IN FRONT OF THE STAMPEDE

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1626, 29 April 1903, Page 7

IN FRONT OF THE STAMPEDE

(By Alva Mil ton Kerr.)

As Maim adjuster in the department of lost, over and shor: freight, i was for the inosi part “on .lio wing/; knocking about ever ail divi>iun» <u.a brandies ox tlio road, at the head or mil or problems involving the company s mt/uey or the want of jt. Old Bui in, nulllui-noust* foreman at \\ aiidon. find helped me in the- freignting of t ngme oil noni an. Eastern firm, and perhaps on that account, or from sumo sore of ain a icy, we became fast friends. Of course, and quite naturally, an ev-de-palcher nko myself and an old engineer like Fertli could hardly escape feeling an interest ;n each ether; besides. Perth was a. man of good intellect, and eminently worthy of cultivation, I rarely passed through V* andou without going over to the lvuudhuuso and simps to see him. Sitting one day in bis little office, winch looked on the one hand into- the eugineroom, with its six;, eon stalls, and on the other into the x-epair simp, with its cranes, steam hammers, lathes and litie-r of eiig.ne parts, ho told me the story of Katie Lyon’s great iicie during Long Blanket’s raid, and her race for life in tils buffalo stampede. “It was the first trip I ever fired an engine,” he sam. “I was then a green lump of a boy, only a couple of years oil the farm. Most railroaders, you know, come from the cornfields, especially in the West. Eighteen months in the shops at Omaha lia-u given me an ambition, to push my way toward the throttle as fast as possible, and wipers and firemen being plenty in my quarter, I came on out to the mountain division, and went into the roundhouse at Ladder. That was way back in the sixties, when the first roan was being pushed across the western half of the continent. Indians and buffalo and soldiers were very much in evidence in those days, and the line, instead of running clean and vreii-baiiastaci through a civilised land, wormed its way across 501 miles of bunch grass and sag© brush and through another 500 of mountains —a world of solitude, peopled curly by creatures of ©oiitude. '‘There was some question as to whether Ludder would continue as a divisional point, amd, partly on account of its possible removal, the roundhouse had been constructed of wood instead of brick. The building contained stalls for eight engines, and stood some 20t>ft. from a creek, into the creek emptied an 18in. drain, carrying off the waste water when we washed out the engine-boilers. But for this drain it is probable that Katie Lyon would never have taken her memorable ride.. “Jack Lyon, Katie’s father, handled the throttle of the oid 40. Jack was a middleaged man then, amid the 40 was young. Both are in the scrap-pile now, God bless them! 'lhe advanced front of construction was nearly a hundred miles west of us, and suck rolling-stock a,s we boasted was chiefly employed in hauling rails, ties, machinery, men. and supplies toward the front. The rather indefinite homes ox the company’s employees at Ludder consisted, in most instances, of sod huts and flimsy pine cottages. Lyon’s home lay a quarter of a mile down the creek, whore he found it convenient to have a garden, irrigated from the stream by means of a lifting water-wheel, and where a Jersey cow and calf and a young white mare, brought from lowa, found X>asturage close ait hand. The engineer’s family consisted of a wife and three child-, ren —Katie, fourteen or fifteen years of age, and twin boys in their tenth summer.. “Katie was a restless creature, boyish, and as whimsical and lively as thistledown. I remember—you’ can hardly fancy how cleanly—of often, looking down from the engine-house and seeing the girl and the two little chaps playing at all sorts of pranks in the pasture below the house. One day it would be ‘circus/ with Katie on the mare, sometimes standing up, urging the animal round a circle, with one twin as ring-master and the other as clown or ‘tumbler’; another day it would be ‘cowboy/ with one of the twins or Katie on the mare and ‘roping’ the Jersey calf or cow or one of the children. Once, when nine years old. Katie had been to a cicrus, back i-n lowa, and memory of it ©till flamed in her mind with something of the glory of a great torch seen against the sky. In Eastern Nebraska, afterward, she had seen the knights of the sombrero and lariat at work, and had found them picturesque are remarkable. Imitation is the child’s part, so they played at that which seemed most fanciful in their world- Lyon occasionally asked his daughter, in teasing vein, if she had yet decided which she was best cut out for, a circus rider or a cowboy. But Katie’s equestrian weakness ultimately served the little community a very good turn indeed. “During those days Indians were plentiful ; not quite so thick as grasshoppers, but uncomfortably numerous, and not yet corralled on reservations, as now. Buffalo in uncounted thousands grazed on the plains and in the wide entrances of the mountain valleys all the way from Texas to Montano. Wild horses roamed in freedom, and the antelope and coyote were not afraid. It was beautiful. Tut that order of things has been touched with change; the roar of the locomotive began to reverberate in the solitudes, and the first criminal slaughterers of the bison herds had begun their awful work. The Indians grew resentful and troublesome, and details of the United States troops had often to be called out to guard the railroad and defenceless settlements. Then came the general attack led by Chief Long Blanket on the north and by Black Calf from the south. That brought to light the real stuff of most of us, and it was then I found out thetrueo?ue steel of which Katie was made. She used to come up to the station almost every time that her father came in with his engine, and would usually climb into the cab and mount the fireman’© seat, and ring the bell while I ran the engine into tlie house. When Lyoni wasn’t looking, I remember, I used to let her hold the throttle as we went down to the [ round-house switch. She could always j do almost anvthiner with m©* !

