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diff --git a/58568-0.txt b/58568-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..737d926 --- /dev/null +++ b/58568-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6045 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 58568 *** + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Transcriber's Notes: + + Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold text by + =equal signs=. + + Small uppercase have been replaced with regular uppercase. + + Blank pages have been eliminated. + + Variations in spelling and hyphenation have been left as in the + original. + + + + TALES OF THE TRAIL + + SHORT STORIES OF WESTERN LIFE + + + BY + + COLONEL HENRY INMAN + + _Late Assistant Quartermaster, United States Army_ + + AUTHOR OF "THE OLD SANTA FÉ TRAIL," "SALT LAKE TRAIL" + + + [Illustration] + + + _FIFTH EDITION_ + + + CRANE & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS + TOPEKA, KANSAS + 1917 + + + + + Copyright 1898, by CRANE & CO. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +These "Tales of the Trail" are based upon actual facts which came under +the personal observation of the author, whose reputation as a writer +of the frontier is national. His other works have met with phenomenal +success, and these sketches, which have appeared from time to time in +the current literature of the United States, are now compiled, and +will form another interesting series of stories of that era of great +adventures, when the country west of the Missouri was unknown except to +the trappers, hunters, and army officers. + +Some of the characters around which are woven the thrilling incidents +of these "Tales" were men of world-wide reputation; they have long +since joined the "choir invisible," but their names as pioneers in the +genesis of great States which then formed the theater of their exploits +will live as long as the United States exists as a great nation. + +However improbable to the uninitiated the thrilling experiences of the +individuals who were actors in the scenes depicted, may seem, they are +a proof that "truth is stranger than fiction." + +It is fortunate that Colonel Inman during his forty years on the +extreme frontier was such a close observer, and noted from time to time +these stories of the frontier which form such an interesting part of +our Americana. + + JAMES L. KING, + _State Librarian_. + TOPEKA, KANSAS, March 1, 1898. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE. + + GENERAL FORSYTHE AT THE ARRICKAREE 1 + + EL SOLITARIO, THE HERMIT PRIEST OF THE OLD SANTA FÉ TRAIL 24 + + MEDICINE BLUFF 45 + + A RACE FOR LIFE: An Incident of the Indian War of 1864 58 + + THE TRAGEDY AT TWIN MOUNDS: An Incident of the + Indian War of 1866-'67 96 + + WAL. HENDERSON 129 + + KIT CARSON'S PAWNEE ROCK STORY 151 + + SHERIDAN'S ROOST 170 + + THE PASSING OF THE BUFFALO 179 + + JUDGE LYNCH'S COURT AT WHOOPING HOLLOW 192 + + THE WOOING OF AH-KEY-NES-TOU 240 + + KIT CARSON'S "FIRST INDIAN" 256 + + DID GENERAL CUSTER COMMIT SUICIDE? 270 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + PAGE. + + General Forsythe 1 + + The Charge 13 + + The Hermit Priest 24 + + Little Beaver 45 + + Kicking Bird 58 + + Susie Réaume 96 + + Sitting Bull, Crow Eagle, and Buffalo Bill 101 + + Sa-tan-ta 104 + + The Mirage 119 + + Wal. Henderson 130 + + O-ton-son-e-var 163 + + Pacer's Son--Chief of all the Apaches 166 + + General Sheridan 170 + + Catching Wild Turkeys in Gen. Sheridan's Camp 178 + + Wolves Attacking a Buffalo 191 + + A Lynching Scene 238 + + Mandan Chief 240 + + Mandan Canoe 246 + + Mandan Village 248 + + Kit Carson 256 + + Train at Pawnee Rock 266 + + General Custer 270 + + Little River 273 + + Sitting Bull 277 + + + + +GEN. FORSYTHE AT THE ARRICKAREE. + +A THRILLING STORY OF INDIAN WARFARE. + + +[Illustration: GENERAL FORSYTHE.] + +I was sitting in my office at Fort Harker on a warm evening in the +latter part of September, 1868, musing over a pipeful of "Lone Jack," +upon the possible extent of the impending Indian war, which had already +been planned by Gen. Sheridan, in the seclusion of my own quarters, +only the night before. It was rapidly growing dark; the somber line of +the twilight curve had almost met the western horizon, and only the +faintest tinge of purple beneath marked the intermedium between the +gloaming and the rayless sky. + +Nothing disturbed my revery as I wandered in my imagination over the +bleak expanse of the Arkansas, Cimarron and Canadian rivers, so soon to +be the scene of active operations, except the monotonous clicking of +the relay in the window of the next room, where the Government night +operator was on duty, who was also meditating in the darkness. + +The terrible massacres on Spillman creek, only a few weeks before, +still furnished food for vengeful thoughts that would not down, as +images of the murdered women and little ones rose in horrible visions +upon the thick night before me. + +The dismal howl of a hungry wolf borne upon the still air from the +timbered recesses of the Smoky added to the weird aspect that my +surroundings were rapidly assuming, and there seemed some portentous +and indescribable thing bearing down upon the place. + +Suddenly the operator--while the clicking of the instruments +became more nervous and varied from their monotone of the whole +evening--exclaimed, "My God! Major, what's this?" + +"What is what?" said I, jumping from my chair and rushing to his side. +Quickly lighting his little lamp and seizing his pencil, he wrote upon +a blank as I looked over his shoulder and read--while the clicking grew +more convulsive still--these words: + + "Gen. Forsythe surrounded by Indians on the Republican. Lieut. + Beecher, the doctor, and many of the scouts killed; nearly the + entire command, including the general, wounded. Stillwell, one of + the scouts, ran the gauntlet of the savages, and brings report. + Col. Carpenter, Tenth Cavalry, and his command, leave immediately + to relieve them." + +This was a fragment of the whole dispatch going over the wires from +Fort Hays to Fort Leavenworth and Washington. We had taken enough of it +to know that a terrible disaster had befallen the gallant Forsythe, of +Sheridan's staff, and his plucky band of scouts, who were all civilians +and Kansans. + +The headquarters of Gen. Sheridan, who was at the date of this +narrative in command of the Department of the Missouri, were +temporarily established at Fort Harker. He was consummating his +arrangements for a winter campaign against the hostile tribes, and the +idea suggested itself that a body of carefully selected men, composed +of the best material to be found on the frontier, under the leadership +of an experienced officer, could effect excellent results. + +These scouts, as they were to be termed, were to go anywhere, and act +entirely independent of the regularly organized troops about to take +the field. + +Generals Custer and Sully, the next in rank to Sheridan, both already +famous as Indian fighters, coincided with this view of the commanding +general; and it was determined to pick fifty equipped frontiersmen at +once, commission Forsythe as their leader, who in the incipiency of the +movement modestly solicited the responsible position. + +The fifty-four men were chosen from an aggregate of more than 2,000 +employed by the Government at various positions at Forts Harker and +Hays. The reader may rest assured that only those were accepted +who possessed the essential qualifications of indomitable courage, +wonderful endurance, perfect markmanship, and a thorough knowledge of +the Indian character. + +Gen. Forsythe chose for his lieutenant his particular friend F. H. +Beecher, of the Third Infantry, a nephew of the celebrated Brooklyn +clergyman. + +Some days were occupied at Fort Harker in fitting out the little +expedition, but no unnecessary equipage or superfluous camp +paraphernalia formed any part of the supplies. + +There were no tents or wagons. Pack-mules carried the commissary +stores, which were of the simplest character, and as the object of the +party was war, its impedimenta were reduced to the minimum. + +Each man was mounted on an excellent horse, his armament a +breech-loading rifle and two revolvers. + +This troop of brave men left Harker for Hays in the latter part of +August, from which point their arduous duties were commenced. + +On the 29th of that month, all the preliminaries for taking the field +having been completed and their surgeon joined, they marched out of the +fort on their perilous mission. After scouting over a large area for +several days without meeting any sign of the Cheyennes, they concluded +to go to Wallace to recuperate and refit. + +Sometime during the second week in September the Indians made a raid on +a Government wagon train near Sheridan station, on the Kansas Pacific +Railroad, about twelve miles east of Wallace. As soon as the news +reached the fort over the wires, Forsythe and his little band of scouts +started to intercept the savages on their retreat. + +Next morning the little command struck the fresh trail of the Indians, +and by forced marches came so close that they compelled them to +separate into insignificant detachments, but night coming rapidly on, +the General lost the trail. The conclusion was, after a consultation +with the best plainsmen among the party, that the Indians would +naturally go northward; so it was determined to take that direction in +pursuit. + +The scouts continued their course for more than a week without the +least trifling incident to relieve the wearisome monotony of the march. + +Suddenly, on the afternoon of the eighth day, as they were approaching +the bluffs of the Republican river, they discovered an immense trail +still leading to the north. The signs indicated that a large body of +warriors, with pack animals, women and children, and lodges of a big +camp, had recently camped there. + +It was growing dark, and rather than take the chances of losing this +trail in the night, it was determined to bivouac in the vicinity, rest +the animals, and continue the pursuit at the first streak of dawn. + +It was well that this course was decided upon, or there would have been +none left to tell the story of the fight, as the result will show. The +spot selected for the bivouac had some slight strategic value, and was +for that reason chosen by the General, after it had been pointed out by +two of his men, Tom Murphy and Jack Stillwell; though he had no idea +at the time that any benefit would result from their judgment in this +particular. It was an elongated low mound of sand (such as are seen at +intervals in the Arkansas) which the Arrickaree fork of the Republican +at this time embraced (as the Cheyenne does the Black Hills), forming +an island. + +If this trail had not been struck, it was the intention to have +gone back to Wallace for provisions, as only sufficient for one day +remained; but upon prospects of a fight, it was unanimously agreed to +go, and take the chances of finding something to eat. + +In the early gray of the next morning, while the stars were still +twinkling and at the hour when sleep oppresses more than at any other +time, the sentinels posted on the hills above the island yelled, +"Indians!" + +In a moment the camp was awake. With rifle in hand, each scout rushed +for the lariat to which his horse was picketed, knowing of course that +the first effort on the part of the Indians would be to stampede the +animals. As it was, a small party of them dashed in with a horrid +whoop, and shaking their buffalo robes, succeeded in running off a +small portion of the pack-mules, besides one or two of the horses. + +A few shots fired by the most advanced of the scouts scattered the +Indians, and quiet reigned again for a few minutes. + +Almost immediately, however, before the scouts had completed saddling +their horses--which the General had ordered--one of the guides nearest +Forsythe happening to look up, could not help giving vent to the +expression, "Great heavens! General, see the Indians!" + +Well might he be excited. Over the hills, from the west and north, +along the river on the opposite bank--everywhere, and in every +direction, they made their appearance. Finely mounted, in full war +paint, their long scalp-locks braided with eagles' feathers, and with +all the paraphernalia of a barbarous war party, with wild and exultant +shouts, on they came. + +It was a desperate-looking preponderance of brute force and savage +subtlety, against the cool and calm judgment of the disciplined +plainsmen. But the General, without glancing at the hell in front +and all around him, with only the lines of determination in his face +a little more marked, grasping the terrible picture before him, +stoically ordered his men to take possession of the sand mound with +their horses, and then determined, almost against hope, to accept the +wager of battle. + +It happened, fortunately, that on this island were growing some stunted +shrubs, to which the animals were fastened, their bodies forming a +cordon, inside of which the luckless scouts prepared for the demoniacal +charge which they knew must come with its terrible uncertainty in a few +minutes. + +They had scarcely secured their animals, when like the shock of a +whirlwind on came the savages, and the awfully unequal battle commenced. + +It was just the break of dawn; the Indians, taking advantage of the +uncertain light, dismounted from their ponies, and creeping within easy +range, poured in a murderous fire upon the scouts. + +The Indians were splendidly armed as usual, through the munificence +of the Government, by its apathy in preventing renegade white men or +traders from supplying them. + +When the full morning came, which had been anxiously waited for by the +scouts, then they first realized their desperate situation. Apparently +as numerous as the sand-grains of their little fortification, the +Indians hemmed them in on all sides. More than a thousand hideously +painted and screaming warriors surrounded them, with all their hatred +of the race depicted on their fiendish countenances, in anticipation of +the victory which seemed so certain. + +Scattered among these, out of rifle-range, were the squaws and children +of the aggregated band, watching with gloating eyes the progress of the +battle, while the hills reëchoed their diabolical death-chant and the +howling of the medicine-men inspiring the young warriors to deeds of +daring. + +No one can form the slightest conception of the horrid picture +spread before the scouts on the clear gray of that morning, unless +he or she has realized it in the hostile encounters with the hostile +tribes on the plains. Language is inadequate, and all the attempts at +word-painting fall so short of the reality that it were better left +wrapped in its terrible incomprehensibleness. + +The General and his brave men took in their chances at a glance. They +saw little hope in the prospect, but they determined, however, never +to be taken alive--a thousand deaths by the bullet were preferable to +that; so made up their minds to fight to the bitter end, which would +only come when the ammunition was exhausted or themselves killed. + +To this end they commenced to intrench as best they could, by scraping +holes in the sand with the only implement at their command--their +hands. They succeeded in making a sort of rifle-pit of their position, +but before the work was completed, two of the scouts were killed +outright, and many wounded--among the latter the General himself. + +Owing to the dreadful firing of the Indians, who continually charged +down upon the island, the doctor was compelled to abandon the care of +the wounded and become a combatant; he did excellent work with his +rifle, but a bullet soon pierced his brain, and he too fell dead. + +In a few seconds after the doctor's death, in the midst of a terrible +onslaught by the Indians, the General was again struck--this time near +the ankle, the ball perforating the bone as perfectly as if done with +an auger. + +The firing of the scouts had not all this time been without telling +effect upon the Indians--many a painted warrior had bitten the dust +before the sun was two hours high. At each successive charge of the +redskins, the scouts, cool and careful, and deliberate, took aim, +and when their rifles were discharged each put a savage _hors de +combat_--there was no ammunition wasted! + +Nor had the besieged escaped from the fearful onset of their enemies: +besides the casualties related, nearly all the horses had been +killed--in fact, before noon all but one had fallen, and it is told +that when he too was killed, one of the warriors exclaimed in English, +"There goes the last horse, anyway!" + +At this juncture, with all their horses killed or wounded, the Indians +determined upon one more grand charge which would settle the unequal +contest. So they rallied all their forces and hazarded their reputation +upon the aggregated assault. + +This charging column was composed of about one hundred and fifty "dog +soldiers" and nearly five hundred more of the Brulés, Cheyennes, and +Arapahoes, all under the command of the celebrated chief "Roman Nose." + +Superbly mounted, almost naked, although in full war dress, and painted +in the most hideous manner, formed with a front of about sixty men, +they awaited in the greatest confidence the signal of their chief to +charge. + +Their leader at first signaled to the dismounted men beyond this line +of horsemen to fire into the scouts, and thus make his contemplated +charge more effective. At the moment of the fusillade, seeing the +little garrison was stunned by the fire of the dismounted Indians, and +rightly judging that now if ever was the proper time to charge, Roman +Nose and his band of mounted warriors, with a wild ringing war-whoop, +echoed by the women and children on the hills, started forward. + +[Illustration: THE CHARGE.] + +On they came, presenting even to the brave men awaiting their charge, a +most superb sight. + +Soon they were within the range of the rifles of their friends, and of +course the dismounted Indians had to slacken their fire for fear of +hitting their own warriors. + +And this was the opportunity for the scouts. "Now!" shouted Forsythe; +and the scouts, springing to their knees, cast their eyes coolly along +the barrels of their rifles, and opened upon the advancing savages a +deadly fire. + +Unchecked, undaunted, on dashed the warriors. Steadily rang the sharp +report of the rifles of the frontiersmen. Roman Nose falls dead from +his horse; "Medicine Man" is killed; and for an instant the column, now +within ten feet of the scouts, hesitates--falters. + +A cheer from the scouts, who perceive the effect of their well-directed +fire, as the Indians begin to break and scatter in every direction, +unwilling to rush into a hand-to-hand struggle. A few more shots, and +the Indians are forced back beyond range. + +Forsythe inquires anxiously, "Can they do better than that, Grover?" + +"I have been on the plains, General, since a boy, and never saw such a +charge as that before." + +"All right, then; we are good for them." + +It was in this grand charge, led in person by their greatest of all +warriors, Roman Nose, that Lieut. Beecher was mortally wounded. He +suffered intensely, and lingered some hours before his manly spirit was +extinguished. + +He and I were warmly attached to one another. I knew full well +the generous impulses of his warm young heart, and his perfect +unselfishness. He was brave, the very soul of honor, and a favorite in +all garrisons. + +Before night closed in on the terrible tragedy of that day, the Indians +charged on the weary and beleaguered scouts again and again, but were +as often driven back by the dreadful accuracy of the rifles of the +besieged, with an increasing loss each time. + +The darkness which had been earnestly looked for at last brought the +welcome respite, and it was made possible for the unfortunate men to +steal a moment's rest, that was needed, oh, how much! + +Hungry, exhausted, with an empty commissariat, every animal dead, their +comrades lying stark upon the dreary sand, and a great number writhing +in all the agony of torturing wounds; a relentless enemy ever watching; +no skilled hand to alleviate the sufferings of the dying, and the only +hope of help that might never come, more than a hundred miles away. + +Think of that; grasp it if you can! + +Later, while the night yet thickened, preparations were made to meet +the events that were sure to come with the morning's light, and the +little fort--for it had certainly now reached the dignity of that +title--was made still stronger. For gabions, the swollen carcasses of +the dead horses were used, and huge slices were cut from their thighs +for food. Thank God, the torturings of thirst were not added to their +other sufferings, for water was easily obtained by digging a short +distance. + +Thus strengthened, a midnight council of war was held in whisperings, +and it was determined to send two of their number to Fort Wallace, as +desperate as the undertaking was. A mere boy, Stillwell, and another, +Truedell, expressed their willingness to make the attempt. + +The brave men crawled from the "island" to run the gauntlet of the +watchful savages, ever on the alert to take advantage of the least +unfavorable demonstration on the part of their prey, as they fully +believed them. + +We will leave them making their way cautiously but hopefully in the +darkness, for it is not the purpose of the writer at this time to tell +of the noble efforts of these brave messengers in their hairbreadth +escapes on their lonesome and perilous journey; but let us turn to the +worn-out and wounded band of heroes again, to learn how they fared +during the long days before help could possibly reach them, even were +Stillwell and his companion able to reach Wallace. + +The sun rose in all the splendor of a Kansas autumn morning, but the +landscape bore the same horrid features of the day before. All through +the weary hours the Indians kept up an incessant firing, though +no serious charge was attempted--they had had more than they had +anticipated, in their efforts in that direction yesterday. The scouts, +now pretty effectually intrenched, suffered but little from the wild +firing of their besiegers, but it was annoying, and kept the brave men +ever prepared for a possible charge, the result of which might not be +so fortunate as former ones. + +Night again came to throw its mantle of rest upon the little band, and +shortly after dark two more scouts were sent out to reach Fort Wallace, +if possible; but they failed to get beyond the line of watchful +savages, and were compelled to abandon the idea. + +This unsuccessful attempt to go for help cast a gloom over the little +command, for it could not yet be known what had been the fate of the +other two who had gone out the night previously. + +The next day the state of affairs assumed a more cheerful aspect--if +that could be possible. The squaws and children had disappeared, +indicating a retreat upon the part of the Indians, although they still +kept up their firing at intervals: perhaps they, too, were getting +short of ammunition and provisions. + +In the afternoon the savages hoisted a white rag upon a pole and +expressed a desire to talk, but our heroes were too wary to be caught +with such chaff as that, for with Indians a flag of truce means a +massacre, half the time. + +That night two more men were sent out, and these carried that famous +dispatch of Forsythe's, which should hold its place in history with +that other memorable one of Grant's: "I intend to fight it out on this +line if it takes all summer." Forsythe's read: + + "I am on a little island, and have still plenty of ammunition + left. We are living on mule and horse-meat, and are entirely out + of rations. If it were not for so many wounded I would come on and + take the chance of whipping them if attacked. They are evidently + sick of their bargain. I can hold out six days longer if absolutely + necessary; but lose no time." + +The morning of the fourth day, on the now historic island, broke +somewhat more cheerful still. The Indians could be seen moving rapidly +away, only a few comparatively remaining in sight, to wait till +exhaustion and starvation should place the scouts in their power. They +little knew the metal of the men lying behind those breastworks of +rotten carcasses, or they too would have gone with the old men, women +and children of the tribe. + +A few shots were fired by the scouts in response to the occasional +random fusillade of the Indians: they contented themselves with saving +their ammunition for a possible last grand act in the drama, only +shooting when an Indian came within certain range, when he was sure to +be sent to the "happy hunting-grounds." + +Night again came with its relative rest, and then another weary day of +watching and waiting, without any special demonstration on the part of +the Indians. + +New horrors now made their appearance in the shape of gangrened wounds, +and suffering for food. The putrid flesh of the dead horses and mules +was all that remained to support life, and however revolting, it had +to be swallowed. The nauseating effluvia of the rapidly decaying +carcasses, too, made the place almost intolerable, and so insufferable +did it become that the General told those who were disheartened to go; +but all to a man, to their honor be it recorded, refused, electing to +remain with their companions-in-arms--to be rescued, or die with them. + +Two more days of torture, and then, on the ridge between them and the +golden sunlight gleamed the bright bayonets of Col. Carpenter and his +column of "the boys in blue." + +Their Havelock had reached this American Lucknow, and cheer after +cheer--feeble though they were--went up from the little island, and our +story closes with the rescue of these brave men. + + * * * * * + +GENERAL FORSYTHE (himself wounded in both legs) gives a very graphic +description of the charge of the Indians, and the appearance of their +hero and chief, Roman Nose. He says: + + "As Roman Nose dashed gallantly forward and swept into the open at + the head of his superb command, he was the very _beau-ideal_ of an + Indian chief. Mounted on a large, clean-limbed chestnut horse, he + sat well forward on his bareback charger, his knees passing under + a horsehair lariat that twice loosely encircled the animal's body, + his horse's bridle grasped in his left hand, which was also closely + wound in its flowing mane, and at the same time clutched his rifle + at the guard, the butt of which lay partially across the animal's + neck, while its barrel, crossing diagonally in front of his body, + rested slightly against the hollow of his left arm, leaving his + right free to direct the course of his men. He was a man over six + feet three inches in height, beautifully formed, and save for a + crimson silk sash knotted around his waist and his moccasins on his + feet, perfectly naked. His face was hideously painted in alternate + lines of red and black, and his head crowned with a magnificent + war-bonnet, from which, just above his temples and curving slightly + forward, stood up two short black buffalo horns, while its ample + length of eagles' feathers and herons' plumes trailed wildly on + the wind behind him; and as he came swiftly on at the head of his + charging warriors, in all his barbaric strength and grandeur, he + proudly rode that day the most perfect type of a savage warrior it + has been my lot to see. Turning his face for an instant toward the + women and children of the united tribes, who literally by thousands + were watching the fight from the crest of the low bluffs back from + the river's bank, he raised his right arm and waved his right hand + with a royal gesture, in answer to their wild cries of rage and + encouragement as he and his command swept down upon us; and again, + facing squarely towards where we lay, he drew his body to its full + height and shook his clenched fist defiantly at us; then, throwing + back his head and glancing skyward, he suddenly struck the palm + of his hand across his mouth and gave tongue to a war-cry that + I have never yet heard equaled in power and intensity. Scarcely + had its echos reached the river's bank when it was caught up by + each and every one of the charging warriors with an energy that + baffles description, and answered back with blood-curdling yells + of exultation and prospective vengeance by the women and children + on the river's bluff and by the Indians who lay in ambush around + us. On they came at a swinging gallop, rending the air with their + wild war-whoops, each individual warrior in all his bravery of war + paint and long braided scalp-lock tipped with eagles' feathers, + and all stark naked but for their cartridge belts and moccasins, + keeping their line almost perfectly, with a front of about sixty + men all riding horseback, with only a loose lariat about their + horses' bodies, and about a yard apart, and with a depth of six or + seven ranks, forming together a compact body of massive fighting + strength, and of almost resistless weight. 'Boldly they rode and + well,' with their horses' bridles in their left hands, while with + their right they grasped their rifles at the guard and held them + squarely in front of themselves, resting lightly upon their horses' + necks. + + "Riding about five paces in front of the center of the line, and + twirling his heavy Springfield rifle about his head as if it were + a wisp of straw, Roman Nose recklessly led the charge with a + bravery that could only be equaled but not excelled; while their + medicine-man, an equally brave yet older chief, rode slightly in + advance of the left of the charging column. + + "To say that I was surprised at this splendid exhibition of pluck + and discipline, is to put it mildly; and to say, further, that + for an instant or two I was fairly lost in admiration of the + glorious charge, is simply to state the truth--for it was far and + away beyond anything I had heard of, read about, or even imagined + regarding Indian warfare." + + + + +EL SOLITARIO, THE HERMIT PRIEST OF THE OLD SANTA FÉ TRAIL. + + "No stream from its source + Flows seaward, how lonely so 'er its course, + But some land is gladden'd. No star ever rose + And set without influence somewhere. Who knows + What earth needs from earth's lowliest creatures? + No life + Can be pure in its purpose, and strong in its strife, + And all life not be purer and stronger thereby." + + --OWEN MEREDITH. + + +[Illustration: THE HERMIT PRIEST.] + +The tourist _en route_ to the Pacific coast cannot fail observing on +his right a huge, relatively isolated peak, cutting the incomparably +clear mid-continent sky, almost immediately after the train emerges +from the picturesque cañon of El Moro, and commences to descend the +long gradual slope to the quaint old Mexican village of Las Vegas, +New Mexico. Its scarred and verdureless front looms up grandly in the +beautifully serrated landscape, of which it is the most conspicuous +object. More prominently defined than any other individual elevation of +the Taos Range visible from the point of observation, the shadow of its +irregular contour reaches far out over the lesser mountains beneath, +the moment the sun has crossed the meridian of its crest. + +At its foot, grassy little valleys stretch eastwardly, which are +cultivated by the primitive Mexicans under a system of irrigation as +primitive as themselves--simple earth ditches, involving a very limited +knowledge of engineering. + +Foaming little torrents splash and sparkle in the sunshine, as +they course through the fertile intervales. Their sources are cool +mountain springs hidden in the dark recesses of the towering range, +which were, until the restless "Gringo" invaded the solitude of the +charming region at the advent of the iron trail to erect saw-mills, +filled with that most epicurean and gamy of all the finny tribe, the +speckled brook-trout. Now, the disciple of the revered Walton vainly +essays the streams with elegant modern appliances for lazy methods of +angling, retiring disgusted, as the listless native, answering his +interrogatory of "Where have they all gone?" with a characteristic +shrug, and his ever-ready "Quien sabe?" quietly opens his little ditch +to let the tenantless water overflow his limited patch of corn, beans, +and onions. + +Maybe, in the sad and weird mythology of those strange people the +Aztecs, this storm-beaten spur of the Rockies occupied an important +place. Their Olympus, or Parnassus perhaps, for not many miles remote, +on the bank of the classic Pecos, where lie the ruins of the once +fortified Cicuye, referred to so graphically in the itinerary of the +historian of Coronado's wonderful march in search of the "Seven Cities +of Cibola," is the reputed birthplace of their culture-hero, Montezuma +(not to be confounded with the dynasty of sovereigns of that name), who +was the Christ of their faith, for whose second advent the Pueblos, the +lineal descendants of the Aztecs, look for so hopefully with the rising +of every morning's sun. + +Upon the summit of the Rincon de Tecolote, "The Owl's Corner," now +known as "El Cumbre del Solitario" (The Hermit's Peak), as this grand +old sentinel of the range is called by the Mexicans, an area comprising +several acres, there is a remarkable cave. Around this natural grotto +at such a great elevation, are clustered by the simple natives the +most cherished memories of the humble and beloved curious individual +who once occupied the sequestered spot. It is sacred ground with them, +upon which no sacrilege would for a moment be brooked. + +Near its narrow entrance a spring of clear cold water gushes out of +the indurated rock, which, after flowing for a short distance over the +rounded pebbles in its deeply worn bed, tumbles down the precipitous +side of the mountain in a diminutive cascade, joining the streams in +the valley on their resistless way to the sea. A few scattered piñons +cast a grateful shade over a portion of the generally bald blear level +of the limited plain, and at regular distances apart, in the form of a +circle, are twelve rude crosses, typical of the number of the Apostles. +They were erected years ago by the humble Mexicans living in the +hamlets below, in memory of the deeply religious man who made his home +in this sequestered spot, and whose name is revered only a degree less +than that of the tutelary saint of the country, Our Lady of Guadalupe. +On certain feast-days, particularly in midsummer, large fires are kept +burning at night, and the devotees to the memory of the cave's once +holy occupant, long since hastened by the hand of an assassin to the +unknown beyond, assemble there under the stars, and in a most devout +spirit perform certain ceremonies, with a zeal possible only to the +earnest believers in that ancient and widely disseminated faith, the +Catholic religion. + +Of the history of this remarkable man, who by his exemplary life made +such an impression upon the untutored minds of a large number of the +degraded primitive New-Mexicans, but fragmentary leaves have been +obtainable. To intelligently understand even these, the reader must let +his mind drift backward for more than a generation to the plains of +central Kansas, and learn of his advent into the State as I recall it. + +It was late in the spring of 1861. Our Civil War had been inaugurated +by the firing upon Sumter, and the loyal States were preparing for the +great impending struggle, upon the result of which depended the destiny +of the Republic. Kansas at that time, so far as its agricultural +possibilities were concerned, was not materially considered in that +connection; it was a remote, relatively unknown Territory. It is true, +its eastern portion, a narrow belt contiguous to Missouri, had a bloody +political history; beyond which fact, it was merely the portal to the +vast mountain region on the west, to be reached only by crossing the +"Desert" supposed to be included within the new State's geographical +limits, through which ran the trail to far-off Santa Fé and Chihuahua. + +There arrived one morning in the busy little hamlet of Council Grove, +Morris county, Kansas, during the month of May, a strange, mysterious +person. He attracted much attention, for he was to the denizens of that +remote frontier town as curious a personage as the Man in the Iron +Mask, or the awkward Kaspar Hauser, whose appearance at the gates of +Nuremburg once startled the good people of that staid and quiet town, +hoary with the conservatism of centuries. + +The stranger who came so unexpectedly to Council Grove in the spring +of 1861, evidently a priest, talked but little; it was an exceedingly +difficult task to engage him in conversation, so profoundly did he +seem impressed with the idea of some impending danger. He acted like +a startled deer, ever on the alert for an expected enemy, and weeks +rolled by before two or three of the town's most reputable citizens +could gain his confidence sufficiently to learn from him something +of his varied and romantic history. In a simple sketch, as this is +intended to be only, nothing but a mere outline of his checkered life +previous to his advent in America can be presented, as it was gathered, +very reluctantly on his part, in detached fragments at odd moments in +his erratic moods of communicativeness. It certainly contains enough of +pathos, suffering and tragedy to form the web of a thrilling novel. + +Matteo Boccalini, at the date of his appearance in Council Grove, was +about fifty-five years old. He possessed the eye of an artist, a head +that was beautifully symmetrical, with a classically moulded face; and +notwithstanding his age, his hair, of which he had a profusion, was +long, black, and lustrous as a raven's wing. Yet the heart-sorrows +he had experienced were indelibly impressed upon his benevolent +countenance in deeply marked lines. He was a lineal descendant of +Trajano Boccalini, the witty Italian satirist, author of the celebrated +"Ragguagli di Parnaso," who died in Venice in 1618. Matteo was born +about the beginning of the present century, in Capri, that charming and +most romantic island of Italy, situated in the Mediterranean, at the +entrance to the Bay of Naples, twenty miles south of the beautiful city +whose name the bright waters bear. + +His youth was passed on the island, in the city of Capri, the seat of +a bishopric. There he received his early education, devoting himself +to the Church, and commencing those theological studies which were soon +to be the cause of his sufferings, his wanderings, and eventually his +tragic death. + +The island of his birth, which has so often been sung by the muse, is +historic as well as picturesquely beautiful. It was there that the +Roman emperor Tiberius passed the closing decade of his life, and the +ruins of the twelve gorgeous palaces he erected during that period are +still visible. Capri, too, as tourists well remember, is famous for a +cavern called the "Grotto of the Nymphs," or the "Blue Grotto." Matteo +declared it was there that during his youth, in the calm recesses and +sequestered nooks of that delightful underground retreat, he first +learned to love the companionship of his own thoughts, a desire for +solitude, and that to him indescribable peace which a life apart from +the "madding crowd" assures. It was this strange characteristic, +absence of that love of gregariousness common to man, which earned +for him in Council Grove half a century later, the sobriquet of "The +Hermit Priest of the Santa Fé Trail," and a year after his departure +from that place, among his devoted adherents in the mountains of New +Mexico, the more applicable one, "El Solitario" (The Solitary Man), in +contradistinction to "El Hermito" (The Hermit), which he never was in +the strict interpretation of the term. + +When but eighteen, the youthful Matteo left his native island, under +the patronage of the good bishop, who loved him, to perfect his +education in Rome, beneath the very shadow of St. Peter's, where he +took holy orders at the early age of twenty-one. Then, according +to his sad story, began that life of stormy passions and sorrowful +pilgrimages, culminating in his assassination forty years afterwards in +the far-off Occident. + +He was called by the Church "Father Francesco," and although so young, +was noted for his eloquence, subtile philosophy, and the boldness of +his political utterances. But notwithstanding his pronounced views, +the Pope named him as one of his secretaries. The College of the +Propagandists, however, refused