THE PONY-RIDER OF THE PLAINS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVI, Issue 12, 13 July 1888, Page 23

THE PONY-RIDER OF THE PLAINS.

CFrom the Philadelphia Press.) (Concluded, }

" Out on the plains a fellar gits into places wh re he's got to think fast ; not in words, but in great steaks and chunp^of ideas. But danger brightens the wits of all but regular white-livered cowards As I had partly turned round I remained in that position and waved my hand as if I was beckonin' to a party of men advancin' behind the bilJ on which I stood. Then I shouted, ' Here they are 1 Come on boys ! ' Wheelin 1 about I then faced the squad of Injuns and held up and s ook at them the scalp ot the Injun I had killed. They could see eagle feathers in it, and could also see that 1 was mounted on their chief's boss. Fiom the way they moved tneir heads and the motion of their hands I knew they were talking about this, so I pulled my revolver, and instead of firm' towards them I held it high over my head and fired straight up into the air as if givin' a signal. " This was too much for the redf , and all turned tail and galloped away to the northward across a wide, open plain. When they started my hoss took after 'em full split. He knowed tbe crowd and their nags and wanted to j<ne 'em. He was fleet as the wind and stubborn as an army mule. Having nothin' to guide him with but a piece of rope tied round his under jaw, he was in danger of carrying me into eir midst of my enemies before I could stop him. '• I had almost yanked his jaw off, still, with his nose hauled round against the left side of his neck, he blmdly blundered on. He had carried me within a hundred and fifty yards of the retreatin' Injuns when I thought of a move that wouln stop him if he was well trained 1 jumped off his back, when he halted dead still in his tracks. " The iDJuns hardly knowed what to make of this, and slackened up a bit as if to talk about comia' back to me. I boldly pulled my six-shooter, and began blazing away after them, the bulle-s sirikiu 1 quite near 'em, as 1 could see by the little puffs of dust they raised " The shots of my pistol started a herd of six deer out of a patch of brush on the ridge about forty rods to my left. Tbe deer took rig h t

down the hill toward the Injuns when they first broke cover. Seem' this break made by the deerß, the reds thought the friends I had been signal 1 in' to was passin' that way round the hill to head them off, so they instantly changed their course from north to east, and, under whip, made at full speed across the open country, steerin' for a range of black, rocky hills about five miles away. " Tne deer, on seem' the Injuns, had turned west and were now goin' off that way in a cloud of dust ; the reds were raisin.' a cloud to the east, and standin' by the side of my captured pony, I was left master of the field. For a time I almost thought I had a squad of eoldiers behind the hill and couldn't help turain' my head in that way to see if they were comin', so airnestly had I acted my part on that proposition. " Well, I had been foolin' away a good deal of time without makin' much headway, bo I gjt back to the road as soon as possible. I still had about eight miles to go to reach the third station, then twenty mi lea to Green river. " I went on till within about five mile of the third station, when I sees a hoss comin' walkin 1 down the road towards me. Whtn I met him I rode up and watched him. He had a saddle and bridle on him and a mail pouch. There was blood on the saddle. I knowed the hoBB. He was one of the pony line and should have been ridden that trip by Joe Craig. « Poor Joe II 11I 1 Bays I, * the tedg hare got him.' Th« hoss had apparently been wanderin' about several hoars and finally took the road to go up to the station next west. " I mounted him and took my prize pony in tow. As I went oa I saw smoke ahead- Som'tbin' wrong,' I said, and I kept my eyei open. Goin' a mile further I could see from the top of a kill that the station had been burnt and waa still asmokin'. " I held a council of war. It wouldn't do to keep tie road 'cause there waa likely to be a squad of reds left about there to gather io the stage and pony stock, while the feller I had killed and the others I had seen went on and cleaned out the next station west ; also there was sure to be a guard of reds out somewhere between the burnt Btation and Green river. So I turned to my right off southward where a mile away was a creek (same I have mentioned before), with brush and timber along its channel. Down into this I went. " I followed the creek for a good bit, keepin' down below the high banks among the trees and willers. Every little while I'd tie the hosses, creep up the bank and take a look over the open ground that lay between the creek and the smokin' station, Finally, when I was taking an observation and was about concludin' that the coast was clear, I saw a kyocer. He was going toward the creek. When he got to the bank he suddenly whirled and loped back in the direction be had come from. "Hal Oh, hoi' says I, 'man there I' I knowed nothin'bat* man would make the kyoter turn tail as he had done. I spotted the plaoe by a big cotton wood, and leavin' my hossas tied went forward to prospect. " To the big cottonwood was about a quarter of a mile down the creek. I had my revolver, all loaded, ani a big knife I'd got with the belt of the brave I'd killed. I was afraid that it was Injuns that the kyoter had seen, but as it was more likely to ba a wounded white man from the station hid away there, I felt it my duty to find out. " At last tbe big coi ton wood was but two rods away ; jiet round a little curve of the bank. I took off my boots and crepe forward. Peepin' through some willers I saw, settin* on some blankets spread under the cottonwood, a solitary Injun. He had a lot of traps of various kinds scattered about him. His back was towards me and I couldn't make out what he was up to. Pretty soon he took up a bottle and topk a big guazle. He then set to fumblin' round at somethin' for a while, wken he laid back with his head on a bundle as ef to go to Bieep. " I waited about twenty minutes and he didn't move. His head laid towards me so I couldn't see his face, but I concluded he was asleep. I determined to kill him. I'd got to do it to get put him. The only road for me was down the creek. All on each Bide of the valley was high, rocky mountains. No jettin' over 'em. As I didn't want to shoot if I could help it I'd have to kill the feller with my knife. The knife had a blade about sixteen inches lomg. 1 felt the edge and it was good and sharp. Holdin' it in my right hand and my cocked revolver in my left I crept for'ard like a cat. "I got to kis head and set down and listened. The Injun breathed like he was asleep. I wanted to strike the knife down into hii heart, but to do it I'd have to reach my arm out over his face. No doubt he was a little boozy, but he might be awake. It was risky to reach for his heart, so I began to look at his throat. He didn't lay jist right ; the bundle raised his head so much that his neck was kinked downward. I wanted to be sura of beth windpipe and jugenlar. £f I only cut the jugenlar he might holler ; and ef I only cut the windpipe he might git up and make me trouble. "At last he turned kis head sideways. I laid down my pistol to clutch hie top hair with my left hand and gripped my knife firmly in my right. I was jist goin' to do the job when the feller suddenly sat up. As he might turn round any moment there was no time to be lost. I made my spring. As my left band went into his hair the knife in my right was pulled across his neck, It went to the bone, ami nearly took his head 04. As the blood was sportia' on the blankets he had spread I jerked them from under him. la (Join' this a revolver that was in one of the folds was thrown against a rock and went off. Tnis made me cuss. After all my trouble the thing had happened that I didn't want. I might jist an well have shot the feller as to fool away half an hour in order to get him with my knife. I crawled up the bank and took a look about. "Nothm' was in sight. Goin' back to my Injun I examined his face. I kaowed the rascal. He belonged at the station, and was a ¥te. Lookin' about on his plunder I saw the whole business. He bad been in with the Goshutes, and had given away the station to share in the plunder. He had got what he wanted, and hid himself here to wait till night to slip away to his own people with his booty. He had a fine rifle that belonged at the station, a revolver, two pair of blankets, and a sack filled with grub " The grub I wbb glad to see, so I crept up the bank to where I conld watch, and set down and had a hearty meal. Then I went down.