“Well, one September morning a report came from the front that the men on construction had been having a warm time with the redskins, and wanted help. Three troops of the Third Cavalry were in camp on the creek a mile or so from "Ludder, and a message was sent in all speed to notify them. Old Fort Chandler lay off the south-west of us about fifteen miles, and the blue-shirts had been brought near tlie track in order that they might strike quickly, for disturbing rumours had been coming in for some weeks of a general uprising of the savages. Major Holme had gone west fro in Fort Chandler in search of Black Calf and his band, leaving the troops at the fort reduced to a small number— companies, under the command of Captain Pope, having been detached to guard the railroad and settlement at Ladder. Black Calf, however, had given Holme the slip, and wan making a long deltour to the south and east to strike us at the division station; but we were ignorant of this. Reports had come in that Long Blanket, with a band of warriors, had been, seen in the low foot-hills north of the track some twenty miles west of us, and Pope was preparing to swing his force against them, when word came that his me® were needed at the front, eighty miles west. “The superintendent of construction, who was at the front, had sent the message. It cama_by wire, early in the morning and within the hour Pope was at the station with nis troops. The horses and luggage were hurriedly loaded* into box-cars, most of the boys boarded other box-cars, while two flat cars were thrown Into the centre of the train, each bearing a mounted howitzer and a staked breastwork of railroad iron and a complement of soldiers. Engine 40 was brought out and. hooked on ahead. Her fireman being sick, I was ordered to go with Lyon and fire the engine. That met my wish precisely, for I was anxious to begin firing; besides, there rvas the enticing vision of a- battle at the front. I was young then. It wouldn’t entice me now. “Nearly everyone in the straggling village of Ludder came out to see us off. Lyon’s wife, with the twins and an anxious face, was there; and while Lyon was oiling round Katie climbed up into the cab and slipped a revolver under the cushion of the fireman’s seat. ‘lt’s father’s; you may need it, Joe/ she saidi. and laughed over heir shoulder to me as she jumped to the ground from the gangway. I grinned and blushed, little realising how and where I should next meet this madcap maid. “About nine o’clock we rolled out of the station, with a crowd of women and children and! eight or ten men cheering us, and began swinging away toward the west. The track was new and in poor shape for fast running; but Lyon let the forty have her head, his dark eyes glistening as he watched the rails ahead; The country swept away to north and. south in scarcely perceptible swells-—an ocean of fading grass, yellow-green and dreamy in the tender heat. Vast masses of snow-pure clouds drifted in the sky, while before us, in the west, and curving toward the north-east, rose the lilaccoloured heaps of the I didn’t have much time to poetise, however, fox* I had my hands full in trying to keep the 40 hot. ‘‘We got on swimmingly for perhaps twenty miles then we* struck a break—• two rails had been prized loose from the ties and thrown by the right-of-way. It looked bad. By the merest chance we escaped being ditched. On the north side of the track, and extending for males toward the west, began, a series of low foot-hills—so low they seemqfl much like the gentle swells of a lazy sea. Hei'e and there through this undulating plateau “harp coulees had been cat by the summer waters of the distant mountains,

