THE RIDE FOR LIFE ON THE PRAIRIE.

Globe, Volume V, Issue 558, 1 April 1876, Page 3

THE RIDE FOR LIFE ON THE PRAIRIE.

[From Chambers’ Journal .] The sterile stony desert which spread itself before me, when on the next morning my jaded steed and I again set forth upon the track, was almost bare of verdure. The long drought and the heat of the scorching sun had withered every green blade, while pools and creeks, which ought to have been full of sweet pure water, were now mere belts of shingle, or hollows paved with dry clay. I shared the last drops of the precious Huid I carried in my canteen, and the last of the bleached corn, with Sunbeam, and the good horse seemed as though he were grateful for and understood the kindness, for he rubbed his velvet muzzle caressingly against my hand as I stroked his neck, no longer sleek and smooth as satin, for fatigue and privations had roughened his coat and dimmed the fire of his eye. Suddenly, as I stood beside him, I looked back, and saw what made for the moment my very heart cease to beat, as if air icy touch had frozen the blood in my veins. Spears, and plumed heads and wild forms, whose shields and scarlet blankets or buffalo-robes were distinctly to be seen, were crowded together at the top of a rising ground, coming on over the prairie at the easy swinging gallop which a mustang can keep up for half a day. As I set my foot in the stirrup and leaped into my saddle, the Indians, silent till then, set up the fearful war-whoop, and with yells and frantic gestures lashed on their steeds, and took up the pursuit with a fury that sufficiently indicated what would be my fate shonld I lie overtaken. Then began a desperate contest —a race for live or death. Sunbeam answered gallantly to my call, and for the first four or five miles I saw little of the enemy : but on they came pitilessly, and soon seemed to gain ground. Had it been on the first day of the journey, I could have laughed at my pursurers ; but now, the superiority of my noble horse in stride and strength was neutralised by the comparative freshness of the shaggy steeds on which the Apaches were mounted. I groaned as I felt Sunbeam flag beneath me, though I urged him on with voice and hand. Miles upon miles of rolling prairie were traversed, my horse keeping the lead, and speeding on with courage unabated, but staggering as he went, and bearing heavily on the bit as we descended the frecpient slopes. The Indians saw their advantage, and pressed on, making every effort to come up with me. One arrow slightly wounded my ho ■ se in the neck ; a second brushed my cheek, making me feel as though a hot iron had been drawn across it; I bear the thin blue scar to this day. But maddened with excitement I spurred Sunbeam on, shook off the pursurers for a while, and presently saw gleaming before me the waters of a swiftly flowing river, which could be no o'hei than the Gila; while beyond it rose the stockaded walls of a lonely building— Fort Webster, doubtless. ‘On, Sunbeam, on!’ One more effort, brave horse—one more, and we are safe ?’ I patted my steed’s reeking neck as I vociferated the words; and, with a faint friendly neigh, the gallant horse responded to my appeal and still reeled onward. The river, bordered by tall trees and cane-brakes, was very near. I could hear its rush and ripple, when Sunbeam, dead beat, stumbled, fell on his knees, and sank slowly down. There was an arrow, unknown to me, sticking in his Hank, and the noble brute- had actually been bleeding to death as he carried his master, with unfaltering spirit, over leagues of weary prairie For the moment I almost forgot my imminent peril in grief for the loss of my brave companion ; but little time was left for regrets, for already the ground shook beneath the thunder of hurrying horse-hoofs, as, with yells and outcries of barbarous triumph, the Indians came racing up behind. Thirty yards before me lay the river, but it was too deep and rapid for a man readily to swim or wade, and though I was weary and worn, yet I could not bear to abandon life while a chance remained. My pistol was in my belt, but my carbine was strapped to the saddle of the dead horse, and so were the bags which held the money of Curtis Brothers, and these I snatched up, though I had scanty prospect of saving either property or life, so near were the ruthless foes. They were but six lances length away from me as I plunged into the brushwood, intending to take shelter among the tall reeds of the bank, in the faint hope that the clamours of the Apaches might bring out the troops from the fort. To my great joy, however, on reaching the river bank I beheld, moored to the stem of a mimosa tree, a canoe, containing fishing tackle, and probably belonging to the garrison ; and, leaping into it, I seized the paddles and pushed off into the middle of the stream, just as four or five of the Indians who had dismounted came bursting through the

bushes, knife and tomahawk in hand. The river ran swiftly, and I was inexpert in the management of a canoe ; but the Indians fortunately hesitated to take the river, no doubt on account of the vicinity of the fort, and although they pursued me with fierce shouts and volleys of arrows, only one of the latter hit me, inflicting a slight wound on my left wrist; while the welcome sound of a cheer and the discharge of a rifle from the further bank told that the Indian war-whoop had attracted the notice of the soldiers, of whose weapons the Apaches stood in wholesome awe. I was soon among fi'iendly faces, although so exhausted was I with fatigue and emotion that I fainted before reaching Fort Webster.