Christine Blashford
speaker
728 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard Jul 2026
last heard 21 Jul
Christine Blashford’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 1.
Appearances
Ever since the command had come in sight of the Elk Tooth, the conviction had been growing on Ray that Stabber must have received many accessions and was counting on the speedy coming of others.
The signal smokes across the wide valley, the frequent essays to tempt his advance guard to charge and chase, the boldness with which the Indians showed on front and flank, the daring pertinacity with which they clung to the stream bed for the sake of a few shots at the foremost troopers
Relying evidently on the array of their comrades beyond the ridge to overwhelm any force that gave close pursuit.
The fact that other Indians opened on the advance guard and the left flankers, and that a dozen at least tore away out of the sandy Arroyo the moment they saw the line start at the gallop, all these had tended to convince the captain that, now at last, when he was miles from home and succour, the Sioux stood ready in abundant force to give him desperate battle.
To dart on in chase of the three warriors would simply result in the scattering of his own people, and their being individually cut off and stricken down by circling swarms of their red foes.
To gather his men and attempt to force the passage of the Elk Tooth Ridge meant certain destruction of the whole command, and
The Sioux would be only too glad to scurry away from their front and let them through, and then in big circle whirl all about him, pouring in a concentric fire that would be sure to hit some, at least exposed as they would be on the open prairie, while their return shots, radiating wildly at the swift darting warriors, would be almost as sure to miss.
He would soon be weighted down with wounded, refusing to leave them to be butchered, unable therefore to move in any direction, and so compelled to keep up a shelterless, hopeless fight until one by one he and his gallant fellows fell, pierced by Indian lead, and sacrificed to the scalping knife, as were Custer's three hundred a decade before.
No, Ray knew too much of frontier strategy to be so caught.
There stood the little grove of dingy green, a prairie fortress, if one knew how to use it.
There in the sand of the stream bed by digging were they sure to find water for the wounded, if wounded there had to be.
There by the aid of a few hastily thrown entrenchments he could have a little plains fought and be ready to repel even an attack in force.
Horses could be herded in the depths of the sandy shallows, men could be distributed in big circle through the trees and along the bank, and with abundant rations in their haversacks and water to be had for the digging, they could hold out like heroes until relief should come from the south.
Obviously, therefore, the cottonwood grave was the place, and thither at thundering charge Field led the foremost line, while Ray waved on the second, all hands cheering with glee at sight of the Sioux darting wildly away up the northward slope.
Ten men in line, far extended, were sent right forward halfway across the flats, ordered to drive the Indians from the bottom and cripple as many as possible.
But if menaced by superior numbers, to fall back at the gallop, keeping well away from the front of the grove so that the fire of its garrison might not be masked.
The ten had darted after the scurrying warriors, full halfway to the beginning of the slope, and then just as Ray had predicted, down came a cloud of brilliant foamen seeking to swallow the little ten alive.
Instantly their sergeant leader whirled them about, and pointing the way, led them in wide circle, horses well in hand, back to the drywash, then down into its sandy depths.
Here every trooper sprang from saddle, and with the rein looped on the left arm and from the shelter of the straight, stiff banks, opened sharp fire on their pursuers, just as Clayton's platoon, dismounting at the grove, sprang to the nearest cover, and joined in the fierce clamour of carbines.
Racing down the slope at top speed as were the Sioux, they could not all at once check the way of their nimble mounts, and the ardour of the chase had carried them far down to the flats before the fierce crackle began.
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