to confirm him, and placed him under +interrogation and discipline. He eloquently defended himself, and the +charges were not sustained. The severe discipline ended to which he +had been subjected, and he was assigned to duty in the purlieus of the +Eternal City. + +In a short time, Matteo Boccalini's sunny nature and warm passions +caused his disgrace. He became enamored of a fair devotee, one of +his charge--a dark-haired, lustrous-eyed, bewitching creature of the +"Land of the Vine." Alas! the too susceptible young priest succumbed to +the wiles of the "radiant maiden," and he fell in a most earthly and +fleshly way. Poor Boccalini was immediately and openly charged with +the enormity of his crime, prosecuted, and denounced. He was despoiled +of his sacerdotal functions, and compelled to flee; became a wanderer +upon the face of the earth, supping with sorrow, and in despair for +companions throughout the remainder of his mundane pilgrimage. + +For a short time after his unwarranted and sinful escapade he +campaigned with the heroic Garibaldi; then he turned with appealing +looks toward America, the haven for all who are oppressed; crossed the +ocean, and in a few weeks began his eventful journey on this continent. +Never again was he to behold the place of his birth, the chalky +outlines of fair, beautiful Capri, which so gloriously begems the +Mediterranean. The phosphorescent Bay of Naples, the sky, the sunshine +and vine-clad hills of dear old Italy, were never more to stir his once +impulsive nature, or quicken into life his now deadened heart. + +Years rolled on; youth passed by and middle age was upon the homeless +priest, when, after having roamed wearily from place to place, +visiting one Indian tribe here and another there, in the vain hope of +discovering some clan, or people near unto nature's heart, whose souls +were attuned to his own, who would receive him in the simplicity of +his severe and pious penance, he arrived among the Kaws, or Kansas, +whose reservation was in the lovely valley of the Neosho, a few miles +below Council Grove. But that tribe, a dirty, despicable race, very +suspicious, and withal not remarkable for their reverence of any +religion, did not take kindly to the weary old man, who had entered +their midst with the purest intentions: his pious zeal, his abstinence +and self-denial made them fear to approach him. They did not understand +that-- + + "When holy and devout religious men + Are at their beads, 'tis hard to draw them thence, + So sweet is zealous contemplation." + +The miserable savages looked upon him, the meek and humble pilgrim, as +an intruder; said he was "bad medicine." So Father Francesco was no +more at ease with them in their rude skin lodges than he would have +been in the gilded halls of the Vatican. + +He then came to Council Grove, as stated--came as the tramp has since +come, unheralded and uninvited, but not to beg bread at the doors of +its residents, as the latter now does. Nor did he come to tell off his +beads in the presence of the vulgar curious, but went upon the hillside +beyond the town, to seek the solitude and retirement of a natural cave +in the limestone rock of the region, troubling no one; an enigma to the +world, and a subject for the idle gossip. + +There for five months he lived, accessible to but few, with whom, +when he felt and recognized in them the quickened glow of a soul that +believed in the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man, he would +talk in tenderest strains of everything that was good, true, and +beautiful. + +The "hermit priest," as he was now called, had of earthly possessions +so little that he could have vied with the lowly Nazarine in the +splendor of his poverty. Of crucifixes, devotional mementoes, and +other religious trinkets, sweetly suggestive of better and happier +days, he had preserved a few. His greatest solace was in half a dozen +well-thumbed small volumes, between whose covers none peered but +himself. He was ever regular at his devotions; for notwithstanding he +had grievously sinned, as he declared, he was constantly striving to +outlive its horrid memory, and to repair the injury he had done his +Master's cause. + +He possessed one article of property that tinges his sojourn at Council +Grove with a delightfully romantic remembrance among the very limited +number now living there, who knew of the vagaries of the remarkably +strange man; these were sometimes his confidants and friends, within +a limited degree. It was a rudely constructed mandolin, which during +all the years of his erratic pilgrimage he had tenaciously clung to, +until its exterior presented a confused mass of scratches and dents, +indicative of hard usage. Despite all that, curious as it may seem, +by some mysterious means its rich tones had been preserved in their +original purity and depth. + +On the evenings of Kansas' incomparable Indian summer, during the early +part of which season he was living in his cave near Council Grove, +the "hermit priest," seated on a projecting ledge at the mouth of his +rocky and isolated retreat, would sweep the strings of his treasured +instrument with a touch as light, deft, and sorrowfully tender as a +maiden whose pure young heart had just been thrilled by its first +breath of love. + +To those who were so fortunate--and they were very few--as to be +invited to spend an hour with him, his vesper hymns, rendered in his +exquisite tenor voice, were as soul-inspiring as the gentle earnestness +of a young girl's prayer. His sometime Neapolitan songs and soft airs +of his native isle were as sweet as the chant of the angels he invoked +when in a deeply religious mood, and his heart-feeling tones mingled +sadly with the soughing of the evening breeze in the dense foliage on +the margin of the placid Neosho that flowed near by. Thus, in the calm +enjoyment of his self-imposed solitude, he lived with + + "The moss his bed, the cave his humble cell, + His food the fruits, his drink the crystal well." + +Among the various languages necessary for the communication of ideas +between the motley crowd comprising the civilization of the then remote +region, there was none that Matteo Boccalini did not understand and +speak fluently, so liberal had been his education in that particular. + +Once, when a stabbed and dying Mexican, the victim of some +gambling-quarrel among the drivers of the "bull-train" to which he was +attached, asked a service for the repose of his soul, Father Francesco +hastened to the anxious man's side. There he administered the last +sacrament of the church to the expiring creature in his own language, +who died with a resigned look upon his face, as he listened to the +absolving words he could perfectly understand, which was a thing of joy +to the holy man who had performed the sacred office. + +One day late in the month of October, now nearly thirty-six years +ago, the "hermit priest" saw walking through the streets of the +little village a dark-visaged person, clad in clerical garb, and whom +Boccalini believed to be the lover of the woman he had wronged in his +youth, and that the stranger, if it were he whom he suspected, could +never be persuaded to think that Matteo was not wholly to be blamed for +the life he had blasted. + +He told his friends he could no longer tarry with them; he would go +away to the mountains of New Mexico, seek another cave, rear again the +blessed cross, emblem of his Master's suffering, and once more live in +solitude, from which he had here somewhat strayed. + +He frequently, when in a communicative mood, had talked much to them +of the delights of absolute solitude. It was, he argued, the nurse of +enthusiasm; that enthusiasm was the parent of genius; that solitude had +always been eagerly sought for in every age; it was the inspiration +of the dominant religion of every nation; that their founders were +men who, seeking the quiet and seclusion of caverns or the desert, and +subordinating the flesh to the spirit, had visions of the "beyond." +The veil hiding the better world had been lifted for them, and their +teachings had come down to us through the æons, elevating man above the +brute. + +The next morning after the sudden appearance of the stranger whose +presence had so discomposed the usually calm priest, a delicious +morning in the month of "autumn's holocaust," when the breeze was +billowing the russet-colored grass upon the virgin prairies, Father +Francesco gathered up his few precious relics, and, accepting the +escort of a caravan just ready to start for New Mexico, left Council +Grove, his cave, and the warm friends he had made there, forever. + +The caravan under the protection of which the frightened prelate went +westward was owned by a Mexican don, a brother-in-law to Kit Carson. +He still resides near the spot where the ill-fated Italian, a year or +two after his wearisome journey across the Great Plains, was hurried to +eternity. + +This venerable Mexican and old-time voyageur of the almost obliterated +Santa Fé trail, when I last visited him at his hospitable home in the +mountains, fourteen years ago, entertained me by relating some of the +more prominent characteristics of his strange _compagnon du voyage_ +during that memorable trip with the "hermit priest" from Council Grove +more than twenty years previously. He said that the strange man would +never ride, either on horseback or in one of the wagons, despite the +earnest invitation extended to him each recurring morning by the master +of the caravan; preferring to trudge along uncomplainingly day after +day during the sunny hours beside the plodding oxen through the alkali +dust of the desert, and faltered not. + +Neither would he at night partake of the shelter of a tent, constantly +offered but as constantly and persistently refused, preferring to +roll himself up in a single coarse wrap, seeking some quiet spot +removed from the corral of wagons, where for an hour or two under the +scintillating stars he would tell off his beads, or, accompanied by +his mandolin, chant some sad refrain to the Virgin, until long after +the camp had gone to sleep. For his subsistence he himself caught and +cooked the prairie dog, ground squirrel, and gopher. Only occasionally, +when hard pressed, would he accept a meal, which was constantly +proffered by the Mexican teamsters, begging the "hermit priest" to +share with them; for in their love for the Catholic Church, to which +they were so devoted, he seemed to their untutored minds a most zealous +but humble exponent of their religious tenets and visible form of their +sacred faith. + +Thus reticent, thoughtful and devout, he marched with the caravan +for many weeks, until at last the city of Holy Faith, the quaint old +Spanish town of Santa Fé, was reached. There he parted company with +his escort, and for nearly a year afterward wandered all over that +portion of the Territory of New Mexico, and into Arizona, still seeking +the Alnaschar of his dreams, a suitable abiding-place in the recesses +of the hills, and a people whose souls might be made to attune with +his. But he miserably failed in all that he desired during his sad +pilgrimage throughout the Southwest. Then, turning northward again, +he slowly and almost despairingly retraced his steps until he arrived +in the sequestered valley of the Sapillo, where he at last found a +humble class and his coveted cave on the summit of the mighty mountain +described at the opening of this chapter. + +There, content after so many years of unsatisfied wandering, he +commenced that life of religious ministrations, and exercised those +unselfish acts of kindness and love, whose remembrance is imprinted so +indelibly on the hearts of his devoted followers; for, + + "Through suffering he soothed, and through sickness he nursed." + +There again, under the constellations, which nowhere else shine more +brilliantly, were the strains of his mandolin, and the rich notes of +that magnificent voice, heard by the enchanted people who listened each +evening at the doors of their rude adobe huts in the valley below the +huge hill that cast its great shadow over them. + +Notwithstanding the "hermit priest" had found a class congenial to his +soul's demands, his eccentricities still clung to him. His persistency +in living apart from his chosen people enforced them to always speak of +him as "El Solitario" (The Solitary Man). + +He would visit among them to solace and nurse the sick, and give +absolution to the dying, which his and their religion so beautifully +promises, but he would never break bread within their hospitable doors; +preferring, and insisting, always, upon a crust and a cup of cold water +outside. + +Nor would he sleep upon the soft woolen _colchons_ which even the +poorest of New-Mexican homes afford, but, absorbed by devout thoughts, +wrapped himself in his single coarse blanket and laid himself on the +bare ground; or, if it was stormy, in some outhouse with the sheep and +goats. This, of course, was part of his self-imposed penance, from +which he never deviated, rigorous as it was. + +One day, after his familiar and beloved face had been missed for more +than a week by his devotees, a sorrowful party went out to seek him. +They found him dead on the rugged trail to his lonely home; his beads +enfolded in his delicately shaped fingers, and his countenance wearing +a saint-like expression. A poisoned dagger in his heart, by the hand of +an assassin, had accomplished the foul deed which for a whole lifetime, +during every moment of the unhappy man's active and dreaming hours, was +a continually disturbing fear. + +Thus passed away, as he had predicted in his youth, the eccentric but +holy Matteo Boccalini, "Hermit Priest" of the old "Santa Fé Trail," and +the "El Solitario" of the New Mexico mountains. A man of sorrow and +grief, yet with as much repentance, and as many penances as sins; one +of those ethereal beings who might become physically unclean, but never +spiritually impure. + +For years after his departure from Council Grove, the "hermit +priest's" cave was an object of much interest. Until within a very +short period, when the quarrymen tore down its last vestige, upon its +time-worn walls could be traced, rudely carved, his name, "Matteo +Boccalini," a cross, "Jesu Maria," and "Capri"--all so dear to the +lonely and sad man's heart. + +[Illustration] + + + + +MEDICINE BLUFF. + + +[Illustration: LITTLE BEAVER.] + +Unknown, perhaps, to the reader, in the very heart of the Wichita +range, in the Indian Territory, there is an immense hill, which, by +triangulation effected during the winter campaign of 1868-69 by the +engineer officer attached to General Sheridan's headquarters, is three +hundred and ten feet high. At its base there is a clear, running river, +or properly a creek--for it is only about seventy feet wide. The shape +which the stream assumes at the immediate foot of the mountain is that +of a crescent, forming quite a large pool or basin. + +Under the shadow which the great mass of disrupted rock throws over the +water at certain hours, the pool looks as black as ink. The moment the +water emerges into the sunlight again, it sparkles and scintillates +until it is painful for the eyes to rest upon its rapidly flowing +ripple. That the great elevation of this detached portion of the range +was caused by some extraordinary convulsion, which moved it from its +normal position, is apparent, and curiosity is excited to assign a +reason for the limited area of the upheaval. + +The stream which flows so picturesquely at the base of the isolated +mountain is called by the Indians Medicine Bluff Creek; the hill above +it, Medicine Bluff. From the time when the memory of the various tribes +"runneth not to the contrary," Medicine Bluff has been a prominent +and sacred spot in the traditions and legitimate history of the many +nations of savages, but especially in that of the Comanches and +Wichitas. It was a sort of "Our Lady of Lourdes" place, where the sick +were cured in the most miraculous manner after they had been given up +by the celebrated doctors of the tribe. If the party afflicted had +never seriously grieved the Great Spirit, the cure was as sudden as +marvelous; if the sick, who were carried to the top of the bluff by +their friends, had at any time offended the Great Spirit, they died at +once, the wolves devoured their flesh, and their bones were transported +to the "Land of Terrors." Sometimes, when the individual taken up to +invoke the aid of the Indian god had lived an exemplary life, instead +of being cured of his fleshly ills he or she was translated, like +Elisha of old, to the happy hunting-grounds. + +The Comanches declared that at night the Great Spirit frequently rested +on the top of the mountain, and when that occurred the whole region to +the verge of the horizon was lighted up with a strange glow, resembling +that emanating from an immense prairie fire reflected upon the clouds. +The Indians also claimed that no dew or rain ever fell upon the extreme +summit of the bluff, where the sick were to lie and wait for the +manifestation of the Manitou; nor did the wind blow there--so that it +was a calm spot, comprising all the essentials to a speedy recovery. + +One among the many traditions connected with the charming but weird +place was told by an aged warrior of the Comanches one evening, around +the camp-fire, in 1868, after white-winged Peace had spread her wings +once more over the prairies, and we were pulling vigorously at our +"brier-woods" filled with fragrant "Lone Jack." The old fellow, +wrinkled and black with the smoke of the tepee in which he had lived +for nearly eighty years, and now wrapped in that of his stone pipe, +which he sucked as industriously as an infant, told this story: + +There was once, ages before the white man had invaded the country of +the Indian, a very old warrior, who, sick and despondent, went to +the top of Medicine Bluff to be cured. He for many years had ceased +to hunt the buffalo, lived with the women of the tribe, and settled +himself down to a peaceful calm, awaiting the time when he should be +called to join his fathers. One day he struggled to the top of the +bluff in the hope that he might die and be carried bodily to the happy +hunting-grounds, as he knew from the traditions of his tribe others had +been before him. + +He had been absent from his lodge and the village for three nights. +During all that time the frightened people down below, who had been +diligently watching, observed a great blaze on the top of the mountain, +as if it were a signal-fire to warn them of some impending danger to +the tribe. + +On the third morning a young warrior was seen descending the trail from +the heights of the bluff, drawing near to the village. When he entered +its streets he looked about him in evident surprise. He approached the +chief's lodge and sat down by the fire. + +The warriors of the tribe gazed at him with awe and that curiosity +which a stranger ever evokes. No one seemed to recognize him. All +remained silent, waiting for him to speak. Lighting his pipe with +a coal, he took a pull at it himself, Indian fashion, then passed +it around the circle. The warriors noticed that his pipe-stem was +decorated with the feathers of the gray eagle, denoting him to be a +great warrior, one who had captured a large number of scalps, so they +regarded him with still greater wonder. After every one in the circle +around the chief's fire had taken a whiff, the stranger commenced his +story: + +"After I arrived at the top of the Medicine Bluff, I looked off at the +vast expanse which surrounded me. I saw the village of my people; I +could hear the dogs bark and the children laugh; I could hear my own +family mourning, as if some one had been taken from them; I saw the +buffalo covering the prairie, and the cunning wolf lying in wait to +pounce upon his prey. When I again looked all around me, and beheld the +young warriors in their pride and strength, I asked myself: 'Why do I +live any longer? My fires have gone out. I must follow my fathers. The +world is beautiful to the young, but to the old it has no pleasure. I +will go there!' + +"With this upon my mind, I continued: 'Far away toward the setting sun +are the hunting-grounds of my people.' Then I gathered all my strength +and leaped from the giddy height before me. I knew no more of the woes +of this life. I was caught up in mid-air and suddenly transported to a +country where game was countless; where there was no wind, no rain, no +sickness; where all the great chiefs of the Comanches who had ever died +were assembled; where they were all young again, and chased the buffalo +and feasted as when on earth. There was no darkness. The people were +continually happy. Beautiful birds sang on the trees. The war-whoop was +never more heard." + +The old chief had been rejuvenated, and now came back to his people +with all his youthful vigor, to live again with his own tribe. The +story of the strange warrior captivated the Indians. + +He at once became an oracle and great medicine-man in his tribe; his +power to cure the sick was wonderful, and his counsel was implicitly +obeyed ever afterward. + +Medicine Bluff has of course lost much of its prestige among the +Indians, for the reason that since the extinction of the buffalo and +other large game the tribes have been scattered, being generally pretty +closely confined to the reservations, with the children taught in +schools, and the superstitions, or at least many of them, having passed +gradually out of the remembrance of the new generation, known only to +the few old warriors left. + +The savage, like the white man, in his disappointments and miseries +sometimes resorts to suicide as a cure-all for and end-all of life's +burdens. Among the powerful Comanches Medicine Bluff was, for an +unknown period, one of their famous places, like the Vendome Column +in Paris, from which to terminate an unsatisfactory and miserable +existence. The bluff was also a rendezvous for the young warriors, who +were to go for the first time in battle with the tried soldiers of the +tribe, to propitiate the Great Spirit. + +The sun in that nation, as in the old tribe of Natchez, symbolized +their god. For three consecutive mornings the youthful aspirant for +military honors was obliged to go to the highest point of the great +hill, where, armed with his buffalo hide, and alone, he was with +the utmost reverence to present the front of his shield to the early +morning sun as its rays gilded the rocky crags of the mountain, +assuming the attitude of a warrior in the heat of battle, on guard +against his enemy's spear and shower of arrows. This ceremony on +the part of the novitiate, if reverently performed, gave his shield +invulnerable power. + +A story told to many of us during the campaign referred to, by +one of the oldest of the Comanches, the oldest Indian I have ever +seen--"Little Beaver," of the Osages--is very interesting, showing +to what an art the despised savage of thirty years ago reduced +story-telling. The dried-up old warrior prefaced his tale by stating +that he was so aged "that he was brother of the highest peak of the +Wichita Mountains," at the foot of which we were camped on a cold +December night in 1868. Here is the story: + +So many years ago that it seemed like a dream even to the narrator, +the Comanches were the greatest tribe on earth. Their warriors were as +numerous as a herd of buffalo on the Arkansas in the fall. They were +more cunning than the coyote. Their herd of ponies contained so many +animals--all fine and fat--that no man could count them in a year. All +the other Indians of the plains and mountains feared and trembled at +the name of Comanche. + +In the tribe, as is ever the case, there were two warriors who +excelled all the others in their prowess. One was young, and the other +middle-aged. They were very jealous of each other, each constantly +attempting some deed of daring at which, it was hoped, the rival would +balk. One fall, when the Indian summer made the air redolent with the +sweet perfume of thousands of flowers and the mountains were bathed in +the amber mist of that delicious season, all the great warriors were +returning from one of their most famous victories. + +They camped under the shadow of Medicine Bluff late one afternoon, +where the young brave, who was quietly smoking his pipe as he hovered +over the little camp-fire on which he was broiling a piece of antelope +steak, happened to fix his gaze on the highest point of the bluff, +and in that position continued for several minutes wrapped in a most +profound study, while all the rest of the band stopped whatever they +were doing and gazed at him as intently. + +Suddenly he rose to his full height and cast a defiant look upon the +warriors scattered around on the grass, who, excited at his strange +manner, sprang up to learn what he meant. Presently he turned his face +toward the sun, which was about two hours high, and broke out with this +boast: + +"No warrior equals me! I am the greatest of all the Comanches! I +resemble that mountain!" pointing with his spear to the highest peak of +Medicine Bluff. "My actions are as far above yours as that mountain is +above the stream at its foot! Is there a warrior here who dare follow +me?" + +Then he shook his spear and brandished his shield in defiance of any +and all. His rival was all the time swelling with rage and pride. He +knew the boast was intended for him alone, although he was the elder +of the two. He approached the braggart with all the dignity of the +savage that he was, and, striking himself on the bosom several times, +exclaimed: + +"So! You are the greatest warrior of the Comanches? You are the +buffalo that leads the herd? I am the old bull to be driven away by +the cowardly coyote and die, leaving my bones to whiten? You ask me to +follow you? Never! I never follow! I will go with you!" + +The remainder of the band gathered around the two celebrated warriors. +They wondered what new deed of daring they were going to attempt, as +the rivals arrayed themselves in their best buckskin dress and mounted +their favorite ponies. With shields held in a defying position, their +faces painted, and their bonnets of war-eagle feathers flowing in the +breeze, they rode away without another word. + +They forded the stream. The younger now started up the difficult trail +which led to the sacred summit of the Medicine Bluff, where, stopping +his affrighted steed, he pointed to the fearful precipice a few rods +off, and exclaimed: + +"You have followed me here; follow me farther." + +[Illustration] + +Then shouting the war-whoop, which made the echoes of the mountain +awaken, and thumping the flanks of his animal vigorously, he darted +toward the awful brink. His rival instantly raised his pony on his hind +legs, and with a whoop more piercing followed the young man, who, when +he had reached the edge of the precipice, failed in courage and pulled +his pony violently back on his haunches. The elder saw his chance. With +an awful yell of defiance and triumph, he forced his horse to make the +terrible leap in mid-air. + +All the warriors on the grassy bottom below watched with eager interest +what was going on above them. They heard the whoop of the aged warrior +as he jumped into the awful abyss. They saw him sit as calmly as if in +his "lodge" as he descended, seated as upright on his pony as if his +animal were walking the prairie, and, above all, they heard his clear +voice as it rung out in the clouds: "Greatest of all the Comanches!" + +Sadly they wended their way to the foot of the bluff, where both horse +and brave rider lay a mangled mass on the rocks, the old warrior with a +smile on his wrinkled face of unmistakable triumph. + +The boasting rival became a wanderer among the tribes. His name was +accursed of all Indians. The very dogs of the camps snapped at him +as he passed. At last, overcome with remorse at his cowardice and +treachery, he killed himself. One day he was found dead on the grave of +his rival at the foot of the bluff. His body was eaten by the coyotes; +his shield and spear, by which he had been identified, were lying on +the ground at his feet. + + + + +A RACE FOR LIFE. + +AN INCIDENT OF THE INDIAN WAR OF 1864. + + +[Illustration: KICKING BIRD.] + +In 1864 the magnificent valley of the "Smoky Hill," with its rich +share of wooded streams and fertile uplands, and the still more +Elysian expanse watered by the great Arkansas--that embryo granary of +two continents--were simply known as the region through which passed +twin inter-oceanic trails, the Oregon and the Santa Fé, both now mere +memories. + +The commerce of the Great Plains over that broad path through the +wilderness, the Santa Fé Trail, was at its height, and immense trains +rolled day after day toward the blue hills which guard the portals of +New Mexico. Oxen, mules, and sometimes horses, tugged wearily week +after week through the monotony of their long journey, their precious +freight ever tempting the wily nomads to plunder, dissimulation, +and murder. Pawnee Rock, Walnut, Coon, Ash and Cow creeks were mute +witnesses of a score or more battles that reddened the blossoming +prairie in springtime, and the slopes of the Pawnee, Heath's Branch and +Buckner's were resonant with the yell of the Kiowa and Cheyenne, who +under the pale moonlight held their hideous saturnalia of butchery. + +To protect the trains on their weary route through the "desert"--as +the whole of this region was then termed, and confidently believed by +the world to be--troops were stationed, a mere handful, relatively, at +intervals on the "great trail," to escort the freighters and the United +States mail over the most exposed and dangerous portions of the route. + +The incident which is the subject of this sketch is as thrilling, +perhaps, in its details, and as marvelous in its results, as any that +have come down to us in the history of those memorable times. It +deals with plain facts, and men who are now living--one of whom, the +principal actor in the scenes to be related, is known favorably all +over the State. [Capt. Henry Booth, just passed away--1898.] + +Fort Riley, in the year referred to, was one of the extreme permanent +military posts. Here, in November, 1864, Capt. Henry Booth was +stationed. He was chief of cavalry and inspecting officer for the +district of the Upper Arkansas, the western geographical limit of which +extended to the foot of the Rocky Mountains. + +Early in the month, in company with Lieut. Hallowell, of the Ninth +Wisconsin Battery, he received orders to make a tour of inspection of +the several outposts, which extended as far as Fort Lyon, in Colorado. + +Salina was occupied by one company of the Seventh Iowa Cavalry, under +command of Capt. Hammer. Where the old Leavenworth stage route crossed +the Smoky Hill, in a beautifully timbered bend of that stream, was a +little log stockade, commanded by Lieut. Ellsworth, also of the Seventh +Cavalry. + +To this comparatively insignificant post--insignificant only in its +appointments, not in importance--the commanding officer gave his own +name, which the county of Ellsworth will perpetuate in history. + +At the crossing of the Walnut, on the broad trail to the mountains, +were stationed three hundred unassigned recruits of the Third Wisconsin +Cavalry, under the command of Capt. Conkey. This was one of the most +important points of observation on the "Great Overland Route," for +near it passed the favorite highway of the Indians on their yearly +migrations north and south. + +This primitive cantonment grew rapidly in its strategic aspect, was +later made quite formidable, defensively, and was named Fort Zarah in +memory of the youngest son of Maj. Gen. Curtis, killed by guerrillas +somewhere south of Fort Scott, while escorting Gen. James G. Blunt, of +Kansas fame. + +At Fort Larned, always a prominent point in the military history of +the Plains, one company of the Twelfth Kansas and a section of the +Ninth Wisconsin Battery commanded by Lieut. Potter were stationed. +From these troops--the isolated disposition of which I have hurriedly +related--squads, consisting usually of from a dozen to twenty men or +more, as the case might be, under the charge of a corporal or sergeant, +were detailed to escort the mail coach, freighters, Government trains, +etc. + +On the morning the order (to make the special inspection of the +outposts referred to) was received at Fort Riley, Captain Booth and +Lieut. Hallowell immediately commenced active preparations for their +extended and hazardous drive across the prairies. + +All preliminaries arranged, the question as to the means of +transportation of the two officers was determined in this wise, and +as the sequel will show, curiously enough saved the lives of the two +heroes in the terrible gauntlet they were destined to run. + +Lieut. Hallowell was a famous "whip," and prided himself upon his +exceptionally fine turn-out which he daily drove around the picturesque +hills of Fort Riley. + +"Booth," said he that morning, "let's not take a great lumbering +ambulance on this trip. If you will get a good team of mules from the +quartermaster, I will furnish my light wagon, and we will do our own +driving." + +"All right," replied Booth; "I'll get the mules." + +Lieut. Hallowell therefore had a set of bows fitted to his light rig, +over which was thrown an army wagon-sheet, drawn up behind with a cord, +similar to the fashion of the average emigrant outfit now so often to +be seen upon the roads of our Western prairies. A round hole was thus +left at the end, which served as a window, and as will be seen further +on, played a most important part in the tragedy in which this simply +covered wagon figured so conspicuously. + +Two valises containing their dress uniforms, a box of crackers and +cheese, meat and sardines, and a bottle of anti-snakebite, made up the +precious freight for the long journey; and in the clear cold of the +early morning they rolled out of the gates of the fort, escorted by +Company L of the Eleventh Kansas, commanded by Lieut. Jacob Van Antwerp. + +Junction City was in those days in reality the limit of civilization, +although Abilene with its solitary log cabin, and Salina with only +two, made great pretensions as the most westerly cities of the Great +Plains. A single glance at the howling wilderness surrounding either +place, however, dissipated all idea of possible or probable future +metropolitan greatness. + +The rough bluffs that border Alum and Clear creeks, in Ellsworth +county, through which the trail wound its tortuous way, were always +in those days a favorite haunt of the Indians, and many a solitary +straggler has met his death from their swift arrows in what are now +called the "Harker Hills." + +Safely through these dangerous bluffs and across the beautiful bottoms +that are to-day dotted with some of the most picturesque homes in +Ellsworth county, marched the little army and its one white covered +ambulance. Not an incident disturbed the quiet of the grand autumn +day, except the occasional slaughter of buffalo in mere wantonness now +and then by some straggling soldier; and early in the afternoon the +stockade in the bend of the Smoky Hill was reached. + +After an inspection of this remote little garrison, which was found in +excellent spirits and condition, the line of march was resumed next +morning for Capt. Conkey's camp on the Walnut. + +The company of 100 men acting as an escort were too formidable a number +to invite the cupidity of the Indians, and not a sign of one was seen +as the dangerous flats of Plum creek and the rolling country beyond +were successively passed; and the cantonment on the Walnut was reached +with nothing to disturb the monotony of the march. + +Capt. Conkey's command at this important outpost were living in a rude +but comfortable sort of way in the simplest of dugouts constructed +along the bank of the stream, and the officers, a little more in +accordance with military dignity, in tents a few rods to the rear of +the line of huts. A stockade stable had been built, with a capacity of +two hundred and fifty horses, and sufficient hay had been put up by the +men to carry the horses through the winter. + +The Captain was a brusque but kind-hearted man, and with him were +stationed his other officers, one of whom was a son of Admiral +Goldsborough, of naval fame. + +The next morning Capt. Booth made a rigid inspection of the place, +which took all day, as an immense amount of property had accumulated +for condemnation; and when evening came, the papers, books, etc., +were still untouched, and this branch of the inspection was postponed +until the morning. In the evening while sitting around the campfire, +discussing the war, telling stories, etc., Capt. Conkey said to Booth: +"Captain, it won't take more than half an hour in the morning to +inspect the papers and finish up what you have got to do: why don't you +start your escort out early?--then they won't be obliged to trot after +the ambulance, or you to poke along with them. You can then move out +briskly and make time." + +Acting upon this suggestion, Capt. Booth went over the creek to Lieut. +Van Antwerp's camp and told him he need not wait for the ambulance +in the morning, but to march at about half-past six or at seven +o'clock, in advance. So at daylight the escort marched out agreeably +to instructions, and Booth continued his inspection. It was found, +however, that either Capt. Conkey had misjudged the amount of work to +be done or the inspecting officer's ability to do it in a certain time, +and nearly three hours elapsed before the task was completed. + +At last everything was closed up, much to the satisfaction of Lieut. +Hallowell, who had been chafing under the delay ever since the troops +departed. When all was in readiness and the ambulance drawn up in front +of the commanding officer's tent, Lieut. Hallowell suggested to Booth +the propriety of taking a few of the men stationed there with them +until they overtook their own escort, which must now be several miles +on the trail toward Fort Larned. So, upon this, Booth mentioned it to +Capt. Conkey, who said: "Oh, there is no danger; there hasn't an Indian +been seen around here for more than ten days." + +If they had known as much about Indians then as they afterward learned, +Capt. Conkey's response, instead of assuring them, would have made +them insist upon an escort, which Booth in his official capacity had +the power to order; but they were satisfied, and concluded to push +on. Jumping into the wagon, Lieut. Hallowell took the lines, and away +they went, rattling over the old log bridge that used to span the +Walnut, as light of heart as if riding to a dance. It was a clear +cold morning, with a stiff breeze blowing from the northwest; their +trail was frozen hard in some places, and was very rough, caused by the +travel of heavy trains when it was wet. + +Booth sat on the left side with the whip in his hand, occasionally +striking the animals to keep their speed. Hallowell struck up a tune +(he was a good singer), and Booth joined in as they rolled along, as +oblivious of danger as though they were in their quarters at Riley. + +After they had proceeded some distance, Hallowell remarked, "The +buffalo are grazing a long distance from the road to-day--a +circumstance which I think bodes no good." He had been on the Plains +the summer before, and was better acquainted with the Indians and their +peculiarities than Capt. Booth; but the latter replied that he "thought +it was because their escort had gone along ahead, and had probably +frightened them away." The next mile or two was passed, and still they +saw no buffalo between the trail and the river; but nothing more was +said relative to the suspicious circumstance, and they rolled rapidly +on. + +When about five or six miles from Zarah, on glancing toward the river, +to the left and front, Booth saw something that looked strangely +like a drove of turkeys; he watched them intently for a few minutes, +when they rose up, and he discovered they were horsemen. He grasped +Hallowell's left arm, and directed his attention to them, saying, +"What's that?" Hallowell cast a hasty look to the point indicated, +and replying, "Indians, by George!" immediately turned the mules and +started them back toward Fort Zarah on a full gallop. + +"Hold on," said Booth; "maybe it is a part of our escort." + +"No, no," replied Hallowell; "I know it's Indians." + +"Well," replied Booth, "I am going to see;" so, stepping out on the +footboard and holding onto the front bow, he looked back over the top +of the wagon. There was no doubt now that they were Indians. They had +fully emerged from the ravines in which they were hidden, and while he +was looking were slipping their buffalo robes from their shoulders, +taking arrows out of their quivers, drawing up their spears, and making +ready generally for a red-hot time. While Booth was intently watching +their hostile movements, Hallowell asked, "They are Indians, aren't +they?" + +"Yes," replied Booth, "and they are coming like blazes!" + +"Oh, dear!" said Hallowell, in a despairing tone; "I shall never see +poor Lizzie again." He had been married for only a few weeks, and his +young wife's name was Lizzie. + +"Never mind Lizzie," said Booth; "let's get out of here!" Although he +was as badly frightened as Hallowell, he had no bride at Riley, and as +he tells it, "was selfishly thinking of himself and escape." + +Promptly in response to Booth's remark came back from Hallowell in a +firm voice, clear and determined as ever issued from mortal throat: +"All right; you do the shooting and I'll do the driving," and suiting +the action to the word, he snatched the whip out of Booth's hand, +slipped from the seat to the front of the wagon and commenced lashing +the mules. + +Booth then crawled back, pulled one of his revolvers--he had two, +Hallowell only one--then crept, or rather fell, over the "lazy-back" +of the seat, reached the hole made by the puckering of the sheet, and +counted the Indians. Thirty-four feather-bedecked, paint-bedaubed +savages, as vicious-looking an outfit as ever scalped a white man, were +coming down upon them like a hawk upon a chicken. + +Booth had hardly reached his place at the back of the wagon before +Hallowell, between his yells to the mules, cried out, "How far off are +they now, Cap.?"