Cattle-Ranch to College

d) in one of the dance halls, which was hastily impressed for the purpose, the h

their stock, they were startled by the sudden appearance of an Indian near them, who yelled and waved his blanket, and finally s

r all sorts of rough country. The Indians appeared at intervals in pursuit

n they came in sight of the town. "Even then," said one of the men, called Singing Jim, "we couldn't have c

ability to see small black clouds of evil a great distance off. "Plenty of trouble, too, in th

Harry Hodson, a mouthful of beans i

akin' light for the Indians to do a war d

red in time to hear the last; "they'll not sh

uted Johnny, who stuck his head in at the door

ing Jim, who was the last man out, exclaimed as he disappeared,

n the pickets topped the rise and ma

, but still invisib

back. A long night of vigil and hurried preparation had told on these watchers and they were anxious to begin the work and end the suspense. The short ten minutes which elapsed seemed ten hours. Then two Indians rode to the top of the ridge and looked down upon the preparations for their reception. They were a long rifle sho

tackle us; but I never saw an Indian yet that would ride a quarter of a mile in

ryin' us," said Casino. "Yo

d rode full tilt along the hillside in direct view of the camp, yelling and

ised. "There's no use shooting now; they're only trying to draw our fire a

s still reserved. A dozen then made the run, one following the other, at regular intervals. More and more of the painted, yelling, gesticulating sa

vancing beyond the one preceding him, all yelling epithets

fforded them an opportunity to fire and yet gave

as naturally bad, for there was no chance to take careful aim. If the savages planned, however, to draw the fire of the besieg

could now be plainly seen. It was within easy range, but still the fire was withheld. Each

k the wagons and the barricade. The situation began to be interesting; any shot might n

iff only sai

ely and the yelling enemy wer

o be heard: "Boys, don't shoot when your man is opposite; wait till he has passed, th

ited under the leadership of one man. The volley which followed, therefore, was not o

d nothing more than kill and disable a horse or two; but soon the fire became more rapid and accurate. A big buck was seen to fall out of his saddle, another was

g buck, in full war regalia and mounted on a beautiful bay pony, bounded into view. He dashe

and yet, though the bullets whistled on all sides of him, he was unharmed. Nearer and nearer he drew, until he reached a point within two hundred yards of the white man's guns. Then he stopped, turned his pony half-wa

always towards his enemies. The daring of the deed took both sides by surprise, and for a time hard

ght be inspired to emulate the rash act, and if they took it into their

g as well as possible their comrade's retre

ill. "He mustn't get away unhurt. We'v

s foe, gesturing defiance. The feathers in his war-bonnet fluttered in the wind,

chief was changed from a superb living bronze statue to a lump. He fell, clawing at his saddle an

uch less time than

coverts and ran for their lives to gain the more substantial refuge which the ridge afford

ped all around the whit

riff. "Found the camp stro

ey, which was held discreetly out of range, the ba

cue the fallen, but the risk wa

ully from under cover, for the Sioux were notoriously tricky and their app

alamity Jake follow their trail and see what becomes of them. If they start to come back you

hes of those remaining went with them. It was a perilous undertaking, fo

atch and prevent a surprise, though it was thought t

e that in the excitement some one or some animal had been hit unknown to the others. In fact, it would

several of the wagons had

punctured by a 45-calibre bullet, and the sticky stuff leak

st of his outfit near the railroad," Casino had expl

roduction to the hardships of frontier life. As Charley

which was most glad to see the other, but a stranger coming in would not have realized that this was the return of a father and son after several hours' exposure to all the perils of Indian warfare. There were no te

latter to his more fortunate brothe

"Sure we did," he answered. "They didn't come till daylight and so were in plain sight, w

was sound asleep, and, not long after, his father was a

king with them, however, some of the N bar N stock. The tw

ake. "These pesky Indians ought to

hrough his hair: "Well, I'm glad this thatch is not decorating some Si

e old way in the little frontier town, for

s a busy place and was the distributing

the other, the whole drawn by many teams of mules and driven by one man, who rode the near mule next the first wagon, controlling his team by a single "jerk line," which ran to the front near animal. This mule, wh

wboy raced in with a couple of pack ponies to get supplies for his outfit, the rare opportunity was always taken advantage of to enjoy what pleasures the town afforded. T

ribed before the parching heat of summer began to gi

daily swimming in the river and took up horse racing instead; and many a race

miner, opening up mines of coal in the deep-cut river banks, the c

AW AN INDIAN VI

the bare necessaries of life: a blanket, perhaps a string of bacon, a bag

Lincoln and other outposts situated up the river were clamoring for more fuel, an

g to carry his equipment. They started out afoot, and

back Mr. Worth,

" returne

o round up the "saddle band" (as the ponies which were reserved for riding were called), and the work stock of mules and pack horses. They were not far off, nibbling the tufted b

Ben went back to the shack, but were pr

t's colder than blazes. Hope the governor w

tween grunts, for the load of wood he

ht. The beds were really bunks built into the wall, and were not exactly luxurious, spring mattresses being quite unknown; b

r his journey was to be a long one and subject to man

Charley Green came up to where the boys sat

zie wants-what are you doing?" His

thieves," said John, facetiously. "What did

t out from an Eastern college, but densely ignorant as far as Western ways we

her warm things for a man who turned up just now, half-

eriff's shack, bearing clothes and blankets. The crowd th

ng over the fire, sat a man who turn

my father!"