Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 272 — page 26: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

_——ee - | Seth Slocum, RAILROAD SURVEYOR; OR, The Secret of Sitting Bull. A Tale of the Great Northern Pacific BY CAPT. FRED WHITTAKER, AUTHOR OF ‘‘OLD DOUBLE SWORD,” “‘A YAN- KEE COSSACK,” ** ALLIGATOR IKE,” “PARSON JIM,” ETC., ETC, CHAPTER I, | THE LEVELING PARTY. Our in the valley of the Yellowstone, not many years ago, a column of cavalry had come toa about the middle of the afternoon. The borses of half the command had been Cerne out to graze, while the rest stood in line, “ led and bridled. , ‘Part of the men were cooking coffee over little fires of sticks; the rest were gathered under some trees, near a line of saddles and Four or five mounted men were riding slowly to and froina large circle, drawn round the com- mand, and the head of a very long string of wa- gons and mules could be perceived by the aid of a good flield-glass, about six miles off, crawling slowly up the course of the river toward them. A lovely valley was that of the Yellowstone, before civilization bad approached it, with per- ndicular cliff, like the Palisades of our own udson, lining the course of the stream;, buf, unlike our Palisades, standing several miles apart, and bordering a green, smiling meadow that sloped down to the edge of the river, all sprinkled with flowers of every hue, a perfect paradise for game. Herds of eiks, deer, and antelopes, with a few dark groups of buffalo were feeding in full sight af the cavalry horses, so near that it was evi- t they had little fear of man, while more than one troop of wild mustangs, sbyer tbhun the rest, kept far on the outsk.rts, out of gun- or pranced to and froin frolic pursuit of each other, their sp: tted and pied hides making them look like a pack of bounds. Botween the feeding cavalry borses and trains might be seen a little clump of horsemen, who kept up an irregular progress by fits and starts. ry now and then this group halted and re- mained still for several minutes, a single man galloping ahead with a long pole, to halt after a while at the waving of a flag in the group left nd, Then would ensue some mysterious signals be- tween the poleman and the others, after which the party would come on ata very rapid pace to the position previously occupied by the em turn, started away again, who, in careful scrutiny with the glass would reveal the fact that the course of this party was al- ways nearly on a level, and that it was marked as it went by little conical heaps of white stones, thered from tive river-bed by men detached or the purpose from thé main party. “They’re leveling pretty fast to-day,” said one of the cavalry officers, a handsome young fellow ina dandified buckskin suit, sometimes worn on the plains by officers who are vain of their personal appearance, and well provided with money, He spoke to one of his brother officers, a tall, dark-fsced man with a huge drooping mustache, tbat overhung a short beard of a few weeks’ The young officer was Lieutenant Kennedy, the older man Captain and Brevet-Major Ire- land; both of the cavalry escort of General Chester’s column, guarding the surveyors of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Ireland nodded absently. He was a gloomy man to be with on a scout, for he was a hard drinker in garrison, and the deprivation of his accus stimulants was apt to make him sullen and morose, till the march had lasted some time and his nervous system had got toned up. “ Ay,ay,” he said, ‘ | fast enough, I suppose. I wish the cursed thing were over.” “Why? asked Kennedy, surprised. “I think it’s delicicus, this camp-life, with these pleasant marches, and all this game. The scenery, the bracing air, every thiog I see, -anakes me happy.” Ireland drew his heavy brows together, as he replied, ill-temperedly ; ‘Of course, of course. You always crazy on a first ex geen no Indians yet. You when you see them.” **] hope [ shall do my duty when I do,” re- ed Kennedy, rather stifiiv. *'I don’t pretend to be an old Indian-fighter like yourself, major, but I really do hope I shall not disgrace the cloth when my time comes.” Ireland looked at him more kindly, oungsters are ition, and we've alter your opinion ‘‘T don’t believe you will, Jim. Don’t mind | lieve my nerves are going to | affsirs; make up the monument. whatlisay. lL Seth Slocum, Railroad Surveyor. ‘*Come, con’t stare, Attend to your own he escort pieces since the general shut down on