Captured by the Navajos
by Charles A. Curtis · English · Gutenberg #18352 · 315,191 chars · public domain (US)
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Captured by the Navajos
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States,
you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located
before using this eBook.
Title: Captured by the Navajos
Author: Charles A. Curtis
Release date: May 8, 2006 [eBook #18352]
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18352
Credits: Produced by Suzanne Shell, Sankar Viswanathan, and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTURED BY THE NAVAJOS ***
Produced by Suzanne Shell, Sankar Viswanathan, and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
[Illustration: "EVERY ONE HELD HIS RIFLE IN READINESS TO SHOOT THE
ESCAPING APACHES"]
CAPTURED
BY THE NAVAJOS
BY
CAPTAIN CHARLES A. CURTIS
U.S.A.
ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK AND LONDON
HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
Copyright, 1904, by HARPER & BROTHERS.
CONTENTS
CHAP.
I. INTRODUCES THE BOYS
II. ATTACKED BY NAVAJOS
III. WARLIKE PUEBLOS
IV. IN A NAVAJO TRAP
V. A SIEGE AND AN AMBUSCADE
VI. CROSSING THE RIVER
VII. A SWOLLEN STREAM AND STOLEN PONY
VIII. OVER THE DIVIDE--A CORPORAL MISSING
IX. THE RESCUING PARTY
X. THE CORPORALS ARE PROMOTED
XI. BOTH PONIES ARE STOLEN
XII. INDIANS ON THE WAR-PATH
XIII. THE BOY SERGEANTS DO GOOD SERVICE
XIV. ON THE DESERT WITHOUT WATER
XV. THE PONIES ARE FOUND
XVI. APACHES IN SKULL VALLEY
XVII. PURSUIT OF THE APACHES
XVIII. ON THE TRAIL OF THE APACHES
XIX. THE ATTACK ON THE APACHE CAMP
ILLUSTRATIONS
"EVERY ONE HELD HIS RIFLE IN READINESS TO
SHOOT THE ESCAPING APACHES" Frontispiece
"MOUNTED, THE BOYS PRESENTED A WARLIKE
APPEARANCE"
"CORPORAL HENRY ASKED CAPTAIN BAYARD TO
INQUIRE FOR MANUEL PEREA"
"'GOD HAS GIVEN ME AMONG MANY FRIENDS,
TWO THAT ARE SOMETHING MORE'"
CAPTURED BY THE NAVAJOS
I
INTRODUCES THE BOYS
It was late in the fall of the second year of the civil war that I
rejoined my company at Santa Fé, New Mexico, from detached service in
the Army of the Potomac. The boom of the sunrise gun awoke me on the
morning after my arrival, and I hastened to attend reveille roll-call.
As I descended the steps of the officers' quarters the men of the four
companies composing the garrison were forming into line before their
barracks. Details from the guard, which had just fired the gun and
hoisted the national colors, were returning to the guard-house, and
the officers were hastening to their places.
At the conclusion of the ceremony I turned again towards my quarters,
and noticed two handsome boys, evidently aged about fifteen and
thirteen, dressed in a modification of the infantry uniform of the
army, and wearing corporals' chevrons. They stood near the regimental
adjutant, and seemed to be reporting their presence to him.
At breakfast, the adjutant chancing to sit near me, I asked him who
the youthful soldiers were.
"They are the sons of Lieutenant-Colonel Burton, Corporals Frank and
Henry," he replied. "They hold honorary rank, and are attached to
head-quarters, acting as messengers and performing some light clerical
work."
"How do they happen to be in Santa Fé?"
"Mother recently died in the East, and the colonel had them sent here
in charge of a tutor who is to fit them for college, I believe."
Later, on the same day, being desirous of looking over this ancient
Indian and Mexican town, I was making a pedestrian tour of its
streets, and chanced to be opposite San Miguel School in the eastern
section during the pupils' recess. Half a dozen boys were engaged in
throwing the lasso over the posts of the enclosing fence, when
suddenly from a side street appeared the young corporals whom I had
seen at reveille.
The Mexican boys instantly greeted them with derisive shouts and
jeers. They called them little Gringos and other opprobrious names,
and one young Mexican threw the loop of his lasso over the smaller
corporal's head and jerked him off his feet. His companions laughed
loudly. The older corporal instantly pulled out his knife and cut the
rope. Then the two brothers stood shoulder to shoulder, facing the
crowd, quite ready to defend themselves. The young Mexicans,
gesticulating and shouting, crowded round the two brothers, and blows
appeared imminent.
"Muchachos," suddenly cried a ringing voice from the rear, in Spanish,
"are you not ashamed? A hundred against two!"
