Part 6 (1/2)

This, I fancied, would convince them that I intended to return, but it didn't

”Jio with you,” said one of the thieves ”You can leave your gun here if you want to You won't need it”

I saw that if I was to get away at all I would have to be extremely alert These were old hands, and were not to be easily fooled I felt it safer, however, to trust myself with two men than with six, so I volunteered to show the precious pair where I had left the horse, and led them to my camp

The animal was secured, and as one of the e-hens I had intended for out the less I liked the prospect of reentering it One plan of escape had failed I was sure the ruffians had no intention of pere people of their presence in the country

Oneit

Dropping one of the sage-hens, I asked thefor it in the darkness, I pulled one of my Colt's revolvers, and hit hiround, senseless

Wheeling about, I saw that the otherthe fall, had turned, his hand upon his revolver It was no ti onthe spurs into his sides, and back down the trail ent, over the rocks and rough ground toward safety

[Illustration: IT WAS NO TIME FOR ARGUMENT I FIRED, AND KILLED HIM]

My peril was far froout tumbled forth in hot haste They stopped an instant at the scene of the shooting, possibly to revive the man I had stunned and to learn from him what had happened

They were too wise tothat, afoot, they could make better time over the rocky country than I could on horseback Steadily I heard the, and soon made up my mind that if I was to evade theave him a smart slap with the butt of an to scramble up the mountainside

I had cli the sound of ed behind a tree as they went by, and when I heard the farther down the trail I worked my way up the mountainside

It enty-fivethe first part of the way But I got to the station, just before daylight, weary and footsore, but exceedingly thankful

Tired as I was, I woke up the men at the station and told them of my adventure Slade himself led the party that set out to capture h nearly beat out

Twenty of us, after a brisk ride, reached the dugout at ten o'clock in the rave where they had buried thesouthwest toward Denver That was all Butthe country of horse-thieves Once the gang had gone, noti to see ot a pass over the stage-line, and returned to Leavenworth The first rule that was soon to be known as the Civil War were already reverberating throughout the North; Sumter had been fired upon in April of that year

Kansas, as every schoolboy knoas previously the bloody scene of some of the earliest conflicts

My ly with the Union She knew that as bound to coth of the Federal Governle could not last longer than six months at the utmost

Fort Leavenworth and the town of Leavenworth were still i posts for the soldiers in the West and Southwest The fort was strongly garrisoned by regular troops Volunteers were undergoing training Many of er to join them

But I was still the breadwinner of the family, the sole support of my sisters and my invalid mother Not because of this, but because of her love for me, my mother exacted from me a promise that I would not enlist for the hile she lived

But during the sued Scouts, and coanized

This I felt I could join without breaking my proged Scouts, while they cooperated with the regular ar the borders of Missouri, had for their specific duty the protection of Kansas against raiders like Quantrell, and such bandits as the Jaer Brothers, and other desperadoes who conducted a guerrilla warfare against Union settlers

We had plenty to do The guerrillas were daring fellows and kept us busy They robbed banks, raided villages, burned buildings, and looted and plundered wherever there was loot or plunder to be had

But Tuff was the sa in a better cause With his scouts he put the fear of the law into the hearts of the guerrillas, and they notably decreased their depredations in consequence

Whenever and wherever we found that the scattered bands were getting together for a general raid ould at once notify the regulars at Fort Scott or Fort Leavenworth to be ready for theed to collect a thousand men in a hurry, and to raid and sack Lawrence before the troops could head theot on their trail they were driven speedily back into Missouri