THE GOLDEN CAVES.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 6377, 12 February 1892, Page 4

THE GOLDEN CAVES.

A STORY OF LOVE, ADVENTURE, AND LUCK.

[BY M. aUAJD.I

CHAPTER V,

Let Bβ follow Joe as he leaves the rocky breastwork and creeps forward in the darkness. , . , , . ~ The Indian never leaves his deid in tne hande of au enemy if it can be avoided, it is not chivalry which induces him co peril his life to remove a dead body but superetition. As soon as night fell preparations were made to secure the dead scattered on the slope. Half o/ the bodies had been removed when Joe made his utart. There was but one chance of his working through the lines, and ho was taking it. Before he had crept twenty feet he fouud himself beside the body of a warrior, as hu hoped and expected to. He seized it by the arm and began pulling it toward the gully. "When half the distance had been accomplished he was joined by a warrior *ho came up from behind and seized the other arm and said : " I thought it wan my brother, but he must be further up." Joe uttered a grunt in reply, and th« two dragged the body to the brink of the gulf. There other haude received it, and as it was lifted down to be borne away for burial Joe passed along with the three or four warriors in charge. No one seemed to give him particular notice. There were only a few Indians in the cully, the main force having withdrawn temporarily further to the north. As Joe followed the body doivu the gully he met several Indians coming up to help remove the dead, but he had not gone over 200 feet when a break in the right bank ottersd him an opportunity to leave tho big ditch. He scrambled out at once and dropped to his hands and knees and crawled nway in the

darkness Hβ passed tho gully, which had been considered the great point of danger, and now to get the lay of the ground about him and twk to discover if there was another circle of Indians. Creeping forward as eilently as a rabbit he ascended a ridge from which he could make observations. The Indians were carrying off their dead — a portion of them—while the others had built tires behind another ridge and were cooking their meat. They seemed assured that the white men would make no move to assume the offensive, and the repulse had evidently demoralized them for the time beinu. The way to the north and the west was unobstructed so far as the scout could determine in the darkness, and after a bit he moved forward, having no other object in view than to cover the twenty miles between him and the forks of the Choyeune as Boon as possible. He was carefully picking his way to the northwest, neglecting no precaution until he should be certain that he was beyond the lines, when he suddenly came upon a dozen or more Indian ponies bunched in a hollow where the dampnesH had brought forth a growth of sweet grass. Two or three were hobbled, but the rest were free, and after creeping clear around the circle Joe failed to fiud a guard. If one had been left he had temporarily abandoned hie post. The Indian's horse and dog are like the Indian himself. They hate the white man. Although Joe's disguise hud carried him through the Indians, his scent betrayed him to the horses at ouce, and as he crept nearer those which were unfettered moved away. The scout knew the characteristics of the animals, and he lost no time. From a heap of saddles, blankets, and lariats he seized a raw-hide rope aud made a dash for one of the hobbled ponies, making eff as fast as his situation would permit. In a couple of minutes he got the rope around the pony's neck and looped it into his mouth and then he had him. It was not more than five minutee , work to cast off the hobbles and arrange blanket and saddle, and then he led the animal out of the bollow aud over the ridge aud away into the darkness until he felt safe in mounting him. The beast fought hard for a few minutes, knowing that it was all wrong, but the strong anna and the hard heela of the scout finally humbled him, and he went off through the darkness at a trait whiuh would have distanced pursuit had it been attempted. Up one ridge—down the other side—up and down—never a change in the lay of the ground for miles and miles, but holding as straight for the forks as the needle of the compass could point. Hunters in the woods have their signs and need no compass. The hunters and scouts on the plains se«m to divine by intuition. To the average eye the great plaina are a trackless waste. To the scout they are au open book. Blindfold him and lead him in circles for an hour, and when the hoodwink is removed he will give tho compass points

without hesitation. And an Indian has theinstin:;j of a fish or wild animal. The psruheriur wolf may be driven from hie lair and pursued for miles, but he can return to it by the shortest route.