and inspected the pockets of my Injun— he was dressed in the castoff clothes of white men. I found about 40dols. in coin, a good silver watch, knives, needles, matches, and a whole lot of other trash. I wouldn't scalp him ; he was too low and mean. I'd have been ashamed to be seen with the scalp of aich a skunk. " I went back up the creek, brought down my horses and put on to 'em the blankets, ride, gub, and other captured plunder that was of any account, then moved on again down the creek. "I hid twenty mile to go to git to my home Btation at Green Biver, and it was now gittin' along late in the afternoon. About fifteen mi'e ahead I had a bad place to go through. The creek I was on emptied into the Green Biver. Goin' east the valley on each side of it gradually rurrers, the mountains drawin' in upon it. About five mile from Green Biver the mountains shut in upon the creek. For two miles there i 9 only a narrer pass. On each side the mountains stand straight up and down, and are al) covered with big rocks and brush. No gittin' over 'em with horses. In the bushes along the creek ia this pass I knowed there wae a guard of Goahutes picketed to look ont for trouble from squads of soldiers or armed line men comin' from Green Biver way, I'd got to git through there in one night, and I was glad there'd be no moon till near mornin*. " Well when I got within a mile of this pass I stopped in aquakin' asp thicket and waited till dark. I tore up one pair of nlaukets and muffled the feet of my hones in sich a way that they'd make no more noise than two cats, Then with strips of blanket I wrapped and tied the rifle, and everything that could either jingle or rattle: " Two hours after dark I was on the stage road, in the pass. All was dark and silent. My bosses behaved beautiful. Their hoofs made no sound. I'd got about to the middle of the pass, jist were the mountains was highest, when I heerd a little bird cheepin'. It was one of them little brown ground birds that chirp a few notes about every half hour through the night. You have the same kind here in Nevada. " I listened with all my ears from the first chirp I heerd. Then I began to count— one, two, three, four, five. At five another little bird began to cbirp high up the rocky mountain cliff jist above my head. ' Goshutes V says I. " Tea ; then I knowed for certain that the Goshutes was there on guard. They can almost counterfeit the chirp of the little night bird, but can't quite doit— nobody can. There's always something lacking. What I heerd the Goahutes say in their bird-talk was, ' All is well and quiet here ! ' and the answer was the same. When they make the signal the man that does it and the one that hears it touches the little finger to the left hand, and then the next and the next till he comes to his thumb. It's the same as countin' five between the signal and the reply to it. Goshutes count, but that kind of brainwork ain't in their line ; so they take hold of their fingers one after another, and when they come to the thumb they are sure they are right. '• If a force of men had passed up the road the fellers on the creek would kave telegraphed to the one on the mountain out of reach, and he would have signalled— by fires at night and by sMokei in the daytime — to the squads raiding the stations. " I was glad I heered the signals. They showed me that I was about past all danger, and ten minutes later I struck out on a swift gallop to the station, where I reported, and where I found mea gatktring in from stations eastward. " Next morn'ng a party of twenty of us struck out up the road to see what had happened at the burnt station. la the pass I found where three Gosbutes had been on guard the night before. Only one man had been killed at the station — the head man — as the others happened to be out lookin' up stock, and had taken to the hills. " A mile beyond the ruins of the station we found the body of Joe Craig. It wa§ lyin' beside the road stripped and scalped. In dashin' patt the Injuns at the station he had been shot. As he still rode on tne Injuns thought they had missed him till they came upon his body. Wben Joe fell out of his saddle his hoss had gone ramblin' about till I found him strikin' out fur his next station and his barley. " I come out of my business a good hoss ahead, but for most of my captured plunder the stage and pony agents found owners. The scalp of my brave was coaxed from me by Major Gallagher, commander at Fort Buby. I've been sorry ever since that 1 let it go. To-day I'd rather have it than the hoss I got. " Well, now you know the kind of grudge the Injuns had against me out t'other side of Salt Lake."