--for he could see nothing in the rear as he sat. + +Booth answered him as well as he could, and Hallowell renewed his +lashing and yelling. + +Noiselessly the Indians gained, for as yet they had not uttered a whoop. + +Again Hallowell asked, "How far off are they now, Cap.?" and again +Booth gave him an idea of the distance between them and their merciless +foe. From him Hallowell gathered fresh inspiration for fresh yells and +still more vigorous blows. + +Booth was sitting on a box containing crackers, sardines, etc., +watching the approach of the cut-throats, and saw with fear and +trembling the ease with which they gained upon the little wagon. +He realized then that safety did not lie in flight alone, and that +something besides mules' heels would be necessary to preserve their +scalp-locks. + +Once more Hallowell inquired the distance between the pursued and +pursuing, but before Booth could answer, two shots were fired by the +rifles from the Indians, accompanied by a yell that was enough to make +the blood curdle in one's veins, and no reply was needed to acquaint +the valorous driver that the fiends were sufficiently near to commence +making trouble. He yelled at the mules, and down came the whip upon the +poor animals' backs. Booth yelled, for what reason he did not know, +unless to keep company with Hallowell, while the wagon flew over the +rough road like a patent baby-jumper. The bullets from the two rifles +passed through the wagon-cover immediately between the officers, but +did no damage; and almost instantly the Indians charged down upon them, +dividing into two parties, one going on each side, and delivering a +volley of arrows into the wagon as they rode by. + +Just as they darted past the mules, Hallowell cried out, "Cap., I'm +hit!" and turning around to look at him, Booth saw an arrow sticking in +his head above his right ear; his arm was still plying the whip, which +was going as unceasingly as the sails of a windmill, and his yelling +only stopped long enough to answer, "Not much," in response to Booth's +"Does it hurt?" as he grabbed the arrow and pulled it out of his head. + +The Indians by this time had passed on, and then, circling back, +prepared for another charge. + +Booth had already fired at them three or four times, but owing to +the distance, the jumping of the wagon, and the "unsteadiness of his +nerves," as he declared, the shots had not decreased to any material +extent the number of their assailants. + +Down came the red devils again, dividing as before, and delivering +another lot of arrows. Hallowell stopped yelling long enough to cry +out, "I'm hit again, Cap.!" + +Looking around, Booth saw an arrow sticking in Hallowell's head, +just over his left ear this time, and hanging down his back like an +ornament. He snatched it out, asked Hallowell if it hurt him, but +received the same answer as before--"No; not much." + +Both were yelling at the top of their voices, the mules were jerking +the wagon along at a fearful rate--frightened nearly out of their wits +at the sight of the Indians and the shouting and whipping of their +drivers. Booth, crawling to the back end of the wagon again and looking +out, saw the Indians moving across the trail, preparing for another +charge. One old fellow mounted on a black pony was jogging along in the +center of the road behind them, quite near, and evidently intent on +sending an arrow through the puckered hole of the wagon-sheet. As Booth +looked out, the Indian stopped his pony and let fly. Booth dodged back +sideways; the arrow sped on in its course, and came whizzing through +the hole and struck the black-walnut "lazy-back" of the seat, the head +sticking entirely through, the sudden checking causing the feathered +end to vibrate rapidly with a vro-o-o-ing sound. With a sudden blow +Booth struck it, breaking the shaft from the head, leaving the latter +imbedded in the wood. + +As quick as he could, Booth rushed to the hole and fired at his aged +opponent, but failed to hit him. While he was trying to get another +shot at him, an arrow came flying from the left side, and struck him on +the inside of the elbow, hitting the nerve or "crazy-bone," which so +benumbed his hand and arm that he could not hold on to his revolver, +and it dropped from his hand to the road with one load still in its +chamber. Just then the mules gave an extra jump, which nearly jerked +the wagon from under him, and he fell on the end-gate, evenly balanced, +with his hands sprawling outside, attempting to clutch at something to +save himself. + +At this the Indians gave a terrible yell--of exultation, probably, +supposing Booth was going to fall out; but he didn't. He caught hold of +one of the wagon-bows and pulled himself in again, terribly scared. It +was a "close call" and no mistake! + +While all this was going on, Hallowell had not been neglected by the +incarnate fiends; about a dozen of them had devoted their time and +attention to him, but he had not flinched. Just as Booth had regained +his equilibrium and drawn the second revolver from his holster, +Hallowell yelled, "Right off to the right, Cap.--quick!" + +Booth tumbled over the back of the seat, clutching at a bow to steady +himself, and "right off to the right" was an Indian just letting fly at +Hallowell. The arrow struck the side of the wagon; Booth at the instant +fired at the Indian, missed him of course--but he was badly scared, and +throwing himself on the opposite side of his pony, scooted off over the +prairie. + +Back over the seat Booth piled again to guard the rear, where he found +a young buck riding close behind and to the right of the wagon, his +pony following the trail made by the ox-drivers in walking beside their +teams. Putting his arm around one of the wagon-bows, to prevent being +jerked out, Booth quickly stuck his revolver through the hole; but +before he could fire, the Indian flopped over on the side of his pony, +and all that could be seen of him was his arm around the pony's neck, +and from the knee down, one leg. Booth did not fire, but waited for +him to come up--he could almost hit the pony's head with his hand, so +closely was he running. He struck at it several times, but the Indian +kept him close up by whipping him on the opposite side of his neck. +Presently the Indian's arm began to work, and Booth looking saw that he +had fixed an arrow in his bow behind the pony's shoulder, and was just +on the point of shooting at him, with the head of the arrow not three +feet from his breast as he leaned out of the hole in the wagon-sheet. +Booth struck frantically at the arrow and dodged back into the wagon. +Up came the Indian, but Booth went out again, for he realized that the +Indian had to be gotten away from there, as he would make trouble. +Whenever Booth went out, down went the Indian; up he rose in a moment +again, but Booth fearing to risk himself with his head and breast +exposed at this game of "hide-and-seek," drew back as the Indian went +down the third time, and in a second up he came again--but this was +once too often. Booth had only gotten partly in and had not dropped his +revolver, and as the Indian rose, instinctively, and without taking +aim, fired. + +The ball struck the Indian in the left nipple (he was naked to the +waist), the blood spurted out of the wound almost to the wagon, his +bow and arrow and lariat-rope dropped, he fell back on the pony's +rump and rolled from there heavily onto the ground, where, after a +convulsive straightening of his legs and a characteristic "Ugh!" he lay +as quiet as a stone. + +"I've killed one of them, Hallowell!" yelled out Booth, as the Indian +tumbled off his pony. + +"Bully for you!" came back the response; and then he continued his +shouting, and the blows of that tireless whip fell incessantly upon the +mules. + +All the Indians that were in the rear and saw the young warrior fall, +rode up to him, circling around his dead body, uttering the most +unearthly yells,--but different from anything they had given vent to +before. + +Hallowell, from his cramped position in front, noticed the change in +their tone, and asked, "What are they doing now, Cap.?" + +Booth explained to him, and Hallowell's response was more vociferous +yelling and harder blows upon the poor galloping mules. + +Booth was still sitting on the cracker-box, watching the maneuvers of +the Indians, when suddenly Hallowell sang out, "Right off to the right, +Cap.--quick!" which startled him, and whirling around instantly, he +saw an Indian within three feet of the wagon, with his bow and arrow +almost ready to shoot. There was no time to get over the seat, and as +he could not fire by Hallowell, he cried out, "Hit him with the whip! +Hit him with the whip!" The lieutenant, suiting the action to the word, +simply diverted one of the blows intended for the mules, and struck the +Indian fair across the face. + +The whip had a knot on the end of it to keep it from unraveling, and +this knot must have hit the Indian in the eye, for he dropped his bow, +put his hands up to his face, rubbed his eyes, and digging his heel +into the left side of his pony, was soon out of reach of a revolver, +but nevertheless he was given a parting shot--a sort of salute, for it +was harmless. + +A terrific yell from the rear at this moment caused Booth to look +around, and Hallowell to inquire, "What's the matter now?" "They are +coming down upon us like lightning!" replied Booth; and sure enough, +those who had been prancing around their dead comrade were coming +toward the wagon like a whirlwind, and with a whoop more deafening and +hideous than any that had preceded it. + +Hallowell yelled louder than ever and lashed the mules more furiously +still, but the Indians gained on them as easily as a blooded racer on +a common farm plug. Separating as before, and passing on each side of +the wagon, the Indians delivered another volley as they charged by. + +As this charge was made, Booth drew away from the hole in the rear of +the wagon-cover and turned his seat toward the Indians, but forgot in +the moment of excitement that, in the manner that he was sitting, his +back pressed against the sheet, his body probably plainly outlined on +the outside. + +When the Indians rushed by and delivered their storm of arrows, +Hallowell cried out, "I'm hit again, Cap.!" and Booth, in turning +around to go to his relief, felt something pulling at him. Glancing +over his left shoulder to learn the cause of his trouble, he discovered +an arrow sticking into him and out through the wagon-sheet. With a jerk +of his body he tore it loose, and going to Hallowell, asked, "Where are +you hit now?" "In the back," he answered; where on looking Booth saw +an arrow sticking, the shaft extending under the "lazy-back" of the +seat. Taking hold of it, he gave it a pull, but Hallowell squirmed so +that he desisted. "Pull it out! Pull it out!" he cried. Booth thereupon +took hold of it again, and, giving a jerk or two, out it came. He was +thoroughly frightened as he saw it leave the lieutenant's body, for it +seemed to have entered at least six inches, and looked as if it must +have made a dangerous wound; but Hallowell did not cease belaboring the +mules, and his yells, accompanied by the blows, rang out as clear as +before. + +After pulling out the arrow, Booth turned again to the opening at the +rear of the wagon, to see what new tricks the miscreants were up to, +when Hallowell yelled again, "Right off to the left, Cap.--quick!" + +Rushing to the front of the wagon as soon as possible, Booth saw an +Indian in the act of shooting at the lieutenant from the left side, and +about ten feet away. The last revolver was empty, but something had to +be done at once; so, leveling the weapon at him, Booth yelled, "Bang! +you son-of-a-gun!" + +Down went the Indian; rap, rap, went his knees against his pony's +sides, and away he flew over the prairie. + +Back over the seat Booth tumbled, and began to load his revolver. The +cartridges they had in those days were the old-fashioned paper kind, +and biting off the end of one he would endeavor to pour the powder into +the chamber, but the wagon was tumbling from side to side and jumping +up and down as it flew over the rough trail, and more of the powder +went into the bottom of the wagon than into the revolver. + +Just as he was inserting a ball in the chamber, Hallowell cried out +again, "Right off to the left, Cap.--quick!" Over the seat Booth went +once more, and there was another Indian, with his bow and arrow in +his hand, all ready to plug the lieutenant. Pointing his revolver at +him, Booth yelled as he had at the other, but the Indian had evidently +noticed the failure to fire at the first, and concluded that there were +no more loads left; so, instead of taking a hasty departure as his +comrade had done, he grinned a demoniacal grin and endeavored to fix +the arrow into his bow. + +Thoroughly frightened now at the aspect things were assuming, Booth +rose up in the wagon, and grasping hold of a bow with his left hand, +seized the revolver by the muzzle, and with all the force he could +muster, hurled it at the impudent brute. It was a new Remington octagon +barrel, with sharp corners, and when it was thrown turned in the air, +striking the Indian, muzzle first, on the ribs, cutting a long gash. + +"Ugh!" grunted the Indian, and dropping his long spear and bow, he +flung himself over the side of the pony, and away he went over the +prairie, to bother them no more. + +Only the one revolver left now, and that empty, and the Indians still +howling around the apparently doomed men like so many demons. + +After he had driven the Indian off, Booth fell over the seat, picked up +the empty revolver and attempted to load; but before he could bite off +a cartridge, Hallowell yelled again, "I'm hit again, Cap.!" + +"Where are you hit now?" asked the gallant captain. + +"In the hand," replied Hallowell. + +Looking around, Booth saw his right arm was plying the whip to the now +laggard mules, and sticking through the fleshy part of his thumb was an +arrow, which was flopping up and down as his arm rose and fell in its +ceaseless and evidently tireless efforts to keep up the speed of the +almost exhausted animals. + +"Let me pull it out," said Booth. + +"No, never mind," said Hallowell; "can't stop, can't stop"--and up and +down went his arm, and flip-flap went the arrow with it, until finally +it tore through the flesh and fell to the ground. + +Along they bowled, the Indians yelling and the occupants of the wagon +defiantly answering them, while Booth was still making a desperate but +vain effort to load the revolver. In a few moments Hallowell shouted, +"They are crowding the mules into the sunflowers!" + +Along the sides of the trail huge sunflowers had grown the previous +summer, and now their dry stalks stood as thick as a canebrake, and if +the wagon once got among them the mules could not keep up their gallop, +and would soon be compelled to stop. + +The Indians seemed to realize this fact, and one huge fellow kept +riding beside the off mule and throwing his spear at him and then +jerking it back with the thong, one end of which was fastened to his +wrist, the other to the shaft of the spear. The mule on the side next +the Indian was jumping frantically and pushing the near mule from the +road. + +Stepping out on the footboard, and holding a bow with one hand, Booth +commenced kicking the mule vigorously. Hallowell, meanwhile, was +pulling on one line, whipping and yelling; so together they forced the +animals back into the trail, and away they shot at the top of their +speed. + +The Indian kept close to the mules, and Booth made several attempts +to scare him by pointing his revolver at him; but he would not scare, +so he threw it at him. It missed the Indian, but struck the pony just +behind the rider's leg, which started the latter off over the prairie, +thus removing the immediate peril from that source. + +They were now absolutely without firearms--nothing left but their +sabers and valises; and the Indians, soon learning that there were no +more shots to be fired, came closer and closer. + +In turn the two sabers were thrown at them, as they came almost within +striking distance; then followed the scabbards after the yelling +fiends, as they surrounded the wagon. Some rode immediately in front +of the mules, impeding their progress with the most infernal noises +and attempts to spear them (the Indians having evidently exhausted all +their arrows)--and the camp on the Walnut still a mile and a half away. + +There was nothing left for our luckless travelers to do but whip and +kick the mules and yell, all of which they did most lustily--Hallowell +sitting as immovable as a sphinx, except his right arm, which from the +time he had started had not ceased, and Booth kicking the poor animals +and shouting in concert with their importunate foe. Looking casually +over the seat, Booth saw twelve or fifteen Indians coming up behind, +with their spears all unstrung and ready for action, and he felt that +something must be done, and that right speedily, to divert them; for +if these were added to the number already surrounding the wagon, the +chances were they would succeed in forcing the mules from the trail, +and the end of the tragedy would soon come. + +Glancing around the bottom of the wagon, in his despair, for some +kind of weapon with which to resist them, Booth's eye rested upon the +valises containing the dress suits, and snatching his, threw it out, +while his pursuers were yet some four or five rods behind. The Indians +noticed these new tricks with a yell of apparent satisfaction, and as +soon as they reached the valise they all dismounted, and one of them +grabbed it by the two handles and attempted to open it; failing in +this, another drew a long knife from under his blanket, and, ripping up +one side, thrust in his hand and pulled out a sash, and began winding +it around his head (as a negro woman winds a bandana), letting the +tassels hang down his back. + +While he was thus amusing himself, another had pulled out a dress coat, +a third a pair of drawers, still another a shirt--all of which they +individually proceeded to put on, meanwhile dancing around and yelling. + +Booth reported to Hallowell how the sacrifice of his valise had +diverted the Indians, and said, "I'm going to throw out yours." + +"All right," he replied; "let her go; all we want is time." So out it +went, and shared the same fate as the other. + +As long as the Indians were busy helping themselves to the wardrobes +contained in the two valises, they were not bothering the mules, and as +Hallowell had said, "all they wanted was time." + +But while the diversion was going on in the rear, the devils on each +side and front were still attempting to force the mules from the road +by rushing at them and yelling, and brandishing their spears; none +of them had as yet tried to kill them, evidently thinking they could +wound the two officers and secure them alive--a prize too valuable for +an Indian to lose. But as they were now drawing near the creek, on +the opposite bank of which the camp was situated, and the chance of +escape grew brighter, one miserable cut-throat of the band apparently +conceived the idea of killing one of the mules, for he charged down +on the wagon, rode close up to one, and discharging his arrow at him, +struck him on the fore leg, severing a small artery, from which the +blood spurted by jerks. The mules had no blinds on their bridles, and +the one hurt, seeing the blood, became so frightened that he gave a +terrific jump and started off at a break-neck gait, dragging the other +mule and the wagon after him; so all the occupants had now to do was to +pound and kick the uninjured one to make him keep up. + +This fresh spurt of speed had carried them away from the Indians, but +Booth and Hallowell knew that the animals could not continue it, and +they became convinced that the Indians now meant to kill one or both of +the mules in order to stop them. + +The lull caused by the mules outstripping the Indians gave our almost +despairing heroes time to talk the matter over. + +Hallowell said he did not propose to be captured and taken to Medicine +Lodge creek, or some other place, and then butchered or burned at the +leisure of the Indians. He said to Booth, "If they kill a mule and we +stop, let's kick, strike, throw clods or anything, and compel them to +kill us on the spot." So they agreed, if worst came to worst, to stand +back to back and fight them off. + +This may seem overdrawn to many of our readers of to-day; but if they +have ever seen the remains of men and women hacked and mutilated, as +the writer has, and realize as fully as the occupants of the little +wagon did that such a fate awaited them in the event of capture, +they too would have courted death sudden, certain, and immediate, in +preference to that other, more remote but just as sure, and far more +terrible. + +During the discussion of the situation by Booth and Hallowell, the +speed of the mules had slackened but little; the arm of the latter +still plied that effective lash, and they drew perceptibly nearer the +camp, where there were men enough to rescue them if they could only be +made aware of their situation; and as they caught the first glimpse +of the tents of the officers and dugouts of the men, hope sprang up +within them, and life, hanging as it were by a slender cord, seemed +more precious than ever. In the hope of arousing and attracting the +attention of some of the soldiers, they again commenced yelling at the +top of their voices; the mules were panting like hounds on the chase; +wherever the harness touched them it was white with lather, and they +could not keep on their feet much longer. + +Would they hold out until the bridge was reached, provided they escaped +the spears of the Indians? The whipping and kicking had little effect +on them now; they still continued in their gallop, but it was slower +and more labored than before, and as the Indians fell back to make +fresh charges, the mules also slackened their gait, and it became +almost impossible to accelerate their motion. + +Hallowell kept his whip going mechanically, and Booth continued his +attention to the little near mule with his foot; but the worn-out +animals began to evince unmistakable signs of breaking down, and +longing eyes were turned toward the camp, now so near. + +Though the Indians who had torn open the satchels had not come up, and +did not seem inclined to further continue the fight, there was still a +sufficient number of the fiends pursuing to make it interesting; but +they could not succeed in spearing the mules, as at each attempt the +plucky animals would jump sideways or forward and evade the impending +blow. + +One gigantic fellow followed them with a determination and valor worthy +of a better cause, the others seeming now to have almost abandoned the +idea of capturing either men or animals; but this persistent warrior +was in all probability related to the young "buck" Booth had killed, +and was thirsting for revenge. At any rate, he was loth to give up the +chase, and followed the wagon to within a few rods of the bridge, long +after the other Indians had fallen back entirely. + +The little log bridge was now reached; their pursuers had all +retreated, but the valorous Hallowell kept the mules at the same +galloping gait. This bridge was constructed of half-round logs, and of +course was extremely rough. The wagon bounded up and down enough to +shake the teeth out of one's head, as the mules went flying over the +rude structure. Booth cried out to Hallowell, "No need to drive so fast +now--the Indians have all left;" but he answered: + +"I ain't going to stop until I get across," and down came the whip, on +sped the mules, not breaking their gallop until they pulled up in front +of Capt. Conkey's tent. Booth could not stand the fearful bounding of +the wagon as it rolled across the bridge, so he crawled out behind and +walked up to the quarters. + +The rattling of the wagon on the bridge was the first intimation the +command had of its returning. The sentinel on the post had been walking +his beat on the east side of the long stockade stable to keep out of +the cold northwest wind, and had heard nothing of the yelling and +talking until they struck the bridge, when he came around the stable, +saw the wagon and two or three of the Indians behind, fired his +carbine, and thus aroused the camp. + +The officers came running out of their tents, the men poured out of +their dugouts like a lot of ants, and the wagon and its occupants were +soon surrounded by their friends. Capt. Conkey ordered the bugler to +sound "boots and saddles," and in less than ten minutes ninety troopers +were mounted, and, with the Captain at their head, started after the +Indians. + +Lieut. Hallowell reached the line of officers' tents before Booth, +and as the latter came up was attempting to rise so as to get out; +but each effort only resulted in his falling back. It was thought at +first his wounds were the cause, but when asked, "What's the matter? +Can't you get out?" replied, "I don't know. I seem to get up only so +far." Some one stepped around to the other side to assist him, when +it was discovered that the skirt of his overcoat had worked outside +the wagon-sheet and hung over the edge, and that three or four of the +arrows fired by the Indians had struck the side of the wagon, and +passing through the flap of his coat, had pinned him down. Booth pulled +the arrows out and helped him up. He was pretty stiff from sitting in +his cramped position so long, and his right arm dropped to his side as +if struck with paralysis. + +While Hallowell walked into Capt. Conkey's tent, assisted by the +adjutant and quartermaster, some of the soldiers unhitched the poor +mules and led them to the corral. On examining the inside of the wagon, +twenty-two arrows were found lying in the bottom, innumerable holes +through the sheet made by the passage of arrows, besides two from +bullets, and the outside of the bed was scarred from one end to the +other. + +Booth stood looking on while Hallowell's wounds were being dressed, +when the adjutant said, "What makes you shrug your shoulders so, +Captain?" Booth replied that he "did not know; something caused it to +smart." The adjutant looked, and said, "Well, I should think it _would_ +smart!--here is an arrow-head sticking into it;" and he tried to pull +it out, but it would not come. Capt. Goldsborough then attempted it, +but was no more successful than the adjutant. The doctor told them to +let it alone and he would take care of it after he had finished with +Hallowell, which he soon did, and with his lance cut it out. The point +of the arrow had struck the thick part of the shoulder-blade and made +two complete turns, wrapping around the muscles, which had to be cut +apart before it could be withdrawn. + +Both of the principals in the terrible ride were soon attended to +and made as comfortable as possible. Booth was not seriously hurt. +Hallowell, however, had received two severe wounds: the arrow that had +struck in his back penetrated almost to his kidneys, and the wound in +his thumb was very painful, caused not so much by the simple contact +of the arrow, as the tearing away of the muscles by the shaft while he +was whipping the mules; his right arm, too, was swollen fearfully, and +became stiff, from the incessant use of it during his drive, and for +nearly a month he required help in dressing and undressing. The mules, +the veritable saviors of our heroes, were of little account after their +memorable trip;--they remained stiff and sore from the rough road and +their continued forced speed. Booth and Hallowell went out the next +morning to take a look at them as they hobbled around the corral, and +from the bottom of their hearts wished them "green fields and pastures +new." + +About half an hour after the little wagon had returned to Capt. +Conkey's camp, a portion of the escort which had been sent out in +advance in the morning came galloping up, and from them the following +was learned in relation to their movements: + +They had started early, as ordered the night before, and moved out +on a brisk walk toward Fort Larned. There were plenty of buffalo on +the north side of the trail, and they saw no signs of Indians except +the absence of buffalo near the river. They kept looking back, and +slackened their gait somewhat after getting out four or five miles, +to enable the wagon to catch up; and after they had proceeded about +a mile beyond the point where the Indians made their first attack, +and the wagon had been turned toward the camp, one of the lieutenants +said to the other that they were getting too far ahead of the Captain, +and suggested the propriety of halting; but Van Antwerp, who was in +command, thought it better to leave a part of the company at that spot +to wait. Accordingly, a corporal and fifteen men were detailed to +remain there until the wagon should arrive, and the remainder moved on +toward the fort. + +The squad that had been detailed remained beside the trail for half an +hour or so, when, becoming chilled, the corporal took them toward the +river into a ravine that sheltered both men and horses from the cold +northwest wind. There they remained some time, when the corporal, +becoming anxious, sent one of the men up the trail to see if the wagon +was coming, but he soon returned, reporting nothing in sight. Waiting a +few minutes longer, he sent out another man, who on returning reported +that the wagon was coming, and had an escort. This last man had seen +them a long way off while the Indians were chasing them, and supposed +they were an escorting party--which was correct in one sense, but not +as he thought and reported. + +Remaining in the ravine until the corporal supposed the wagon had +arrived nearly opposite, he moved out his squad on the trail, but +seeing no wagon, and suspecting something had happened, started his +party toward the camp on Walnut creek. They had proceeded but a short +distance when one of his men cried out, "Here's an arrow!" Hardly were +the words out of his mouth before a second said, "Here's another!" They +knew now the reason why the wagon had not come up, and the corporal +gave the command to gallop, and away they flew toward the camp. As they +successively passed by the empty valises and the innumerable arrows on +the trail, they fully realized what kind of an escort had accompanied +the little wagon when the soldier had reported, "They are coming, and +have an escort." + +Capt. Conkey's command returned about midnight. He had seen but one +Indian during the entire ride, and he was on the south side of the +river, in the sand-hills. + +[Illustration] + + + + +THE TRAGEDY AT TWIN MOUNDS. + +AN INCIDENT OF THE INDIAN WAR OF 1866-'67. + + +[Illustration: SUSIE RÉAUME.] + +The highest points of the divide separating the beautiful valley of +the Saline from the Elkhorn, in central Kansas, are two relatively +elevated peaks, close together, known all over the region as the Twin +Mounds. They can be seen from anywhere within a radius of thirty miles, +cutting the deep blue of the sky on clear days as sharply as a summer +thunder-cloud. In their contour they are so exactly similar, even to +two white patches of limestone on their southwestern slopes, that +their name would immediately suggest itself to a stranger, for never +were twins born so perfect in resemblance as these dual masses of +disrupted rock. + +Under their conical shadow runs the trail of the Mormon hegira to +far-off Deseret, when that sect was driven out of Illinois; and +also that of General John C. Frémont, on his memorable "Exploring +Expedition" across the continent in 1843. Until very recently, when it +was ruthlessly cut down, there stood in the valley, on the bank of the +Elkhorn, immediately below the mounds, a large oak tree, at the foot of +which the General caused that mutineer to be shot, the circumstances of +which are related in his itinerary of that wonderful march. + +But that was nearly a quarter of a century before the occurrence of +the events to be related in this story; and they date back nearly the +same length of time from the present. Both trails may still be seen +in places where the land has not yet been subordinated to the plow; +almost obliterated wagon-tracks in the short buffalo-grass covering +that portion of the prairie through which the expedition passed, which +each recurring season grow dimmer, and in a few more years will have +vanished forever. + +The valleys of the Elkhorn and the Saline were heavily timbered--are +to-day, relatively. They were a favorite haunt of the Indians; and +elk, buffalo, bear, and an occasional panther sought the rocky and +vine-involved recesses of the primitive forest. + +But the savage and the beasts of the plain have passed away. Now the +land is full of harvests and green meads. Yet the Indian summer now +as then wraps the hills in its mellow tints; the grass grows brown +and rusty as each autumn fills its measure, and the days, as in the +long-ago, are as grand as the golden sunshine of that incomparable +season of the Great Plains ever lighted up; the mirage, as of old, +weaves its fantastic forms out of the charming landscape, and under +certain atmospheric conditions a man on top of one of the Twin Mounds +will appear, as does the specter of the Brocken, like a huge giant in +mid-air. + +When Fort Harker, on the Smoky Hill, about fifteen miles south of +the Twin Mounds, was established as a military post by Gen. Hancock +in the fall of 1866, the whole vast area of central Kansas was the +hunting-ground of the cruel and bloodthirsty Cheyennes, Arapahoes, and +Kiowas. Their opposition to the intrusion of the whites manifested +itself at every opportunity where it was possible to murder or carry +into captivity. The empire of the plow had just then dawned, and the +march of the homesteader but fairly begun. The satanic genius of Indian +hatred brooded over the beautiful landscape, and the harvest of the +unlabored fields was blood. + +It is true a few hardy trappers had for years roamed over the prairies +and camped temporarily on the banks of the wooded streams, but there +was no attempt at permanent settlement except in the immediate vicinity +of the several forts; but they were established only from time to time +at remote distances from each other, generally on the line of the +Oregon and Santa Fé trail, under the protection of which it was alone +safe to remain in the country. + +About the time the site for the new post of Fort Harker had been +determined upon, and troops--the Fifteenth Infantry and Gen. Custer's +Seventh Cavalry--were camped on the grassy bottoms of the river and +creeks in the vicinity, waiting for their permanent quarters to be +erected, a bold and persistent frontiersman named Paul Réaume, who had +been a pioneer in the wilds of Wisconsin twenty years before, emigrated +from that State to Kansas. + +After looking around for some time, visiting all the inviting +localities of the new commonwealth, in decided opposition to the advice +of the military authorities at Fort Harker and the commanding general +of the department he took up a "claim" and established a ranch at a +magnificent spring a few hundred rods north of the base of the Twin +Mounds. + +Réaume was a widower, but his eldest daughter, Susie--dark-haired, +rather handsome, and withal a modest, gentle girl of eighteen--kept +house and acted the rôle of mother to her four young sisters and +brothers, who loved and obeyed her with all the intensity of their warm +natures, (Réaume was French but one generation removed,) which she +reciprocated in an equal degree. They were a charming little family, of +more means and greater refinement than are usually found in the average +pioneer immigrant. + +The fertile valley stretching many miles north and south afforded a +rich pasturage, and the relatively deep woods on the margin of the +Elkhorn a splendid shelter in winter for the herd of cattle that Réaume +had driven from his old home. So he built as his needs required a +comfortable log house and spacious corrals, where with an abundance +of game all around him, from the trim-feathered quail to the huge +shaggy-coated buffalo, he settled down to a life of rude contentment. + +Of the many Government scouts at Fort Harker, among whom were William +F. Cody ("Buffalo Bill"), William Hickok ("Wild Bill") and others, +was Jack Hart. Hart was a young light-haired boy, not more than +twenty-three years old. He was fairly well educated, neither slangy nor +dialectic in expression of thought; courageous as a lion, and endowed +with a degree of endurance under hardships incident to his vocation +that was marvelous in its contemplation by a novice. Jack was a +remarkably fine shot with either rifle or revolver. He could toss up an +empty oyster can and put every ball out of his two Colts into it before +it fell to the ground, and either "crease" or center the heart of an +antelope at five hundred yards, as he might elect. + +[Illustration: SITTING BULL, CROW EAGLE, BUFFALO BILL.] + +He was as keen on the trail as any Indian, whose original astuteness +and strategy he had mastered, and was the superior of the savage, as +is any white man when once thoroughly familiar with their cunning. +Besides, in that quick perception and determination so essential to +success in the moment of danger, when dealing with the wily nomad of +the Plains, Hart was unequaled by any other scout I ever knew, and I +have intimately known all who have figured at all conspicuously during +the past thirty-five years. + +Jack was a great favorite with all the officers at the military posts +in the whole Department of the Missouri; had their entire confidence, +and when any duty in his line became necessary requiring exceptional +bravery, judgment and promptness in its execution, Hart was invariably +detailed, if present, to perform it. + +One day in April, 1867, as he was returning from the Platte river to +Fort Harker with a company of the Fifth Calvary he was guiding to the +post, they halted at the spring where Réaume had established his ranch, +to feed the horses, rest and water. Then for the first time in his life +Jack saw Susie Réaume, who was cheerfully preparing an excellent dinner +in her father's modest cabin for the officers of the command, who had +politely requested of her something to eat. + +It was the same old story of mutual love, the moment their eyes met; +and ever after that memorable noon halt, when Hart had a day off he +would mount his own roan broncho Tatonka, ride across the country to +the Twin Mounds, and pour out his heart's thoughts to the gentle and +confiding Susie, who before a month had elapsed promised to be his wife. + +"There's no chaplain at the post now," said he, one evening after +they were engaged, as they were sitting on the porch of her father's +cabin in the bright moonlight, discussing plans