The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1920-01-08

hOh oROcn $O1s1 OttS
Sith my one hand.
"You are suffering she cried
"What can i do? Is 1t this Indians
body?"
"Yes," / breathed, the effort Of
speaking an agony. HE lies directly
across my chest, a dead weight"
1t taxed her strength to the. utmost,
but, oh, the immediate relief! With
| the drawing of a full breath / felt q
return of manhood, a revival of life.
Another body pinned my limbs to the
floor, but this was more easily dis
posed of. Then I managed to lift my
self, but with the first attempt her
arm was about my shoulders.
"No; not alone-let me help you. Do
you really think you can stand? Why,
You are hurt, dear; this is a knife
wound in your side. 1t looks ugly, but
is not deep and bleeds no longer. Are
there other injuries?"
MY head rings, and this left arm
appears paralyze6. from. blows, no
doubt; there are spots on my body
which feel like burns. No. / am not In
bad shape. Now let me stand alone ;
that's better. Good God, what q
scene!"
The fire, by this time blazing bright
ly, gave us a fun view OF the entire
dismantled interior. The cabin was a
complete wreck, the roof practically
all gone and the upper logs of the side
walls either fallen within or dangling
in threat. Clearly enough 1t had been
the sudden plunge Of heavy timbers
and the dislodgment of those upper
logs, which accounted for this havoc
OF death. There were dead there
pierced by bullets and Drained by rifle
stocks, but the many had met their
fate under the avalanche of logs, and
amid the burning glare of exploding
powder.
Only between arched timbers and
sections of fallen roof could we move
at all, and beneath the network of
this ENHANCEMENT the majority of the
bodies lay. crushed and mangled. I
saw Kirby, free from his bonds, bur
dead beneath a heavy beam. His face
was toward us and the flicker of flame
revealed a dark spot ON his forehead
his life had never been crushed out
by that plunging timber which pinned
him there 1t had been ended by a bull
let. My eyes sought hers, in swift
memory Of my last order. and she must
have read my thought.
NO." she said, not that. Steven.
II was the boy who shot him. Oh,
please, can We 1t go? There Is light
already in the sky overhead-see. Take
me away from here-anywhcrc, out
side"
in a moment; all these surely are
dead, beyond our aid, and yet we
mnst not depart foodless. We know
not how far it still may be to Ottawa.
Wait, while l search for the things we
need"
mot alone; l must be where / can
touch you. Try TO understand. oh,
you do not know those hours / have
spent In agony-I have died a thou
sand deaths since that sun went
down."
"You were consclous-all night
long?"
Conscious? Yes, and unhurt, yet
prisoned helpless beneath those two
logs yonder, saved only by that over
turned bench. Elsie, poor thing, never
knew how death came, 1t was so swift,
but / lay there, within a foot of her
body unscratched. / could think only
Of you, Steven, but with never a dream
that you lived. There were groans at
first and cries. Some Indians crept
In through the door and dragged out o
few who lived. But with the coming
OF darkness all sound ceased and such
silence was even more dreadful than
the calls for help. Oh, I cannot tell
you," and she chung to me, her voice
breaking. 80 dared not move for
hours, and then, when I did try, found
l could not; that / was held fast
Only for a knife in the hands of a dead
savage, which / managed to secure
l could never have freed myself. Anc
oh, the u~nspeakable horror of creepins
In the darkness among those bodies
| knew where the fireplace must be
that there might be liveA Goals there
still. I had to have light; / had Il
know IL ycu were dead"
Don't think about II n more, deai
heart" / urged. Eyes, we can go now
nothing else holds us here.n
We crept out through the door, nm
derneath a mass of debris. into tn.
gray Of the dawn. Beyond a it'll,
grove we found some horses browsins
In the deep grass; they were those
that had brought us from Yellow
Banks. and whinnied a greeting as we
drew near. Two of them were ht &
ride and the others followed, Mmpiue
along behind.
A half mile up the vallew we came
to a beaten trail, running straight
across from hun to blur. and disap.
pearing into the prairie beyond, head
Ing directly toward the sunrise. We
stepped and looked back for the first
time. There on the side OF the slope,
under the shade of the big tree, stood
the cabin. Only for the wreck Of the
roof II spoke no message Of the trag.
edy within. The suns rays gilded 1t,
and the smoke from its chimney
seemed q reckoning welcome.