Part 30 (1/2)

Crook was a ht without any ostentation, but who had high courage and used rare judgment The fact that he had command of the forces in the West hadthe hostile red ht the Indians that it was never safe, and usually extre White Chief, organizations ht have been for Western civilization

I am and always have been a friend of the Indian I have always syle to hold the country that was his by right of birth

But I have always held that in such a country as America the march of civilization was inevitable, and that sooner or later theno real use of the resources of the country, would be coive way before the men who tilled the soil and used the lands as the Creator intended they should be used

In s with the Indians ays understood each other In a fight we did our best to kill each other In times of peace ere friends I could always do more with the Indians thanso anization was because I understood theenerals who conducted the fight against the Indians, I believe they could have done little without the services of the men who all over the West served them in the capacity of scouts

The adventures of s than the battles between the Indians and the troops

A the ablest of the scouts I worked with in the West were Frank Grouard and Baptiste Pourier At one time in his childhood Grouard was to all intents and purposes a Sioux Indian He lived with the tribe, hunted and fought with thear this life Their language recalled his childhood, and he presently deserted his red-skinned friends and caues of the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Crow Indians and his e made him an extremely desirable acquisition to the service

Grouard and ”Big Bat” (Baptiste Pourier) were the two scouts that guided Lieutenant Sibley, a young officer of experience and ability, on a scout with about thirty officers and John Finnerty of the Chicago _Times_, a newspaper ht o'clock at night they left their halting-place, Big Goose Creek, and in the silentHorn

Presently they made out the presence of a war party ahead of the around in a circle, which meant that the enemy had been discovered

There were too ht in the open, so Grouard led the soldiers to a deep thicket where there were plenty of logs and fallen timber out of which to make breastworks

The Indians repeatedly circled around the a massacre like that of Custer's

Soon red reenforce that they had now a sufficient advantage, attee, as the result of which they lost White Antelope, one of the bravest of their chiefs

This da that rattled against the log breastworks like hailstones

Fearing that the Indians would soon start a fire and burn them out, Sibley ordered a retreat The two scouts were left behind to keep up a desultory fire after night had fallen, in order to make the Indians think the party was still in its breastworks Then the other led up the precipitous sides of the , and falling according to the character of the ground they passed over

The men left behind finally followed on The te and horror At last they gained a point in the mountains about twenty-fivein a sheltered cave, they got a little sleep and started out just in tie war-party which was scouting in their direction

At night the jaded party, ue River up to their armpits Tere so exhausted that it was not considered advisable to pere into the icy stream, and they were left on the bank till help could be sent to theed themselves over the trail to Crook's ca feet and ht of the caht theround, too exhausted to go another step Hot food was brought theo to Camp Cloud Peak, to receive the hospitality and sympathy of their coht in and cared for

This expedition was one of the most perilous in the history of the Plains, and the fact that there were any survivors is due to the skill, coolness, and courage of the two scouts, Grouard and Pourier

CHAPTER X

My work on the Plains broughtsome of the truest and staunchest that anypeaceful ways cannot always tell whether your friends are the kind ould go through fire for you But on the Plains one's friends have an opportunity to prove their mettle And I found out that most of mine would as cheerfully risk their lives for ht for my pipe when I asked it