for the future and +building those airy castles in space as lovers are wont; "but I heard +from the adjutant yesterday that one had been ordered to Harker from +Fort Leavenworth, under an escort of a squadron of the Fifth Cavalry. +They will be up in a couple of weeks, and when he arrives we will get +married immediately. Eh! darling?" pleadingly continued Jack. + +Susie blushingly assented to Hart's importunity, and then he told her +that he had saved enough to stock a ranch and build a house; that he +proposed to leave the Government employ as soon as they were married, +take up a "claim" on the Elkhorn near her father's, so that he would +not be separated from her at all, or she from her family. Then Jack, +after cautioning Réaume, who had long before given his consent to the +proposed match, to keep a sharp lookout for Indians, started about +midnight on his lonely ride back to Fort Harker, where he was obliged +to be early the next morning. + +Jack arrived at the post long before daylight, and went to bed. When he +reported to the commanding officer the next morning immediately after +guard-mount, he found himself (much to his disgust, now that he was in +love) ordered to guide a scouting-party composed of four companies of +the Seventh Cavalry, commanded by Col. Keogh, to the region of Pawnee +Rock and the Great Bend of the Arkansas, seventy miles to the southwest +of Harker, where the Kiowas, under the leadership of the dreaded Chief +Sa-tan-ta, had been for the past fortnight successfully raiding the +overland coaches and the freight caravans to New Mexico. + +[Illustration: SA-TAN-TA.] + +The command to which Hart was attached remained away, having occasional +brushes with the Indians, for several weeks. During its absence the +allied tribes had become excessively impudent and threatening. They +culminated their atrocities in a most fiendish and cruel massacre of +the settlers on Spillman creek, upon the receipt of the news of which +the Government determined to inaugurate an extended campaign against +them, in which Gen. Sheridan was to take the field in person, with such +famous Indian-fighters for his lieutenants as Gens. Sully, Custer, +Carr, and others. Consequently all the scouting-parties were called in +to their respective stations by courier, to prepare for the impending +great conflict. + +Of course, the moment Hart returned to Fort Harker he made preparations +to leave for the ranch at Twin Mounds and the girl who had so +photographed herself on the tablets of his memory. It was early the +next morning after his arrival at the post; he had shaved, put on a new +suit purchased from the sutler, and otherwise made himself presentable +after his long scout. But he had hardly cinched the saddle on Tatonka +before an orderly came to the corral and informed him that the +commanding officer desired his presence at once. So Jack, with terribly +depressed feelings and mentally cursing his luck, mounted his horse +and rode slowly up to headquarters, where he found the General standing +on the porch waiting to receive him. + +"Jack," said he, as the scout dismounted, "I'm awfully sorry to be +compelled to call upon you to make another trip right away, when you +have just returned from such a long one, but the fact is there's not +another scout at the post; they are all away. I want you to start +immediately for the Saline. Part of the Fifth Cavalry are _en route_ +from Fort Saunders here, and will probably reach the ford northwest of +Fort Hays sometime to-day. It is now only six o'clock," looking at his +watch; "you can reach there as soon as they do--before, if you start +now. So go at once and guide them in. They don't know anything about +that country on the river. You remember how terribly broken it is out +there. Here are some dispatches you are to give to whomever you find in +command;" and he handed the scout a small package of papers. + +"All right, sir," replied Hart, as he put the bundle in the +breast-pocket of his flannel shirt; "I'm off now, as soon as I go to my +quarters for my saddlebags and carbine." + +With a sad heart as he cast his eyes on the blue cones of the Twin +Mounds, looming up so suggestively of the ranch at their base, Jack +left the post in a few minutes after his interview with Gen. Sully, +fully mindful of the responsible duty intrusted to him. Hart made +excellent time. He was anxious to get back as soon as possible. By two +o'clock he had crossed the Saline, and when about three miles the other +side of where the handsome little village of Sylvan to-day nestles so +picturesquely in the wealth of woods surrounding, he met the troops, to +whose commander he reported, and delivered his dispatches. He turned +with them to the river, where, as it was now past three, the command +went into camp for the night. + +After grazing Tatonka for half an hour, feeding him some corn, and +eating his own dinner, the thought suddenly struck Jack to ask +permission to go over to the ranch at the foot of the Twin Mounds, +whose dual peaks were plainly visible only fifteen miles away to the +southeast as the crow flies. The colonel cordially granted Jack's +request. He promised to join the column on the trail early in the +morning before it had marched any great distance; then, at the +commanding officer's suggestion, Jack drew in the sand with his finger +a rough map of the route to Fort Harker, supplementing it by pointing +out certain divides and ledges of rock that could plainly be seen on +the trail from where the colonel and the scout stood. + +When Jack had finished he left the camp for the spot where he had given +his heart more than two months before, his soul filled with rapture at +the prospect of soon meeting again the gentle girl he loved. + +His horse was a medium-sized broncho, full of power and endurance, +which he knew could easily make Réaume's ranch in three hours. That +would bring him there about seven o'clock, in time for supper, and +more than an hour and a half before dark. So he struck a bee-line for +the Mounds, his feelings better imagined than described; an ecstasy +indefinable except to those whose experience has been similar to that +of the overhappy scout. + +The sun was just sinking below the horizon when Jack arrived at the +Elkhorn, in the immediate vicinity of the ranch. A flood of golden +light poured into the beautiful little valley as he crossed the ford +and entered the circular grove, in the middle of which Réaume had +built his log cabin and corrals. As he rode toward the place where the +cluster of rude huts should be, his eyes, which were ordinarily as keen +and as bright as an eagle's, suddenly filled, for he looked upon a +scene that caused his bronzed cheeks to blanch and an exclamation of +horror to escape his lips. The cabin was roofless, and the green timber +composing its sides and ends was still slowly burning. + +"Cheyennes!" he muttered with set teeth, as he unslung his carbine, +spurred his horse forward, while a prayer for the safety of the girl he +loved was formulated in his brain. When he reached the opening where +the once happy home was so picturesquely located he drew up on the +reins, and as Tatonka stopped a deep groan escaped Jack. Lying under +the mighty trees, close to the ruins of the cabin, were the scalped and +mutilated remains of Réaume and his four youngest children. + +But where was Susie, the woman he loved? Dazed and stupefied for a +moment, Jack began to search for her body. She was not with the rest +of the murdered family. "Oh, my God!" he cried in his agony, "has she +been saved for a fate worse than death! Carried off a miserable captive +among the soulless savages? Great God, no! I cannot think of it. Sooner +would I see her here dead with the others!" + +Although almost overcome with grief, and furious with passion as these +thoughts, so terrible in their contemplation, crowded thick upon his +brain, he was determined not to lose his self-control. Pausing for a +moment, cautiously looking around to assure himself that none of the +paint-bedaubed fiends were lurking in the timber, he dismounted, tied +his horse to an oak sapling, walked to where his dead friends lay, +and silently contemplated the horrid butchery. He dared not think of +the probable fate of the faithful young girl who had promised to be +his wife, but he uttered bitter curses against the demons who had +so wantonly, and without the slightest provocation, annihilated the +peaceful little family. He swore to himself that he would have ten +lives for one, in his determined revenge. He turned away, sick at +heart, from these victims of Indian hatred, and walked slowly toward +the spring to quench his feverish thirst and to collect his dazed ideas. + +It was six or seven rods from where the cabin had stood to the wall +of rock in the hillside out of which the water gushed, and it was +completely hidden by a dense growth of cottonwoods, willows and elders, +covering more than an acre. As he approached the edge of this tangled +thicket, a low moan reached his ear; whether animal or human, so faint +was it, he could not distinguish. + +Stopping for an instant, every sense on the alert, he cocked his +carbine, and listened attentively. The strange sound was repeated. +He moved cautiously on the narrow trail. Then suddenly as he arrived +at the spring, which made quite a pool as it fell from a shelf of +sandstone, with a cry of horror from his lips he saw prone on the +ground, her pale mouth just touching the water's edge as it flowed in a +diminutive rivulet, the apparently lifeless body of Susie Réaume. + +"Susie, my darling!" cried he, as he knelt reverently by her side and +kissed her forehead, for he believed her certainly dead. But the girl's +eyes opened as she felt the warm impress of his lips, and she looked +up into his anxious face with an unmistakable glance of recognition, +vainly essaying to speak. + +"Oh, Susie, are you seriously hurt? Tell me, if you can," he lovingly +pleaded, as he then for the first time noticed, with fear depicted on +his countenance, a pool of dried blood on the sod beneath her. + +After an evident struggle she laboredly gasped: "Yes--Jack--here," +touching her right side with her left hand, causing her much effort to +accomplish it. + +Jack at once commenced to unfasten her dress, but she instinctively +attempted to raise her arms to prevent him, while a delicate blush +spread over her pale face. + +"Susie, dear," said Jack, as he understood what her motion was intended +to convey to him, "there are no woman's hands here to do what under the +circumstances must be done; so, darling, let there be no false modesty. +I want to save you, and you want to live." + +Upon this appeal she made no more resistance, but her eyes closed, and +the glow of her maiden delicacy deepened, while Jack, with the most +sacred feelings, cut open her bodice with his sheath-knife and exposed +her virgin bosom to the evening breeze. On the right side, immediately +on a line with her shoulder, he discovered an ugly lance-wound, which +had bled so profusely that she had fainted, and was almost exhausted +when Jack found her. The wound had evidently stopped flowing some time +since, and fortunately the blade had not penetrated her lungs; at least +so thought Jack in his careful and gentle examination, determining the +matter from the fact that there was no hemorrhage from her mouth, and +he silently thanked God. + +It was now long after sundown. In the lingering twilight he carefully +washed the wound with water, using a portion of her skirt he had cut +off for the purpose. Completing this office, and binding on a wet +compress, Jack then moved her tenderly to a mat of soft buffalo-grass +near by, made a pillow of his saddle, and a covering for her out of his +saddle blanket, then busied himself in making her a cup of coffee, a +supply of which and a small pot he always carried with him. + +The coffee and some hardtack he had, revived the wounded girl very +materially, reduced the incipient fever which had set in, and permitted +her to fall into a gentle slumber; while Jack, under the brilliant +constellations of the incomparable June night, nursed her through its +silent watches. The poor fellow leaned patiently over her with looks of +the most tender solicitude, bathing her temples now and then with water +from the spring when she became the least restless, and occasionally +running his fingers through her dark ringlets with the fondness of a +young but constantly growing affection--for it was his first love, and +he had given his soul up to it with all the strength and weakness of +his passion. + +The sun, though not yet above the horizon of the valley, was just +gilding the crests of the Twin Mounds next morning when Susie awoke +with a glance of approving affection on Jack. Although she did not +speak, there is a language of looks which is sufficient for the +purposes of love. As he quietly kissed her he understood it perfectly, +and it filled his soul with joy. + +Jack then, after his ablutions at the spring, made a little fire, put +on his coffee-pot, which soon boiled, and while it was settling he +tenderly washed the wounded girl's face and placed a fresh compress on +the cruel hole in her side. + +After Susie had partaken of her frugal breakfast, she was able to +converse a few minutes. She expressed herself in words that were music +in Jack's ears, of the deepest gratitude and love for the care he had +bestowed upon her, assuring him that but for his opportune coming and +devotion, she would hours since have been dead. + +"Do you think, Susie, you could ride on my horse?" pleadingly inquired +Jack. "We could reach Fort Harker early in the afternoon, if you have +strength enough to sit in the saddle, and can bear the fatigue. I +am certain you need a doctor's care and a woman's nursing. Were it +possible to leave you here, I would make the post in three hours, and +bring back an ambulance for you. But that would require every minute +from now until four o'clock; and to compel you to remain here and alone +until I return, with the Indians perhaps hovering around, cannot be +thought of." + +Susie was now sitting up, leaning against the trunk of a big elm +to which Jack had carried her, in order that she might be more +comfortable; and in answer she said: + +"I think I am strong enough, Jack. I _must_ be. That is the only thing +that can be done. I haven't much fever now, and my wound hasn't bled +any since yesterday. Let's try, at least. I've lots of courage--you +know that--and I believe that I can make the trip." + +Jack then watered Tatonka, saddled him, and after tying him to a tree, +told Susie he would go up on the hill and make a reconnoissance before +they started; that he would be gone only about ten or fifteen minutes, +and not to worry during his absence. + +The sun was fairly above the horizon when Jack, with only his +sheath-knife, started for the bluffs above the creek bottom, where he +could see over the country for miles. He wanted to satisfy himself +whether there were any Indians skulking in the vicinity, as he dared +not take such desperate chances, handicapped with the helpless girl, as +he would if he were going to make the trip to Fort Harker alone. + +He had not forgotten his promise of the afternoon before, to join the +cavalry column and guide it to the post; consequently he was somewhat +disturbed at first. But when he left the colonel he of course never +imagined that such a fate had befallen Réaume's ranch and the girl Jack +loved. So the scout did not, when he considered the matter a moment, +weigh his duty in the scales of his affection. He would have sacrificed +place, friends and everything to save his affianced. What man would +blame him? + +He had just reached the second bottom above the creek and was emerging +from the heavy growth of timber out on the prairie at the foot of +the most southerly of the Twin Mounds, when he was confronted by a +monstrous she-panther, with three young ones not more than six weeks +old. Ordinarily, that animal of the _genus felis_ will not attack +man,--preferring, rather, to shrink from his presence, unless provoked +by wounds. But in this instance both Hart and the panther were face +to face on the edge of the woods before they were aware of the fact. +Which was the more surprised, the man or the beast, it would have been +difficult to determine. + +If there had been no little ones with her, in all probability the +panther would have incontinently bounded into the timber at the first +glance of Jack's eyes; but the presence of the kittens aroused +the maternal instinct for their safety. So, with a low growl and a +characteristic "spit" at him, she flew at the scout's breast, fastening +her great claws into his shoulders before he could draw his knife, and +they both fell by the sheer impetus of the cat's onset. + +Jack, unfortunately for himself at this juncture, had left his carbine +and revolvers with Susie. She could use them very effectually in case +of emergency, but she was too far away to be able to hear him if he +should call, and too weak to come if she could hear him. Now, his only +dependence for defense from the murderous attack of the ferocious beast +was his knife, but he was an expert in its use. + +They struggled fearfully, the infuriated animal endeavoring to +insert its teeth in the scout's throat, which luckily he succeeded +in preventing by the dexterous use of his knife. But in the awfully +unequal battle he was terribly cut by the sharp, active claws of the +enraged beast, and was bleeding profusely from more than a dozen wounds +already inflicted on his shoulders, legs and body. He had, fortunately, +been able to keep the cat's great paws off his face. + +At last, by one desperate effort Jack succeeded in giving a home thrust +in the region of the creature's heart, which ended the struggle; +luckily for him, too, for at that moment he swooned from loss of blood. +The panther loosened her hold--she was dead. + +This final effort of the scout occurred on the extreme edge of a +rocky shelf, whither both man and beast had been forced during their +desperate fight. Below this shelf, at a distance of only a few feet, +fortunately, the level prairie hugged the timber, the latter throwing a +deep shade over the spot. Into this grassy little place both Hart and +the panther fell--he insensible from loss of blood, with the lifeless +beast alongside him. + + * * * * * + +In the cavalry camp on the Saline the troopers were busily grooming +their horses at the picket-line. The captains of companies near by were +superintending this important duty, while the colonel, surrounded by +a group of officers, nearly all of whom were smoking their matutinal +pipes, stood in front of headquarters tent, drinking in the charming +landscape and delicious freshness of the early summer morning. +Suddenly, as his eyes happened to rest upon the double cones of the +Twin Mounds that loomed up blue and clearly defined in the coming light +from the east, he pointed in their direction with a field-glass he had +in his hand, and exclaimed: + +"Look, gentlemen, look! A mirage! a mirage!" + +Every one turned; and presently, while all were gazing with enchantment +on the strange phenomenon, far above the peaks, in the sky, but +inverted, two moving figures appeared, surrounded by that waving +purple mist characteristic of the mirage on the Great Plains. One of +the celestial apparitions was in the similitude of a man, the other +of a beast. Both were gigantic and exaggerated in outline; both were +grappling in a deadly struggle! + +[Illustration: THE MIRAGE.] + +Every soldier stopped his work to watch the curious picture suspended +in the heavens; some regarded it with a superstitious awe, thoroughly +frightened at the manifestation, which they never dreamed of as within +the range of possibilities. + +The colonel recognized the huge figure of the man in the clouds, +disproportioned as he was, to be the scout who had left him the +afternoon before, but what the beast was none of the men could make out. + +"Great Cæsar!" cried the colonel; "what a place for a battle, away up +there in the clouds! It reminds me of Lookout Mountain, when I was with +Hooker." + +Every one intently watched the strange combat, filled with excitement +at the novelty of the thing, until presently the figures appeared to +fall over an immense precipice and vanish, although they seemed to +disappear with an upward movement. Then there was nothing left but the +inverted mounds, the woods and the prairie of the wonderful mirage; it, +too, was all dispelled in a few moments more. + +The colonel turned to his adjutant and ordered "boots and saddles" +sounded at once. + +"For we must be off," said he, addressing the officers around him +generally. "Life may depend upon our promptness in reaching the scene +of that strange conflict." + +In less than a quarter of an hour the column had moved out, headed in +a "bee-line" for the Twin Mounds, every man in the whole command as +anxious as his comrade to reach the place, for all were excited over +what they had witnessed. + +It required four hours of brisk marching before they arrived on the +plateau at the base of the Mounds, and by that time it was past eleven +o'clock, and intensely hot. The command halted there, while the +colonel, the adjutant, the surgeon, several other officers and a detail +of five enlisted men instituted a search for the missing scout. + +In a little while they found the bodies of Hart and the panther close +together, lying in the shade of the huge oaks, where they had fallen +in their last struggle, and when they had disappeared to those who had +watched the combat from their camp on the Saline. + +Upon examination, the surgeon discovered that the scout was alive, but +terribly lacerated by the sharp claws and teeth of the panther, as well +as badly bruised in consequence of his fall from the ledge of rocks, +though no bones were broken, nor were any of his wounds necessarily +serious. He had merely become insensible from loss of blood and +exhaustion incident to the awful struggle. The doctor placed a flask of +brandy to the unconscious man's mouth, which he pried open with Jack's +own knife, still clutched in his right hand when discovered; and in a +few moments, as the stimulating liquor reached his stomach, he slowly +opened his eyes, looked around in a bewildered manner at first, then +apparently taking in the situation of affairs at a glance, partially +raised himself, and in a hoarse whisper, pointing in the direction +where he had left her, said: + +"Susie Réaume! Near the spring! Quick, for God's sake!" + +"Who?" replied the astonished doctor; "Susie, a woman, here too?" + +Jack had by this time gotten over his dizziness somewhat, and was able +feebly though intelligently to convey the story of the awful massacre +at the ranch, his relations to the wounded girl, and the state of +affairs when attacked by the panther. Then looking at the sun, and +realizing that hours must have elapsed since he had left Susie, he +urged the doctor to go at once, upon which he attempted to get on his +feet to guide him to the spot, but he was too weak yet, and would have +fallen if one of the men had not caught him. + +"No! no!" exclaimed the doctor, when he divined Jack's intention; +"don't try to walk yet. I'll leave one of the troopers to look after +you and I'll go and attend to the young girl immediately. You'll be +all right in half an hour; then you can follow." + +So, with directions from Jack, the doctor, the colonel and two soldiers +started for the spring, which they found without any difficulty, the +trail to that point having been explained in such a clear manner by the +anxious scout. + +Entering the maze of willows by a well-beaten trail that led from the +kitchen door of the destroyed cabin, they found Susie in nearly the +same position in which Jack had left her early in the morning, sitting +on the grass against the big elm, weak and feverish. She involuntarily +gave a little cry of surprise when she saw the officers approaching, +and with a slight blush mantling her cheeks, laid the rifle she had +raised from the ground at her side when she first heard footsteps, +back in its place, and bowed her head gracefully in response to the +colonel's courteous salutation. Both he and the doctor were surprised +to find so much refinement and culture as Susie evinced, in such an +unlooked-for place. + +"Miss Susie," said the colonel, as he irresistibly lifted his hat to +the charming picture of rusticity, "I have brought our surgeon, at +Jack's request, who will see what he can do for you, and then we'll +find means to transport you comfortably to Fort Harker, where you +can be properly cared for. The doctor will tell you all about Jack's +mishap--there, don't be alarmed," as Susie made a convulsive start; +"he's all right, and will be here presently." Then bowing again, the +colonel and his two men retired some distance, while the doctor, as +modestly as possible, examined the gentle girl's wounds, and told her +the story of Jack's strange adventure. + +Susie Réaume was a girl of the strongest affections, but not in +the least degree demonstrative. Her grief at the horrible fate of +her father, brothers and sisters was as deep as the circumstances +were appalling, her love for the young scout as pure as it would be +enduring; but on both subjects of the sorrow which had come to her +in a single day she was reticent, or communicated so little that the +first impressions of the colonel and the doctor were that she was as +emotionless as a marble statue. There was never a greater error of +judgment: concealment of her anguish was a prominent characteristic of +her nature, while she suffered unutterable mental torture. + +By the time the doctor had finished dressing Susie's wounds the command +was well established in camp on the stream, and dinner in progress. +Jack had returned to the spring too, holding a conference with the +colonel as soon as he arrived there, explaining that he was not a +quarter of a mile away from a good trail to Fort Harker, that ran a +little distance west of the Elkhorn, where they now were. + +Jack was thinking and congratulating himself upon the curious chain of +circumstances which had thwarted all his plans, provided better for the +wounded Susie, and at the same time saved his honor, if indeed it were +at all involved, in breaking his word to the colonel. + +Both of the doctor's patients in a short time received some excellent +nourishment, prepared by the hospital steward out of the medical +stores, under the surgeon's direction, reviving the wounded girl +materially and putting Jack fairly "on his feet" again, for he was "as +tough as a knot." + +About half-past two the column was ready to move out. Susie was +made comfortable on a litter, fashioned after the Indian method of +transporting their wounded, constructed of saplings and blankets, +which was carefully slung between two pack-mules of the supply train, +respectively led by two troopers detailed for that duty. This novel +equipage the colonel ordered to march in advance of the column, so +that the dust raised by the company's horses should not annoy Susie; +while Jack, who was able to mount Tatonka, though he was terribly sore +and stiff, rode alongside of her and piloted the command on the trail. +Before they left the ruined ranch, however, the colonel caused the +bodies of the unfortunate Réaumes to be temporarily interred and large +stones put over their graves, to prevent the wolves from digging up and +eating the flesh off their bones, as it was Hart's intention to have +them taken to the post and decently buried in the little cemetery there. + +After an eventful march the command arrived at Fort Harker just as the +sun was setting, where Susie was kindly cared for, and Jack went to his +own quarters, to be patched up and plastered by the post surgeon. + +Hart was out and ready for duty inside of a week; but Susie did not +gain rapidly. She seemed to be slowly wasting away with a fever, though +the wound in her side had closed, and there was no longer danger +from that source. It was the terrible agony of her soul; she did not +complain, and the doctor was puzzled. The awful mental strain incident +to what she had passed through, coupled with the morbid fear that the +marriage with the man she loved could not be consummated, was doing its +work. Only time, the great healer of sorrows, could bring relief, and +both she and Jack were impatient. + +The weeks dragged their weary length along, and the golden October +days came before she was convalescent; but with that subdivision of +the year came also the inauguration of that celebrated winter campaign +against the allied tribes, for which Gen. Sheridan had been making +vigorous preparations all summer. Of course there could be no marriage +now until the war was over, and it lasted (officially) for one hundred +and sixty-three days, counting from the 21st of October, but virtually +ending with Gen. Custer's annihilation of Black Kettle and his band of +warriors in the battle of the Washita, in November. + +At last, in May, 1869, that month of floral beauty on the Central +Plains, on a delicious Sabbath morning, Jack and Susie were married +by the post chaplain in the large unoccupied ward of the hospital +at Fort Harker, which had been garlanded with wild flowers, roses +predominating, and great bunches of the creamy-petaled yucca, for the +occasion. + +Gens. Sheridan, Custer, Sully, and all the officers, with their wives, +who were part of the garrison stationed there, graced the ceremony with +their presence. Buffalo Bill, Wild Bill, and all the other famous +scouts on duty at Fort Harker, were also present; and many substantial +presents were received from all the distinguished guests by the favored +couple. + +Nearly a quarter of a century has elapsed since then. All the famous +generals mentioned are dead. Hart is now a prosperous ranchman, with +large herds of mild-eyed Jerseys and broad-backed Shorthorns peacefully +grazing in his extensive pastures. On the porch of his beautiful home, +Susie, now a stately matron, and Jack with his pipe in his mouth, may +be seen sitting in their large arm-chairs at the close of day, resting +from the labors the ranch imposes. A bevy of handsome children are busy +with hammock or swing under the great trees of the lawn; and as the +twilight gathers, the old folks relate to the little ones the story of +those terrible hours on the Elkhorn so many years ago--a picture on +"memory's walls" that time can never efface. + + + + +WAL. HENDERSON. + + +In one of the busy little mining camps just over the range in New +Mexico there prowled around, about twenty-five years ago, a notorious +character whose life was made up of desperate adventures, and whose +tragic death, which is the subject of this sketch, illustrates the +inevitable fate of the average border bully. + +Wal. Henderson was born and "raised"--as he termed it--in Missouri. He +came over the mountains into the New Mexico mines from Colorado soon +after the first discovery of gold in the Moreno hills, where he staked +off a claim in Humbug Gulch, and commenced working in an apparently +honest way. He was a rough, illiterate fellow, possessing the physique +of a giant, courageous as a she-grizzly with cubs, and such a dead shot +with his revolver that he soon became a terror to the whole mountain +population. He was a desperado in its fullest sense, without one +redeeming quality, except that he was kind to his dog, a wicked-looking +cur, fit companion for such a surly master. + +[Illustration: WAL. HENDERSON.] + +Any more intercourse with Wal. than was absolutely necessary was +carefully avoided by every one, and the idea of getting into a dispute +with him--who would rather shoot than eat--never entered the heads +of those who worked claims in the vicinity; so that, virtually, he +commanded the respect of a king. One afternoon Wal. was seized with a +desire to start off on a little prospecting tour to another portion of +the range, where he suspected the existence of a quartz lead. He left +his claim in the "Gulch" only partially opened, never dreaming for an +instant that anyone would have the temerity to jump it in his absence, +after they had discovered that he owned it; which he took good care +they could easily learn, for before he went he asked one of his more +educated neighboring miners to "come over and cut his name" on a dead +pine stump that stood near the mouth of his pit. + +This friend was nothing loth to oblige his surly comrade, so just after +dinner he came over, and with his keen bowie-knife slashed out a huge + + "Wal henDerSoN his KLaime" + +on the dead stump. + +It took him nearly two hours to complete his literary labors, while +Wal. stood by impatiently watching him, and when his friend had just +finished the last touch of his rude letters, remarked: + +"Well, I guess there hain't no one goin' for to touch that thar." + +Then, swinging his pick and shovel over his shoulder, he whistled to +his dog, took his bearings by a look at the sun, started down the cañon +on a sort of shuffling trot, and was soon out of sight. + +He was gone three days. When he returned he found that his ground had +been "jumped" by a party of Irish miners who had come into the diggings +during his absence. + +Wal., in as quiet a manner as his bulldog nature permitted, told them +to "git!" But they swore they would hold the claim in spite of him; and +if he was as big as "Finn McCool" they would fight him. + +Wal. smothered his rage for the moment, coolly walked off to his cabin, +where he armed himself with two revolvers, a Spencer carbine, and a +wicked-looking IXL blade, and started back to the gulch, determined to +drive the intruders away, or kill them if necessary--it mattered little +as to choice. + +"Git out of this!--quick!--jump! or I'll fill you full o' holes!" was +Wal.'s greeting as on his return he came in sight of the intruders. But +one of the plucky Irishmen made a break for Wal., intending to finish +him by a well-directed blow from his shovel. + +Wal. quick as thought brought down his revolver, killing his man +instantly, the bullet hitting him in the forehead directly between the +eyes--a spot that was Wal.'s invariable target, which in his list of +nearly a score of victims he never failed to center. + +The two now thoroughly frightened companions of the dead miner fled to +camp and told the story of the murder. + +Wal., believing that he would have a crowd on his heels in a little +while, started hurriedly for his cabin, proposing to "light out" for +a while as he said; but a mob of plucky men intercepted him. He was +arrested, taken to camp, and confined in a little log building, around +which a guard was placed. + +As the news of Wal.'s latest exploit spread around the hills, the Irish +miners flocked in from all directions, bent on revenge. The people of +the town expected a general outbreak between the Irish and American +elements, if any resistance was offered to the infuriated friends of +the murdered man in their attempt to take Wal. from the improvised +jail, which they openly proclaimed they would do as soon as night came +on. + +The building used for the incarceration of Wal. was an abandoned log +store, about sixteen feet square; the interstices of the logs were +"chinked" with mud, and the whole surmounted by a brush-and-dirt roof. +In the corner of the room, after the Mexican fashion, a huge but rude +fireplace had been constructed of stone and earth, from which a large +chimney composed of the same material communicated with the open air +through the roof above. + +No sooner had the heavy door closed on Wal. than he began an accurate +survey of his quarters, with a view of escaping as soon as the mob he +confidently expected should make their appearance. + +One glance at the immense fireplace, which yawned like the opening to a +cave, and a look at the clear sky above through the chimney, satisfied +him that he would be out of his prison and up some mountain gulch +before his intended captors could think twice. + +Shortly after dark a motley crowd of rough miners, half-crazed with +the villainous liquors they had been drinking all the afternoon, +assembled at the jail. They at once ordered the guard away, fired their +pistols in the air, and made the very hills ring with their curses and +imprecations upon the prisoner within the little hut. + +Wal. meanwhile had determined to escape; in fact, at the very time the +crowd had reached the door he was on the roof, quietly waiting for the +mob to make a rush inside, at which moment he proposed to leap to the +ground from the rear of the building. + +He waited for the signal, which soon came in the shape of a volley of +pistol- and carbine-shots, and a wild yell from the would-be avengers, +who with a desperate rush made for the door. Under the pressure it flew +from its fastenings, and swung open with a loud report, throwing half a +dozen of the mob upon the dirt floor. + +For a moment or two no one could enter, as those nearest the door +became wedged together, while the pressure from the crowd in the rear +held them more securely imprisoned than Wal., who at this juncture +jumped from the roof, and, to use his own expression, "lit out ---- +lively." + +When the crowd became aware that Wal. had escaped they threatened +to lynch the guard, and but for the intercession of some of the +cooler-headed and less drunken members of the party, no doubt their +threats would have been carried into execution. + +They divided into little bands and scoured the camp, visiting every +suspected house or hole where their game might possibly be secreted, +and it was not until early morning that the search was abandoned. + +The following day the events of the preceding night were fully +discussed, and as many conjectures were suggested in relation to Wal.'s +escape and whereabouts as there were groups of men: each had his own +theory, each knew exactly how and when he got away. + +Old Sam Bartlett, a short, thick-set, grizzly veteran miner, expressed +it as his opinion that "Wal. went up that thar chimbly, and by this +yer time is well heeled somewhar near camp, surrounded by a battery of +small-arms, ready to fight the whole outfit." + +Sam's surmises proved true. No sooner had Wal. made his escape than +he went to his own den for a moment, to secure arms and ammunition; +then to an abandoned tunnel about a mile up the nearest gulch, where +he immediately commenced to fortify his position, prepared to sell his +life as dearly as possible if the mob pursued him. As he afterward +said, "Did not intend to pass in his checks until he had made a sieve +of a few of 'em." + +The Mexican woman with whom he lived proved a faithful ally. Under the +shadow of the night she secretly conveyed food and blankets, never +revealing to a soul where her "Americano" was; always earnestly denying +any knowledge of the fugitive. + +For nearly a week Wal. lived in the abandoned mining tunnel. At the +expiration of that time, when the excitement had somewhat subsided, +and it was generally supposed he had fled the country, he quietly +walked into camp at midnight, broke open a stable, took out a horse, +saddled him, and galloped off to Taos, which place he reached next +morning. In justice to Wal., let it be said he was not a professional +horse-thief--he had not gotten so low as that; but having perfect faith +in the old saw that "self-preservation is the first law of nature," he +seized upon the only reliable means to escape strangling by a mob. On +his arrival at Taos, where he felt secure, he returned the animal to +his owner with thanks, complimenting him on his architectural skill in +constructing a stable that could be entered so easily, and upon the +endurance of his horse that had carried him so well. + +A little more than a month later, the camp was somewhat startled +one afternoon at seeing Wal. riding down the main street mounted on +a Mexican pony, with four revolvers buckled around his waist and +a carbine slung across his back. Halting in front of a saloon, he +alighted, and with a devil-may-care sort of a nod to the loafers +hanging around, invited them all in to take a drink. To the crowd +at the bar he related his adventures since he had been among them; +said he was tired of Taos, and had come back to look after his mining +interests up Humbug Gulch, which he thought he had neglected too long. +He added "if any gentlemen (?)" were sympathizers with the would-be +stranglers, he would be pleased to step out on the street and give them +an exhibition of his peculiar manner of managing the portable battery +he had provided himself with. No one