THE BEAU-IDEAL OF AN INDIAN CHIEF.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5333, 10 August 1895, Page 2

THE BEAU-IDEAL OF AN INDIAN CHIEF.

AN INCIDENT IN A FRONTIER FIGHT. {Harper's New Monthly Magatine.) Roman Nosa was a man over six feet and three incheß in height, beautifully formed, and, Bave for a crimson silk sash knotted around his waist, and his moccasins on hie 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 eaglet' 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 hiß barbaric strength and grandeur, he proudly rode that day the most perfect type of a savage warrior it lias been my lot to see. Turning his face for an instant towards 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 hand with a royal gesture in answer to , their wild ories 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 clinched fist defiantly at us ; then throwing back his head and glancing skywards, he suddenly struck the palm of his hand across his mouth and gave tongue to a war cry that I have never yet heard equalled in power and intensity. Scarcely had its echoes reached the river's bank when it was caught up by each and everyone of the charging warriors with an energy that baffles description, and answered back with blood-curdling y.ells of exaltation and prospective vengeance by the women and children on the river's bluffs and by the Indians who lay in ambush around us. On they came at a swinging gallop, randing 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 per* fectly, with a front of about sixty men, all riding bareback, with only a loose lariat abont their horses' bodies, about a yard apart, and with a depth of aix 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 themeelveß, resting lightly upon their horses' neoks. Biding about fire paces in front of the centre of the line, and twirling his heavy Springfield rifle around his head as if it were a wisp of straw (probably one of those he had captured at the Fort Fetterman massacre) Roman Nose recklessly led the charge with a bravery that could only be equalled but not excelled, while their medicine man, an equally brave but older chief, rede slightly in advance of the left of the charging column. To say that I waß 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. A quick backward glance at my men was moat reassuring. Each scont had turned in his rifle-pit towards the direction from which the charge was coming, crouching low and leaning forward ; with their knees well under them, their rifles grasped with a grip of steel in their brown sinewy hands, their chests heaving with excitement, their teeth set hard, their nostrils aquiver, their bronzed countenances fairly aflame, and their eyes flashing fire, they grimly lay waiting the word of command, as brave and gallant a little company of men as ever yet upheld the reputation of Anglo-Saxon courage. No sooner were the charging warriors fairly under way than a withering fire was suddenly poured in upon us by those of the Indians who lay in ambush around us intently watching our every movement, in the vain hope that they might sufficiently cow ub to protect their charging column againßt our rifles.. I had expected this action, but 1 well knew that once their horsemen came within a certain radios their fire must cease. For eight or ten seconds it seemed to rain bulleta, and then came a sudden lull. Sitting upright in my pit as well as I was able, and leaning backward on my elbows, I shouted, " Now ! " and " Now ! " was echoed by Beecher, M'Call and Grover. Instantly the scouts were on their knees with their rifles at their shoulders. A quick flash of their eyes along the barrels, and forty good men and true sent their first of seven successive volleys into the ranks of the charging warriors. Crash ! On they come, answering the first volley with a ringing war-whoop. Crash And now I began to see falling warriors, aye, and horses too ; but still they sweep forward with yet wilder yells. Crash! They seem to be fairly falling over each other; both men and horses are down in heaps, and wild shrieks from the women and children on tbe hills proclaim that they, too, see the slaughter of their braves; but still thoy come. Crash ! They have ceased to yell, but yet come bravely on. WhatP No! Ye 9, down goes their medicine-man ; but Roman Nose still recklessly leads the column; but now I can see great gaps in their ranks, showing that our bullets have told heavily among them. Crash ! Can I believe my eyes ? Roman Noae is down ! He and his horse lie dead together on the sand, and for an instant tbe column shakes; but a hundred yards more and they are upon us 1 Crash!

They Btaggpr! They half draw rein! They nesitate ! They are breaking ! Crash ! And like an angry wave that hurls itself upon a mighty rock and breaks upon its rugged front, the Indians divide each side of the little breastwork, throw themselves almost beneath the off side of their chargers, and with hoarse crieß of rage and anguish break for either bank of the river, and scatter wildly in every direction as the scouts, springing to their feet with a ringing cheer, pour in volley after volley from their revolvers almost in the very faces of their now demoralised and retreating foe. " Down, men ! lie down !" I fairly shriek. "Gel; down! down for your lives!" cries M'Call. And the men, hurling bitter taunts and imprecations after the retreating savages, throw themselves, panting, flat on their faces inside of their rifle-pits just in time to escape a scorching volley from the Indians still lying in ambush around us, who have been anxiously watching the charge, and naturally enough are wildly enraged at its failure. Aa for myself, a single shot from my rifle, and a few from my revolver jiisfe at the close of the charge, was all that I could do in my crippled Btate; but the fact that I had to lie flat upon by back, craning my head forward, had, by placing me below the plane of fire, enabled me to watch every phase of the Indians' desperate charge. But now, to me, came the hardest blow of the whole day. Lieutenant Beecher rose from his rifle-pit, and, leaning on his rifle, half staggered, half dragged himself to where flay, and calmly lying down by my side, with hie face turned downward on his arm, said, quietly and simply : " I have my death-wound, General. lam Bhot in the side, and dying." "Oh no, Beecher — no ! It can't bo as bad as that!" "Yes. Good night." And then he immediately sank into half-unconscious-ness. In a few moment's I heard him murmur, "My poor mother!" and then be soon grew slightly delirious, and at times I could hear him talking in a semiunsconscious manner about the fight ; but he was never again fully conscious, and at snnset his life, went out. And thus perished one of the best and braveßt officers in the United States army.