The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1915-07-30
AHunter' sBluf
By M. QUAD
Copyright, 1915, by the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate.
By M. QUAD

ty 0. sporting hunters numbering thlr-
" entered the elbow OF Texas between
New Mexico and the Indian territory.
While the Comanche Indians were
bitterly hostile at that time they had
been sadly reduced by smallpox and
driven to the north, and old frontiers
men stated their belief that the parry
would not even see one.
had been invited &c make II OF
the party, out was detained for Il rou,
Die of days. | then mounted my horse
and picked up the trail and followed
after, having no fear that should run
any danger in thus riding.
II had come moo Of the second day.
and | had net with no adventure.
had baited and wAtered my horse and
was ready to move on, when | hclrt !;
"Yi, vi, yi!" on my right, and turn
ed around to see five COmancheS com
ing out Of the timber on their ponies.
They were just half a mile away and
had evidently discovered me.
When II man rides for his life the
greatest fear is in OVERRIDING the mat
ter. l had been five years on the
plains and had a pretty fair stock of
nerve, and l rode to favor my horse.
As the sun began to sink In the
west they sought to shorten the dis
lance between Is and bring me into
rife shot, but a word to the mustang
rheckmated this.
Had l been able to keep the trail aft
or 3 O'Clock l should have counted on
finding the party by shutdown, as We
were getting owe the ground at a rap
Ill pace, but at about that hour l came
to q rough, stony district, where the
passage Of the horses had left no trail.
and | went ahead at random, planning
to keep my distance from the river. 1t
was to be n starlight night, and as
o as dusk came I urged my beast to
a faster pace and bore more to the
left. When believed had gained a
quarter of a mile | swervel sharply to
the right, rode for forty rods and then
dlsmOunted and gave Custer the wOrl
to lie down. We were both fat on the
earth when the party OF pursuers swept
by, and the thud, thud, thud Of their
ponies feet came very plainly to my
ears.
had a cold bite in my haversack,
and after d%ispOsing OF It stretched out
and went to sleep, hoping ! had given
the red mel, the slip. ! opened my
eyes the mex morning In astOnish-
ment. Seated in a circle about me
were the five C"manches, while their
ponies were feeding with my horse. !
lay on my back with my hands clasp
ed under my head. and such was my
establishment that I could not move
Fortunately for ME they took this for
nerve. looked from man to man.
and finally said in Comanche:
Had ! known you were tOmanches
] should not have run away. l thought
you were C~hirkaSaws on stolen horses.
l shall be ready to go AS soon as
have eaten. | want to see The Co
manchc countrywide vast rlainS-the
Canadian river-th" mountains full OF
caves ana wHtcrfHIis-y"ur chief
Thunder Cloud"
one "t them ASKED III" II | hri"nGr'
to tn" PARTY "hra''. ana | t"i' tim NO..
Il" asked IL how ! cared start 'iI'
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After eating N"t apart from ti!'ln IL