seeming particularly anxious to +witness the proffered entertainment, war was not declared, and after a +round or two of "Taos lightning," as whisky was called in those days, +Wal. quietly mounted his horse and made his way toward his little +"dug-out," where he was met by his faithful Señora and provided with a +bountiful repast of tortillas and frijoles (corn cake and beans). + +The excitement in camp gradually exhausted itself, and it was mutually +agreed that Wal. should not be molested if he kept away from Humbug +Gulch. + +Wal. apparently accepted the situation; turned his attention to the +laudable ambition of supplying the camp with cord-wood, and almost any +day thereafter could be seen coming into town with his load. + +One day about two months after he had settled himself down to +legitimate pursuits, while sitting in a saloon, fatigued by a somewhat +arduous morning's work, a party of Irish miners entered, all of whom +were more or less under the influence of liquor. After bandying words +with Wal. in reference to his claim and the murder of their companion, +one, rather more bold then discreet, approached Wal. holding a large +stone, and said, "Be jabers, Wal., you would look better dead than +alive;" when Wal., as quick as thought, drew his pistol, and drawing a +bead on the Irishman, said, "Drop that rock!" + +The stone dropped. Wal. quietly resumed his seat without another word, +replaced his pistol in its holster, coolly lighted his pipe, and +commenced to smoke. The gang were evidently bent on mischief; but Wal. +could not be intimidated, and made no move to leave his seat, but kept +his keen eye on every act of the drunken mob. + +He listened coolly and indifferently for a while to their coarse jests +and braggadocio threats cast at him. But there comes a moment when +"patience ceases to be a virtue," and comes soonest to men of such +caliber as Wal. When another of the belligerents approached too near +with an outrageous remark, Wal. jumped to his feet and said, "By ----! +I think I'll kill one of you just for luck, and put a stop to this +---- nonsense." Drawing out his pistol he fired, the ball, as always, +taking effect in the bridge of his victim's nose, passing through the +right eye and coming out in front of the ear. + +At the report of the pistol a crowd rushed in, but no one attempted to +interfere with Wal., who took a position against the side of the room, +where he invited any one who wanted him, to "step up; but if any one +did he would make a sieve of him." + +No one desirous of being converted into that useful article just then, +not a soul stepped forward. + +The alcalde[1] and sheriff were sent for, and soon arrived. Wal. gave +himself up, and was remanded to his old quarters, the little log jail +from which he had so successfully made his escape by way of the huge +chimney, on a former occasion. + + [1] The Spanish title of a magistrate corresponding to justice + of the peace. + +The drunken companions of the murdered miner immediately upon the +arrest of Wal. started off to muster up a crowd of their countrymen, +determined this time to mete out summary vengeance upon the assassin of +their comrade. + +To preclude the possibility of an escape on the part of the prisoner, +an additional guard was employed to watch the outside of the jail, and +two men were posted on the roof--"no goin' up that thar chimbley this +time." + +Shortly after dark another mob, composed of the friends of Wal.'s last +victim, poured into camp from the gulches and hills and proceeded +directly to the jail, determined that this time their game should not +slip through their fingers. + +In a few moments the infuriated and howling would-be lynchers forced +the door of the building open in the same manner as they had done +before, but their bird had flown--Wal. was not there! + +Knowing the desperate character of the men who had come to take his +life, Wal. had resolved to make a determined effort to get away from +them if possible, when he first heard them surging and howling in the +distance, and putting all his quick wits at work, soon decided what +might be done. + +Standing at the side of the door as it was crushed from its fastenings, +he allowed the crowd to tumble and rush pell-mell into the dark room, +while he quickly slipped past them out into the street, walked slowly +to the first corner, then shot into the night--and was free! + +The rage and disappointment of the exasperated miners on the discovery +that their man had again eluded them, can better be imagined than +described. + +Wal. proceeded to his little home, took one of his horses from the +stable, rode rapidly out of camp over a mountain trail, and in a few +hours was miles away, where he found a safe retreat. + +The disappointed crowd on discovering that for the present at least +Wal. was beyond their power, slowly retired to their homes, swearing +they would kill Wal. on sight if he ever made his appearance in camp +again. + +But a few days elapsed before Wal. again dropped into town; though +strange as it may seem, no attempt was made to arrest him. + +For weeks everything about camp moved along quietly, and it was hoped +that further disturbance was at an end. One afternoon, however, while +Wal. was standing in front of one of the little stores scattered +at intervals through the long main street of the town, engaged in +conversation with a lot of miners who had congregated there, a horseman +came galloping up the principal thoroughfare, halting directly in front +of the door where Wal. and his companions were talking. + +Taking a single glance at Wal., he exclaimed, "You are the man I am +looking for!" and drawing his revolver, commenced shooting. He fired +three shots in rapid succession, neither of which, however, took +effect; but before he could cock his pistol again, which he was in the +act of doing, Wal. had "drawn a bead" on him and fired. + +The ball struck him in the trigger thumb and thereby turned, or it +would have found its proper center between the eyes. Finding himself +disabled, the rider put spurs to his horse and fled to the friendly +shelter of the nearest ravine, but soon returned dismounted, as he +discovered that he had not been followed by the terrible Wal. + +A crowd gathered around to "shoot the wretch who had so deliberately +jeopardized the lives of innocent citizens"; but he called out that he +was wounded--"for God's sake not to kill him!" He would give himself up +quietly if he could be permitted to see a doctor. + +The doctor happened to be sitting in front of his office near by, and +took him in and amputated his thumb. + +He was then turned over to the sheriff, who placed him in an unoccupied +log building, and appointed a guard to watch him. + +During the night, however, following in the footsteps of the +illustrious Wal., he eluded the vigilance of the guard, made good his +escape and ran to the mountains, where he was received by friends, who +were determined to protect him from rearrest. + +The following day word was sent the doctor to come out and dress his +wounds. Obeying the summons, the doctor found him within a hundred +yards of his cabin, at the side of a mining-ditch, surrounded by an +array of pistols, carbines, and knives, determined to resist any +attempt to rearrest him, the point selected commanding every avenue of +approach up the mountain-slope. + +Here he remained several days. He sent word to the alcalde, through +some of his friends, that he would die before giving himself up to the +"stranglers," but would submit if soldiers were to come for him. + +Upon this message of defiance no further effort was made to capture +him, and the town lapsed once more into its wonted quietude. Even +Henderson became remarkably docile, no further disturbances occurring +between him and the miners--the trouble ending, apparently, by mutual +consent. + + * * * * * + +Some months subsequent to the incidents related in the foregoing, +the little camp was again thrown into a state of excitement, in +consequence of a report of the robbery of the mail in the cañon between +Elizabethtown and Ute creek. + +It was bruited about, and proved true, that when the coach (which made +tri-weekly trips between the camp and the Cimarron, to connect with the +great Southern Overland Line) reached a lonely point in the cañon where +the road was narrow and wound around a side-hill covered with a dense +growth of scrubby pines, three disguised men would slip out and order +the driver to halt; then, without moving from their place on either +side of the confined pass, with their rifles pointed toward him, demand +that the express box be thrown from the boot. + +This modest request was always complied with, after which they ordered +the driver to move on, much to the relief of the thoroughly frightened +conductor, and the two or three passengers inside. + +Five or six depredations of this character were committed in the course +of a month. The people in camp began to have their suspicions aroused, +and many were the conjectures as to who the guilty parties could be. + +A company was formed to scour the cañon, but not even a clue of the +highwaymen could be found, nor a place that exhibited any signs of a +rendezvous. + +This fact confirmed the suspicions of the law-abiding portion of +the community, that there existed in their midst and neighboring +settlements on Ute creek an organized band of "road agents," who +started out only on favorable opportunities for carrying on their +nefarious purposes. + +It was believed by many that persons residing in Elizabethtown kept +watch, advised their partners in this crime at Ute creek at what time +a large shipment of gold would probably be made, and the number of +passengers, with their names, the coach would carry. + +Wal. absented himself from the camp a day or two at a time, and it +began to be murmured that he could tell, if he would, a great deal +concerning these systematic robberies. It was even hinted that he not +only directly aided and abetted the attacks on the coach, but took an +active part himself. + +He was very reticent on the subject, and it was a fact commented upon +by nearly every one in camp, that after an absence of two or three days +he would invariably turn up the very morning after a robbery with a +load of wood for sale, and as demurely ride through town on his little +wagon as if such a thing as an attack on the coach the day before had +never taken place. + +Of course no positive proof of his complicity could be obtained, yet +it was generally believed that he belonged to the gang. + +The man who kept the principal saloon was well known throughout the +Territory, not only on account of his size and weight but also in +consequence of his insatiable thirst for "bug-juice" and his dexterous +manipulation of the cards; and he was withal a law-abiding citizen. He +would tolerate nothing that was not strictly "regular" in the eye of +the law. He wouldn't steal a horse, or carry off a red-hot stove, but +woe to the unfortunate and confiding individual who sat down to his +game with the expectation of leaving with a cent in his clothes. + +His thorough knowledge of monte, faro, poker, and other "genteel" +games, made him as much a terror behind the green-covered table as a +pack of highway robbers. While he would not hesitate to fleece some +unsuspecting victim in a "gentlemanly" game, he had no sympathy with +any law-breaker or "road agent" who would halt a man for his money +without the farcical proceeding of having a little bout of cards to win +it honorably. + +One afternoon while the robberies of the mail coach were at their +height, three or four broken-down gamblers sauntered into his saloon +and commenced to discuss the last depredation, and the _modus +operandi_ of the efficient "agents." + +Prominent among the group was Wal.; each had his theory to advance, and +each expressed it freely. + +The barkeeper said: "Don't yer understand,"--a favorite expression when +excited--"don't yer understand, the ---- rascals don't live a great +ways from this camp, and I wouldn't wonder if a few of them--don't +yer understand--are right in sight of this shebang now, don't yer +understand. I hain't got no sympathy for any such work--don't yer +understand--and would help hang every mother's son of 'em, don't yer +understand!" + +Old Sam Bartlett expressed it as "his opinion that Reub. Jones, of Ute +creek, knowed all about it, and was at the head of the gang." + +Wal. put in his oar occasionally, but from his remarks it was apparent +that his sympathy was rather in favor of that style of robbing than +"stealing it through a ---- old faro-box." + +Words waxed high, and it was evident there "was going to be a +difficult," as Kit Carson used to say. + +The proprietor saw that trouble would ensue if the conversation was not +dropped; so, desirous of putting an end to it, he turned to Wal. and +said: "Wal., we've had enough of this--so come on and have a drink and +go home." + +Wal. accepted the invitation, and with a closing remark that "he +considered the robbers were a ---- sight better than some of the +genteel thieves who lived right in camp," he walked up to the bar, +while the owner from behind said, "Wal., what will you have?" + +"I'll take whisky in mine," answered Wal. + +Glass and bottle were set out, and while the proprietor was mixing a +toddy beneath the bar for himself, Wal. seized the bottle, poured his +glass full to the brim, then deliberately emptied it on the counter +with the remark, "If you don't like that, why, then take your change +anyway you want it," at the same instant putting his hand on his hip as +if in the act of drawing his pistol. + +As quick as thought, the proprietor, knowing the desperate character +of the man he had to deal with, seized a pistol from behind the bar, +leveled it, fired, and Wal. fell dead; then, immediately stepping from +where he was to the front, pistol in hand, he emptied the remaining +chambers of his revolver into the prostrate body. + +He gave himself up at once; an examination was shortly held before the +alcalde, where all the facts were elicited, and the verdict of the +jury was, "Justifiable homicide." + +Thus ended the career of Wal. Henderson, whose bones are reposing on +the little hill above the now abandoned camp, where a score or more of +others lie who went the same way. + + + + +KIT CARSON'S PAWNEE ROCK STORY. + + +Pawnee Rock has probably been the scene of a hundred fights, and a +volume could be written in relation to it. Kit Carson, one night some +years ago, when camped half-way up the rugged sides of "Old Baldy" in +the Raton Range, told in his peculiarly expressive way, among other +border reminiscences, the following little story, the incidents of +which occurred long years ago. + +The night was cold, although midsummer, and we were huddled around a +little fire of pine-knots, more than eight thousand feet above the +level of the sea, close to the snow limit. We had left Maxwell's early +in the morning to trace a quartz lead that cropped out near the mouth +of the copper mine worked by him, and night overtook us many miles from +the ranch; so we concluded to remain on the mountain until daylight. We +had no blankets, and of course had to sit up through the long hours; +and as it was terribly cold, we made a fire, filled our pipes, and +spun yarns to keep awake. Our lunch that we had brought was all eaten +about noon,--so we were supperless as well; but a swift cold mountain +stream ran close to our little camp, and we took a swallow of that +occasionally, which served the place of a meal. + +Kit (the General, as every one called him) was in a good humor for +talking, and we naturally took advantage of this to draw him out,--for +usually he was the most reticent of men in relation to his own +exploits. The night was pretty dark, there was no moon, and our fire +of dry knots blazed up beautifully every time the two Indians, whom we +had appointed to this special duty, threw a fresh armful on. The flames +cast their weird and fanciful shadows on the side of the mountain, and +contrasted curiously with the inky blackness all around below us, while +far above could be seen the dim outline of "Old Baldy's" scarred and +weather-beaten crest--crag piled upon crag, until they seemed to touch +the starlit sky. + +For an hour or two the conversation was confined to the probabilities +of gold being found in paying quantities in the mountains and gulches +of the range; and when the interest on that subject flagged, Maxwell +having made a casual remark in relation to some peak near by, just +discernible in the darkness, and connecting the locality with some +trouble he had had ten or a dozen years before with the Indians, his +reminiscences opened Kit Carson's mouth, and he said he remembered +one of the "worst difficults" a man ever got into; so he made a fresh +corn-shuck cigarette and told us the following about Pawnee Rock, +which he said had been written up years ago, and that he had a paper +containing it (which he afterward gave me), and which, with what Kit +related orally that night, is here presented: + +"It was old Jim Gibson--poor fellow, he went under in a fight with the +Utes over twenty years ago, and his bones are bleaching somewhere in +the dark cañons of the range, or on the slopes of the Spanish Peaks. He +used to tell of a scrimmage he and another fellow had on the Arkansas +with the Kiowas, in 1836. + +"Jim and his partner, Bill something-or-other,--I disremember his name +now,--had been trapping up in the Powder river country during the +winter, with unusual good luck. The beaver was mighty thick in the +whole Yellowstone region in them days, and Jim and Bill got an early +start on their journey for the River[2] that spring. You see they +expected to sell their truck in Weston, Mo., which was the principal +trading-point on the River then. They walked the whole distance--over +fifteen hundred miles--driving three good mules before them, on which +their plunder was packed, and they got along well enough until they +struck the Arkansas river at Pawnee Rock. Here they met a war party +of about sixty Kiowas, who treed them on the Rock. Jim and Bill were +notoriously brave, and both dead shots. + + [2] In the old days, among the plainsmen and mountaineers, + whenever "the River" was alluded to it was understood to mean + the Missouri. + +"Before they reached the Rock, to which they were driven, they killed +ten of the Kiowas, and had not received a scratch. They had plenty +of powder and a pouchful of bullets each. They also had a couple of +jack-rabbits for food in case of a siege, and the perpendicular walls +of the Rock made them a natural fortification--an almost impregnable +one. + +"They succeeded in securely picketing their animals on the west side of +the Rock, where they could protect them by their unerring rifles----but +the story of the fight must be told in Jim's own way; he was a pretty +well educated fellow, and had been to college, I believe, in his +younger days,--lost the gal he was going to marry, or had some bad +luck or other, and took to the prairies when he was about twenty. I +will try to tell it as near as he did as possible: + +"After the durned red cusses had treed us, they picked up their dead +and packed them to their camp at the mouth of the creek a little piece +off. In a few moments back they all came, mounted, with all their +fixings and war-paint on. Then they commenced to circle around us, +coming closer, Indian fashion, every time, till they got within easy +rifle range, when they slung themselves on the fore sides of their +ponies, and in that position opened on us. Their arrows fell like a +hail-storm around us for a few minutes, but as good luck would have it, +none of them struck. I was afraid that first of all, they would attempt +to kill our mules; but I suppose they thought they had the dead wood +on us, and the mules would come mighty handy for their own use after +our scalps were dangling at their belts. But we were taking in all the +chances. Bill kept his eyes skinned, and whenever he saw a stray leg +or head he drew a bead on it, and _thug!_ over tumbled its owner every +time, with a yell of rage. + +"Whenever they attempted to carry off their dead, that was the moment +we took the advantage, and we poured it into them as soon as they +rallied for that purpose, with telling effect. We wasted no shots; we +had now only about forty bullets between us, and the miserable cusses +seemed thick as ever. + +"The sun was nearly down by this time, and at dark they did not seem +anxious to renew the fight that night, but I could see their mounted +patrols at a respectable distance on every side, watching to prevent +our escape. I took advantage of the darkness to go down and get a few +buffalo-chips to cook our supper, for we were mighty hungry, and to +change the animals to where they could get a little more grass,--though +for that matter it was nearly up to a man's head all over the bottom. + +"I got back to our camp on top without any trouble, when we made a +little fire and cooked a rabbit. We had to go without water, and so did +the animals; though we did not mind the want of it so much ourselves, +we pitied the mules, which had had none since we broke camp in the +morning. It was of no use to worry about it, though; the nearest water +was in the spring at the Indian camp, and it would be certain death to +attempt to get there. + +"I was afraid the red devils would fire the prairie in the morning and +endeavor to smoke or burn us out. The grass was just in a condition to +make a lively blaze, and we might escape the flames,--and we might not. + +"We watched with eager eyes for the first gray streaks of dawn that +would usher in another day--perhaps the last for us. + +"The next morning's sun had scarcely peeped above the horizon, when, +with an infernal yell, the Indians broke for the Rock, and we knew some +new project had entered their heads. + +"The wind was springing up pretty fresh, and nature seemed to conspire +with the red devils if they really meant to burn us out,--and I had no +doubt now from their movements that that was what they intended. The +darned cusses kept at such a respectful distance from our rifles that +it chafed us to know that we could not stop the infernal throats of +some of them with our bullets; but we had to choke our rage and watch +events closely. + +"I took occasion during the lull in hostilities to crawl down to where +the mules were and shift them to the east side of the Rock, where the +wall was the highest, so that the flames and smoke might possibly pass +by them without so much danger as on the exposed other side. + +"I succeeded in doing this, and also in tearing away the grass for +several yards around the animals, and was just starting back when Bill +called out, '---- 'em, they've fired the prairie!' + +"I reached the top of the Rock in a moment, and took in at a glance +what was coming. The spectacle for a short interval was indescribably +grand. The sun was shining with all the powers of its rays on the +huge clouds of smoke as they rolled down from the north, tinting them +with a glorious crimson. I had barely time to get under shelter of a +projecting point of the Rock when the wind and smoke swept down to the +ground, and instantly we were enveloped in the darkness of midnight. +We could not discern a single object, neither Indians, horses, the +prairie, nor sun--and what a terrible wind! I have never experienced +its equal in violence since. We stood breathless, and clinging to the +projection of our little mass of rock did not realize that the fire was +so near until we were struck in the face by the burning buffalo-chips +that were carried toward us with the rapidity of the wind. I was +really scared; it seemed as if we must suffocate. But we were saved +miraculously. The sheet of flame passed us twenty yards away, as the +wind fortunately shifted the moment the fire reached the Rock. Yet the +darkness was so perfect we did not see the flame; we only knew that we +were safe, as the clear sky greeted us "behind the dense cloud of smoke. + +"Two of the Indians and their horses were caught in their own trap, +and perished miserably. They had attempted to reach the east side of +the Rock where the mules were, either to cut them loose or crawl up on +us while bewildered in the smoke, if we escaped death. But they had +proceeded only a few rods on their little expedition when the terrible +darkness of the smoke-cloud overtook them. + +"All the game on the prairie which the fire swept over was killed too. +Only a few buffaloes were visible in that region before the fire, but +even they were killed. The path of this horrible passage of flames, +as we learned afterward, was marked all along with the crisped and +blackened carcasses of wolves, coyotes, turkeys, grouse, and every +variety of small birds. Indeed, it seemed as if no living thing it met +had escaped its fury. + +"The fire assumed such gigantic proportions and moved with such +rapidity before the terrible wind, that even the Arkansas river did +not check its path for a moment, and we watched it carried across +as readily as if the river had not been in the way. This fearful +prairie-fire traveled at the rate of eight miles in fifteen minutes, +and was probably the most violent in its features that ever visited +that country. It was the most sublime picture I ever looked upon, and +for a moment it made us forget our perilous position. + +"My first thought, after the danger had passed, was of the poor mules. +I crawled down to where they were, and found them badly singed but not +seriously hurt. I thought, 'So far so good;' our mules and traps were +all right, so we took courage and began to think we should get out of +the nasty scrape in some way or other. + +"In the meantime the Indians, with the exception of four or five left +to guard the Rock so we could not escape, had gone back to their camp +on the creek, and were evidently concocting some new scheme to capture +or kill us. + +"We waited patiently two or three hours for the development of events, +snatching a little sleep by turns, until the sun was about four hours +high, when the Indians commenced their infernal howling again, and we +knew they had hit upon something; so we were on the alert in a moment +to discover it, and euchre them if possible. + +"The devils this time had tied all their horses together, covered them +with branches of trees that they had cut on the creek, packed all the +lodgeskins on these, and then, driving the living breastworks before +them toward us, themselves followed close behind on foot. They kept +moving slowly but surely in the direction of the Rock, and matters +began to look serious for us once more. + +"Bill put his hand in mine now, and said, 'Jim, now by ---- we got to +fight; we hain't done nothin' yit; this means business.' + +"I said, 'You're right, Bill, old fellow; but they can't get us alive. +Our plan is to kill their ponies and make the cusses halt.' + +"As I spoke, Bill--who was one of the best shots on the Plains--kind o' +threw his eye carelessly along the bar'l of his rifle, and one of the +ponies tumbled over on the blackened sod. One of the Indians ran out to +cut him loose, as I expected, and I took him clean off his feet without +a groan. Quicker than it takes me to tell it, we had stretched out +twelve of them on the prairie, and we made it so hot for them that they +got out of range, and were apparently holding a council of war. + +"We kept watching the devils' movements, for we knew they would soon be +up to some confounded trick. The others did not make their appearance +immediately from behind their living breastworks, so we fired two shots +apiece into the horses, killing three of them and throwing the whole +outfit into confusion. + +"We soon stopped their little plan, and they had now only the dead +bodies of the ponies we had killed, to protect them, for the others +had broken loose and stampeded off to camp. It was getting pretty hot +for Mr. Indian now, who was on foot and in easy range of our rifles. +We cleaned out one or two more while they were gradually pulling +themselves out of range, when of course we had to stop firing. The +Indians started off to their camp again, and during the lull in +hostilities we took an account of stock. We found we had used up all +our ammunition except three or four loads, and despair seemed to hover +over us once more. + +"In a few moments we were surprised to see one of the warriors come +out alone from camp, and tearing off a piece of his white blanket, he +boldly walked toward the Rock. Coming up within hearing, he asked if we +would have a talk with him. We told him yes, but did not look for any +good results from it. We could not expect anything less than torture +if we allowed ourselves to be taken alive, so we determined not to be +caught in any trap. We knew we had done them too much damage to expect +any mercy, so we prepared to die in the fight, if we must die. + +"We beckoned the young buck nearer and listened to what he had to +say. He said they were part of White Buffalo's band of Kiowas; that +the war chief who was here with them was O-ton-son-e-var ('a herd of +buffaloes'), and that he wanted us to come to the camp; that we were +'heap brave'; we should be kindly treated, and that the tribe would +adopt us. They were on their way to the Sioux country north of the +Platte; that they were going there to steal horses from the Sioux. They +expected a fight, and wanted us to help them. + +[Illustration: O-TON-SON-E-VAR.] + +"Bill and myself knew the darned Indians too well to swallow their +chaff, so we told them that we could not think of accepting their +terms; that we were on our way to the Missouri, and meant to get there +or die in the attempt; that we did not fear them,--the white man's God +would take care of us; and that if that was all they had to talk about, +he could go back and tell his party they could begin the fight again as +soon as they pleased. + +"He started back, and before he had reached the creek they came out and +met him, had a confab, and then began the attack on us at once. We made +each of our four loads tell, and then stood at bay, almost helpless and +defenseless: we were at the mercy of the savages, and they understood +our situation as quickly as ourselves. + +"We were now thrown upon our last resource--the boy's-play of throwing +stones. As long as we could find detached pieces of rock they did not +dare to make an assault, and while we were still wondering what next, +the white flag appeared again and demanded another talk. We knew that +now we had to come to terms, and make up our minds to accept anything +that savored of reason and our lives, trusting to the future to escape +if they kept us as prisoners. + +"'The Kiowas are not prisoners, and they know brave men,' said the +Indian; 'we will not kill you, though the prairie-grass is red with the +blood of our warriors that have died by your hands. We will give you +a chance for your lives, and let you prove that the Great Spirit of +the white man is powerful, and can save you. Behold,' said the Indian, +pointing with an arrow to a solitary cottonwood on the banks of the +Arkansas, a mile or more away, 'you must go there, and one of you shall +run the knife-gauntlet from that tree two hundred steps of the chief +out toward the prairie. If the one who runs escapes, both are free, for +the Great Spirit has willed it. O-ton-son-e-var has said it, and the +words of the Kiowa are true.' + +"'When must the trial take place?' said I. + +"'When the sun begins to shine upon the western edge of the Rock,' +replied the Indian. + +"'Say to your chief we accept the challenge and will be ready,' said +Bill, motioning the young warrior away. 'I am sure I can win,' said he, +'and can save both our lives. O-ton-son-e-var will keep his word--I +know him.' + +"'Bill,' said I, 'I shall run that race, not you;' and taking him by +the hand I told him that if he saw I was going to fail, to watch his +chance, and in the excitement of the moment mount one of their horses +and fly toward Bent's Fort; he could escape--he was young; it made no +difference with me--my life was not worth much, but he had all before +him. + +"'No,' replied Bill, 'my heart is set on this; I traveled the same race +once before when the Apaches got me, and their knives never struck me +once. I ask this favor as my life, for I have a presentiment that it is +only I can win. I know how to get every advantage of them. So say no +more.' + +"The sun had scarcely gilded that portion of the dark line of the +Rock that juts out boldly toward the western horizon, before all the +warriors, with O-ton-son-e-var at their head, marched silently toward +the tree and beckoned us to come. + +[Illustration: PACER'S SON--CHIEF OF ALL THE APACHES.] + +"Quickly we were on the prairie beside them, when they opened a space, +and we walked in their center without exchanging a word. There were +only thirty left of that band of sixty proud warriors who had commenced +the attack on us the day before, and I could see by the scowls with +which they regarded us, and by the convulsive clutching at their +knives by the younger ones, that it was only the presence and power of +O-ton-son-e-var which prevented them from taking summary vengeance upon +us. + +"As soon as we reached the tree, O-ton-son-e-var paced the two +hundred steps, and arranged his warriors on either side, who in a +moment stripped themselves to the waist, and each seizing his long +scalping-knife, and bracing himself, held it high over his head, so as +to strike a blow that would carry it to the hilt at once. + +"The question of who should be their victim was settled immediately, +for as I stepped forward to face that narrow passage of probable +death, the chief signaled me back with an impulsive gesture not to be +misunderstood, and pointing to Bill, told him to prepare himself for +the bloody trial. + +"I attempted to protest, and was urging my most earnest words, when +O-ton-son-e-var said he had decided, and 'the young man must run,' +adding that 'even a drop of blood from any one of the knives meant +death to both.' + +"Each savage stood firm, with his glittering blade reflecting the rays +of the evening sun, and on each hard cold face a determination to have +the heart's blood of their victim. + +"The case seemed almost hopeless--it was truly a race for life; and as +Bill prepared himself I wished ourselves back on the Rock, with only as +many good bullets as the number of red devils who stood before us, the +very impersonation of all the hatred of the detestable red man. + +"How well I remember the coolness and confidence of Bill! He could not +have been more calm if he had been stripping for a foot-race for fun. +He had perfect faith in the result, and when O-ton-son-e-var motioned +to commence the fearful trial, Bill spoke to me, but I could not +answer--my grief was too great. + +"He stripped to his drawers, and standing there awaiting the signal, +naked from the belt up, he was the picture of the noblest manhood I +ever saw. He tightened his belt, and stood for a few seconds looking, +with compressed lips, down the double row of savages, as they stood, +face to face, gloating on their victim. It seemed like an age to me, +and when the signal came I was forced by an irresistible power to look +upon the scene. + +"At the instant Bill darted like a flash of lightning from the foot of +the tree; on rushed the devils with their gleaming blades, yelling, and +crowding one another, and cutting at poor Bill with all the rage of +their revengeful nature. But he evaded all their horrible efforts--now +tossing a savage here and another there, now almost creeping like a +snake at their feet, then like a wildcat he would jump through the +line, dashing the knives out of their hands, till at last, with a +single spring, he passed almost twenty feet beyond the mark where the +chief stood. + +"We were saved, and when the disappointed savages were crowding around +him I rushed in and threw myself in his arms. The chief motioned the +impatient warriors away, and with sullen footsteps followed them. + +"In a few moments we slowly retraced our way to the Rock, where, +taking our mules, we pushed on in the direction of the Missouri. We +camped on the bank of the Arkansas that night, only a few miles from +the terrible Rock; and while we were resting around our little fire of +buffalo-chips, and our animals were quietly nibbling the dried grass +at our feet, we could still hear the Kiowas chanting the death-song +as they buried their lost warriors under the blackened sod of the +prairie." + + + + +SHERIDAN'S ROOST. + + +[Illustration: GENERAL P. H. SHERIDAN.] + +Less than a third of a century ago the western half of southern Kansas +and the whole region beyond, including the historical Washita, where +General Custer defeated the famous chief of the Cheyennes, Black +Kettle, was the habitat of our noblest indigenous bird, the wild +turkey. The dense woods bordering all the streams were full of them, +for the wild turkey makes his haunts in the timber. + +Having visited that once favorite winter rendezvous of the Cheyennes +and Kiowas during the early spring, and stood again on the ground +where Sheridan and Custer in their celebrated campaign of 1868-9 so +effectually subdued the Indians that the Western frontier has ever +since been exempt from their bloody raids, the recollection of many +exciting wild-turkey hunts by the two incomparable soldiers came +vividly to my mind. I remember distinctly, as if it were but a week +since, how during that winter campaign of nearly thirty years ago the +troops sent into the field against the allied hostile tribes subsisted +for days on wild turkey--luckily for them, too, as they were almost +without a ration, and would have suffered in a greater degree than they +did but for the presence of great flocks of the delicious birds. + +In addition to the stern necessity of securing them, shooting them +under the brilliant mid-continent full moon that nowhere else shines +more intensely, afforded an immense amount of sport to both officers +and enlisted men, divesting their weary march through that then +desolate region of its terrible monotony. General Sheridan was a +crack shot, recognized as an expert in pheasant-hunting when a young +lieutenant in the wilds of Oregon, long before the Civil War, and where +large game roamed in immense numbers through the vast forests. Then the +height of the embryo great General's ambition was that he might attain +the rank of Major before he died! + +There is a large body of timber on the North Fork of the Canadian river +in the Indian Territory, about sixty miles directly south of the Kansas +line, known as "Sheridan's Roost"--so marked on the maps. It was there +that General Sheridan with Custer bagged an almost incredible number of +wild turkeys while camping on the now historic spot. + +It was on the afternoon of one of the last days in the month of +December, 1868, when the tired command found itself encamped very +near an immense turkey roost. Both Sheridan and Custer, as soon as +they had dismounted from their horses, made the fortuitous discovery +and grasped the important situation: an abundance of food for the +half-starved troopers and a relief to the ennui and tiresome routine of +the monotonous march through the seemingly interminable sand-dunes so +frequent in that region. + +In order that the necessities of the command and the anticipated sport +might not be thwarted by a general firing of the rank and file under +the excitement natural to the average soldier, Sheridan immediately +issued an order that no one--officer, enlisted man, or civilian--should +leave camp without his permission. He was well aware of the fact that +if any prowling around was allowed, the now absent birds would not +return to their accustomed resting-place when night came on. + +The whole command was restless, anxious and impatient for hours, +waiting for the seemingly tardy sun to set. At last, after two hours of +suspense, the fading rays began to gild the summits of the low range +of hills west of the camp. Then, just as the twilight curve reached +the horizon, the General, with Custer and several other officers whom +he had chosen as companions, left their camp-fire of blazing logs and +sauntered slowly into the thick woods where it had been discovered +early in the afternoon that the coveted birds were in the habit of +congregating to roost. + +Arriving at the very center of the vast sleeping-place, at the +suggestion of General Custer each gentleman took a position on the +ground, separated from each other some distance, to watch from their +individual vantage-point until the moment should come for the birds to +seek their accustomed resting-place. + +They did not have to wait long. Before it had grown fairly dark, +two or three flocks containing at least two hundred of the bronzed +beauties came walking stealthily down the sheltered ravines leading +out into the broad bottom where the great trees stood in aggregated +clumps, under whose shadows General Sheridan had first observed the +unmistakable signs of a vast roost. At the head of each flock, as it +unsuspiciously advanced, strutted a magnificent male bird in all the +arrogance of his leadership, and on whose bronzed plumage the soft +full moon which had just risen, glinted like a calcium light as its +golden rays sifted through the interstices of the bare limbs of the +winter-garbed forest. + +When the leader had arrived at the spot where his charge had been +accustomed to roost, he suddenly halted, glanced all around him for a +few seconds, then seemingly satisfied that everything was right, he +gave the signal--a sharp, quick, shrill whistle. At that instant every +bird with one accord and a tremendous fluttering of wings, raised +itself and alighted in the loftiest branches of the tallest trees. + +In a few moments more, many more flocks arrived and went through +exactly the same evolutions as the first two, when, having settled +themselves for an undisturbed slumber, General Sheridan gave the word +for the slaughter to begin. Each officer then began to shoot on his own +account, and the turkeys fell like the leaves in October. The stupid +birds not killed at the first fusillade did not seem to have sense +enough to get out of harm's way: they flew from tree to tree at every +shot, persistently remaining in the immediate vicinity of their roost +with all the characteristic idiocy of a sage-hen, which, according to +my observation, has less sense than any other bird that flies. + +It was soon time that all honest men whether "in camp or court" were in +bed, but the two famous generals and their companions, so exciting was +the rare sport, did not leave until the moon was far down the western +horizon. + +They then returned to the friendly fires near their tents and counted +the number of birds which had fallen under the accurate aim of those +engaged. It was discovered they had bagged nearly a hundred of the +magnificent bronzed creatures, of which Sheridan had killed the lion's +share. + +From that midnight incident in the beginning of that eventful winter +on the Great Plains, "Sheridan's Roost" received its name; the spot +became classic, and will go down to the generations yet unborn with its +suggestive title. + +Although the majority of the birds stuck to the vicinity of their +roost, yet continually slaughtered by the unerring rifles of the +officers, appearing to be too senseless to avert their doom by +flying off, some, however, did go recklessly into the very camp of +the troopers. The picket-line had long since been stretched, and +preparations for the men's evening meal, scanty as it was to be, were +fairly under way. But the cooks, expecting that some of the birds +would, frightened as they evidently were by the deadly shots of the +officers, fly into camp in their bewilderment, were a little slow and +perfunctory, anticipating that the bill of fare, that night at least, +would vary materially from the customary horse-meat and hardtack. + +Sure enough, several large flocks "rounded up" in full view of the +command just as the firing commenced. It was a curious as well as a +remarkable scene to watch the evident surprise and discomfiture of the +birds to discover the whole ground usurped by the soldiers; they were +bewildered beyond the power of description. They stood still for a few +moments seemingly paralyzed, but as other flocks began to enter the +camp, all in the quickest imaginable time flew into the tallest trees. +At this juncture every soldier was seized with a desire to shoot, and a +fusillade began right there, resulting in tumbling off the huge limbs +fifty or more of the crazed birds. Of course, the remainder were driven +away from their roost, until the very air was black with the alarmed +and bewildered turkeys. + +As the dark night came on, not knowing where to go, and failing to seek +another quiet roosting-place, back they all came, but in increased +numbers, evidently determined to roost there or nowhere. The air was +filled and the ground covered with wild turkeys. They were dazed at the +turn affairs had taken, and great flocks ran, bewildered, right among +the soldiers and wagons of the supply train. Then was a scene enacted +such as perhaps was never before witnessed, nor has it since, in all +probability. All the dogs in the command--and there was every breed and +every size in the camp, for the average American soldier loves a dog +and keeps as many as he can--joined in the pandemonium that ensued in +the chase after the frightened birds, accompanied by a fusillade which +in point of rapidity and volume of noise would have done credit to a +corps in a general engagement. + +Some casualties occurred, of course, but no lives were lost save that +of a horse, under the following circumstances: One of the troopers +of the Nineteenth Kansas Cavalry, who was in the act of leading his +animal to the picket-line at the height of the chase, was somewhat +astonished to find that his faithful beast failed to respond to the +tugging at his halter-strap as he endeavored to bring him to the +stretched rope, and looking around to discover the cause, the excited +trooper saw the unfortunate animal on the ground, dead, having been +instantly killed by an erratic ball! + +There was great feasting in the command that night. Never did turkey +taste so delicious as did the magnificent birds served in every +conceivable style at that late meal in camp on the classic Washita, +to the half-famished soldiers of the famous Seventh Cavalry and the +gallant boys of the Kansas regiment. + +[Illustration] + + + + +THE PASSING OF THE BUFFALO. + + +[Illustration] + +To the old trapper and hunter of the palmy days of '68 and '70, I +dedicate this chapter. That time is now faded into the past, and so far +faded, indeed, that the present generation knows not its sympathy nor +its sentiment. + +The buffalo--as my thoughts turn to the past, the memory of their "age" +(if I may so call it) crowds upon me. I remember when the eye could +not measure their numbers. I saw a herd delay a railroad train from +9 o'clock in the morning until 5 o'clock in the afternoon. Countless +millions, divided by its leaders and captains like an immense army! How +many millions there were, none could guess. On each side of us, and +as far as we could see--our vision was limited only by the extended +horizon of the flat prairie--the whole vast area was black with the +surging mass of affrighted animals, as they rushed onward to the south +in a mad stampede. + +At another time Gens. Sheridan, Custer, Sully, and myself rode through +another and larger one, for three consecutive days. This was in the +fall of 1868. It seems almost impossible to those who have seen +them, as numerous apparently as the sands of the seashore, feeding +on the illimitable natural pasturage of the Great Plains, that the +buffalo should have become practically extinct. When I look back only +twenty-five years and recall the fact that they swarmed in countless +numbers even then as far east as Fort Harker, only 200 miles west from +the Missouri river, I ask myself, "Have they all disappeared?" And yet, +such is the fact. Two causes can be assigned for this great hecatomb: +First, the demand for their hides, which brought about a great invasion +of hunters into this region; and second, the crowds of thoughtless +tourists who crossed the continent for the mere novelty and pleasure +of the trip. This latter class heartlessly killed for the excitement +of the new experience as they rode along in the cars at a low rate of +speed, often never touching a particle of the flesh of their victims, +or possessing themselves of a single robe. + +The former, numbering hundreds of old frontiersmen, all expert shots, +with thousands of novices, the pioneer settlers on the public domain, +day after day for years made it a lucrative business to kill for the +robes alone, a market for which had suddenly sprung up all over the +country. + +The beginning of the end was marked by the completion of the Kansas +Pacific across the Plains to the foot-hills of the Rockies in 1868, +this being the western limit of the buffalo range. + +In 1872 a writer in "The Buffalo Land" said: + + "Probably the most cruel of all bison-shooting pastime is that + of firing from the cars. During certain periods in the spring + and fall, when the large herds are crossing the Kansas Pacific + Railroad, the trains run for a hundred miles or more among + countless thousands of the shaggy monarchs of the Plains. The bison + has a strange and entirely unaccountable instinct or habit which + leads it to attempt crossing in front of any moving object near + it. It frequently happened, in the time of the old stages, that + the driver had to rein up his horses until the herd which he had + started had crossed the road ahead of him. To accomplish this + feat, if the object of their fright was moving rapidly, the animals + would often run for miles. + + "When the iron horse comes rushing into their solitudes, and + snorting out his fierce alarms, the herds, though perhaps half + a mile from his path, will lift their heads and gaze intently + for a few minutes toward the object thus approaching them with a + roar which causes the earth to tremble, and enveloped in a white + cloud that streams further and higher than the dust of the old + stage-coach ever did; and then, having determined its course, + instead of fleeing back to the distant valleys, away they go, + charging over the ridge across which the iron rails lie, apparently + determined to cross in front of the locomotive at all hazards. The + rate per mile of the passenger trains is slow upon the Plains, + and hence it often happens that the cars and buffaloes will be + side by side for a mile or two, the brutes abandoning the effort + to cross only when their foe has emerged entirely ahead. During + these races the car windows are opened, and numerous breech-loaders + fling hundreds of bullets among the densely crowded and fast-flying + masses. Many of the poor animals fall, and more go off to die in + the ravines. The train speeds on, and the act is repeated every + few miles until Buffalo Land is passed." + +Almost with prophetic eye he continued: + + "Let this slaughter continue for ten years, and the bison of the + American continent will become extinct. The number of valuable + robes and pounds of meat which would thus be lost to us and + posterity, will run too far into the millions to be easily + calculated. All over the Plains, lying in disgusting masses of + putrefaction along valley and hill, are strewn immense carcasses of + wantonly slain buffalo. They line the Kansas Pacific road for two + hundred miles." + +A great herd of buffaloes on the Plains in the early days, when one +could approach near enough without disturbing it to quietly watch its +organization, and the apparent discipline which its leaders seemed to +exact, was a very curious sight. Among the striking features of the +spectacle was the apparently uniform manner in which the immense mass +of shaggy animals moved; there was constancy of action indicating a +degree of intelligence to be found only in the most intelligent of the +brute creation. Frequently the larger herd was broken up into many +smaller ones, that traveled relatively close together, each led by an +independent master. Perhaps only a few rods marked the dividing-line +between them, but it was always unmistakably plain, and each moved +synchronously in the direction in which all were going. + +The leadership of the herd was attained only by hard struggles for the +place; once reached, however, the victor was immediately recognized, +and kept his authority until some new aspirant overcame him, or he +became superannuated and was driven out of the herd to meet his +inevitable fate, a prey to those ghouls of the desert, the gray wolves. + +In the event of a stampede, every animal of the separate yet +consolidated herds rushed off together, as if all had gone mad at +once; for the buffalo, like the Texas steer, mule, or domestic horse, +stampedes on the slightest provocation--frequently without any +assignable cause. Sometimes the simplest affair will start the whole +herd: a prairie-dog barking at the entrance of his burrow, a shadow of +one of themselves or that of a passing cloud, is sufficient to make +them run for miles as if a real and dangerous enemy were at their heels. + +Stampedes were a great source of profit to the Indians of the Plains. +The Comanches were particularly expert and daring in this kind of +robbery. They even trained their horses to run from one point to +another, in expectation of the coming of the wagon trains on the trail. +When a camp was made that was nearly in range, they turned their +trained animals loose, which at once flew across the prairie, passing +through the herd and penetrating the very corrals of their victims. All +of the picketed horses and mules would endeavor to follow these decoys, +and were invariably led right into the haunts of the Indians, who +easily secured them. Young horses and mules were easily frightened; and +in the confusion which generally ensued, great injury was frequently +done to the runaways themselves. + +At times when the herd was very large, the horses scattered over the +prairie and were irrevocably lost; and such as did not become wild +fell a prey to the wolves. That fate was very frequently the lot of +stampeded horses bred in the States, they not having been trained by a +prairie life to care for themselves. Instead of stopping and bravely +fighting off the bloodthirsty beasts, they would run. Then the whole +pack were sure to leave the bolder animals and make for the runaways, +which they seldom failed to overtake and dispatch. + +Like an army, a herd of buffaloes put out vedettes to give the +alarm in case anything beyond the ordinary occurred. These sentinels +were always to be seen in groups of four, five, or even six, at some +distance from the main body. When they saw something approaching that +the herd should beware of or get away from, they started on the run +directly for the center of the great mass of their peacefully grazing +congeners. Meanwhile, the young bulls were on duty as sentinels on the +edge of the main herd, watching the vedettes; the moment the latter +made for the center, the former raised their heads, and in the peculiar +manner of their species gazed all around and sniffed the air as if +they could smell both the danger and its direction. Should there be +something which their instinct told them to guard against, the leader +took his position in front, the cows and calves crowded in the center, +while the rest of the males gathered on the flanks and in the rear, +indicating a gallantry that might be imitated at times by the _genus +homo_. + +Generally, buffalo went to their drinking-place but once a day, and +that late in the afternoon. Then they ambled along, following each +other in single file, which accounts for the many trails on the Plains, +always ending at some stream or lake. They frequently traveled twenty +or thirty miles for water; so the trails leading to it were often worn +to the depth of a foot or more. + +That curious depression so frequently seen on the Great Plains, called +a "buffalo wallow," is caused in this wise: The huge animals paw and +lick the salty, alkaline earth, and when once the sod is broken the +loose soil drifts away under the constant action of the wind. Then, +year after year, through more pawing, licking, rolling and wallowing by +the animals, the wind wafts more of the soil away, and soon there is a +considerable hole in the prairie. + +Many an old trapper and hunter's life has been saved by following a +buffalo trail when he was suffering from thirst. The buffalo wallows +usually retain a great quantity of water, and they have often saved the +lives of whole companies of cavalry, both men and horses. + +There was, however, a stranger and more wonderful spectacle to be seen +every recurring spring during the reign of the buffalo, soon after +the grass had started. There were circles trodden bare on the Plains, +thousands--yes, millions--of them, which the early travelers, who did +not divine their cause, called "fairy rings." From the first of April +until the middle of May was the wet season; you could depend upon +its recurrence almost as certainly as on the sun and moon rising at +the proper time. This was also the calving period of the buffalo, as +they, unlike our domestic animals, only rutted during a single month; +consequently the cows all calved during a certain time; this was the +wet month, and as there were a great many gray wolves that roamed +singly or in immense packs over the whole prairie region, the bulls, +in their regular beats, kept guard over the cows while in the act of +parturition, and drove the wolves away, walking in a ring around the +females at a short distance, and thus forming the curious circles. + +In every herd at each recurring season there were always ambitious +young bulls that came to their majority, so to speak, and these were +ever ready to test their claims for the leadership; so that it may +be safely stated that a month rarely passed without a bloody battle +between them for the supremacy--though, strangely enough, the struggle +seldom resulted in the death of either combatant. + +Perhaps there is no animal in which maternal love is more strongly +developed than in the buffalo cow; she is as dangerous with a calf by +her side as a she-grizzly with cubs. + +The buffalo bull that has outlived his usefulness is one of the +most pitiable objects in the whole range of natural history. Old +age has probably been decided in the economy of buffalo life as the +unpardonable sin. Abandoned to his fate, he may be discovered in his +dreary isolation, near some stream or lake, where it does not tax him +too severely to find good grass; for he is now feeble, and exertion +an impossibility. In this new stage of his existence he seems to have +completely lost his courage. Frightened at his own shadow, or the +rustling of a leaf, he is the very incarnation of nervousness and +suspicion. Gregarious in his habits from birth, solitude, foreign to +his whole nature, has changed him into a new creature; and his inherent +terror of the most trivial things is intensified to such a degree +that if a man were compelled to undergo such constant alarm, it would +probably drive him insane in less than a week. Nobody ever saw one of +these miserable and forlorn creatures dying a natural death, or even +heard of such an occurrence. The cowardly coyote and the gray wolf +had already marked him for their own; and they rarely missed their +calculations. + +Rising suddenly to the top of a divide with a party of friends in 1866, +we saw standing below us in the valley an old buffalo bull, the very +picture of despair. Surrounding him were seven gray wolves in the +act of challenging him to mortal combat. The poor beast, undoubtedly +realizing the hopelessness of his situation, had determined to die +game. His great shaggy head, filled with burrs, was lowered to the +ground as he confronted his would-be executioners; his tongue, black +and parched, lolled out of his mouth, and he gave utterance at +intervals to a suppressed roar. + +The wolves were sitting on their haunches in a semicircle immediately +in front of the tortured beast, and every time that the fear-stricken +buffalo gave vent to his hoarsely modulated groan, the wolves howled in +concert in most mournful cadence. + +After contemplating his antagonists for a few moments, the bull made a +dash at the nearest wolf, tumbling him howling over the silent prairie; +but while this diversion was going on in front, the remainder of the +pack started for his hind legs to hamstring him. Upon this the poor +beast turned to the point of attack, only to receive a repetition of it +in the same vulnerable place by the wolves, who had as quickly turned +also and fastened themselves on his heels again. His hind quarters +now streamed with blood, and he began to show signs of great physical +weakness. He did not dare to lie down; that would have been instantly +fatal. By this time he had killed three of the wolves, or so maimed +them that they were entirely out of the fight. + +At this juncture the suffering animal was mercifully shot, and the +wolves allowed to batten on his thin and tough carcass. + +[Illustration] + + + + +JUDGE LYNCH'S COURT AT WHOOPING HOLLOW. + + +[Illustration] + +Whooping Hollow is the uneuphonious name of a mining camp in the very +heart of the Taos Range--or rather, _was_, for it has been expunged +from the map these twenty-five years, and but few of the present +generation in New Mexico are aware that such a place ever existed. It +was almost inaccessible, so awfully abrupt and broken were the bare +granite ridges surrounding it, out of which the circumscribed valley +in which the town lay seemed to have been literally scooped when +the rocks were plastic--Titanic hands holding the scraper, and the +lightning the propelling power. How the place received its strange +appellation was a mystery even to the majority of the miners who worked +there for nearly five years with picks, shovels, long-toms, sluices, +and other appliances for extracting the ore from the refractory rock. +The quantity of the precious metals shipped during that period made +the camp famous, and resulted in building up a town of rude shanties +and dugouts which at the height of its prosperity numbered over twelve +hundred souls. But you cannot find Whooping Hollow on any modern map, +for it played out in less than six years from the date of the discovery +of gold there; though several fortunes were mined in that time, and +made by traffic the specialty of which was bad whisky. + +There was a legend current in the early days of the valley's occupancy, +that was honestly believed in, which affirmed that the first party +of prospectors, consisting of four or five men, all Tennesseeans, +who entered the great cañon in their search, were rewarded well for +their pains, finding plenty of water, game, fuel, together with other +necessaries in the prosecution of their vocation--a beautiful place +for their camp, lots of silver, and gold in paying quantities--were +scared out of the gulch (to which they never returned) by an unearthly +screeching, seemingly emanating from a human throat. Its ghostly owner, +they declared, visited their camp every night about 11 o'clock, and on +the top of a timbered knoll, where they could plainly see it as the +moonlight sifted through the scattered piñons and dwarfed cedars, took +its stand, setting up its blood-curdling cries, which it continued +with short intervals of cessation, until daybreak. Those men, it was +alleged, were a very ignorant and superstitious set, who, after three +nights of their weird experience, could bear it no longer, and were +absolutely driven away through fright. + +Of course they told others of their rich strike, not forgetting to +mention the "hant" of the place, as they called it; but these others, +old mountaineers, not fearing any disturbance from the moonlight +specter, went there, established their camp--to which hundreds soon +flocked--calling it Whooping Hollow, in derision of the tale told by +the alarmed Tennesseeans; which name it retained during its whole +existence, and was known and recognized by that as a postoffice on the +mail records in Washington. + +In all probability what the men really heard was the mottled or +American screech-owl, which makes a plaintive noise, and a peculiar +sound during part of its mournful notes, like the chattering of teeth, +keeping up its alternating whooping and moaning all night. It loves to +perch on some blasted tree in the moonlight, and the disembodied form +seen by the superstitious miners must have been a shattered and denuded +piñon, on which the nocturnal bird sat, that, escaping their vision in +the daytime, was exaggerated by their frightened eyes at night into the +"hant" of the place!--But this is not a ghost story, and the reader +will pardon the digression. + +The region in which Whooping Hollow was situated is the roughest, and, +to employ a mining phrase, the "lumpiest" portion of the whole Taos +range. It is a deep gulch in the strictest interpretation of the word, +formed by two lofty divides, whose crests tower skyward from their +bases more than 3,000 feet, which themselves are over 5,000 feet above +the Atlantic's level, and the distance across the narrow valley at its +widest part scarcely three-quarters of a mile. The angle of the slope +of the two opposing mountains is a little less than 35 degrees, making +their sides, as maybe inferred, very precipitous. + +The town's era of prosperity was long before the days of railroads in +that portion of the continent, and such feats of engineering as have +been accomplished since in the way of "hog-backs," loops and tunnels +were not dreamed of as among the possibilities of mountain travel. Nor +was there even a wagon-road to Whooping Hollow. Such a thing would +have been regarded equally as difficult and expensive as the wonderful +achievement of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé in climbing the Raton +Range a dozen years later. Everything was "packed" into the place on +muleback, at a minimum cost of twenty-five cents a pound, whether the +simplest necessaries of life or a sawmill, and the zig-zag trail the +sure-footed beasts were compelled to travel up and down the fearful +slopes of the great divides to get in and out of the rocky streets of +the narrow town, made one dizzy to look at. + +The rude collection of shanties, through courtesy called the town of +Whooping Hollow, was built on one side of a little creek which ran at +a fearful rate in the bottom of the gulch, whose waters, boiling and +foaming, like all mountain streams, rushed over and around the immense +bowlders with which its narrow bed was choked; while on the opposite +side, immediately facing the principal street, extending for miles +both ways, on the hill, the mining claims were located. The houses +were in most instances mere shells, constructed of rough slabs; while +a few were of hewn logs, presenting a relatively neat appearance. The +roofs of all, however, were flat, and covered with earth; they rose +one above the other like a flight of stairs, so that one could easily +step out of his door upon the top of his neighbor's dwelling below, +so precipitous was the side of the mountain on which the place was of +necessity laid out. The town consisted of four streets--one devoted +entirely to business, the other three to residences only. There were +five stores, whose stock was of that character known throughout the +West and in the mountains as "general." That is, their proprietors +almost literally kept everything, from a toothpick to a steam engine, +or from a shoestring to a silk dress. The place boasted also of twelve +banks--of deposit only--faro and monte; for the unfortunate individual +who once laid his money on the green-cloth tables of these institutions +rarely saw any of it again: it was permanently invested! Of saloons, +too, Whooping Hollow had its full complement--I think there were thirty +at one time; and their owners were not obliged to contribute anything +to the support of the town, for as to municipal expenses, there were +none. Yet the discipline of the place was fair, to say the least: +the ratio of violent deaths to the number of inhabitants was not +nearly as great as in any of the Eastern cities; and as to thieving or +burglary, such crimes were as rare as a church service--which Whooping +Hollow never had during the whole period of its existence. Of course +such a unique condition of morality is easily accounted for. "Judge +Lynch's" court was the only tribunal for the trial of offenses against +the peace and dignity of the town, and from its decisions there was +no appeal. Besides, society there was so constituted that it could +condone a murder if there existed the slightest shadow of extenuating +circumstances, but it would never forgive the unlawful appropriation +of another's goods, particularly of horses; horse-stealing being the +unpardonable sin, as it is generally on the frontier, the prompt remedy +for which was "a short shrift and a long rope." + +Notwithstanding the fact that perhaps there were hundreds of men in +Whooping Hollow to whose ears the shrill whistle of a bullet would +sound sweeter than the soft notes of a flute, still their general +good-nature, when sober, and principle of "honor among thieves," kept +them within bounds. Occasionally--very naturally, too--there were +desperate fights over the gambling-tables in the hells which abounded +in Whooping Hollow, and frequently an outrageously obstreperous +individual, full of "bug-juice," as the vile whisky dispensed in +the saloons was called, would get a hole drilled into him by a No. +44 revolver-ball, or his vitals carved with an eleven-inch bowie. +But arrests were rarely made in quarrels of that character, because +extenuating circumstances generally existed. Often, under the excellent +care of the skillful doctor--a former army surgeon, who had established +himself there--the belligerents would recover from their fearful +encounter, but oftener took up their last "claim" of six-feet-by-two in +"The Bone Orchard," as the cemetery on the timbered knoll (where it was +alleged the "hant" was originally seen) had been dubbed by the citizens +of Whooping Hollow. + +The average miner (and the miners' claims radiated from the place in +all directions at varying distances, some as far as thirty miles) +would come into town once a week at least, generally Sunday, and if he +had been fortunate in his diggings would make a break for the first +gaming-table in his way. If he by any chance won he would "make the +rounds," which in local parlance meant stopping at every saloon to +treat the crowd of thirsty bummers always present on such occasions, +and sometimes provoking a quarrel with the first man who got in his +way. But if losing, the rule generally, he went drunk and sulky back to +his claim, consoling himself with the hope of better luck next time. +And so the lives of the majority were passed. Not a few died "with +their boots on" in some drunken row with their friends, to whom they +had offered a real or fancied insult. + +As in all mining-camps at the period of Whooping Hollow's boom, a most +heterogeneous crowd composed its residents and transient occupiers. +In its rough but busy streets you met all shades and nationalities. +The tall, plodding Yankee, fresh from the hills of New England, green +as a gourd, but with sufficient gall to extricate himself from any +little difficulty he might stumble into; the active, restless Texan; +the jauntily dressed commercial traveler, with his samples of bad +whisky and worse cigars; the swarthy Mexican, with his broad sombrero, +scarlet sash, and irrepressible _cigarito_; that darker specimen of the +_genus homo_, the negro; and, last of all, the "heathen Chinee." Nearly +every State had its dozens of representatives in the motley group of +individuals who had come to seek their fortunes in this new El Dorado. +It was a grand place to study character; to learn how all the finer +attributes of man may be completely crushed out of his nature by years +of adversity, and how, under the same circumstances in others, all that +is noble and pure predominates, no matter how hellish or pestilential, +morally, may have been their surroundings. + +The principal store of the town was owned and conducted by Jemuel +Knaggs, a man of reputable character, an old plainsman and mountaineer, +full of enterprise and grit, the acknowledged "leading citizen" of +Whooping Hollow. In every community, whether the most enlightened or +barbarous, there is always to be found some individual who, by his +force of character and other inherent attributes, becomes foremost +in all that concerns the welfare and prosperity of the people who +compose it, and this was the rôle that Jemuel Knaggs played in the +rough mining-camp of Whooping Hollow. He was a veteran miner, too, +of California in '49; Fraser river, in British Columbia, in '58; and +Pike's Peak in '59. But having amassed several thousand dollars during +his erratic wanderings, in 1859 he abandoned the pick and shovel for +the more pleasant occupation of keeping a general miners' store, whose +necessities none knew better than he. So he opened up in Whooping +Hollow in the days of its incipiency. He was a man about fifty years +old, rather slender than otherwise, but there was something in his air +and features which distinguished him from common men. The expression +of his countenance was keen and daring; his forehead was high, and his +lips thin and compressed, indicating great determination of will. One +would not have hesitated to confide in his honor or courage, but would +have been extremely reluctant to provoke his hostility. He always wore +a dark-blue navy shirt, to the collar of which was attached a curious +button. Around his waist was tightly buckled a broad leather belt, in +which a formidable looking bowie-knife was stuck; to be used, as is +usual with all frontiersmen, for various purposes indifferently--to +kill a man, cut food, pick his teeth, or for whittling when he had +nothing else to do. + +Matters progressed very smoothly in Whooping Hollow for two or three +years, under the watchful care of Knaggs and a few others of like +sterling character, who will be hurriedly described as they appear in +this sketch. But at the end of that period a pall suddenly fell on +the place. Men would leave for a visit to some neighboring camp or +on a hunting expedition, and never be heard of again. Sometimes it +would be one of the best citizens who would disappear all at once; the +number of instances of this character in one year aggregating twenty. +At last the whole town became aroused, and suspicions of foul play in +the matter entered their heretofore apparently too lethargic brains. No +one felt safe, and when, to "cap the climax" as it were, Jemuel Knaggs +was declared "missing," an investigation was immediately but secretly +instituted. + +It then developed that with one or two exceptions all of those who +had disappeared had left Whooping Hollow for Sandy Bar, the nearest +mining-camp, sixty miles distant, and to which there was only one +possible trail over the divide. That the parties had been murdered +was now conceded; but upon whom could suspicion rest? and where on +the lonely route were the damnable deeds committed? These were the +questions discussed one evening by half a dozen prominent men of +Whooping Hollow, who had secretly met in a room about a week after +Jemuel Knaggs failed to return at the appointed time. He was last seen +on the day of his departure from town by some reputable miners, who +had met and conversed with him on the trail to Sandy Bar, not more +than twelve miles from his home. He had never arrived at Sandy Bar, +however; that fact was ascertained to a certainty through diligent +inquiry there. It was only a small camp of less than three hundred +people, and he was as well known there as in Whooping Hollow. + +About half-way between Whooping Hollow and Sandy Bar there was a +narrow, rocky valley, known as Willow Springs Gulch; abandoned long +ago as a mining region, the ore in that vicinity having consisted of +a series of small "pockets" only, which were naturally exhausted in +less than six months from the date of their discovery, and that was +more than two years before operations had begun in Whooping Hollow. +But the place was still famous for its pure water, which gushed out of +the indurated wall of a small cañon in a stream as large as a man's +arm--clear, cold and sparkling; the best water to be found in the +whole sixty miles' ride. The entrance to the rocky cañon was almost +concealed by a dense growth of mountain willows; hence the name. But +the beautiful spring was the only redeeming feature in the otherwise +barren and desolate landscape. Near this lonely spot stood a small +adobe cabin, or rather hut, the only habitation anywhere within twenty +miles of the dreary place. Its sole occupant was a miner, ostensibly, +who pretended to own a claim near Sandy Bar, but it was alleged that +no one ever saw him work it; yet he always apparently had sufficient +money to supply his wants, ever paying gold for his purchases. He +was a tall, angular, villainous-looking specimen of humanity; rough, +illiterate, dialectic in his talk, but possessing the physique of a +giant, as courageous as a she-grizzly with cubs, a dead shot with the +revolver, and withal believed by every one to be a desperado in the +most rigid acceptation of the term. Viewed superficially--for nobody at +Whooping Hollow or Sandy Bar knew anything about his antecedents--he +was apparently without one redeeming quality, except that he was kind +to his dog, a mangy, spotted, wicked-looking yellow cur, with only one +eye, and tailless--fit companion for such a surly-disposed master. This +strangely mysterious being, with whom no one had any more intercourse +than was absolutely necessary, and that confined to the limited +conversation required when he entered stores to make purchases, lived +a supremely isolated sort of an existence, for he was as carefully +avoided by every one as were the rattlesnakes that infested the rocky +arroyos of the bald bleak hills where his hut was located. Upon him, +then, black suspicion naturally at once fell--so prone is human nature +to be guided by visible forms; though there was not an inkling of +proof, either circumstantial or direct, upon which to base this man's +guilt. + +Fortunately, they who were quietly investigating the cause of the +disappearance of Jemuel Knaggs were men of excellent judgment; cool, +calm and deliberate in their proceedings, but terribly in earnest. They +had received their education in the great "school of the world": they +knew that suspicions were not facts; that appearances are too often +deceiving; and they were nonplussed because convincing proof was not +forthcoming to convict the only man upon whom a shadow of probable +guilt could fall. + +This strange creature, about whom nobody knew anything, was called, +whenever reference to him became necessary (often now, for he was in +everyone's thought a murderer), "Willow Gulch Jack," because his real +name was not ever known--adopting the Indian's method of nomenclature +and associating him with his locality. It may readily be inferred that +it was only his villainous aspect and isolated life that brought this +wholesale condemnation upon him, for he had never been guilty of any +disreputable act that the people could discover, and now they left no +stone unturned to find something against him; but they avoided and +suspected him as a sheep-raiser does a strange cur in his neighborhood. +Consequently a system of espionage was inaugurated on his movements, +but nothing, as yet, had been discovered to cast a shadow on his +every-day life. He knew that he was suspected and watched; so, for +some special reason which had not yet been made clear to the people of +Whooping Hollow, he was now almost constantly absent from home, passing +his time on the trail between his cabin and the top of the divide +above the town, always accompanied by the one-eyed, tailless dog, his +constant companion. His enemies were aware of his perambulations, but +could not divine the cause, and the mystery connected with his isolated +life seemed to them more impenetrable than ever. Of course they did +not hound his every footstep, because, as they reasoned, that would +give him no opportunity to commit himself; they merely adopted such +precautionary measures as would prevent his escape from the country, +and that would permit them to arrest him at any time they wanted to if +he attempted to leave, or whenever they had gathered sufficient proof +to convict him, which as yet seemed as remote as ever--flattering +themselves all the while that he was unconscious of their intentions. + +One day, about two weeks after the investigation of the cause of the +disappearance of Jemuel Knaggs had been fairly inaugurated, this Willow +Gulch Jack, as I shall have to call him in the absence