though the stream-beds, were now dry or carrying little fluid. Pope mounted to the top of a box-car and scanned the x’egion with his glass, but no Indians or other marauders were in sight. Away to the south we all saw what appeared to be a black lake, a sweep of living liquid, miles in length, and stirring faintly like something moved by a gentle l wind.. ‘‘‘Buffaloes/ said Lyon, laconically, setting the injector-pumps to* work and jumping to the ground. ‘That sort of thing is as common as l jack-rabbits; but this tearing up of the track is different. Long Blanket and his gang must be over among the hills there somewhere/ Ho ended with some very strong language. “The conductor and two brakemen were ahead inspecting the ground. Tracks of both men and horses were thick near the break in the track. Captain Pope promptly ordered, a squad of soldiers forward; the rails were brought back and put “into place; spikes were brought from the caboose and the rupture mended. Then we pulled forward again, but cautiously, Lyon watching the track ahead of us like a hawk, his hand on the throttle lever, while Pope and every boy in blue on the train stood on the alert for a whack at the unseen enemy. Soon we found another break, and another, and another, and time slipped away into the afternoon, and we were making no progress. Pope grew furious, and the balance of us —well, we were irritated, you may well believe. “Pope came and rode in the engine. ‘There’s a wooden trestle about three miles from here/ said Lyon. ‘lf they’ve burned that, then the game is up; we’ll never get to the front. The trestle is beyond the big bend ahead there. Halloa! there’s some more rails pulled up.’ “ ‘Long Balnket and his band are going west,’ said the captain. ‘Evidently the chief’s idea is to destroy so much track that it will take the company several days to make repairs; meanwhile he will try to connect with the Indians at the front and strike the construction men a heavy blow. I’m of half a. mind to mount the boys and go after him. If the trestle is burned I will do so. Yellow Sky of the Shoshones is the chap who is leading the devilry, I fancy, out at the front/ “Now, as later information revealed, the men at the front were taking care of themselves, and also of Yellow Sky, in fine style, while we, the rescuers, were in peril; and affairs back at Ludder, where we thought everything quiet and secure, were alarming to the last degree. Within an hour after our leaving the division station Black Calf, with, a band of 200 painted braves, appeared south of the town. “All told, there were something like twenty-five men and boys and perhaps a hundred women and children in the village. All these in wild excitement hurried to the round-house, as being the only possible place of defence, and where they might be together. The husbands and grown-up sons of many of the women were at the front, or out on construction trains, or working at points along the line. The place was practically helpless. “The first thing that Black Calf and his warriors did was to burn the station and several of the houses; then they attacked the round-house. The men in the building had barricaded the great doors and cut holes through the board walls: and as several of the men and women had guns and revolvers .the bucks and their leader were held in check, several of their number receiving wounds and two being killed. The Indians poured bullets into the building’s walls and doors, but beyond a few slight wounds among the men no casualties had occurred by noon. Laner, the round-house foreman, was a stern, gritty fellow, and he and the station.agent took command. They put all the children and most of the women—for some of the latter fought side by side

with the men—into the ash-pits, so that bullets coming through the walls or doors passed over Chen* heads. Mrs Lyon held her place with the fighteirs, while, at her command, Katie and the twins crouched in one of the pits. There were two engines xn the house, one with steam up. j “A little after noon the redskins massed against the big doors, making a mad attempt to crush their way in. It was then that Laner did a remarkable thing. H© suddenly jumped up into the cab of the S 3, the engine with steam on, and yelled to the men to open the doors before her. As the doors swung back he jerked the throttle wide open and leaped off. The engine swept the savages out of the doorway, ploughed through the mass of bucks before the building, shot across- the turntable and main track, and rolled over on, her side 200 ft. away. Twenty odd Indians were killed and maimed by this masterstroke. The rest scattered in all directions. but presently returned, fearful, though furious. However, they kept at a safe distance from the front of the building after that. “The men began to hope then that the bloodthirsty wretches might be beaten off for a time, at least during daylight. But when night should come, what then ? The building would certainly be burned by the Indians, and the lives of all the whites be lost in massacre ! If there were only some means of getting word to the fort, or to Pope and his men. Katie heard this, and five minutes later disappeared. “Presently a boy in the ash-pit cried that some one was halloaing through the drain-pipe. A man bent down and listened. then called Mrs Lyon. 'Katie’s in there,’ he said breathlessly. Mrs Lyon sprang down in the pit, and with white face knelt at the end of the drain. Tm going to the fort/ came a shrill but faraway voice. ‘l’m going to wade down the creek to the house. I’ll hide along,under the bank. I’m going to take White Bess, and see if I can’t get help/ ‘‘£shrs L. yon screamed for Katie to come back, but the voice that came through the drain only said, ‘Good-bye, ma; don’t worry about me. There isn’t an Indian pony on the plains that can catch White Bess. Tell Mr Laner I’ll bring the soldiers. Good-bye, ma/ Mrs Lyon wrung heir hands and implored but no answer came back. Katie had slipped into the creek fi*om the mouth of the di*ain and had started on her dangerous mission. “For 300 it. or more she crept on her hands and knees close along under the bank, then, getting somewhat out of the range of view, hurried in crouching pasture on down the creek to their little home. Scooping low and keeping behind a fence, she reached the stable. Slipping a bridle on the white mare, and strapping a folded blanket on the animal’s back, she turned her into the pasture. Tile animal went at once to the creek to drink, and Katie, again crept along the fence and escaped from sight under the bank. A. moment later she was leading White Bess down the bed of the shallow stream and away from the town. When the village lay a half-mile or more behind her she led the mare out through a clump of cottonwoods on to dry -ground and mounted. The big soft eyes of the animal were shining with eagerness; the fine September air tasted nice, and the wide yellowish floor of the plain invited her feet. Katie leaned forward and patted the horse’s arched neck. ‘We must bring the soldiers, Bessie/ she said, imploringly. ‘Don’t fall, and don’t never give up if they chase us. Mommy and little Dan and Jimmy may never see the light of morning if we fail/ The mare blinked her big eyes and chewed impatiently at the bit; the girl drew in a long, tremulous breath, cried out sharply, and they shot away across the plain. “To Katie the strong light and broad