Lead an Indian blindfolded a hundred miles from any familiar point and turn him and his eyes will instinctively turn in the direction of home.

Aβ Joe rode forward through the gloom

of night he had no fear that he would come out above or below the forks. His only anxiety was that he might fail in. finding the party. Suppose it had pushed ahead faster than he had figured ! Suppose it was still two or three days away ! Suppose the order to set out had been countermanded !

The pony swept forward through tho darkness at a steady gait, seeming never to tire, and after midnight, the character of the country began to change. Instinct told the scout that he was approaching the forks. If the party were there there would be a score of signs to chow it before coming within rifle range. At the distance of a mile away Joe pulled bis horse down to a walk and thug went forward, listening with bated breath for aoine Bound to locate the camp.

The Bof t footsteps of hia horse alone broke the mighty silence. Not so much as the chirp ef a cricket came to him from out tho darkness.

Wh6n yet half a mile from the forks Joe's heart sank within him. If there was a oanip near at hand his horse should make Borne eign. The Indian's dog and pony are his sentinels ac he Bleeps.

There was a grove of cottonwoods at the forks, and around and about wi» grass in plenty. It was the spot for a camp, but there was no camp. The scout advanced at a steady walk until ho reached tho edge of the grove unuhallanired That settled ic. The party had not arrived. Ho almost cried out in his disappointment, and for the next few minutes he kiinw not what to do.

" They may have passed here no loug6r ago than noon," he finally argued with himself, "or they rany be only half a day's march to the east. I must wait for daylight to determine." £gHe had no fear of IndianH hero. Every red skin for fifty milee around had been called in to make up the force now besieging the train. The pony was watered and staked out, and then the scout penetrated the grove a short distanco and flung himself down to Bleep. In ten minutes he was sleeping like a child. Therein lies the secret of the endurance of the plainmen. They drill themselves in sleeping , . No opportunity to sleep for even a quarter of an hour is ever neglected. In Ouster's battles with the red men his scouts slept in the deep snow with the thermometer at zero while waiting for daylight and the opening of the battle of Wichita.

Nothing occurred to create an alarm or disturb the scout's slumbers, and with tho first signß of dawn he was on his feet. A quarter of an hour later he was beating baok and forth for signs of the white party. Ten minutes' search satisfied him. It had not passed. No one, white or red, had passed the forks within three days. Joe had no food, and as his rifle had been left behind the prospect of procuring fresh meat was anything but encouraging. Anxiety offsets hunger, however. At the east end of the grove was a tall cottonwood standing alone. Joe mounted to its very top to make an observation. The country to the north-east was rolling, v/ith timber along the course of the river, but after scanning the country as closely as possible, the scout descended with the conviction that no considerable body of men was within twenty miles of him. Had the party from Fort Sully been within fifteen miles of frim he could have detected the smoke of their morning camp fires. Should he wait ? No! Hie impatience was too great. He had left the beleagurt=a •wagon train feeling that the fate of every man depended upon finding the soldieia at the forks. It had beeen a long, long night to the men crouched down behind tha breastworks and expecting an attack at any moment. Had an attack been made ? Had they teen strong enough to repel it ? If not, the morning sun was looking upon thoir disfigured corpses. If so the horrors of thirat were creeping in upon the defender to madden and disorganize them. Every mouthful of meat and bread would but add to their torments. Every hour would render the heroes more desperate. And every man left behind was deponding on the energy of the scout, whose nerve had carried him out of the fort to save the party from the horrible fate which seemed vi store for them. Joe realized this, and taking a deep draught of the cold waters of the Cheyenne, he caught up his horse and mounted and held for the weet, keeping tht i

rJ K ht hand bank of the river and pushing the trato as fast as he dared. Hβ had begun to believe that γ-o party had left Fort Sully, but he was riding furiously forward in that desperation which makes men cling to; straws in mid-ocean. [to be continukd. "I