They killed and scalped several
teamsters and also a young German traveler; stampeded and drove off a
number of mules and burned up several wagons. This was done while
fording the Arkansas River, near Fort Dodge. I was delayed near
Kansas City under circumstances which preclude the supposition of
chance and indicate a subtle and Inexorably fatal power at work for
the preservation of my life--a force which with the giant tread of
the earthquake devastates countries and lays cities in ruins; that
awful power which on wings of the cyclone slays the innocent babe in
its cradle and harms not the villain, or vice versa; that inscrutable
spirit which creates and lovingly shelters the sparrow over night and
then at dawn hands it to the owl to serve him for his breakfast. Safe
I was under the guidance of the same loving, paternal Providence
which in death delivereth the innocent babe from evil and temptation,
shields the little sparrow from all harm forever, and incidentally
provides thereby for the hungry owl.
I should have changed cars at Kansas City, but being asleep at the
critical time and overlooked by the conductor, I passed on to a
station beyond the Missouri River. There the conductor aroused me and
put me off the train without ceremony.
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