openness of the prairie were terrible. She looked, back across her shoulder to the town, hearing yells and the crack of rifles ’the noise of fighting. She rode straight south, selecting the lowest ground and intending to turn south-west toward the fort when at a safe distance. She had progressed perhaps a mile when, looking back she saw a party of Indians on horseback' shoot out from the edge of the town, ranging a little west to south. The girl's ruddy cheeks whitened, and her brown fingers clutched the rein nervously. ‘We’ve got to outrun them,. Bess/'’ she cried; 'we’ve got to do it.* '‘The lithe, white mare, with her light burden went like an antelope, breathing softly, and taking the ground with _ a long sweeping, steady lope. The girl pulled on the bit a little. 'Let them do their fast running first/ she said, looking back through her flying hair; ‘well set the pace at the end/

"The tough Indian ponies, urged by quirt and many a pealing yell, followed her like excited hounds, but keeping to the west of her in their course. Clearly the Indians purposed getting between the girl and the fort before attempting to run her down. The racers were probably four miles out from Ludder when Katie realised the Intention of the painted fiends. She at once turned the mare straight toward the fort, and bending low over the animal’s neck, urged her with a seriers of startling screams. The Indians, seeing the move, put their horses io top speed, and riding across the inside ot the angle made by Katie’s course, sought to cut, her off. . • “But White Bess ran like a deer, ana the Indians crossed her course an eighth of a mile to the rear. They fired no shots and ceased yelling, evidently not wishing to frighten or press the girl until they could get the advantage of pipsition. Ihev now pointed their course slightly to* the south plainly hoping to allay the girl s fears and gradually drive her north-west and away from, the fort. 1/Vidently they felt that a straight race after the fleet mare would end m their defeat. "In spite of her intention, Katie dreiv gradually toward the xvest in trying to keep aivay from her pursuers. She must, have been tivelve miles from Luckier, and White Bess was u r et and breathing hard, when she struck the buffalo herd, the eastern end of that living lake Avluch Ave had seen from the train Avhen repairing tlia track. "It. Avas a terrible blow to Katie’s hopes, for she saAV that she could not reach the fort unless she could get on the south side of the mighty herd, andj such a, course would tliroAV ‘her well-nigh into the arms of the savages. For a moment she pulled the mare up, looking Avildly in all directions. For miles away to the south and west that hairy, aAvful sheet of dark forms stretched before her. Panting and horrified, she set the tired mare on the gallop again, riding straight toward the west. She must pass clear around the herd and come in to the fort from the south or west, Felling Avildly, the Indians came after her, the hardy ponies sticking to the chase like dogs. "Katie’s iace groAV draAvn and Avhite; her red lips turned ashen and parched. She patted the neck of the dripping mare, praying her not to fail. 'Wei must beat them, Bess. Oh, AA'e must! We must! site kept pleading. ‘'That Avas about the hour in the afternoon Avlien Avei of the train Avere repairing the last break before Ave should turn the bend beyond Avliich lay the trestle of Avhicli Lyon had spoken. We had scarcely completed the repairs Avhen av© suddenly suav that the whole black mass of life stretching across the South-east Avas rolling toward us like a mighty Avave. "‘Pull ahead, Lyon! For God’s sake, get on the trestle, if it is still standing!’ shouted the conductor. Lyon gave the 40 - steam, and Ave whirled away toAvard the bridge. "I fancy that there was not a man on the train who did not feel his skin creep with, fear and horror at the sight of that resistless avalanche of animal life sweeping toward us. The dark billow Avas miles wide, and its rear Avas lost in clouds of dust.’ A band of Indians, by Long Blanket's order, or in attempting to break through to join the chief, had stampeded the mightiest herd of bison ever seen upon the plains. The front of the herd was like a long, uneven Avail of rushing water, from the lower edge of which gushed out a curling surf of dust, and beneath Avliich all life that fell or Avas overtaken Avas draAvn and trampled into fragments. Hundreds of thousands of hocus beat the earth, and the roar from that rushing sea of flesh Avas Jike a strange new thunder. Coyotes, antelopes and wild horses ran before it for their lives, and at one point, near extreme front of a Avedge-shaped pack of riderless horses, we saAV Avliat Avas apparently a child on a gray horse, leaning forAvard over the animal’s neck, and riding madly in, the race Avitli death. East of tliisi astonishing figure Ave saw eight or ten Indians, on ponies and in Avar-paint, straining toward the north, Avitli the hurling black mass not 50Pr£t. behind them. ’Even Avhile we looked Ave saAV one of the ponies fall, and the Indian rider leap to his feet. and. run, only to be draAvn under in a moment and disappear front sight. "In the thrill and horror of the prospect I did' not regard 1 my immediate surjxmndihgs, until avo suddenly rushed 1 upon the ttestla and stopped. Then I saAV that a large body of Indian horsemen were riding at a gallop AvestAvard on the north side of the track. Long Blanket and his braves, caught in their Avork of tearing up the* track, Avere trying to get beyond the range of the stampede. ’‘'The trestle Avas some 50ft. in length, and apparently stretched across the almost dry bed of Avhat had office been a small river. The stringers and ties at the highest point Averet not more than 10ft. or 32ft. above the ground. Upon these the engine and tAvo cars stood, the balance of the train reaching out along the grade eastward. All along the train I eard shouting and stern orders as the thunder of the stampede grew in volume and rolled toward us. I cannot now say what I thought or felt, ’the situation Avas bo appalling. Whether the rushing sea of frightened animals Avould sweep the train aAvay and go o\ T ar it, leav: * g us nil lifeless, or Avould break and ©day round

ua. no man could say. I Avas hanging out from the gangway, quivering in every nerve, Avhile Lyon’s face looked white and strange as he leaned from the AvindoAv of the cab, his dry lips moving as he Avatchod the gray horse and child coming towards us. Suddenly a wild cry broke from him, and his grimy fingers knotted involuntarily. ‘IPs Katie, Joe! My God. it’s Katie!’ he cYTed.

A kind of At© swept through me at that, such a leap oi the'ptilses as I had never felt before. 1 sprang doAvn upon the ends 'of the ties, and reached my hands toward her, shouting in a sort of frenzy; then, suddenly, as by inspiration, the only possible course of action Avas revealed to me. I slipped doAvn between the outer ends of the ties and hung full length from the outside stringer, i saw that Katie A\'as guiding the jaded mare straight tOAvards us. In truth, her eyes* had been fastened upon her father’s smoking engine for more than a mile. “As I hung there, Avith my face toAvard the oncoming ocean of hairy forms, I felt Lyon’s hands gripping my wrists, and heard him appealing to God for help. As all that horrible mass came thundering toAvard us I could see that Katie kept the lead. She Avas lying loav and close the mare’s neck, one Hand Avound in the mare’s mane, the other clutching tne rein. Her hair Avas mown hack, and her face looked small aiuh Avhite. The mare looked slim and 1 Avet and strange. Her nose was stretched out, her eyes Avere glassy and red, her lips scarlet and open. At her heels the pack of Avild horses came galloping, Avitli manes bloAving and heads outstretched; behind them that rushing Avail of frenzied buffalo. The panting of the strange multitude of unreasoning brutes Avas horrifying, rising like an iiirdesenbabio gasp through the-* thunder ox their hoofs.