of the knowledge +of his real name, rode quietly into Whooping Hollow, dismounted, tied +his mule to a stump in front of Tom Bradford's log cabin, walked up to +the door, gave it a heavy kick, and waited until it was opened--his +cur, at a word from his master, lying down close to the mule. + +Tom Bradford was a veteran miner, one of the best citizens Whooping +Hollow possessed, whose opinions on important matters were generally +regarded as conclusive--such faith the curiously assorted people of +the town placed in his excellent judgment, which fact Jack was fully +aware of. Bradford himself came out on the porch in response to Jack's +tremendous knock, but when he saw who his visitor was, a shade of +evident displeasure passed over his countenance--for he too, although +he knew that not a scintilla of proof had been forthcoming after all +these days of investigation, believed in this man's guilt. Tom Bradford +regarded Jack intently for a moment, as if wondering what to say or +do, so astonished was he at his presence; but Jack broke the painful +silence in a few words: + +"I say, Tom Bradford," (nobody was "mistered" out there in those days,) +"I hev kim ter talk ter ye. I knows this hyar's onexpected, but I don't +keer, an' w'at I hev ter tell I wants ter tell ye whar no one kin har +we-uns. Hev yer sich a place whar we-uns kin converse ondisturbed?" + +Bradford eyed Jack closely for a few seconds--not that he had any fear +of the man, villainous as he looked, and giant that he was--then told +him to follow as he led the way through the cabin door. They passed out +of one room into another at the rear (there were only two apartments in +the building), where he pushed a dilapidated rush-bottomed chair toward +Jack, himself taking another, and, throwing his feet upon a rickety +table, the only other article of furniture in the rude log den, he +pulled his pipe out of his pocket, filled it, lighted it, and handed +another to Jack with the tobacco from a box nailed against the wall +within easy reach. He gave a few vigorous pulls at his own, emitting a +cloud of smoke that almost enveloped him, then, fixing his eyes on his +unwelcome visitor, said: + +"Now then, I'm ready to hear what you have got to communicate." + +"Tom Bradford," began Jack upon this invitation, "I knows thet I hev +been 'spected of these hyar murders w'at hev tuk place; an' I knows +thet I hev been hounded an' watched, which you-uns hed no idee I +knowed; but ye knows, Tom Bradford, thar haint er shadder kin be proved +agin me." + +"I am aware of that," said Bradford, hurriedly; "and although you are +and have been the only man in the mines suspected, we folks here are +determined that no innocent person shall suffer upon mere suspicion +and under the excitement of the moment; we are also determined that +no guilty party--or parties, if there should be more than one person +implicated--shall escape the swift, summary punishment the hellish acts +deserve. We have no organized courts here, but organize them as we need +them ourselves. No mere technicality will save a rascal either, as it +does sometimes in what are called civilized communities." + +"Tom Bradford," continued Jack, "you nor no one else hez ever seen me +a-loafin' roun' saloons, nor gamblin'-hells; an' no one hain't never +seen me drunk nuther--hev they? I knows my looks is agin me; but looks +hain't nothin', nor no judge ter go by. I hain't no harnsome man--never +sot any claim ter sich. I oncet tuk ther prize fer grinnin' through a +hoss-collar, at er county fair way back in old Kaintuk, w'en I war +young." + +At this admission a change that was evidently intended for a smile +suddenly crept over Jack's face as he opened his ponderous jaws; but +the effect made his cavernous mouth, which literally stretched from ear +to ear, look as if it had been made by a broadax at a blow. + +"Waal," he continued, as the paroxysm caused by the remembrance of his +youth passed off, "I hev been doin' some _de_tective work myself; an' +w'at I hev diskivered is w'at hez brung me hyar ter talk ter ye 'bout. +It war all a accident, though; an' ef it hedn't 'a' been fer thet thar +ornery dorg o' mine, I wouldn't er foun' out nothin'. You-uns'll all be +surprised ez I wuz, w'en ye kim ter larn who ther murd'rer for sartin +is. In ther fust place, I knowed them folkses ez war missin' never got +pas' my cabin"---- + +Bradford looked Jack suddenly in the eye, as if to catch the +true meaning of his last assertion; but Jack, seeing that he was +misunderstood, became a little heated, and in a most emphatic manner +said: + +"Never reached thar, Tom Bradford, ez I wants ye ter onderstand! Now I +wants yer ter tell me," he continued, getting more excited, "how many +cabins--whar folkses lives, I means; 'course thar's lots o' 'bandoned +ones--'twixt Whoopin' Holler an' mine?" + +"Well," replied Bradford, in response to Jack's interrogatory, "there +are but two--Cal. Jones's and Ike Podgett's. Why?" + +"Don't yer see, Tom Bradford, ef them ez is missin' never got ter my +cabin, they never got by one o' them t'others?" + +"What do you mean?" asked Bradford, looking up excitedly into Jack's +face. + +"I means jes' w'at I says," replied Jack, gazing as earnestly now into +Bradford's. "Ef er man leaves Whoopin' Holler fer Sandy Bar, he kain't +git offen ther trail, kin he? Thar hain't but one trail, is thar? An' +ef he don't kim back, an' don't go ahead, he mus' 'a' stopped somewhar +'twixt ther two places, mus'n't he? An' ef he haint heerd of fer a long +while, he mus' hev stopped fer good, eh? Now do yer understan', Tom +Bradford?" and Jack emphasized his remarks by bringing down his huge +fist like a sledgehammer on top of the rickety old table right in front +of Bradford. + +Tom Bradford smiled at Jack's earnestness, and looking him squarely in +the eyes, said: + +"Why, you must be insane, man! Cal. Jones's cabin is right on the +highest point of the divide. If you were out on my porch, you could see +it from here. You ain't crazy enough to suppose that a murder could +be committed at such an exposed place, and everybody in town not know +it in ten minutes? And as for Ike Podgett--ha! ha! ha! Ike Podgett! +why, man, Ike Podgett is one of our best citizens; one of the most +enterprising men in the place; always has plenty of money; spends it +freely, too. To be sure he gambles some, and drinks. Who don't? They +are mighty few--you know that. He don't come to town very often; stays +at home a good deal; but then, he's got a fine paying claim, and works +it for all there is in it; at least that is what he tells all of us +here in town. Ike Podgett--ha! ha! ha! That's a good one, I swear!" + +Jack's eyes snapped as Bradford laughed in his face. He was getting mad +at the manner in which his statements were being received; he grew very +red, and blurted out: + +"Ike Podgett hain't home now, is he?" + +"No," answered Bradford; "he's gone bear-hunting with a lot of the +boys; been gone several days; won't be back for a week yet; they were +going as far as the Spanish Peaks." + +"His'n is er mighty lonesome place, hain't it?" queried Jack. + +"Yes," answered Bradford, "a mighty lonesome place. I don't see how +he can live there--such a rocky, dark cañon--hardly a ray of sunlight +enters there until late in the afternoon. But he says he loves +solitude, and don't like neighbors too near"-- + +"I'm his closest, I reckon," interrupted Jack again. + +"I believe you are," replied Bradford. + +"He's married, though, hain't he, to a Spanish woman?--on'y a child, +'pears ter me; I've seed her oncet or twicet." + +"He's got a woman out there with him--don't know whether she's his wife +or mistress. We folks here don't bother our heads about such matters; +it's none of our business; she's Mexican, though," answered Bradford. +"But why," continued he, impatient and disgusted with the interview's +length, "why do you ask these ridiculous questions? I have no time to +waste!" He then petulantly rose, knocked the ashes out of his pipe, +evidently tired, and determined to end the matter right there and get +rid of his annoying visitor. + +"'Cause, Tom Bradford," slowly and solemnly replied Jack, at the same +time getting up from his chair, too; and putting his mouth close to +Bradford's ear, he hoarsely whispered: + +"'Cause Ike Podgett is the murderer of Jemuel Knaggs, anyhow, an' w'y +not o' all the t'others ez is missin'?" + +"My God, man! what do you mean?" excitedly asked Tom Bradford, suddenly +wheeling around and placing both of his hands on Jack's shoulders. + +"Tom Bradford, I mean 'zac'ly w'at I kin prove; an' ter tell this hyar +is w'at hez brung me ter this hyar cabin." + +"Hold on!" cried Bradford, violently agitated; "you must prove it, +must tell all you know; but in the presence of others. Wait--sit down +here--I'll be back directly, and bring some one with me. Wait!" and +Bradford rushed out into the street in a terrible state of excitement. + +He returned in less than twenty minutes in company with a short, +thick-set, grizzly veteran miner, a man about sixty years of age. This +was old man Bartlett--better known, however, and generally accosted +as "Judge," because he had so frequently presided over the locally +instituted courts in the diggings everywhere he had been during his +long career in the mountains and on the Plains. He was regarded by +everybody as the most level-headed, honest and discreet man in the +whole Range. In fact, that had been his reputation wherever he had +traveled, following him in all his erratic wanderings since his advent +in the Far West, forty years before he turned up in Whooping Hollow. He +had "whacked bulls" on the old Santa Fé trail; had lived for months on +hardtack and bacon in the mountains of California; had nearly starved +to death on the sage-bush plains of Nevada; had been captured by +Apaches in Arizona, but was rescued by a detachment of United States +dragoons just in time to escape the torture of the stake, the fires +for which were already lighted; and years before all these strange +experiences, had "filibustered" with Walker in Nicaragua. Altogether, +he had seen as eventful a life as ever fell to the fortune of one man. + +When the two men entered the little barren log room where Jack was, +they found him sitting at its only window, his number twelve feet on +the broad sill, pulling vigorously at the clay pipe that Bradford in +his rough hospitality had originally provided him with, blowing great +rings of smoke out of his huge mouth as he sat there as imperturbable +as a rock. He greeted Bartlett with a short "Howdy, Jedge," and then +resumed his pipe, waiting for him or Bradford to open the conversation. + +Old Sam pulled an enormous plug of navy tobacco from his hip pocket, +tore off a liberal portion with his teeth, rolled the immense quid +over in his mouth several times, and then, looking earnestly at Jack as +if to measure him in his mind, said: + +"Jack, Bradford's been telling me some mighty queer stories. Ike +Podgett a murderer? I don't believe a word of it. He," jerking his +thumb toward Bradford, "wanted me to come over and hear your statement, +which I agreed to; but I tell you beforehand, the proofs will have to +be clear as Holy Writ to convince me that Ike Podgett knows what has +become of Jemuel Knaggs any more than me and Tom here does." + +"The Judge" was not always a rigid follower of the rules laid down +by Lindley Murray in the construction of his sentences, therefore +frequently got the cases of his pronouns mixed, although he was a +college graduate; but he generally talked fairly correctly. + +"Let's hear your story," continued he; "tell us what you know, and how +you know, as you have asserted to Bradford that Ike Podgett killed +Jemuel Knaggs." + +"Waal," commenced Jack, leaving his place at the window, rising to his +full height, stretching out his long arms, giving a tremendous yawn +as he did so; then moving his chair to the end of the table between +the two men, who had seated themselves on opposite sides, their feet +of course on top, where, resting his elbows on it, his immense paws +supporting his shaggy head, Jack looked his interlocutor squarely in +the eyes, and continued: + +"Waal, yer knows, sence I war satisfied that I war a-bein' watched an' +hounded an' 'spected by you-uns hyar in Whoopin' Holler, I 'lowed ter +myself thet I would do a leetle _de_tective work on my own 'count--ez +I hev told Bradford hyar. So I gits onto my mule, tuks Jupe--thet's +thet thar yaller, no-'count, ornery dorg o' mine--an' we jes' nat'rally +comminces ter prowl thet thar trail from t'other side o' Ike Podgett's +'twixt thar an' ther Holler, fer more'n er week. But we-uns didn't see +nothin' 'spicious till day afore yisterday, 'long in ther shank o' ther +evenin'. Then I war ridin' by Podgett's place--Jupe hed run 'way 'head +o' me--I war goin' toler'ble slow an' thinkin' powerful; an' w'en I got +clos't ter ther cabin, I seed thet thar fool dorg o' mine er diggin' +an' er pawin' et suthin' he hed unyearthed. Ther no-'count cuss is +always hungry an' always huntin' fer suthin ter eat. Then ez I obsarved +thar warn't no one ter home, I gits down offen my mule, hitches him, +an' lights out fer ther r'ar o' ther cabin whar ther dorg war, ter see +w'at he war so consarned 'bout; an' w'en I reached thar, gentlemin, et +war a human leg and foot. An' stoopin' down, I picked this hyar outen +ther dirt ther dorg hed pawed up!" + +Getting up from his seat as he said this, Jack pulled out of the +breast-pocket of his flannel shirt a little mass of iron pyrites, +an octahedrite in shape--a rare form of that common combination of +iron and sulphur--which was drilled onto a plate of gold, making it a +perfect but unique collar-button. + +"Great God!" exclaimed Bartlett and Bradford simultaneously, as they +both jumped up excitedly at the sight of the trinket Jack held in his +hand. + +Tom Bradford gave vent to his feelings first. Slapping his fist on the +table, and then pointing his finger at Jack, who stood as calm as a +statue, said vehemently: + +"Judge Bartlett, either this man's story is true, or he is the murderer +himself!" + +"Great God!" reiterated Bartlett, putting his hand to his head in +his evident bewilderment; "Bradford--I don't know--I'm completely +dumbfounded! Everybody in the mines knows that collar-button. There's +not another one like it in the mountains. Knaggs always wore it at the +neck of his flannel shirt. He's told me many a time that he'd refused +$50 for it. This matter must be thoroughly investigated." + +He then reached for the button, which Jack promptly handed to him, and +which he examined carefully for a few moments in silence, sitting down +for that purpose. Then turning suddenly to Jack, who--now conscious +that he had at least caused Bradford and Bartlett to believe that he +might be innocent, and that his story might be true--had resumed his +seat, and was coolly filling his pipe again, the old Judge asked him: + +"Jack, did you leave the leg and foot where the dog found it, or what +did you do with it?" + +"I left it thar," replied Jack, "but I kivered it up agin; an' I +stomped ther groun' down 'roun' it so ez it looked like it hed n't been +tech'd. Then I went ter my cabin; then I kim hyar ter Bradford's. Ther +on'y thing I brung 'way war thet button, an' fer which I'll thank yer +ter gin me ag'in. I wants to keep it er while yit!" + +Bartlett hesitated a moment, rolling over in his fingers the mute +evidence of a crime committed; looked at Bradford interrogatively, who +nodded significantly, and then he handed the curious object back to +Jack. + +"Thank ye, gentlemin," said he, as he put it carefully into his pocket +again; "I'm et yer sarvice et any time, and so is this hyar button w'en +ye wants it; an' I hopes you-ns means ter 'vestigate this hyar matter +ter oncet. Ike Podgett's 'way now, an' w'en he kims back it's mebby too +late." + +Bartlett and Bradford consulted aside in a low tone for a few moments; +then walking back to the table where Jack was still sitting, pulling at +his pipe, and almost invisible because of the smoke, the old Judge said: + +"Jack, this is a strange piece of business, and we are both staggered. +Yet we are not unreasonable; we know that nothing is more deceptive +than a man's estimate of human nature; it seems mighty hard to come to +your way of thinking; but we all may have been most terribly deceived +in Ike Podgett. We will examine his premises and investigate the matter +to the end. Now we want you to go quietly out to your cabin from here; +say nothing to anyone about what you have told us. To-night we will +discuss, with some of our best citizens, what is best to be done; and +to-morrow meet us at Podgett's. If we arrive there first we will wait +right on the trail for you, and take no action before you come; but +if you get to the place before we do, wait for our party. Don't go +near the cabin and don't touch a thing, and then nobody can raise any +suspicions of a job, which some of Podgett's friends might accuse you +of. We will try to be there by eleven o'clock, and that will allow you +ample time to reach there as soon as that hour too." + +The old Judge having finished his instructions and warnings, the +three men went out of the cabin and separated. Jack mounted his mule, +whistled to Jupe, and rode slowly up the steep divide into the hills, +where he was soon lost to sight. Bartlett and Bradford walked down to +the main street, their feelings wonderfully affected, and entered the +little building that did duty as the postoffice for Whooping Hollow and +surrounding mining-camps, to look up the proper persons with whom to +consult concerning the terrible revelations of a few moments before. + +That evening just after the candles were lighted, Judge Bartlett, +Tom Bradford, Doctor Chase, and Issachar Noe, the last of whom was +postmaster, met in the little rectangular space behind the rude rack of +letter-boxes in Noe's store, to formulate plans for their trip on the +morrow to Ike Podgett's cabin, the bloody story concerning it having +been imparted to Noe and the Doctor when Bartlett and Bradford came +down-town that afternoon, immediately after their interview with Jack. + +A little after daylight next morning the four prominent citizens of +Whooping Hollow who had secretly met at the postoffice the previous +evening were well on the trail to Podgett's. They had only twenty-three +miles to go, but the zig-zag up to the crest of the divide was so +rocky, rough and precipitous that they were compelled to "wind" their +horses every few rods; consequently the trip was so fatiguing to both +men and animals that they did not arrive there until nearly noon. + +Podgett's cabin, one of the better class, roomy, and adorned with +a veranda, was situated in the most God-forsaken looking region +imaginable. There was not a tree, bush, or any vegetation, not even a +cactus, in sight. It was hidden among great water-worn columns of lava, +which so completely enveloped it in their ominous shadows that only +late in the afternoon the sun's lingering rays, low down in the west, +entered the gloomy cañon in which the isolated cabin was located. + +"God in Israel!" said Issachar Noe--a favorite expression of his when +excited--"how can a man content himself in such a spot as this? I +wouldn't live here for a hundred dollars an hour," he continued, as he +surveyed the dismal surroundings of the barren and repulsive place. + +"Some men love solitude," said the Doctor, as if in response to Noe's +comments. "I know many natures among my acquaintances in the East who +could be perfectly happy in such a sequestered spot as this. To them, +solitude is the nurse of enthusiasm, and"-- + +"Great Cæsar!" interrupted Tom Bradford, destroying at once the thread +of the Doctor's philosophy. "See those wolves!" at the same moment +pointing with his "quirt" to half a dozen or more of that large gray +mountain species that were scampering over the angular lava bowlders +up the cañon in the rear of the cabin. These animals had not before +been observed, because the party from town had seated themselves on the +trail immediately in front of the hut, upon their arrival at the place. +They had not ventured any nearer, in accordance with the agreement made +at the conference held in Tom Bradford's room that neither the party +nor Jack was to investigate alone, but together. + +In a few moments the cause of the wolves' hasty retreat made its +appearance in the shape of the one-eyed tailless dog Jupe, slowly +shambling around a curve in the trail, closely followed by the gaunt, +angular figure of Jack, seated on his mule. As he approached, the +party from Whooping Hollow, who were reclining on the rocks scattered +on the trail, rose, while Jack, dismounting, hitched his animal to a +bowlder, and saluting all with a "Howdy, gents," he joined them. Then +without further talk at that moment, they proceeded to the rear of Ike +Podgett's cabin, piloted by Jack. They soon arrived at the spot he had +told Bradford and Bartlett of, but the moment he cast his eyes on the +place he exclaimed: + +"Great heavens! ther wolves hev been hyar!" + +The earth was torn up, and lying on the edge of the shallow grave, sure +enough, were a human leg and foot--the same described by Jack, which he +had reinterred, but which the wolves had again dragged out of the hole. + +"Well, I'm ----!" ejaculated old Sam Bartlett, as he contemplated the +horrid spectacle, and he vigorously mopped his bald head--out of which +the perspiration now oozed in great beads--with an enormous red bandana. + +"There's no question about that leg and foot," said the Doctor, as he +stooped and picked up the ghastly objects to examine them more closely. +"They're human--no getting over that, but whether they belonged to +Jemuel Knaggs, of course I can't say." Pulling them out of the soft +dirt, he found clinging to the end of the femur a piece of cloth of +some kind, which the instant Tom Bradford saw he took in his hands, +held it up, and exclaimed: + +"Well, this is the last straw that breaks the camel's back for me!" All +could see that it was the fragment of a blue flannel shirt, its broad +collar, with the buttonhole, torn apart. + +"A piece of Jemuel Knagg's shirt, or I'm a liar," solemnly said +Issachar Noe, as he gazed on the bit of telltale garment. "He always +wore that kind," continued Noe. "I sent to St. Louis for them myself +for him; that is a part of one of them." + +The astounded party, upon this confirmation of Podgett's guilt, looked +at each other in silence for a few seconds, when Bartlett, breaking the +awful stillness, said: + +"Gentlemen, I've seen enough here! Let's go and examine the +cabin--which we've got a right to do now, as law-abiding citizens, +after such damnable revelations outside of it!" + +On entering the cabin, effected by the colossal Jack making a sort of +a side-lurch against the door, which immediately flew off its hinges +at his first essay, they discovered in the corner of the room used as +a kitchen a spot where the dirt floor seemed to yield a little to the +pressure of their feet as they walked over it, appearing as if it had +been disturbed quite recently. Searching for some implement with which +to examine the suspicious corner more closely, they at last found a +spade hanging on a peg in the wall of another apartment, evidently the +sleeping-room. Here and there were evidences of a woman's occupancy. +Under the bed a No. 1 pair of shoes tantalizingly obtruded. On the bed +itself a corset was lying, where it had apparently been hastily thrown +off by its petite owner; and suspended from some hooks in the logs +forming the side of the building were several skirts and other portions +of female apparel. For a moment, but only for a moment, these things, +so rare in the mining-camps of that period, nearly diverted from their +mission the stern and honest men who had entered there, so sweetly +suggestive were the articles of mother, sister, or perhaps wife, so +far away, and bright visions crowded thick upon their brains. It was +soon dispelled, however, as the realization of the actual present +forced itself upon them; so, taking down the spade from its place, they +returned to the kitchen, and Jack, who had volunteered, commenced to +dig. + +He had not excavated to a depth of more than two feet when he unearthed +the mutilated fragments of another human body! Hereupon he rested from +his labor for a moment; then stooped down and pulled something out of +the hole, his hands trembling violently as he laid the object on the +floor, and exclaiming as he rose up: + +"This hyar gits me, by ----!" + +Every one was now almost uncontrollably excited, and if Podgett had at +that instant entered his own door he would have been annihilated by the +infuriated men without a chance to explain, for just as Jack gave vent +to his words he had lifted out of the hole a head, to which was still +attached a long red beard. He recognized it at once, and that fact was +the cause of his excitement. + +"God in Israel!" said Issachar Noe vehemently, as he got down on his +knees to view the ghastly object more closely. "That's Tom Jackson's +head, and he's only been missing about two months!" + +"That's so," solemnly replied old Sam Bartlett. "That's poor Tom's +beard, sure enough!" + +For more than three hours the now determined men worked inside and +outside the cabin that they now knew had such a bloody record. At +the end of that time, when they ceased their horrid labor from sheer +exhaustion, they had discovered the remains of twelve human bodies, +among which was that of a baby's, which sorely puzzled them to account +for. Many of the remains, where the head was not too much decayed, they +recognized as once citizens of Whooping Hollow who had ridden out from +it never to return. + +Charred fragments of skeletons, too, were found hidden in holes in the +rocks, and it was reasonably supposed that many other victims than +those whose bones they had brought to light must have been murdered by +the demon Podgett, and their bodies left in the mountains just where he +had killed them, to be devoured by the wolves. + +Putting portions of several remains in a sack, including the ghastly +head of Tom Jackson, they induced Jack--towards whom their manner had +entirely changed--to pack the repulsive-looking burden on the back of +his mule, and they all returned to town. + +The result of their horrible experience was disclosed to several of +the most reputable people of the place, who that same evening met +with them in the postoffice, in "secret session," to devise plans for +Podgett's arrest before he had an opportunity to revisit his cabin. It +was conceded that he would come to town first with the hunting party +that he had gone out with, which would return in three or four days +at farthest, and it was resolved to secure him the moment he made his +appearance. To this duty they appointed the now worthy Jack and one +Bart Kennedy. + +On the afternoon of the fourth day after the meeting, Podgett rode +unsuspiciously into town with his companions, and the instant he +alighted from his mule found himself locked in Jack's vise-like +embrace, who with others had been anxiously watching for his coming. +He was at once secured in a little log building, and carefully guarded +by two plucky Irish miners who had volunteered their services, for by +this time all the law-abiding element of Whooping Hollow had become +acquainted with the sickening discoveries at the wretch's cabin. + +Podgett thus safely under bolt and bar, a committee was sent over to +Sandy Bar to interview his Mexican wife or mistress, whose people lived +somewhere in the mountains near there, as it was learned that she had +gone home. They found her with her father, a widower, who could speak +nothing but Spanish, nor could she speak English at all. But Isaacher +Noe, one of the party, understood and conversed in the language like a +native; so no interpreter was necessary. + +The girl was very young, very pretty, but apparently too youthful +for either wife or mother. From her some startling disclosures were +elicited. She had witnessed a number of murders at the cabin, but had +been afraid to say a word, because Podgett swore that he would kill her +if she did. But when he dashed her baby's brains out in the most cruel +and atrocious manner, right before her eyes, less than two months ago, +she made up her mind that she would expose his bloody life as soon as +she could find a safe opportunity. She had run away from him the night +he went off hunting, and came to her father's, declaring that she would +die before she would go back and consort again with such a monster. + +When the committee returned to Whooping Hollow, and had submitted their +report, threats were freely and openly made by the exasperated miners +that they would take Podgett out of the improvised jail and hang him +at once. But better counsel prevailed, and it was finally agreed upon +at an open-air meeting held that afternoon that he should have a fair +trial, as had always been customary in dealing with criminals since +the establishment of the camp. The prisoner would be allowed to select +a jury of twelve men himself--but it must be composed of the most +reputable citizens only; a judge should be elected by the crowd, he to +appoint some one competent to prosecute, and another to defend. + +As soon as the preliminaries were agreed to by the now excited +mob, George Burton's general outfitting store was selected for the +court-room, and the trial set for eight o'clock the same evening. +In that community no such thing as the law's delay was brooked; the +citizens of Whooping Hollow believing in swift, stern justice on all +occasions. + +Long before the hour appointed for the trial the crowd began to +collect, and by half-past seven the little room selected was packed +to its utmost capacity. On the outside of the building, compelled to +remain in the street, was an indignant, determined mob, numbering +more than three times as many as were inside, surging backward and +forward, making night hideous with their yells, blasphemous remarks of +impatience, and muttered threats of "getting even with him," "having +his heart's blood," etc. Both outside and inside of that rough log +building was gathered as motley and as hard-looking a crowd as ever +got together in the mountains anywhere. It was a strange admixture of +ignorance, manhood, vice, virtue, and villainy. Some of the truest +men that ever lived stood there; and some were there, too, as deeply +dyed in crime, if the truth were known about them, as Podgett himself. +Miners, merchants, gamblers and Mexicans were mixed up promiscuously; +but their determined faces and show of revolvers spoke more eloquently +than language, that "there wasn't going to be any fooling in the +matter." + +The dingy-looking room improvised for the purpose of the court was +lighted by half a dozen tallow candles, which shed a dim, sallow +haziness over the piles of bacon, picks, shovels, canned fruits, and +other miners' goods stored there, and upon the hard-visaged men who +had assembled there to mete out that justice which they believed had +been already too long delayed. The red flames of a blazing fire, made +of dry pine-knots, nearly as combustible as powder, occasionally shot +up the throat of the huge chimney built diagonally across one corner +of the room, whenever a fresh armful was thrown on by the two boys +appointed to that office for the time being. When the flames had +exhausted themselves, and only the embers glowed on the black hearth, +a glimmering and a confused mist seemed to diffuse itself over the +brindled crowd, while the fitful rays of the unsnuffed candles threw +weird shadows on the whitewashed walls like ghosts, as if the spirits +of the murderer's victims had come to be phantom witnesses of his agony +and despair. + +Old Sam Bartlett, as usual, was chosen judge without a dissenting +voice. A pile of bacon, packed in gunny-sacks and elevated four or +five feet above the floor, on which Bartlett, with his legs dangling +over the side, sat, constituted the official bench. The jury, composed +of the best men in town, sat on the right of the judge, on boxes, +nail-kegs, sacks, or anything that came handy. Ike Podgett, the +miserable man for whom all this strange proceeding was instituted, +crouching on the dirt-begrimed floor between his two determined guards, +rivets his eyes on the resolute men before him, distracted alternately +by hope and despair; for he now feels the enormity of his guilt, and +knows in his cowardly heart that he deserves death right there, without +the least show of mercy. + +Tom Bradford was appointed to prosecute the case, and a young +man--Enoch Green, who had been graduated from the law school of Yale +two or three years before--was appointed to defend Podgett. In a few +pithy sentences Judge Bartlett explained the object of the gathering, +and reviewed the terrible crimes that had been traced to the accused's +den in the lonely cañon. He pointed to the ghastly remains and charred +fragments of human skeletons piled upon a rude table in front of the +jury, which he told them, in wonderfully impressive language, had +been dug up, in his own presence, inside of Podgett's cabin and found +among the rocks in the vicinity of the accursed place. The indignant +old man grew almost eloquent in his recitation of the prisoner's +damnable deeds, and a deathlike stillness pervaded the crowd as the +words fell hot and earnestly from his lips, only broken now and then +by the convulsive click of a revolver as the excited feelings of some +pugnacious individual intensified under the judge's burning remarks. +But for his admonition of their promise to give the miserable wretch +Podgett a trial, in all probability the proceedings would have been +ended before Bartlett closed his remarks. + +Tom Bradford, in his argument as the legally constituted prosecutor, +merely reiterated in a measure what the judge had so forcibly +expressed, but he scathed Podgett in a fearful manner, working up a +more exasperated feeling, if that were possible, than existed before; +and when he had finished his address he called his witnesses. + +The Doctor was first to testify; but he confined his evidence to +the character of the charred bones, settling beyond the question of +possibility that they were human. + +Willow Gulch Jack then appeared, and upon him all eyes were +concentrated as he related to the jury the simple story. He described +accurately, with a dead coal taken from the fireplace, on the top of +a cracker-box, the location of the cabin, its surroundings, and the +position in which the several bodies were found, particularly that of +Jemuel Knaggs, a piece of whose blue shirt and curious collar-button +he exhibited, the latter being recognized by nearly every man present. +He made a graphic if not artistic sketch with his rude pencil, and +its effect upon the jury and spectators was manifested by expressions +addressed to Podgett more emphatic than elegant. + +Issachar Noe was the next and last witness called for the prosecution. +He related in an impressive and convincing manner, as chairman of the +committee, the interview with the young wife or mistress of Podgett, +which was received by his listeners with that faith in its accuracy +comparable to the high character of the man. + +Then young Green, the counsel appointed for the defense, though he +had not a single particle of evidence to offer, and convinced of the +deep villainy of his brutal and inhuman client, felt it incumbent to +make an appeal in his behalf. This he did so eloquently, and built +up hypotheses so rapidly, that some of the rougher element, afraid +that his efforts might be effectual, became rather demonstrative, and +crowded around him in a somewhat threatening manner. They were quieted, +however, by a few positive words from old Tom. It was rather a decided +but not particularly pleasant compliment to the youth's forensic +ability! + +When the defense had closed its wonderfully ingenious argument, the +judge made another of his significant addresses in his charge to the +jury, and a little after midnight he submitted the case to them. + +An awful silence prevailed for a few moments while the twelve men put +their heads together and consulted in a low tone without leaving their +seats. Presently they all rose, and their spokesman, turning to the +judge, uttered only one word: "GUILTY." + +[Illustration: "WITH PODGETT BETWEEN THEM."] + +Then, at a sign from stern old Sam, who immediately came down from his +pile of bacon, the two determined-faced miners, with Podgett between +them almost paralyzed with fear, walked out into the night, followed +by the crowd, who fired off their pistols, and made the very hills +tremble with their demoniacal yells. + +The early morning sun, as its rays entered the narrow valley, shone +upon the lifeless body of Podgett, where, suspended by the neck from +the limb of a huge oak tree on the main street of Whooping Hollow, it +slowly oscillated at the sport of the warm south breeze. + +[Illustration] + + + + +THE WOOING OF AH-KEY-NES-TOU. + + +[Illustration: MANDAN CHIEF.] + +At a period late in the twenties, the Mandans, one of the most +intelligent tribes of Indians on the continent, were almost swept out +of existence by the smallpox. The story comes down to us in the form of +a tradition among other savages, but it is nevertheless true, as there +are a few old trappers yet living who remember all the particulars of +the event. + +The Mandans resided in the vicinity of the mouth of the Yellowstone, +where their villages were permanent for untold centuries, and at the +time of the visitation of the fell disease which nearly annihilated +them they comprised about three thousand families. + +Shortly after sunrise, one morning in June, 1828, a young white man was +reclining idly on one of the grassy knolls overlooking the village, +the great river, and the vast prairie stretching westwardly from its +bank. He was intently watching certain movements in the town, where +the warriors were preparing for a grand hunt. In the distance, the +buffalo could be seen grazing in immense herds, whose presence was +the cause of the commotion among the Indians. Soon he saw hundreds of +warriors, armed with bows, their quivers filled with arrows, emerge +from the shadow of their lodges, and in a long line ride out toward +the unsuspecting animals so peacefully feeding. The old men and squaws +alone remained in the village, and they were gathered in anxious +groups, applauding the husbands, sons and lovers as they went proudly +forth to battle for that subsistence which was their only dependence +when the snows of winter filled the now sunny valley. + +A few moments after the warriors had disappeared in the purple morning +mist of the prairies, a bevy of lightly dressed dusky maidens, in +all their savage beauty, wandered toward the sandy margin of the +Yellowstone to indulge in their favorite amusement of swimming in its +clear sparkling tide,--for that stream in summer, like a great brook, +ripples and babbles over the rounded quartz pebbles which compose its +bed, with as rhythmical a flow as the tiniest rivulet in the recesses +of the mountains. + +[Illustration] + +It was this group of Indian maidens that now attracted the gaze of the +young stranger; one among them particularly, not yet seventeen, but +more beautiful than the others, walked like some society queen on the +beach at Newport. In a few moments she purposely separated herself from +the rest and directed her steps toward the mound on which the young +man was lying. He smiled when he saw her evident intention, and a flush +of pride swept over his bronzed cheeks as he came down to the base of +the elevation to await her approach. + +The young girl thus seeking the intruder was the affianced bride of +"In-ne-cose" (The Iron Horn), principal chief of the Mandans--old +enough to be her grandfather. She, the handsome Indian maiden, was +known as "Ah-key-nes-tou" (The Red Rose), and was the pride of the +Mandan nation. + +The young man, who had with impatience waited for her coming all +the morning, was of course an American; an incipient doctor who had +enlisted in the service of the great Fur Company a year before, whose +agency was at the junction of the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers, +near the Mandan village. He had imagined himself in love many times +in St. Louis, where was his home, but was now satisfied that he had +really never felt the tender passion until he saw Ah-key-nes-tou at +the general store one day, some months before the story of their fate +commences. + +When