ered was insupportable. His hammers were cocked and his
finger was on one trigger when he considered how useless the alarm
would be. The troopers knew that he had gone duck hunting. They would
expect to hear him shoot and would pay no attention to it. To rush out
after the Indians would only invite his instant death.

There seemed nothing he could do and a cold sweat of apprehension
broke over him. But if he fired his gun he might, at least, surprise
the Indians. The report of a gun in their rear would alarm them--since
they knew nothing of his presence or his duck hunting and might take
fright. Without more ado he fired both barrels one after the other,
careful only to shoot low into the willows, hoping the smoke would not
rise so quickly as to betray him before he could make a dash for a new
hiding-place.

His ruse worked and he ran at top speed for twenty yards before he
threw himself into a clump of cotton-woods close to the camp trail and
began to reload. While he was doing so a shout came from the direction
of the railroad bridge. Not until then did Bucks understand what the
Indians were after. But had he not understood, he would have known a
moment later when he heard a sharp exchange of shots toward the camp,
heard the dogs barking furiously, and saw the Indians, now on their
ponies, running the troopers' horses past him at a breakneck gallop.
The Indians yelled lustily at the success of their raid, the stampeded
horses dashed panic-stricken before them, and the braves shouted back
in derision at the vain efforts of the troopers to stop them with
useless bullets. Bucks's own impulse was to empty a charge of birdshot
into the last of the fleeing warriors, but this he knew might cost him
his life, and he resisted the temptation. When he was sure all were
past he ran toward the bluffs, and gaining a little eminence saw the
fleeing Indians, a dozen in all, making their way jubilantly up the
river. At the camp the discomfited cavalrymen were preparing for a
siege, and in their excitement almost shot Bucks as he hove in sight.

Bucks gave a good description of the marauders, and, following him up
to the pond, six of the troopers attempted some pursuit. This, to
unmounted men, was useless, as they well knew. Indeed, they used
caution not to come unawares on any friends of the escaping braves
that might have lingered behind.

Colonel Stanley returned in the morning to hear that his escort had
been unhorsed. Bob Scot