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Show 618 WESTERN WILDS. near the name of ' Squire Lockhardt was known as that of a natural nobleman and Texas gentleman. The friendly Indians that passed that way also partook of his hospitality, and he made the too common mistake of / supposing that this would shield him against the incur-sions of their wilder congeners. But, of all his possessions, none was so widely celebrated as his daughter Minnie. The rude vacqueros were charmed into unusual courtesy at sight of her; and, from far and near, young. Texans of more pretensions sought her society. On the border, a young woman of beauty and accomplishments often ac-quires a wide- spread fame that would seem impossible to Eastern peo-ple ; her graces are recounted in such fervid rhetoric that the cold critic of an older community would think of her as a fabulous being. Even so the charms of Minnie Lockhardt were sung in a hundred camps, from the Trinity to the Colorado. Many other settlers, generally single men, and skillful frontiersmen, had located between Lockhardt and the staked plain, and he had long ceased to think of an Indian raid as even remotely possible, when, suddenly as lightning from a clear sky, the Indian war of 1854-' 5 broke out; and, from the settlements on the upper Rio Grande, clear around to the Canadian, the border was in a blaze. The Utes and Apaches on the west pressed the Mexicans and whites, while the Co-manches, from their fastnesses, carried destruction far down into Texas. The storm broke while Lockhardt was absent from home. Every settler near him was killed; his servants fled for their lives, and his daughter, then but twenty years of age, was carried into cap-tivity. The frenzied father sent an appeal to his fellow- citizens, and it seemed that the wr hole Texan border was moved by one common impulse. Every young Texan who could supply himself with horse and gun was eager to assist in the rescue of Minnie Lockhardt ; and, as soon as a force of two hundred had assembled, the father led them towards the high country, leaving word for the others to follow. Striking the trail of the Comanches, the Texans followed as fast as the strength of their horses would allow, their furious zeal continually aroused anew by the sights along the way, where worn out captives had been ruthlessly murdered. Suddenly, at daylight, the pursuers came upon the murderers in one of those numerous cafions of upper Texas, where the savages had thought themselves safe. Then ensued one of the most desperately contested battles of the Texan border. The Indian camp was set far back in a grove of scrubby timber, on all sides of which rose sandy hillocks and de-tached rocks, furnishing admirable lines of defense, as well as retreat |
