Show BOUGHT FREEDOM WITH DEATH Nez Perec Horses Followed Their Leader Over the Cliff The hardy little Nez Perce horso is quite well known in a way but few people know what remarkable courage and sagacity he has When the Indian war swept the Nez Perce country the Indians gathered about 5000 horses into a valley that fronted on the steep bluffs of the Columbia river and therewith there-with the great white mountains at their back prepared to make their last desperate des-perate stand In the battle that followed they were defeated and the small fraction of them that remained unkilled put to flight The horses shut in by the steep mountains moun-tains on tho one side and tho steep river bluff on tho other had to ba left behind When the battle had closed the soldiers sol-diers of the volunteers for only a part were regulars made a rush for tho horses but they could not lay hands ou one of them or approach them And now for the first time it was noticed no-ticed that they were under a boy herder The boy was unarmed entirely naked and as red as copper The boy had no bridle but wove his hands into the mane and thus guided his black horse at will at tho head of the herd The volunteers dropped on their knees here and there around tho edge of the circle and began to fire at the boy At last a bullet struck him His body flew high into the air and then fell and rolled I in the dust The horses now divided as they came by Their nostrils were distended at the smell of blood and their eyes ablaze at the sight of their young keeper in the dust dustOn On the second round after tho boy fell the bltjck leader seamed to run sidewise his eyes fastened1 to Ills little dead master until they looked frightful from under the black mane He plunged on around and camo to the very edge of tho beetling basalt bluff Then there was a sight as of a sculptured image of a horse poised in midair and n mad wild cry such as n horse makes but oncea cry indescribable indescrib-able that filled the valley Men looked away and when they looked back the black statue was gone Then faithful to the leader over the bluff into the foaming white water went another horse And then 10 50 500 the whole 6000 Not one of all tho herd was left to the invading victors and tho stream was literally choked with the dead Joaquin Miller |