A handsome lad forced his way through the crowd, placed himself beside
the two corporals, and faced his young countrymen. Before the Mexicans
recovered from their surprise the bell of San Miguel summoned them to
school. They hurried away, leaving the two corporals with the young
Mexican who had come to their assistance.
"My name is Frank Burton," said the older corporal, extending his
hand to the Mexican, "and this is my brother, Henry."
The Mexican boy grasped the proffered hand, and said, "My name is
Manuel Perea, of Algodones."
"We are the sons of the commanding officer at the fort. Can't you come
and see us next holiday?"
"I should much like to; I will ask the fathers if I may."
"Come over, and we will try to make your visit pleasant."
"How well you speak Spanish! It will be a great pleasure to visit
American boys who can speak my language, for I know but few English
words."
"Next Saturday, then?"
"At ten o'clock, if the padres consent. Good-bye," and Manuel
disappeared into the school-room.
The following Saturday I saw the two corporals and their newly
acquired companion at the post and at dinner in the mess-room, and a
friendship was then formed which was to continue for many years.
One evening, nearly a month afterwards, I received an order to march
my company into the Jemez Mountains to co-operate with other detached
commands in a war being carried on against the Navajo Indians. Just as
I had laid aside the order after reading it, Colonel Burton entered,
and, taking a seat by my fireside, announced that he had been ordered
on detached service to northern Colorado, on a tour of inspection,
which would require him to be absent for a considerable period, and
that he had been thinking of allowing his sons to accompany me to my
camp at Los Valles Grandes.
"The hunting and fishing are fine in those valleys, and Frank and
Henry would enjoy life there very much," he said. "They have done so
well in their studies that they deserve a well-earned recreation."
"I should much like to have their company, sir," I replied, "but would
it not be exposing them to great danger from the Indians?"
"The officer whom you are to relieve has been in the valleys nearly a
year, and he reports that he has not seen a Navajo in all that time.
Of course, it may be your fortune to meet them, but I do not think
so. If you do, then the boys must give a good account of themselves.
In any engagement that involves the whole command they must not forget
they are the sons of a soldier. Still, I do not want them needlessly
exposed. You are quite sure it will give you no trouble to take them?"
"Few things could afford me greater pleasure on such isolated duty,
sir. They will be good company for me."
"Thank you for your kindness. The lads will report to you to-morrow
morning. I will see that they are properly fitted out, and will write
you now and then during my absence, and as soon as I return to Santa
Fé they can be sent back."
Colonel Burton then took his departure, and I turned to a local
history to learn from its pages something of the tribe with which I
might be brought in contact.
The home of the Navajos lay between the Rio Grande del Norte on the
east, the Rio Colorado on the west, the Rio San Juan on the north, and
the Rio Colorado Chiquito on the south, but from time immemorial they
had roamed a considerable distance beyond these borders.
They had always been known as a pastoral race, raising flocks and
herds, and tilling the soil. They owned, at the time we began war upon
them, sheep and ponies by the thousand, and raised large quantities of
corn, wheat, beans, and other products.
They numbered between twelve and fifteen thousand, and could put three
thousand mounted warriors in the field. They were industrious, the men
doing all the hard work instead of putting it upon the women, as do
the Indians of the plains and all of the marauding tribes. They
manufactured their wearing apparel, and made their own weapons, such
as bows, arrows, and lances. They wove beautiful blankets, often very
costly, and knit woollen stockings, and dressed in greater comfort
than did most other tribes. In addition to a somewhat brilliant
costume, they wore numerous strings of fine coral, shells, and many
ornaments of silver, and usually appeared in cool weather with a
handsome blanket thrown over the shoulders.
The Navajos and the New Mexicans were almost continually at war.
Expeditions were frequently fitted out in the border towns by the
class of New Mexicans who possessed no land or stock, for the sole
purpose of capturing the flocks and herds of the Navajos. The Indians
retaliated in kind, making raids upon the settlements and pasture
lands, and driving off sheep, horses, and cattle to the mountains.
Complaints were made by the property-holders, and war was declared
against the Indians.
The military department of New Mexico was in fine condition to carry
on a successful war. Besides our regiment of regular infantry, it had
two regiments of California volunteer infantry and one regiment each
of California and New Mexican cavalry.
The Navajo upon the war-path was terribly in earnest, and his methods
of waging war were like those of the redman everywhere. With the
knowledge that the American soldier was an ally of his old-time enemy,
and that the Mexican was wearing the uniform of the "Great Father," he
no longer hesitated to look upon us as his enemies also, and resolved
to combat us up to the very walls of our posts.
