The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1912-02-15

him. insisting upon sparing the horses
- much - possible. This was 10 b
Q stern chase and Q long one. and II
was impossible to tell when they could
procure remounts. The constant swerv.
Ing Of the trail westward seemed to
shattsr his earlier theory, and.
brought him greater unsasiness. Fin
ally he spoke Of It to the old plains
man beside him.
What do you suppose those fellows
are heading 20 far west for, Benz
They are taking big risk Of running
Into hostilss."
oh, I don't know" returned the
other gravely. lifting his eyes 10 the
far-o6 sky line. II reckon from tho
news thet come In last night from
Hays. thar amt no In3uns q rangin'
thet way jist now. They're too blame
busy out on the Arickaree. Maybe
them fsllers heard the same story. IN
thet's what makes 'em 90 bold"
What storyf i've heard nothing"
why, it's Ike this, Cap" drawing
out the words, ''leastways, thet's how
It come inter Sheridan; Sandy For
sythe an his OUTFIT. mostly plainsmen.
started . while ago across Solomon
River an down Beaver Criok, headin'
for FoSt Wallace. Over on the Aricka-
rec, the whole damned Injun outfit
Jumped 'em. From all I heerd, thar
must a bin nigh onto three thousan'
o the varmints, droppin' on 'em all at
oncet, Standardization, with Of
Roman Nose q leadin' 'em. It was
shore a good fight, fer the scouts got
onto an island an stopped the bucks.
Two Of the fellers got through to
Wallace yist'day, an courier brought
the news In ter Hays. The Injuns had
them boys cooped up thar fer eight
days before them fellers got out, an
reckon it'll be two or three days moro
fore the niger sogers they sent out
ter help ever git thar. So thar won't
be no Injuns long this route we're
travelin', fer the whole kit an Ca
Doodle are up thar yit after Sandy"
And you suppose Hawley knew
about this?"
why not. Capf He was hansin'
round till after ten O'Clock las night.
an it was all over town by then.
'Tain't likely he's got an outfit long
with him thet's lost any Injuns. l
don't know whar they're bound, no
morn you do, but I reckon they're
Reasonably sure they've got q clar
road"
They pulled up on the banks Of
small stream to water their horses,
and ate hastily. The trail led d.
rectly across, and with only the slight
est possible delay they forded the
shallow water, and mounted the OPP
posite bank. A hundred yards farther
on Bristoe refined up suddenly, point
ing down at the trail.
"One boss left the bunch here" he
declared positively. Keith swung him
self out of the saddle, and bent over
to study the tracks. There was no
doubling the evidence single horse
the only one shod in the bunch
with q rider on its back. Judging from
the deep imprint of the hoofs, had
swerved sharply to the left Of the
main body, heading directly into the
southeast. The plainsman ran for
ward for q hundred yards to assure
himself the man had not circled back;
at that point the animal had been
spurred into q lope. Keith rejoined
the others.
Must have been about daylight
they reached here" he said. picking
up his dangling rein, and looking into
the questioning faces about him. THE
fellow that rode out yonder alone was
heading straight toward Carson City.
He is going for fresh horses. figure
It. and will rejoin the bunch some
place down on the Arkansas. The
others intend to keep farther west,
where they won't be seen. What do
you say, Benz"
"Thet's the way 1t looms up ter me,
Cap; most likely twas the boss him
SELF"
We'll. whoever 1t was. the girl Il
still with the others, and their trail
IL the easiest to follow. Well keep
after them"
They pushed on hour after hour. a.
long as daylight lasted or they could
perceive the faintest trace to follow.
Already half-oonvinced that he knew
the ultimate destination of the fugi.
tves, Keith yet dare not venture on
pressing forward during the night, thus
possibly losing the trail and being
compelled to retrace their steps. II
was better to proceed slow and sure.
Besides, judging from the condition OF
thedr own horses, the pursued would
be compelled to halt somewhere to
rest their stock also. Their trail even
revealed the fact that they were trav.
cling far less rapidly than at first, al.
though evidently making every effort
10 cover the greatest possible dis
tance before stopping. Just as the
dusk shut In close about them they
rode down into the valley Of Shaw
nee Fork. and discovered signs Of .
recent camp at the edge Of the stream.
Here. apparently, judging from the
campfire eshaa. and the trampled
grass along the Fork, the party must
have halted for several hours. By
lighting matches Keith and Bristoe
discerned where some among them