Evening star., 1922-07-09

they were stalking me. They could
easily wade the river opposite the
cut. where the hogback sloped down
to the other bank. and. once across.
they could. by lively squirt along
the top of it, easily head me off.
did all I could to lead them to be-
lieve that l had no idea that each
pony had its rider. while at the same
time / kept zigzagging toward the
cut.
WHEN within a few hundred yards
of it l felt the time had come
make a run for it at full speed. In
an instant every one of the seven
was astride his pony and the bunch,
with a fiendish yell. made for the
cut. as I expected they would. and in
the way l thought they would. My
horse almost flew through that mar
row gap and / fully expected every
instant to be riddled with Winchester
balls before I could possibly reach
the level tract that extended to the
post.
had made about the first third
of the distance when I glanced over
my shoulder to see what they were
up to, and / drew a long breath when
I found they were not following me.
Instead. they had dismounted at the
cut and were peering up and down
it. evidently believing that l could
not have passed through il in SO short
a space of time.
Now happened one of the most fool
hardy things 1 ever did in my life.
Turning my horse SO as to face my
pursuers. I stopped to clap my hand
on and off my mouth. letting go an
old college yell that one could hear a
mile. In flash every Indian was
off his pony and taking a kneeling
shot at me-the seven Winchesters
cracked as though but single piece
had been fred. But not a ball hit
either me or my horse. though you
may gamble that some of that lead
came mighty close. instantly
wheeled about to make for the post.
but instead of running in a straight
obliged to. take an obEque shot at me.
L shall always believe l saved my
life in that way. Zip. zip. zip, came
the balls! I began to think that
was about out of the serape when my
horse all of sudden gave a tremen-
dous snort and sprang. horse-fashion
into the air. For a second I thought
he had received his death shot. but
l must believe that ball had hit a
small stone, which had flown up and
hit him. as no sooner was he on his
feet again than off he made. faster
than ever. carrying his rider into the
safety zone in a very few moments
AS volleys of that kind were al
most a daily occurrence. no one COM
mented upon it when l showed up
but it was not until a long time after
ward that 1 gave an account of the
incident. Besides, the fact that some
one got shot around Laramie in those
days occasioned no special remark
The Indians had run down and shot
our mail carrier the day before, while
the stage was getting it all the time
as it came over the old Chugwater
road
THAT was my first experience with
"the hostile Sioux" A little while
| thereafter the 5th Cavalry expedi.
ton came up and I joined it as its
surgeon. The regiment was under
the command of one Capt. Hamilton
and altogether there were some five
or six troops. The outfit first went
into camp on the Powder river, be-
yond which no one had ventured
since the Custer massacre of the
June before. Bands of hostile Sioux
numbering from fifty to hundred
or more roamed all over that part OF
the country. appearing in the most
unexpected places and at the most
unexpected times. For some reason
or other Capt. Hamilton seemed to
dislike, me from the very first. and
he also had trouble with two othe:
officers of the command-th3t is. Col
Kellogg and Capt. Rodgers.
AS soon as we had made camp Capt
Rodgers with his troop was ordered
to scout up to a post at the mouth
of Tongue river, and, contrary to the
expectation of every one, he got
through. Col. Kellogg was ordered
to scout as far as the Custer battle.
field and return, and I was ordered
to accompany him, leaving the main
command without a surgeon. No one
expected to see a single man of US
] get back, for it was well known that
, the valley Of the Little Horn was
the stamping ground for lunches OF
Indians running all the way from a
few to several hundred. However
Kellogg was a cautious as well as q
skillful commander with wide ex.
perience in Indian warfare. The
troop was practically up. to it's full
strength of hundred men,, and II
would be hard to beat them as q
lighting bunch, of cavalrymen. In ad.
dition we had nine packers, seasoned
plainsmeni and crack shots. But
strange to say. there was also. semi
with us over o dozen Sioux Indians
every man Of whom had helped shool