"When the front of the scamped© AA r as perhaps 50Ult. aAvay, I suav a stream of tire leap out from every car along the train, the howitzers crashed, and again the carbines roared. Instantly the Avave of buffaloes seemed t© double under at the base, then roll into the air like a kind of black and indescribable billoAV. In that maze of tumbling forms 1 suav the Indians Avbo had chased poor Katie sink, crushed by bullets and, swallowed up in the' remorseless mass. I saAV this Avith a glance, for the Avhite, upturned face of Katie Avas not fifty feet away, and both Lyon and myself Avere shouting to her to stand up and jump. It Avas an aAvful moment. 1 saw ft all as A'ivid as lightning, yet somehow it had the colour of a dream. In Katie’s eyes I could see terror mingled Avith resolution as she got to her feet on the horse's back. An instant she Avavered, then straightened up, and as the panting mare- shot under us she jumped. For a second I saw her'pale face and Avide-open eyes flying toAvarclsme through the air. Then her arms shut about my pendant bodv Avith a shock. My arms seemed torn from their sockets; by the bIoAV. but Lyon Avas holding my Avrists like a vice. In a moment he loosened his grip, and bending loav, caught the girl by thei arms and dreAV her up. By his aid I then scrambled back upon the ties. "All about us roared a living storm. Dust covered the scene tike battle smoke. Through it we saAV the incessant flashing of carbines along the tram; east and Avest a vague broAVn torrent of brutes poured across the track. Under us the press and struggle of hulking forms’ choked the pass and shook the bridge. When the air cleared Ave saAV that the Avork of the soldiers had divided tire mighty,pack; it Avas floAving north and north-Avest in tAvo dark streams. Before us Avere SAvaths of slain bison; piles of the bodies lay against the train, and somewhere in that appalling slaughter lay Katie’s pursuers. "Weak and trembling, 1 climbed up into the engine cab. Lyon sat on the floor, and across his lap lay Katie, limp and panting. ‘Mommy' —little Dan and Jim —Ave must go back!’ she Avas gasping. ‘All the folks are in the round-house—the Indians are there! I A\ r as going to the fort for help!’ "Lyon' placed her on the fireman’s cushion, and jumped to the reversing gear and threAV it over, opened the throttle, and Avhistles 'Off brakes/ There Avas a clanking of couplings, and the train started eastAvard. In a feAV minutes Pope and the conductor came scrambling over the foot of the tender. ‘"Where are you going?’ they demanded. "‘To save my wife and babies/ said Lyon. 'Black Calf and' his brutes are at Ludder; they’ve got the folks shut up m the round-house; there’ll be a massacre!’ " 'That’s where we are needed, then/ cried Pope, and the conductor’s Avhistening lips said, ‘Yes/ for 'his own loved ones were at Ludder. "Lyon pushed the forty hard, and at the end of an hour the military train dashed into the division station. At sight of us Black Calf’s forces broke and fled, followed and stung by shoAvers of bullets. The soldiers began unloading their horses at once and mounting for the chase. The overjoyed prisoners poured out from the great doors of the engine-house-, and fairly overAvhelmed us in their gratitude. Mrs Lyon came running toAvard the forty to tell Lyon that Katie had probably perished, Avhen, to her amazement and. joy, her husband jumped to the ground with Katie in liis arms. "Well, Avhat happened Avould be difficult to describe. P couldn’t see much of it, for, tough chap though 1 was, 1 couldn’t see very plainly for the tears that filled my eyes. I only know that Katie had a reception fit for a princess. "What became of Wbrce Bess? Well, sir she Avas found next “morning standing. feeble and badly used up, im a gully about tAvo miles north of the trestle; but we brought her back and turned her into Lyon's pasture, and a feAV Aveeks afterward I saAV the animal and the children again playing 'circus/ ‘‘As for the Indians, Major Holme struck YelloAV Sky at the front and beat off his folloAvers and took the old chief prisoner Avhile Pope chased Long Blanket ard Black calf into the north-western hills and gave them' a fine drubbing." "What became of Katie, the heroic little rrirl?” I asked. Perth smiled contentedly. "Well/’ he uud "if yeu’ll come over to the house and

take dinner with me, yott Avill meet her. We’ve been married a good many years and her hair is gray; but I think you will find her about the sunniest and rnosc motherly ■woman that ever made a poor railroader feel equal to a millionaire.