The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1920-05-06

He nodded, his eyes dull, his lips
moving, as though it was an effort to
talk. Quite evidently whatever little
intellect he had ever possessed, now
refused to respond. Kennedy broke in
impatiently.
1T takes tibet boy bout an hour fer
ter tell enything, Cap" he explained
gruf1y. II reckon he's skeered half
ter death in the furst place, an then
thar's sumthin' wrong with him eny-
how. Howsumever, it's whut he seed
an heerd, Cap, tibet sounds mighty
queer ter me. He seq thar wus more'n
fifty bucks in tibet party, an that Of
Black Hawk wus thar hisself, a leadin'
'em-he done saw him." i,
l turned, surprised at this statement,
to stare into the boys face. He half
grtnned back at me, vacantly.
"Black Hawk! He could scarcely be
down here; what did he look like?"
"'Bout six feet high, I reckon, with
a big hooked nose, an the blacklist
pair O. mean eyes ever We saw. l
reckon he didn't hav' no eyebrows, an
he wore a bunch O eagle feathers, IN
a red blanket. Gosh, mister, but the
devil cudn't look no worse'n he did"
"Wus tibet him, Cap?" burst in Tim,
anxiously.
ITS not a bad description" I admit
ted, vet not convinced. II can't be-
lieve he would be here with a raiding
party. If he was, there must be some
important object in view. Is that all?"
"No, faint; the boy swears thar was
a white man long with 'en, a Teller
with a short mustache, an dressed in
Store clothes. He want no prisoner
nuther, but he'd a gun, an talked ter
Black Hawk, most like he wus a chief
hisself. After the KILN wus all over,
he WIS the one whit got EN- ter go off
thar to the south, the whole kit an
kabOOdle."
II don't doubt that. There have al
ways been white renegades among the
Sacs and plenty of half-breeds. If
Black Hawk, and this other fellow are
leading this band, they are after big
game somewhere, and we had better
keep out of their way. I favor sad
ding up Immediately, and travelling all
night"
$50 do l." and Tim flung a half filled
bag from his shoulder to the ground.
But 1 vote we eat furst. 'Tain't much,
only a few scraps I found out thar;
but it's a way better then nuthin'.
Here you, Hall, give me a hand, an
then We'll go out, an round up them
hOsses."
If the party Of raiding Indians,
whose foul deed we had discovered,
had departed in a %southerly direction,
as their trail would plainly seem to in
dictate, then our safest course would
seemingly be directed eastward up the
valley. This would give us the pro-
lection of the bluffs, and take us more
and more out of the territory they
would be likely to cover. Within
twenty minutes we were in saddle, de-
scending the steep hillside through the
darkness, Tim walking ahead with the
lad, his horse trailing behind, and the
long rifle acrOss his shoulder.
I do not recall feeling any special
fear. In the first place I was convinced
that we must already be at the ex-
IRENE limit of Black Hawks radius,
and that, travelling as we were eest-
ward, must before morning be we'll be-
yond any possible danger of falling
into the hands of his warriors. The
other pursuers l had practically dis
missed from thought. Shortly after
midnight my horse strained a tendon,
and could no longer uphold my weight.
On foot, with the poor beast limping
painfully behind me, l pressed on be-
side ElOise, both of us silent, too ut
terly wearied with the strain for any
attempt at speech.
The rising sun topped the summit
Of the bluff, it's red rays seeming to
bridge with spans of gossamer the lit
tie valley up which we toiled. 1 had
lost my interest, and was walking dog
gedly on, with eyes bent upon the
ground, when the girl beside me cried
out suddenly, a new excitement in her
voice.
"Oh, there is a cabin! See! Over
yOnder; just beyond that big oak,
where the bluff turns"
Her eager face was aglow, her out
stretched hand pointing eagerly.
The logs of which the little building
had been constructed, still in their ma
tive bark, blended so perfectly with
the drab hillside beyond, that for the
moment none of ps caught the distant
outlines. Tim possessed the keenest
sight, and his voice "a first to speak.
"Sure, miss, thet's a cabin, all right"
he said grimly. zone room, an new
built; likely 'nough sun settler just
COM in yere. l don't e no move
ment, e smoke"
FILED to the nearest fort probably"
l replied, able myself by this time to
decipher the spot. "Be too risky to
stay out here alone. Well look it