Part 5 (1/2)

Stage-drivers, express-riders, stock-tenders and ranchmen, forty in nuood shots, and brave, deterun to tell later, was captain of the expedition He had coe-driver and had the experience and courage necessary to that kind of leadershi+p

Twenty e, at the head of Horse Creek, we found an Indian trail running north toward Powder River We could see that the horses had been recently shod, conclusive proof that they were our stolen stock We pushed on as fast as we could along the trail to the Powder, thence down this stream to within forty miles of where old Fort Reno now stands Farther on, at Crazy Woman's Fork,evidence that another party had joined our quarry The trail was newly made The Indians could be hardly more than twenty-four hours ahead of us And plainly there was a lot of them

When we reached Clear Creek, another tributary of the Powder,horses grazing on the opposite bank Horses meant Indians Never before had the redskins been followed so far into their own country Not drea that they would be pursued they had failed to put out scouts

We quickly got the ”lay” of their camp, and held a council to decide on how to attack them We knew that they outnuy, all ould get for our long chase would be the loss of our scalps

”Wild Bill,” who did not know theof fear, htfall, and then, after creeping up as close as possible on the caeneral fire upon them, and stampede their horses

It was a plan that called for nerve, but ere full of spirit, and the er there was in an enterprise the nal we rushed pell-h their camp Had we dropped from the clouds the Indians could not have been more astonished At the sound of our shots they scattered in every direction, yelling warnings to each other as they fled

Once clear of the camp we circled to the south and cah job A few parting shots stalers Then, with one hundred captured ponies--most, if not all of them, stolen from the Express and State stations--we rode back to Sater Bridge

The recovered horses were placed on the road again, and the Express was resureatly pleased with our exploit, now assigned me as special or supernumerary rider Thereafter while I ith hi only now and then, and having plenty of opportunity for seeking after the new adventures in which I delighted

Alf Slade, stage-line superintendent, frontiersunmen of the Plains These were a race of men bred by the perils and hard conditions of Western life

They became man-killers first from stern necessity In that day the er had little chance with the outlaws a whom he had to live Slade and ”Wild Bill,” with both of whoe But both, having earned the reputation of gun-fighters, becaer to live up to it Eventually both becaerous h in his manner, never failed to treat me with kindness Sober, he was cool and self-possessed, but never afury His services to the coh value He was easily the best superintendent on the line But his habit ofat last resulted in his execution

Another reater notoriety than Slade was ”Wild Bill” Hickock, a tall, yellow-haired giant who had done splendid service as a scout in the western sector of the Civil War

”Wild Bill” I had known since 1857 He and I shared the pleasure of walking a thousand miles to the Missouri River, after the bull-train in which we both were employed had been burned by Lot Smith, the Morether

While an express rider, Bill had the fight with the McCandless gang which will always for chapter in the history of the West

Co station at Rock Creek one day, Bill failed to arouse any one with his shouts for a fresh mount This was a certain indication of trouble It was the stock-tender's business to be on hand with a relief pony the instant the rider came in The Pony Express did not tolerate delays

Galloping into the yard, Bill dismounted and hurried to the stable In the door he saw the stock-tender lying dead, and at the sa fro about, Bill found hi fro a six-shooter He asked no questions, but pulled one of the two guns he carried and fired No sooner had the man fallen, however, than a second, also armed, came out of the house Hickock disposed of this fellow also, and then entered the place, where four others opened a fusillade on hih the room was thick with s the woed to kill two of his assailants with his revolvers and to ward off a bloith a rifle a third had leveled at him

The blow knocked the weapon from his hand, but his knife was still left him, and with it he put the man with the rifle out of the way His troubles were not at an end, however Another sters Bill reached for a rifle which lay on the floor and shot first

When he took count a few minutes later he discovered that he had killed five ht

The woman, who had been knocked unconscious by one of the desperadoes, was soon revived She was the stock-tender's wife, and had been attacked the by gang as soon as they had slain her husband

The passengers of the Overland stage, which rolled in as Bill was reviving the terrified woiven a view of Western life which none of theot

Bill was the hero of the occasion, and a real hero he was, for probably never has a ainst such terrific odds in all the history of the war against the ruffians of the West