No road in the Territory was safe to the traveller; no train dared
move without an escort. Towns were raided, and women and children
carried into captivity. Frightful cases of mutilation and torture were
constantly occurring in the mountain fastnesses. Troops took the
field, and prosecuted with vigilance a war in which there was little
glory and plenty of suffering and hard service.
Every band of Indians captured was taken to the Bosque Rodondo, on the
Rio Pecos, where a large fort had been established. It was occupied by
a strong garrison of infantry and cavalry.
I had found social life in Santa Fé very pleasant during my brief stay
there, so I was not overjoyed when I received the order to march my
company to Los Valles Grandes, there to relieve the California company
already referred to. But the order being peremptory, we packed our
baggage during the first hours of the night, and were on the road soon
after daybreak.
It was the 3d of October when the boy corporals and myself, mounted on
sturdy Mexican ponies, rode out of Fort Marcy for our new station, one
hundred miles due west. The regimental band escorted the company
through the plaza and for a mile on our way, playing, after
immemorial custom, "The Girl I Left Behind Me," and adding, I thought
with a vein of irony, "Ain't Ye Glad You've Got Out th' Wilderness?"
On the morning of the 8th, after four days of gradual and constant
ascent from the valley of the Rio Grande, which we had forded at San
Ildefonso, we began the slower ascent of the most difficult portion of
our march.
The woods were full of wild turkeys and mountain grouse, made fat on
the pine-nuts, and Frank and Henry and the soldier huntsmen secured a
generous supply for our first meal in our new military home.
It took us from early morning until noon of the last day's march to
reach the highest point of the road. What with the frequent halts for
the men to fasten a rope to the wagon-poles and aid the severely taxed
mules up the steepest places, to fill gullies and sloughs with stones
and brush, to pry mired wheels up to firm ground, and repair broken
harnesses and wagons, we were over half a day in going a distance
which could have been accomplished in two hours by soldiers
unencumbered with a baggage and supply train.
The downward march on the western slope of the mountain-range was
rapidly made over a smooth road through a continuous avenue of
overarching forest trees, and without a halt. From the lower limit of
the forest we caught the first glimpse of the Great Valleys. The
valley before us was fourteen miles long, and of a nearly uniform
width of eight miles. It was almost surrounded by mountains; in fact,
while there were many trails leading out of it, there was but one
practicable wagon-road--that by which we had entered. But at the
southern extremity there was a precipitous cañon, through which flowed
a considerable stream. To the west was another cañon, a dry one,
called La Puerta--the doorway--which led into the second valley,
called the Valley of San Antonio.
The Great Valley, on the eastern edge of which I had halted the
company for a few moments' rest and observation, was lower through the
centre than at the sides. It was not unlike an oblong platter, and was
absolutely treeless, except that opposite us a bold, pine-clad point
jutted out from the western mountain-range about three miles, like a
headland into the sea.
The whole valley was verdant with thick grass. The two boys, sitting
on their ponies a few yards in advance of the company line, were in
raptures over the prospect.
"This is the first bit of country I've seen in New Mexico that looks
like Vermont," said Frank.
"Yes, and what a change in the space of a few miles!" observed Henry.
"On the opposite side of this range were only bunch-grass, cactus, and
sand, and here we have fine turf and waving grass. What are those
objects in that farther corner, sir?" he continued, turning to me and
pointing to the southwest. "Look like deer or grazing cattle."
"There is a small herd of deer there, sure enough," I replied, after
making out the objects through my glass. "We shall not want for
venison if we have good luck with our rifles."
"Deer, antelope, turkeys, ducks, geese, sand-hill crane, and trout!"
exclaimed Frank. "We've hit a hunter's paradise."
"And bears and catamounts, too, I suspect," said Henry, looking a
little lugubrious.
"My, but wouldn't I like to kill a bear!" said Frank.
"Well, I don't believe I shall hunt for one, and I hope a bear won't
hunt for me," said the younger lad. "I'll be satisfied with turkeys,
grouse, ducks, and trout."
Six miles due west, a little south of the wooded point, detached from
it about half a mile, we perceived a line of small cabins, which we
inferred was the volunteer encampment. They stretched across a little
level space, enclosed by a gently sloping ridge of horseshoe shape.
The ridge, in fact, proved to be of that shape when we examined it
later. The row of sixteen cabins stretched across the curve, and
looked out of the opening towards the eastern side of the valley.
Fifty yards in front of the cabins, running across the horseshoe from
heel to heel, flowed a crystal stream of water twenty feet wide and
two feet deep, which rose from forty-two springs near the northern end
of the valley. The ridge enclosing the encampment was nowhere more
than twenty-five feet above the level parade.
The cabins were built of pine logs laid up horizontally, flanked on
the north by the kitchen and stable, and on the south by a storehouse.