the | will take care of us,” whisky, confound him for a mney eg fanatic! | el Hello! they are coming on We'll bave to move on further, I expect.” The little party cf men with the levelin And without another glance at the fight going si, ain’t they? on so near him, he slewed round bis telescope te bear on the place where the staff bad been. As soon as he saw that it was down,. be ut- tripod and staff had indeed come up abreast of | tered an impatient: them, and had dismounted between the cavalry and the river. One of them was setting up the leveling-stand | on its tripod, the bearer of the staff he ok loping ahead; the sound of a bugle startled up the cavalrymen and set the borse-herders to driving in their animals toward the saddles while the men who had kept their chargers saddled ee tighten their girths and get ready to mount, Kennedy took his own horse and rode up to the leveling-party to ask: ‘‘ How much longer do you expect to work to-day, Mr. Graves?” A stout, bearded man, with a field-book in bis hand, went on muttering and scribbling for several seconds before he looked up, to answer hurriedly: ‘* Just as long as the light holds and this level continues, sir, Montana George tells me there’s good camping-ground any place for ‘twenty miles further. Must make hay while the sun shines, Go on, boys.” Kennedy saluted politely, and went back to his party, where he reported to Major Ireland the engineer’s determination to go on. Ireland frowned in bis usual morose way, but made no observation, and gave the signal to the bugler. The cheery notes of the brazen clarion, sound- ing ‘‘ Prepare to mount—Mount!” were follow- ed by the departure of the first company on the road, while the men of the second saddled up as fast as they could, following their leaders in less than five minutes. The officers of the escort, except perbaps Kennedy, looked ill-tempered as they set out on their renewed journey. Belonging to the regular army, they believed in taking life as easily as possible, and earning their pay with the least practicable exertion, while the engineer party, being in the pay of a railroad company, kept pushing abead to get as much work done as could be crammed into a day. Phe engineer, Graves, was a plain, hard- working man, with no affectation in his dress and manner, and the men around him were as plain as himself, Most of them were laborers and pioneers— sturdy, powerful frontiersmen—and only one was young. He was a good-looking youth, bardly more than a boy, with a downy frings of beard round his face, a fresh color, and bright, keen brown eyes. He wore a dress more dandified than most of the others, with a buckskin coat fringed and bead-embroidered, a broad-brimmed gray felt hat, a gay silk haudkerchief round bis neck, and neatly-fitting boots on his feet, In common with every man around, be bad a revolver in his belt, and wore a lovg sheatb- knife like a sailor. hi As soon as Mr. Graves had taken bis front and back sights, he spoke to this young man, saying: ‘Get her on, Slocum. We’ve not many hours more to work.” A ‘‘ Very good, sir,” was the response, and Slo- cum picked up the leveling tripod, put it over his sboulder and went for his horse, which stood patiently by. Galloping away with a big stand on one’s shoulder is no Graves always did his work at a be could, so that young Slocum held the hardest post in the party. They made their next station about a yaoi of a mile furtber on, and the ground beyond was such a fine continuous level that in less than half an hour they bad traversed four miles and kept the cavalry scouts on a sharp trot to maintain their distance in advance, It was while the staffman was fectually abreast of the skirmish line, and Mr. Graves was noting down his hind sight before be took a squint at the advance staff, that the sound of five or six shots fired in a volley_came down on the startled ears of the party, and the staff_man dropped by his pole, which fell with bim. In a moment, the commander of the cavalry escort yelled out: ‘‘Deplov as skirmishers! Gallop — march! Advance carbines! Forward—forward! There was a little confusion and hesitation among the men, but they got out on the line and galloped forward, firing as they went, into aclump of woods ahead, from which the volley had come. | At the edge of this wood they now saw half a irit-level and oke, and Mr. | gre , when doz-n mounted Indians, with long red streamers in their war bonnets, waving their hands and shaking their rifles tauntingly, as