Too Late
Young Lieutenant Baldwin burst excitedly into his general’s room and cried : “For God’s sake, General! Up! Up! and come. Spotted Lightning has carried off your daughter, Inez!”
General Splasher sprang to his feet in . “What,” he cried, “not Spotted Lightning, the chief of the Kiomas, the most peaceful tribe in the reservation?”
“The same.”
“Good heavens! You know what this tribe is when ?”
The lieutenant cast a swift look of intelligence at his commander.
“They are the most revengeful, murderous, and Indians in the West when on the warpath, but for months they have been the most peaceable,” he answered.
“Come,” said the general, “we have not a moment to lose. What has been done?”
“There are fifty ready to start, with Knife Bill, the famous scout, to track them.”
Ten minutes later the general and the lieutenant, with Knife Bill at their side, set out at a swinging at the head of the column.
Bowie Knife Bill, with the trained instincts of a border , followed the trail of Spotted Lightning’s horse with unerring swiftness.
“Pray God we may not be too late,” said the general as he spurred his panting —“and Spotted Lightning, too, of all the chiefs! He has always seemed to be our friend.”
“On, on,” cried Lieutenant Baldwin, “there may yet be time.”
Mile after mile the pursuers covered, pausing not for food or water, until nearly sunset.
Bowie Knife Bill pointed to a thin column of smoke in the distance and said:
“’s the varmints’ camp.”
The hearts of all the men bounded with excitement as they neared the spot.
“Are we in time?” was the silent question in the mind of each.
They dashed into an open space of prairie and drew rein near Spotted Lightning’s tent. The flap was closed. The troopers swung themselves from their horses.
“If it is as I fear,” muttered the general hoarsely to the lieutenant, “it means war with the Kioma nation. Oh, why did he not take some other instead of my daughter?”
At that instance the door of the tent opened and Inez Splasher, the general’s daughter, a maiden of about thirty-seven summers, emerged, bearing in her hand the gory scalp of Spotted Lightning.
“Too late!” cried the general as he fell senseless from his horse.
“I knew it,” said Bowie Knife Bill, folding his arms with a silent smile, “but what surprises me is how he ever got this far alive.”