Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-08-13

ed, tortured and put to death by the
Comanches and he said that his life
had been a life of revenge for the
wrong done him by the red man. The
genial major and some of his troopers
had appeared on the scene and after
an all around shake we proceeded to
hitch up and once more we journeyed'
westward over the same trail | had
travelled with father in SO. 1t was my
turn to drive the lead team that day
and we were soon moving toyfully over
the sandy waste. We passed the place
where he had the Indian scare in 80
and soon the sentinel OF the desert
(Pawnee. Rock) became visible as 1t
reared it's dome above the foot hills OF
the great American desert. About
noon hour we deserted a cloud OF
dust to the right and front and not
withstanding that all was reported
quiet along the train SO far as poor
! "Lo" was concerned we went into
corrall on the spot but did not I'M
hitch. The scare soon developed into
a vast heard of buffalo travelling from
, the foot hills over the sandy waste to
the Arkansas valley where good graz,
ing was more plentiful. This herd OF
bison was followed by the proverbial
pack Of grey wolves and number or
prairie coyotes. We went into camp
however and having plenty OF water
and fuel good meal was prepared
and the stock turned out in charge of
herders.
Are Given Surprise.
After dinner the four extra saddle
horses were brought into service and
four of us startc.. to see what had be-
come of the vast herd of buffalo. Stan
ley ordered US not to kill any as we
still had plenty from the last killing.
After a galop of five miles we came
close to the herd which was grazing its
way south. We rode close to the rear
of the herd and were very much sur
priced to see two big grey wolves turn
about in an attitude which appeared to
be a challenge. We Immediately dis
mounted and running one arm through
the bride rein we opened fire on Mr..
Wolf but right here we met the sur
prise Of our lives. One Of my compan-
ions had seen hard service under the
famous rebel cavalry commander GEN
eral Early and had been in tn
charge at Winchester. Another OF my
companions was man named Cooper
whom we dubbed Parson BroWnlow
very much favored It bran new minis
ter soliciting subscription to build an
addition to the parsonage, but when
the time arrived for him to (volcano
like) pour forth his Walls Of emphasized
wrath, the entire atmosphere would be
painted in glowing colors to which the
rainbow was en- entire stranger. The
third companion was an ex union cav
alryman and boosted of the name OF
Marmaduke. said we got the surprise
Of our lives and so we did for to our
utter amazement when we began to
drop the wolves in their tracks the
huge buffalos that composed the rear
guard instantly whirled about and with
heads lowered, eyes blazing and nos
trils steaming bore down on us like an
avalanche and had we not been quick
to death by the charge Of the on rush
ing bison The old confederate had thej
closest call and when we got to camp
he said he would rather fight ten Sher-
idans than one buffalo bull.
The stock had a waterless feed and
about 3 p. m. we resumed our journey
toward the setting sun. The four sad
die animals were left under saddle and
were led alongside the teams and we
drove in rush to make Ash creek be-
fore dark but when we saw we could
not reach our destination as desired,
Stanley sent Jim Marrow and myself
ahead to select camp ground BEFORE
dark We mounted two of the saddle
horses an ~; ~: our carhines and al,
ak, we rode rapidly and came to- thei
creek before shutdown. The first thing
we found was the remains Of a camp
fire and plenty Of pony tracks and also
the tracks Of shod mules and horses.
Also wagon tracks which afterwards
prozed to be those Of the government
ambulance and that Of cavalry horses
from Fort Larned. The pony tracks
were made by band Of friendly Paw
nees who had camped there but had
for safe keeping been taken closer to
the fort by the troops. There was plen-
ty of timber along the creek and after
selecting a camping place we went up
the creek and cut down a dry scrub
oak and cutting it into small sections
we hauled it out to the camping place
selected. Our medium Of hauling the
wood was IL EE.ce our lari1ts around
our horses necks running it between
their legs and making 1t fast to the
wood. 1t was easy to haul 1t thus to
the desired place.
Kill Two Antelope.
Just as dark was approaching four
beautiful antelope came in sight around
a point Of land going to the creek to
slake their thirst. They stopped, shifted
the air and after satisfying themselves
that the coast was clear they ap-
preached the waters edge about So
Q~~. - T I'D Ho RI