if daring the soldiers to come On, Mr. Graves, the engineer, whose back was to the flagman, beard the noise, and turned his head to look at the soldiers advancing; then he said to his men in his gruff, business way: — ‘*Psbaw! bow unfortunate! Here, one of you ride ahead and set up that staff.” Even while be spoke, the cavalrymen of the escort made a charge on the Indians: the sec- oud company followed the first, and out of the woods came tearing a regular cloud of mounted Sioux, the rattling of whose rifles as they rode OP Bsc was like the patter of hailstones on a roof. The whole valley abead was full of men, gal- loping to and fro, while the cavalrymen of the escort formed a line, sprung «ff their borses, and opened a rapid fire to check the Indians, whose bullets came whistling over their beads, all round the little leveling party. And under these circumstances Graves re peated impatiently: ‘Set up that staff, Isay. I can’t afford te “— bere. Who'll go?” o. one stirred, for every one saw that the post of the advance staffman was close to the skirmish line and a position of great danger, Graves looked round as if not believing the evidence of his senses, asking: ‘What? Will no one go?” Young Slocum touched his hat. ‘‘If some one will take the level, Pll go, gir,” he said, and Graves nodded, ‘*Go,” was bis sole answer, CHAPTER IL WORKING UNDER FIRE. ‘“Go,” said the engineer, and Slocum, with- out another word, went to his horse and gal- loped to where the r staff-bearer Il»y, stone dead, his body riddled with bullets, ‘4ne horse of the dead man stood by tbe body, look. ing at it curiously, asif not able to understand. thesudden change in its master, bul pot offer- ing to run away, and Slocum sprung off bis own horse and led it, with its companion, bet»een him and the Indians, when be picked up the steff and set it up again, with bis bick to the enemy and his face to Mr. Graves. It was a trying position to occupy, for as soon as the disk was raised, the bullets bk gan ‘o pat- ter into the ground all round him, o: v bistied past his ears with a sound that was pertectly new to the young man, who had never teen in battle before, And the most trying part of all was that he had to keep his back to the hullets and sbut his ears to the sound, ubile he att: 1d- ed entirely tothe signals that Graves made to Lim, from time to time, to move bis steff right or left, and shift the disk to the prope: bight to show the level. Trying as it was, the young man did his duty with surprising coolness, and very soon Graves waved his band to signify the level | ad’t een teken, mcunted bis borse and gallop: d or to the skirmish line, carry 36 the leveling tripod on his own shoulder, and followed, but more slo~- ly, by bis men, who hung back as they ap- proached the line. The old engineer, on the other band, cantered up leisurely, swurg bim- self off his horse, and called out as he set up the tripod: ) ‘‘Hurry up and make this morument. We move on as soon as the escort does,” Then he proceeded to set the tripod over the place where Slocum bad set up his st: fff. ‘Go ahead as soon as the escort mi ves,” he said, while he was arranging the stand. ‘I don’t want to put you into useless danger, but this line bas to be run as far as we can on this ee to save the appropriation.” hen he began to take bis hind sights at the rear man, who, on bis part, was shaking at bis hk while the old engineer seemed to be entire- y unaware of the battle that was going on ercund bim, so intent was be on the bi siness before him. As for yourg Slocum, with him to hear was to obey, ard he instantly mounted bis horse and wheeled round to watcb the Indians. takin with him by the bridle, the steed of the dead siaff-bearer, as a partial shield against the bul- lets that came whistling by bim, As he looked, the Indians who had been dash- ing to and froin front of the troops, suddenly Legan to scatter and run, when the sojdiers Ut- tered a yell of trivmph and sprung t their mark oe ay d, and th ** Forward!” roared Major Ireland, 2” ) men mounted and Geshe on again, firing Young Slocum never besita at a trot, till he came t 5 end of the level on which he was, .hen he wheeled round hig horses again, and planted bis staff as he dis. ed. raves was alread within a very few pede the new sight wag taken, and the engineer’s party came galloping On again, | the second tim smile. / , he When Graves came Up nodded to Slocum with a grim comic 7m. , ® : -» , ) EH y waiting for bim, me Zz ¥ , '