Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-24

termined courage. It was a dangerous trim
Tor two men to take alone through the
Comanche country but the risks could be
mlnimized by travelling only at night
But Loving was rash a man not given to
caution or fear. He did not like night travel
and at the end OF two days having seen no
Indians, decided to get on as rapidly as DOS
sible in the daytime. The travellers were
sighted by big bunch of Comanches on a
plain between the Pecos and the Blue Rivers
The cowmen raced for the Pecos and reached
1t. There was high blud, below which were
sand dunes and brakes covered by high Spanish
cane Still mounted, the hunted men clam
bered down to the shelter of the bank below
The horses were shot almost at once but the
Indians could not easily get at the men.
Loving was wounded twice, once desperately
He was persuaded that he could not live The
Comanches charged and were driven back.
Wilson got his friend down to the river and
concealed him in a clump of smartweeds
Night fell. The trapped men could hear the
Indians all around them.
In whispers they decided that the only
chance was for Wilson to go for help, SWIM
ming the river.
THE stories of the ensuing experiences of
these two men are almost without parallel
In Indian warfare. Wilson crept to the river
He had to discard his shoes and his coat It
was impossible to keep afloat while hampered
by his rife. He buried it. A hundred yards
down the river, on q sandbar, an Indian sentinel
was posted. The intrepid Wilson pulled some
Smartweed and hoated down the river under
meath it, so close to the Comanche that dis
covery seemed almost inevitable. He drifted
past the guard and crawled out Of the river.
Barefooted onarmed half clad, the frontiers
man travelled three days through the cactus
country toward the herd He had nearly q
hundred miles to go. He trudged on, feet swol-
len, starved, exhausted. More dead than alive,
at last he caught sight of Goodnight pointing
the herd.
Goodnight started at once to the rescue of
Loving though none Of the party believed he
was still alive. They reached the scene Of the
battle, but the wounded man was not to be
found. Nearly two weeks later the drivers
learned that Loving was at Fort Sumner. He
had reached the trail, lived for seven days
without food, and been picked up by Mexicans.
Loving was out of bed and on his feet when
Wilson and Goodnight reached him. Unfortu-
nately blood poisoning set in and he died in
few days.
While Loving and his partner were breaking
out of Texas by way of the Goodnight Trail,
many herds were doing the same thing farther
east.
Many outfits crossed the Red at the Rocks
Bluff Ford, others at Colberts Ferry Most of
the Texans moved up the Kiamichi Valley into
the Choctaw Nation. Here their trouble be-
gan. The Choctaws were civilized tribe and
had herds of their own. They objected to this
swarm of longhorns which invaded their coun-
try like locusts ate up the feed. They de-
manded toll fee of 10 cents head and were
legally entitled to one To escape another tax
certain to be imposed by the Cherokee Nation
the herd drivers turned east to Fort Smith
into Arkansas.
From Arkansas the herds either pushed
west to Baxter Springs, Kans., or north into
Southwestern Missouri. In either case the
driver was faced with more trouble. Bands
of marauders, composed largely OF ex-guer-
rillas and jayhawkers of war days. infested
the country. They levied unconscionable trib-
ute upon thescattls driver If the trail boss
Objected he was buliled and his cattle stam-