationed for
the purpose Of protecting the work
men from the Indians. One Of the
outposts saw the Indians chasing me
across the prairie and gave the alarm.
In a few minutes I saw greatly to my
delight, men coming OIL foot, and cav
alrymen, too, galloping to our rescue
as soon as they could mount their
horses. When the Indians saw this
they turned and ran in the direction
from which they had come. In a very
few minutes I was met by some Of
the infantrymen and trackmen, and,
jumping to the ground and pulling the
blanket and saddle off Brigham, I told
them what he had done for me. They
at once took him in charge, led him
around and rubbed him down so vigor-
ously that I thought they would rub
him to death.
Captain Nolan Of the Tenth cavalry
now came up with forty Of his men,
and upon learning what had happened
he determined to pursue the Indians.
He kindly offered me one Of his a
airy horses, and after putting my own
saddle and bride on the animal we
started out after the flying Indians,
who only a few minutes before had
been making it so uncomfortably live
ly for me. Our horses were all fresh
and Of excellent stock, and we soon
began shortening the distance between
ourselves and the redskins. Before
they had gone five miles we overlook
and killed eight Of their number. The