he discovered that the beautiful girl was destined to be the fifth +wife of the old chief In-ne-cose--a cross, ugly Indian, and moreover +not a full-blooded Mandan--he took pity on her, loved her more than +ever, and resolved to win her for himself. Ah-key-nes-tou had often +admitted to the "White Medicine," as the band of Mandans called the +youthful doctor, that she had a decided predilection for him; that she +could never love the old chief; but as her father had been paid for her +by the present of two horses, she felt bound to the bargain according +to Indian usage. + +The doctor in a dozen interviews had told Ah-key-nes-tou of his deep +love; that he was willing to leave his home forever for her sake, +and, marrying her, would become an adopted son of the tribe. But poor +"Ah-key," as her white admirer always called her, considered herself +in honor bound to become the wife of In-ne-cose; consequently both the +youth and the maiden were perfectly miserable. + +In a few moments the doctor and Ah-key met at the foot of the mound, +where, without speaking, they seated themselves on the grass with which +the ground was covered. After looking at her silently for some time, he +took the maiden's hand and said: + +"It is a long time since Ah-key has come to her white lover. I have +been very sad; the sun shone brightly, but I could not see its +brightness, for you were far away. I learn that In-ne-cose intends soon +to take you for his fifth wife. I want but one; you are that one; my +lodge is empty--I cannot live without you." + +The Indian maiden trembled for a moment, then answered: +"Ah-key-nes-tou's heart is small, but it is very red. My father has +given me to the great chief. Two lovers have come to me; my heart can +hold but one. I see in it the face of my young White Medicine only; +but a river as wide as the Missouri parts us. In-ne-cose has given two +horses for me; my father has spoken; I must be the fifth wife of the +great chief. What can I do?" + +The idea of Ah-key-nes-tou becoming the bride of any other than +himself, made the young doctor almost wild, and he would have given +vent to some very emphatic language had not the girl at that instant +said to him: "There is a snake in the grass that the pale-face does not +see," and she pointed with her tapering index-finger to a spot not far +off, where the weeds and sunflower-stalks seemed to move by some other +power than the wind. It was In-ne-cose himself, who had stealthily +followed and was watching Ah-key-nes-tou. "You must go to the village +and eat with my people to-day," continued the trembling maiden, as she +looked imploringly toward her lover. + +[Illustration: MANDAN CANOE.] + +The doctor was now satisfied they had a dangerous spy upon their +actions, and grinding his teeth, hastened to obey her injunction at +once. He dared not kiss Ah-key now, but they exchanged glances,--a +language that is understood by all who love, whether white, black, +or red; and as she walked away he shouldered his heavy rifle and +ascended the knoll again, where he stood erect for a few minutes so +that the whole village might see him. Remaining where he stood until +Ah-key-nes-tou had rejoined the group of her friends on the beach, +where they were preparing for their bath, the doctor descended, and +moved quietly toward the nearest group of lodges. + +First, he made a visit to that of a subordinate chief who was friendly +to both Ah-key-nes-tou and himself, looking with decided favor on his +efforts to win the girl. Then he went to the lodge of Ah-key-nes-tou's +father. He was received very kindly, invited to breakfast, and when +that was disposed of, the pipe was passed around, an evidence of the +warm feeling the Indian entertained for his white guest. After some +time devoted to the fragrant fumes of the "kin-ne-ke-nick," the doctor +opened up the subject always nearest his heart--his desire to marry +the old savage's daughter. The father of the girl freely admitted that +he should be highly honored by such an alliance, but that his word had +been pledged to the "Iron Horn," and as presents had been accepted from +him, the matter must be considered as settled; that the tribe would +never condone any deceit on his part--he could not break his word. + +[Illustration: MANDAN VILLAGE.] + +The doctor agreed with his honorable host, that the difficulties were +great, according to the Indian code of honor; nevertheless, he believed +that the thing could be so arranged that it would be acceptable to +all concerned. He then informed the old man that a steamboat (or +"fire-ship," as the savages called it,) would arrive at the village +that evening. On it were his trunk, tent, and all his belongings; he +proposed to take up his abode with the tribe. To this, War Eagle, the +father of Ah-key-nes-tou, cordially gave his approval; suggesting that +the mound from which the villagers had first seen him that morning +would be a suitable place to establish his lodge. + +Just before sunset the guns of the steamboat were heard in the +village as she rounded a sharp point near her proposed landing-place. +Immediately the entire population, men, women and children, flocked +to the beach to see the wonderful canoe that moved without oars. They +regarded it as a monster, gazing upon it with fear and trembling every +time it came up the river. + +Early the next morning, with the assistance of some of his Mandan +friends the doctor landed his traps and erected his tent on the spot +designated by War Eagle. His equipments consisted of a neat camp bed, +rich blankets, arms, ammunition, and a medicine chest, together with +hundreds of little trinkets pleasing to the taste of the Indians of +both sexes. + +The enthusiastic young doctor had hardly gotten his things in shipshape +before a messenger from In-ne-cose arrived, demanding his presence +at the council lodge. He obeyed the summons from the head chief, of +course, but he could not divine why he had been sent for so suddenly, +just as he had fixed himself comfortably in his new home. Reaching the +lodge where the chiefs and head men were assembled, he found there +also many women and children of the tribe, evidently expectant of some +serious matter to be discussed. + +In-ne-cose sat in the center of his counselors, on a magnificently +embroidered buffalo robe, smoking his great pipe trimmed with +eagle-feathers, as stoical as an Egyptian mummy, excepting that around +his mouth there played a smile of devilish import. + +Standing near her father, who had also been summoned to the council, +was Ah-key-nes-tou, dusky and beautiful in her savage grace, with a +look of pride on her countenance; for was it not certain that she was +to be the subject for discussion by the suddenly assembled warriors? + +Wrapped around the shoulders of the stern In-ne-cose was a curiously +wrought Mexican blanket, the sight of which, as the doctor's eyes fell +upon it, caused his whole frame to tremble. He turned pale, and his +entire aspect was that of fear and deep solicitude; but not a word did +he utter. + +As soon as those who were called to the council had seated themselves, +In-ne-cose rose and said: + +"A pale-faced medicine-man has fixed his lodge by those of the Mandans. +We have plenty of ground here; there are great herds of buffalo roaming +over the prairie, which the Great Spirit has sent to furnish food for +his people; the rich young warrior with a white skin is welcome to his +share of these. His heart is red, and he is the friend of the Mandans. +But he is alone; he has no squaw to cook his meat or saddle his horse; +no one to make his bed of the soft skins of the buffalo; no one to +shape the moccasins for his feet; he has no wife to bring home the game +that he kills. He cannot get a slave to do all these things, for we are +at peace with every nation; there is no war. He must therefore take a +wife from among the young women of the Mandans; there are many. He can +buy two wives, for he is rich; let him choose when In-ne-cose takes +Ah-key-nes-tou. I have said." + +The doctor immediately arose from his place, full of indignation and +disgust at the old chief's cunning. Familiar with the language of the +tribe, he addressed the assembled warriors in their own tongue. All +eyes were riveted on him, for the majority of those present, and many +who were absent, were in perfect accord with him in his honorable +efforts to win Ah-key-nes-tou from the "Iron Horn," whom they feared +but did not respect. + +"In-ne-cose is a dog!" boldly began the doctor. The chiefs gazed upon +him with wonderment, but without betraying any emotion. "The Great +Spirit is angry," continued the orator. "In-ne-cose is a vulture +among eagles, and would carry off the prettiest eaglet. But the +Great Spirit says that it shall not be so. Before the sun goes down +seven times more, In-ne-cose will be dead! He will take with him to +the happy hunting-grounds many Mandan warriors; many young women +and children--perhaps Ah-key-nes-tou;" and the young man was deeply +affected. He merely added the chief's own words, "I have said," then +sat down. + +In a few moments, when his feelings had partially regained their normal +state, he rose again to explain to the now bewildered and wondering +warriors and women what he meant by the awful prophecy he had just +uttered. He told them that on the passage of the steamboat up the +river, only two days before she had landed at their village, a Mexican +merchant on board had died of a frightful disease, the smallpox! He +explained how terribly contagious it was to those who were not guarded +against it by a great medicine operation performed by the white man. +That the merchant who had died of the disease possessed a blanket, upon +which he had breathed his last. In-ne-cose had stolen that blanket off +the boat, and had it now wrapped around him. He told them that every +Indian who went near him, who touched that blanket, or even breathed +the same air where he sat, would die unless with his medicine he could +save them. The doctor continued: + +"The Great Spirit is very angry. Darkness is coming over the lodges of +the Mandans. In less than one moon, perhaps, not a lodge will be full. +You love Ah-key-nes-tou; let her go to the lodge of the pale-faced +Medicine Man, and he will go to that of the 'Iron Horn'--but I fear it +is too late." + +By the time the doctor had completed his remarks so fraught with +portent, all those assembled within the council lodge rapidly moved +themselves from the presence of In-ne-cose. He however sat stoically +smoking, apparently not the least disturbed by the fearful predictions +of the doctor. In a few moments the old chief rose again, and thus +addressed himself to the presumptuous white man: + +"The Great Spirit lives in the clouds. If he wills that all my people +shall go to him, they must obey. My little ones slept on the mystery +blanket last night; they awoke this morning and were well. Will the Bad +Spirit touch them?" + +Then drawing the "death-blanket" closer around him, In-ne-cose +apparently defied the evil effects of the wrap. But shortly afterward +his dusky skin showed a slight pallor and he seemed strangely agitated. +He again spoke, though this time in a disturbed voice, addressing +himself, as before, directly to the doctor: + +"The chief of the Mandans is rich. He has four squaws already. If the +young pale-face will drive away the Bad Spirit from the little ones of +In-ne-cose, he may take Ah-key-nes-tou for his wife." + +The doctor, delighted at these words of the head chief, grasped the +old man's hand, and told him that he would do his best to save the +children. Then, ordering Ah-key-nes-tou's brother to lead his sister +to his lodge on the knoll, he told another Indian to go and bring his +medicine chest to the lodge of In-ne-cose. He then went to the chief's +lodge himself, but on examining the little ones discovered it was too +late for vaccination: the blanket had done its work! + +The next day the pestilence broke out in a hundred lodges. Very soon +the Indians were not able to bury their dead--the latter outnumbering +the living. In less than a month, out of three thousand families only +eight survived. Where the Mandan village once stood, even as late as +thirty years ago the traces of over eight thousand graves could be +seen. It was an awful visitation, almost annihilating a whole nation! + +In-ne-cose, as predicted by the doctor, was the first to die. +Ah-key-nes-tou was saved by prompt vaccination. The doctor took her +to St. Louis, where they were married, the ceremony being performed +by that grand and good old Catholic priest, Father DeSmet, who was +stationed there at the time, and whose memory is kept green by every +tribe of Indians on the continent. Ah-key-nes-tou was educated at one +of the convents in the Mound City, became the pet of society, and her +worthy husband a State Senator. + + + + +CARSON'S "FIRST INDIAN." + + +[Illustration: KIT CARSON.] + +I have been requested by several parties to offer something of Kit +Carson's early days on the Plains. Having been intimate with that +famous man during the declining years of his eventful life, and having +heard from his own lips many of the adventures of his youth, while +sitting around the camp-fire on several little "outings" with him and +Maxwell in the mountains of New Mexico, I have chosen for my sketch +Kit's first shot at an Indian. + +That portion of the great central plains of Kansas which radiates from +the Pawnee Fork as its center, including the bend of the Arkansas, +where that river makes a sudden sweep to the southeast, and the +beautiful valley of the Walnut,--in all an area of nearly a thousand +square miles,--was from time immemorial a sort of debatable ground, +occupied by none of the tribes, but claimed by all to hunt in, for it +was a famous resort of the buffalo. + +None of the various bands of savages had the temerity to attempt its +permanent occupancy, for whenever they met there--which was of frequent +occurrence--on their annual hunt for their winter's supply of meat, a +bloody battle was sure to ensue. The region referred to has perhaps +been the scene of more sanguinary conflicts than any other portion of +the continent. Particularly was this the case when the Pawnees, who +claimed the country, met their hereditary enemies, the Cheyennes. + +Through this region, hugging the margin of the silent Arkansas, and +running under the very shadow of Pawnee Rock, the old Santa Fé trail +wound its course, now the actual road-bed of the Santa Fé Railway,--so +closely are the past and present transcontinental highways cemented at +this point: one, a mere memory; the other, one of the great railways +now spanning the continent. + +Who, among the bearded and grizzled old fellows like myself, has +forgotten that most exciting and sensational (at least it was so to +my boyish mind) of all the miserably executed illustrations in the +geographies of their school-days fifty years ago--"Santa Fé Traders +Attacked by Indians"? The picture located the scene of the fight +at Pawnee Rock, which formed a sort of a nondescript shadow in the +background of a crudely drawn representation of the dangers of the +trail. + +I witnessed a spirited encounter between a small band of the Cheyennes +and Pawnees in the fall of 1867. It occurred on the open prairie, just +north of the mouth of the Walnut, about four miles from where the city +of Great Bend now stands. Both tribes were hunting the buffalo, and +when each by accident discovered the presence of the other, with a +demoniacal yell that fairly shook the sand-dunes of the Arkansas they +rushed at once into the shock of battle. + +The Pawnees were of course friendly to the whites, and had permission +from their agent to leave their reservation in the valley of the +Neosho, near Council Grove. At that particular time, for a wonder, the +Cheyennes too were temporarily at peace with the Government. So I had +nothing to do but passively witness the savage combat. + +Both bands of the savages soon exhausted their ammunition, and then +the chiefs of the contending factions appealed to me most earnestly to +supply them with more, of which there was plenty at Fort Zarah, only +half a mile away. I was necessarily forced to remain neutral, but my +sympathies were with the "under dog" in the fight,--which happened to +be the Cheyennes, whom the Pawnees drove off disgraced and discomfitted. + +That evening, in a grove of timber on the Walnut, the victors had a +grand dance in which scalps, ears and fingers of their enemy, suspended +by strings to poles, were important accessories to their weird orgies +around the huge camp-fires. + +How true it is, as Longfellow declares: "The thoughts of youth are +long, long thoughts." I remember that map in the geographies of fifty +years ago (already referred to) on which was depicted "the Great +American Desert," over which I pored in the little log school-house +at the crossroads in the country, near my home in one of the Eastern +States. How distinctly I remember seeing Bent's old fort marked on the +western edge of the "Desert" on that quaint map. Then, in the "long, +long thoughts" of my boyhood's fancy, it seemed to me to be away out +on the confines of another world, for then I had never been thirty +miles away from the farm on which I was reared. I have slept under +the old fort's hospitable roof many times since, but long before the +era of railroads, where, gathered around its huge adobe fireplaces, up +whose cavernous throats the yellow flames crackled and roared, were the +mighty men of the Ute nation, with Kit Carson, Lucien B. Maxwell, Bent, +and other famous characters of the border, conversing in the beautiful +but silent sign-language, that is so perfect in its symbolization. Of +those who were present then, all but myself are long since dead, and +the scenes of those days are only hidden pictures in the storehouse of +my brain, to be called back in the quiet of the gloaming, with their +host of accompanying pleasant memories of a shadowy past. + +In my boyhood days I honestly believed that Kit Carson was at least +eight feet tall; that he always dressed in the traditional buckskin, +fringed at the seams, and beaded and "porcupined" all over; that +he carried innumerable eleven-inch bowie-knives, his rifle of huge +dimensions--so large and heavy that, like Warwick's sword, no ordinary +man could even lift it. I believed his regular meal to be an entire +buffalo, which he raised with both hands to his mouth, and picked its +immense bones as easily as the average mortal does a chicken's wing, +and that he drank out of nothing smaller than a river. Boys, probably +by the thousands, had the same "long thoughts," for boy-nature is the +same everywhere. + +Kit Carson was really a man under the average height, rather +delicate-looking in physical make-up than otherwise, but in fact, +wiry and quick, though cautious, possessing nerves of steel and an +imperturbability in the moment of supreme danger that was marvelous to +contemplate. + +He was fond of cards and horse-racing, a famous rider in his younger +days, having entered the lists in many a contest with the Indians, who +are generally passionately devoted to trials of speed between rival +ponies. I have myself seen, in the long-ago, as many as eight hundred +horses bet by contending bands, whose wealth was counted by the number +of animals they possessed. + +Kit once, years before he became famous, fought a duel, mounted; he +escaped with a bullet-wound behind his left ear, the scar of which he +carried to his grave, but he winged his equally youthful antagonist in +the quarrel. + +Kit's nature was composed of the noblest of attributes: he was brave, +but never reckless like Custer; unselfish, a veritable exponent of +Christian altruism; and as true to his friends as steel to the magnet. + +He died in 1868, at Fort Lyon, on the Arkansas, while on his way to +Fort Harker to make me a long-promised visit. For some time after +his passing away he rested peacefully under the gnarled and knotted +old cottonwoods which fringe the river--that Nile of America--in the +vicinity of Lyon. Later, his remains were moved to Taos, his former +New Mexico home, where an appropriate monument was erected over them; +in the plaza of quaint and curious Santa Fé, too, there is a massive +cenotaph which records his deeds and name. + +Kit was born in Kentucky, on the 24th of December, 1809. While a mere +infant his parents emigrated to what is now Howard county, Missouri, +which at that early date was literally a "howling wilderness" filled +with "varmints" of all kinds. + +There, as soon as he was big enough to lift a rifle, the old-fashioned +patch-and-ball, flint-lock affair, the embryo great frontiersman began +to hunt, and by the time he was fifteen he became the most expert shot +in the whole settlement. He could hit the eye of a squirrel every time +he pulled the trigger, or it didn't count. + +At this period, however, his father apprenticed him to a saddler, with +whom he worked faithfully for two years, spending all his leisure +moments in the primitive forest, hunting bear, deer, and other large +game that abounded there. + +In two years more, when Kit had reached the age of seventeen, the +trade with Santa Fé began, with its initial point in the hamlet of Old +Franklin, in Howard county, near where Kit lived (from which place it +did not move to Independence until 1836). + +In the late spring of 1826, Col. St. Vrain, a prominent agent of the +great fur companies, (a grand old gentleman whom I knew intimately,) +arrived at Franklin and made preparations to fit out a large caravan +destined for the far-off Rocky Mountains, loaded with goods to be used +in trading with the Indians for the skins of the valuable fur-bearing +animals of that remote and but little known region. + +Kit, as green as any boy of his age who had never been twenty miles +from his home, was infatuated by the stories told by the old trappers +of the Colonel's outfit, regarding the wonderful game in the land to +which they were going, and he was easily persuaded to join the caravan +in the capacity of hunter, his prowess with the rifle having reached +the ears of the major-domo of the train. Kit ran away from home, I +suspect, though he never told me so. + +The expedition was composed of twenty-six mule-wagons, some loose +stock, and forty-two men. In addition to his employment as hunter, +young Kit was to help drive the extra animals, take his turn in +standing guard, and make himself generally useful. + +The party marched wearily along, day after day, Kit proving his right +to the reputation of being a mighty hunter, without any adventure +worthy of recording, until they arrived at the Walnut, where they +discovered the first signs of Indians. They had halted for that day; +the mules were unharnessed, the camp-fires lighted, and the men about +to indulge in their ever-welcome black coffee, when they were suddenly +surprised by half a dozen Pawnees, who, mounted on their ponies, +hideously painted and uttering the most diabolical yells, rushed out of +the tall grass on the Arkansas bottom, and swinging their buffalo robes +attempted to stampede the animals of the caravan. + +Every man in the outfit was on his feet in an instant with his rifle in +hand, so that all the impudent savages got for their pains were a few +harmless shots as they scampered back to the river and over into the +sand-hills out of sight. + +The next night the caravan camped at the foot of Pawnee Rock, and of +course, after the experience of the afternoon before, every precaution +was employed to prevent another surprise. The wagons were formed into +a corral, so that the animals might be protected in the event of a +prolonged fight with the savages. The guards were instructed to be +doubly vigilant, and every man slept with his rifle on his arm, for +the old Colonel assured them the savages would never rest content with +their defeat on the Walnut, but true to their thieving propensities and +their desire for revenge, would seize the first favorable opportunity +to renew the attack. + +All this was a new and strange experience to young Carson, who had +never before seen any Indians except a few friendly Shawnees and +Osages. Of the methods and tactics of the wild Plains tribes, he +literally knew nothing. + +When everything was arranged for the night, Kit was posted as a +sentinel immediately in front of the south face of the Rock, nearly two +hundred yards from the wagon corral. The other men who were on guard +were posted on top, and on the open prairie on either side. + +About half-past eleven, as near as he could guess, Kit told me, one of +the guards yelled out "Indians!" and ran the mules that were grazing +near, into the corral, while the entire company turned out of their +blankets on the report of a rifle on the midnight air coming from the +direction of the Rock. + +In a few minutes young Kit came running down toward the corral, where +the men had collected, and Col. St. Vrain asked him if he had seen any +Indians. + +[Illustration: THE TRAIN AT PAWNEE ROCK.] + +"Yes," replied Kit, "I killed one of the red devils--I saw him fall." + +There was no further disturbance that night; it proved to be a false +alarm; so all who were not standing guard that night were soon +peacefully sleeping again. + +The next morning at the first streak of day, every one was up and +anxious to see young Carson's dead Indian. They went out _en masse_ to +the Rock, when instead of finding a painted Pawnee, they discovered +Kit's riding-mule, dead--shot through the head. + +The boy felt terribly mortified over his ridiculous blunder, and it was +a long time before he heard the last of his midnight shot at his mule. + +He explained to me the circumstances: He had not slept any the previous +night, and he had watched so earnestly for a chance to kill a Pawnee +that he supposed he must have fallen asleep leaning against the face of +the Rock; "but I was wide enough awake to hear the cry of 'Indians!'" +said he. "I had picketed my mule about twenty steps from where I stood, +and I suppose it had been lying down. All I know is that the first +thing I saw after the alarm was something rising up out of the grass. I +thought sure it was an Indian; I took aim, and pulled the trigger. It +was a center shot; I don't believe that mule kicked once after he was +hit!" + +In the morning, a few minutes after the men had returned from a visit +to Kit's dead mule, a real battle commenced. The Pawnees attacked the +camp in earnest, and kept the little outfit busy all that day, the +next night, and till the following night--nearly three whole days, the +animals all that time shut up in the corral without food or water. + +On the second midnight the men harnessed up and attempted to drive out, +but were driven back and had to give it up. + +The third night, just before morning, they tried it again, determined +to reach the ford at Pawnee Rock to water their animals, or all would +perish. It was a little more than ten miles distant from the Rock (and +is now within the corporate limits of Larned). + +They succeeded in keeping off the savages, and arrived at the ford in +comparative safety. The trail at that point crossed the creek in the +shape of a horseshoe; or rather, in consequence of a double bend in the +stream as it debouches into the Arkansas, the road crossed it twice, +as all who have traveled the old Santa Fé trail in the early days will +remember. + +In making this crooked passage many of the wagons were badly wrecked in +the creek, because the mules were terribly thirsty, and their drivers +could not control them. + +The caravan was hardly "strung out" again on the opposite bank of the +Pawnee, when the Indians poured a shower of arrows and a volley of +bullets from both sides of the trail into the train. But before they +could reload or draw their arrows a desperate charge was made among +them, headed by the Colonel, and it took only a few minutes to clear +out the savages, and then the caravan moved on. + +During the whole fight at the Rock and at Pawnee Fork, the party lost +four men killed, seven wounded, and eleven mules killed (not including +Kit's), and twenty wounded. + +From this fight Kit said Pawnee Rock was named. + + + + +A THEORY AS TO GEN. CUSTER'S DEATH. + +DID HE COMMIT SUICIDE? + + +[Illustration: GEN. GEORGE A. CUSTER.] + +Little is known of the origin of scalp-taking, and that, vague and +indefinite: nearly every tribe has some wild, weird legend to account +for the custom, but these traditions vary widely as to the cause. That +"raising the hair" of an enemy is of great antiquity, there is no +doubt, as in the Bible it is related how the soldiers tore the skin +from the heads of their whipped foes. All, or at least all Indian +tribes with which I am acquainted, scalp their enemies killed in battle. + +With the Indian there appears to be some close affiliation between the +departed spirit and his hair. I have questioned many a blood-begrimed +warrior why he should want a dead man's hair, and invariably there +have been assigned a number of reasons, three of which are most +prominent: First, it is an evidence to his people that he has triumphed +over an enemy; second, the scalps are employed very prominently in the +incantations of the "medicine lodge"--a part of their religious rites; +third, the savage believes there is a wonderfully inherent power in +the scalp of an enemy. All the excellent qualities of the victim go +with his hair the moment it is wrenched from his head. If it be that of +a renowned warrior, so much the more are they anxious to procure his +scalp, for the fortunate possessor then inherits all the bravery and +prowess of its original owner. + +I have known of but one instance in all my experience among the +Indians, where a white man taken prisoner in battle escaped death. +It was a great many years ago; the party, a dear friend, still +living, was a grand old mountaineer,--but the homeliest man on earth, +probably. He was red-faced, wrinkled, and pockmarked, with a mouth as +large and full of teeth as a gorilla's, and there was no more hair +on any part of his head than there is on the head of a cane. He was +captured in a prolonged fight and taken to the village of the tribe +where the principal chief resided. The latter gave one look at the +prisoner, shook his head, and said he was "bad medicine"; that if he +was not the "evil spirit" himself, he was closely allied to him. He +then ordered his subordinates to furnish him with a pony, loaded him +with provisions, provided him with a rifle, and told him to go to his +people. This incident, which is a fact, shows that you cannot account +for the occasional vagaries of the North-American savage. + +The Indians of the Plains and Rocky Mountains would rather, for the +reason last above stated, take one scalp of a famous scout or army +officer who has successfully chastised them, like Custer, Sully, and +Crook, than a dozen of those of ordinary white men. + +Twenty-six years ago next November I was camping on the high "divide" +between the Arkansas river and the Beaver, with a party of Government +Indian scouts, members of three friendly tribes,--Osages, Pawnees, +and Kaws,--employed by order of Gen. Sheridan in his winter campaign +against the hostile Cheyennes, Arapahoes, and Kiowas. It was a terribly +gusty day, one of those so characteristic of our Plains region at +certain times of the year. As with closely wrapped blankets we huddled +around our little fire of buffalo-chips, the dust and ashes would rise +in miniature whirlwinds and go dancing over the prairies until they +exhausted themselves. + +I asked a venerable chief of the Osages who was present, "Little +River," nearly eighty years old, what those fitful spirals indicated, +in order to draw from his savage mind his ideas of the forces of +nature. He replied: "They are the spirits of some southern Indians, +killed and scalped up north, going back to the lodges of their people." + +I thought that if he had substituted the word "matter" for +"spirit"--for everywhere we tread upon the dust of a lost +civilization--probably he would have been nearer the truth than in the +statement of one of the superstitions of his race. + +[Illustration: LITTLE RIVER.] + +Among the many myths of the American savage, the disposition of the +soul after its separation from the body, and its close connection with +its scalp, vary according to the religion of the tribe. With some, +the "journey to the happy hunting-grounds" begins immediately; with +others, the spirit remains near the grave. Again, if an Indian dies +away from the lodges of his people, the spirit returns at once to them, +where it hovers, as if reluctant to leave. Among the "upper-river +tribes" it is believed that before the spirit finally departs from +those who have died of wounds received in battle, "it floats toward a +great cliff overhanging the Missouri, and carves upon the wall of rock +a picture showing the manner of death." It is believed by most Plains +tribes that the soul attaches itself to the scalp; that the soul of a +person scalped does not suffer from the wounds inflicted on the body, +but that the converse is the case where the scalp is not torn off. + +There are many instances on record where men have been scalped and yet +survived the terrible ordeal, but in every case the scalper supposed +his victim dead, the latter taking good care that the foeman should not +be disabused of the supposed fact. + +One who kills himself in battle, accidentally or purposely, has +positively no hereafter; he is irrevocably lost. Those who are struck +by lightning, or die by any other apparently direct operation of the +"Manitou" (the Great Spirit), are hurriedly buried where they fall, +without any ceremony, and no mound or other mark is erected over them. +If after a battle there are found corpses not scalped or their bodies +not mutilated, it is certain that those persons came to death by their +own hand, for it is part of the religion of an Indian not to scalp or +mutilate the body of an enemy who commits suicide. His superstition in +regard to persons dying by suicide or by lightning is as religiously +observed as any other of his myths. + +Knowing this deep-rooted superstition as well as I do, I have been led +to believe--though the statement may provoke discussion among those who +know nothing of the Indian character--that the death of the lamented +Gen. Custer in that awfully unequal battle of the "Little Big Horn" +was not according to the accepted theory at that time, viz.: that he +was killed by the Indian chief "Rain-in-the-face." The tale (which I +regard as an idle fiction so far as the facts are concerned) as it has +been told a thousand times and copied in the newspapers of the world, +is, that one day the General's brother Tom, at one of the military +posts where the regiment to which he was attached, the famous Seventh +Cavalry (commanded by the General), was stationed, had a dispute with +Rain-in-the-face, and struck him. The savage was furious with rage, +but suppressed it, and mounting his pony rode off sullenly to his lodge. + +Years after the death of Gen. Custer, Rain-in-the-face, who +unquestionably participated in the battle of the Rosebud (as the +action is sometimes called), is said to have related that he killed +Gen. Custer, thus avenging himself for the indignity put upon himself +by the General's brother Tom, so long before. In all probability the +story was made out of "whole cloth" by a certain New York newspaper +correspondent, in whose journal it first appeared. I knew him well, +and his reputation for unexaggerated truth was far from being as +orthodox as he of the cherry-tree fame. Because it had a plausibility +about it, and was highly sensational, the statement was accepted by +the general public, or those who were not familiar with the methods of +the North-American savage. No doubt Rain-in-the-face did, as would all +Indians, treasure up such a grievance as that of having been insulted +by a blow from a white man; but the circumstances of the battle of the +Little Big Horn in all its horrors, so far as it is possible to know +them, preclude the possibility of Sitting Bull permitting a subordinate +chief, as was Rain-in-the-face, to arrogate to himself the right of +revenge in the case of such a noted "white warrior" as Custer. If by +any probability Rain-in-the-face did kill Custer, he certainly would +have scalped him and mutilated his body. Custer was not scalped, nor +was his person at all abused; and the reason generally given for this +immunity from the common custom of savage warfare is, that the Indians +had such a profound admiration for his wonderful bravery that they +spared the great "white warrior" that humiliation. This is the weakest +point of the whole argument--for the greater the man in the savages' +estimation, the more eager would they be to secure his scalp. + +[Illustration: SITTING BULL] + +My own theory is--and the fact that Custer was not scalped or mutilated +is not the only confirmation of it--that the General killed himself +to escape the horrible torture that awaited him should he be captured +alive. His capture was what Sitting Bull had undoubtedly determined +upon, the moment he saw the tide of battle unmistakably turning in his +favor. + +Custer was known to all the Plains tribes; he had given them ample +cause to remember him, and these savages would never have allowed an +opportunity to capture him alive to be defeated by permitting some +aggrieved chief to kill him in order to gratify a personal revenge--the +game was too big. The Indians called Custer the "Crawling Panther," +because he usually fell upon them with his troopers as stealthily as +does that animal upon its prey. + +To those unacquainted with the methods of the American savage of the +Great Plains, the statement that suicide would be infinitely preferable +to the chances for life after having been captured by the Indians, +may seem overdrawn, and wicked to be thought of. But if they had +seen, as I have, the remains of men, women and innocent babes horribly +mutilated, burnt, butchered, and hacked to pieces, they too, if they +knew such a fate awaited them beyond the possibility of a doubt if +captured alive, would unhesitatingly court death by their own hands, +suddenly and immediately, rather than wait for the other, a few +hours or days more remote, perhaps, but certain, and horrible in its +prolonged agony. + +I know that it was commonly understood, if not actually agreed to +among the officers at frontier posts, that each one should reserve the +last bullet in his revolver for himself in the event of a horrible +contingency. I have known of many officers in the long-ago of my early +service among the Indians, who, whenever they went on an expedition +against the hostile tribes, invariably had concealed about their +persons, easily accessible, a small capsule of prussic acid or some +equally potent and swift messenger of death, to be used in case of a +possible contingency. + +Custer, it will be remembered, was shot through the head, and it was a +curious coincidence that two or three of his subordinates whose bodies +were found near his had been shot in precisely the same manner. + +In view of all these facts, there can be small doubt that those +officers carried out the plan of death determined upon, the moment they +recognized the hopelessness of their situation. + +That the story of Rain-in-the-face, if he ever told it, is not at +all likely to be the truth, may be inferred from the fact that the +average Indian, as I know him, when discoursing of his own prowess is +the most unconscionable liar, and the truth is not in him. Of course +if Rain-in-the-face could prevail upon a newspaper correspondent to +flatter him in regard to the part he took in a battle in which a great +white warrior was defeated, he would rather lie to that correspondent +than not; and that is just what Rain-in-the-face did in this +instance--provided, always, that the correspondent did not invent the +whole tale. + +The truth of how Custer came to his death can never absolutely be +known, for out of that awfully unequal conflict there came but one +miserable Crow Indian and Col. Keogh's celebrated horse "Comanche," +alive. From the fact that the great soldier was not scalped, the theory +I have suggested is certainly more plausible, and will be accepted by +all who are familiar with the customs of the Indians, than that story +which has made the rounds of the newspapers a dozen times. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Tales of the Trail, by Henry Inman + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 58568 *** |