Part 1 (2/2)

These drills at the Fort were no fancy dress-parades They meant business A thousand s in Utah with a high hand No one at Fort Leavenworth doubted that these very troops would soon be on their way to deter or the United States Government should be supreme there

To the north and west the hostile Indians, constantly irritated by the encroach menace The block-houses I beheld were evidences of preparedness against this danger And in that day the rule over slavery could already be heard Kansas--very soon afterward ”Bleeding Kansas”--was destined to be an early battleground And ere soon to know soedies

Free-soil men and pro-slavery men were then ready to rush across the border the minute it was opened for settlement Father was a Free-soil man His brother Elijah who, as I have said, was a slave-owner, was a believer in the extension of slavery into the new territory

Knowing that the soldiers I saw todaywith excitement I could have stayed there forever But father had other plans, and ere soon on our way With our trading-wagon we clie for General Philip Sheridan From its summit we had a view of Salt Creek Valley, the most beautiful valley I have ever seen In this valley lay our future home

The hill was very steep, and I reon-wheels as we descended Wewith the Indians, ere so pleased with the bargains he had to offer that they sent their friends back to us when they departed One of the first trades he made was for a little pony for me--a four-year-old--which I was told I should have to break myself I named him Prince I had a couple of hard falls, but Ito ride that pony or bust, and--I did not bust

The next evening, looking over toward the west, I saw a truly frontier sight--a line of trappers winding down the hillside with their pack ani the distanta life of fascinating adventure Here they were in reality

While soan to get a meal I watched them cook the dried venison, and was filled onder at their h about a stick and hold it over the coals till it was ready to eat You can iine my rapture when one of theht of ry, but I was especially hungry for such a meal as that After it was over I hurried to camp and told ht the young trapper who had been so kind totalk with father, telling him of his adventures by land and sea in all parts of the world

He said that he looked forith great interest to his arrival in Weston, as he expected to meet an uncle, Elijah Cody He had seen none of his people for many years

”If Elijah Cody is your uncle, I a-lost Horace Billings”

Father had guessed right Horace had wandered long ago from the Ohio home and none of his family knew of his whereabouts He had been to South A a band of trappers on the Colu with them back across the Plains

When I showed him my pony he offered to help break him for me With very little trouble he rode the peppery little creature this way and that, and at last when he circled back to camp I found the animal had been ave me many useful lessons as a horseman He was the prettiest rider I had ever seen There had been a stampede of horses from the Fort, and a reward of ten dollars a head had been offered for all aniallop along at his side as he chased the fugitive horses He had a long, plaited lariat which settled surely over the neck of the brute he was after Then, putting a ”della walt” on the po his captive to a sudden standstill He caught and brought in five horses the first day, and must have captured twenty-five within the next few days, earning a sum of money which was almost a small fortune in that time

Meanwhile the Territory had been opened for settlement Our claim, over which the Great Salt Lake trail for California passed, had been taken up, and as soon as father and I, assisted bycabin up, the family came on from Weston The cabin was a priradually we built a floor and partitions, andup the Kickapoo tongue fro with both ears to the tales of the wide plains beyond

The great freighting fir its twenty-five wagon trains out from the Plains to carry supplies to the soldiers at the frontier forts Leavenworth was the firm's headquarters Russell stayed on the books, and Majors was the operating on with its six yoke of oxen, wagon-masters, extra hands, assistants, bull-whackers and cavayard driver folloith herds of extra oxen I began at oncethe acquaintance of the men, and by the end of 1854 I knew them all

Up to this time, while bad blood existed between the Free-soilers and the pro-slavery areat majority They harassed the Free-soilers considerably and committed many petty persecutions, but no blood was shed Father's brother, Elijah, who kept the store at Weston, was known to be a pro-slavery ranted that father held the same views But he was never at any pains to hide his own opinions, being aJohn Brown of Ossawatoed, for the Harper's Ferry raid, at Charlestown, Va, was his friend So were Colonel Jim Lane and many other Abolitionists He went to their houses openly, and they ca the wild hay and cordwood to sell to the Fort, and planting sod corn under the newly turned sod of the far the soil and breaking up the sods by hitching horses to branching trees and drawing theround He minded his own business and avoided all the factional disputes hich the neighborhood abounded

In June, 1856, when I was ten years old, father went to the Fort to collect his pay for hay and wood he had sold there I accompanied him on my pony On our returna crowd of drunken horse-post--as stores were called on the frontier There wereand shooting their pistols in the air They caught sight of us immediately and a few of them advanced toward us as we rode up Father expected trouble, but he was not a man to turn back We rode quietly up to them, and were about to continue on past when one of them yelled:

”There's that abolition cuss now Git him up here and make him declar'

hisself!”

”Git off that hoss, Cody!” shouted another

By this ti and abusing him Soon they tore hioods box froit up on that thar box, and tell us whar' ye stand”

Standing on the box, father looked at the ringleaders with no sign of fear

”I am not ashamed of my views,” he said, quietly ”I am not an Abolitionist, and never have been I think it is better to let slavery alone in the States where it is now But I am not at all afraid to tell you that I am opposed to its extension, and that I believe that it should be kept out of Kansas”

His speech was followed by a wild yell of derision Men began crowding around hinized as Charlie Dunn, an eh the crowd, and julearoan, father fell forward stabbed in the back So hiht overbore round