Behind the cabins, at the centre of the horseshoe curve, two-thirds
the way up the slope of the ridge, and overlooking the encampment from
its rear, stood the guard-house, in front of which paced a sentinel.
Resuming our march, a brisk step soon brought us to the encampment. At
the brook before the parade I was met by the volunteer officers, who
did not disguise their joy at the prospect of leaving what they
considered a life of unbearable exile. Even before the customary
civilities were passed, the captain asked me if my animals were in a
condition to warrant his loading the wagons with his company property
as soon as I unloaded mine, as he wished to make an evening's march
towards Santa Fé.
I told him I thought they were, provided he took the two wagons
belonging to the camp in addition, so that the loads would be light.
He approved of my suggestion, and promised to send back the wagons as
soon as he reached Fort Marcy.
The wood-yard being well supplied with fuel, I saw no reason why the
wagons and mules could not be spared the ten days necessary to make
the round trip.
One reason for doing all I could to facilitate the immediate departure
of the Californians was that my men were anxious to move into the
cabins at once.
With my first glance at the encampment, it had seemed to me too open
to surprise. The adjacent forest-clad point crept up near the left
flank, offering an effectual screen to an attacking party, and the
overlooking sentinel at the guard-house did not have a range of vision
to the rear of more than fifty yards. He was not on the summit of the
ridge by at least half that distance, and walked along the side of the
guard-house next the cabins. He could see nothing of the surface of
the valley to the west of the ridge, and when passing along the front
of the building, as he paced backward and forward, he saw nothing to
the rear of his beat.
I expressed my opinion of the situation to the volunteer captain, but
he replied, "Pshaw! you might as well take the sentinel off, for all
the good he does as a lookout for Indians."
"Have you seen none?"
"Not a solitary moccasin, except an occasional Pueblo, since I've been
here--eleven months."
"I suppose you have scouted the country thoroughly?"
"There isn't a trail within thirty miles that I do not know. These
bundles of wolf-skins and other pelts you see going into the wagons
are pretty good evidence that my men know the country."
We walked to the kitchen, and found, hanging on the walls of the
store-room, a dozen quarters of venison, the fat carcass of a bear,
and several bunches of fowl.
"We are not obliged to kill our cattle to supply the men with meat,"
added the captain. "We butcher only when we need a change from wild
meat."
"I saw from the edge of the valley where I entered it that you have
deer."
"Pretty much everything but buffalo is here."
"I hear your brook is full of fish."
"There's where you make a mistake," he replied. "There is not a fish
in this valley. The water is spring water, and must possess some
mineral property distasteful to trout, for they never run up here. In
San Antonio Valley, six miles to the west, in a brook less clear than
this, you can catch them by the cart-load."
"I suppose you intend to take this venison with you?"
"Not if you will accept the gift of all but a few quarters, which we
will take for friends in the city."
"Thank you and your men. It will be a treat to us, and keep us going
until we can put in a hunt on our own account."
We went back to the parade, and stood looking at the surrounding
mountains in the deepening twilight.
"What other ways are there in and out of the valley, besides the one
which we entered?" I asked.
"Well, on the east and south sides there is a trail between the peaks,
four in all, and one good bridle-path to the Pueblo of Jemez. That
descends from the valley level to the Jemez River bottom, a drop of
nearly three thousand feet, in a distance of three miles, zigzagging
twice that distance."
"And to the west and north?"
"To the north there is a trail to Abiquiu, rarely used, and to the
west there is only La Puerta, into which all the other trails from the
east and south concentrate. It is to watch La Puerta that this camp
was established."
"And you say you have seen no Navajos or signs of them since you
came?"
"Yes, plenty of signs, but no Indians. Parties have passed here in the
night, but none were driving stock."
I learned all I could of the captain while his men hurried their
baggage into the wagons, but he was too much excited over the prospect
of leaving the Great Valleys, as well as curious to know of events in
Santa Fé, to give me much information. When the guard of regulars
relieved the volunteer guard, I placed my sentinel on a beat a dozen
yards in rear of the guard-house, which enabled him to see several
hundred yards back of the ridge, and yet not show himself prominently
to an approaching foe.
The volunteers at last marched away, and I made a casual examination
of the cabins. I noticed that the inner surface of the log walls had
been hewn smooth, and the names, company, and regiment of the former
occupants had been carved with knives or burned in with hot pokers
along the upper courses. Each had a wide, open, stone fireplace and
chimney set in one corner, after the Mexican fashion.
No uniform design had been observed in the construction of the cabins,
the occupants having followed their own ideas of what would prove
comfortable. Height, width, and depth were variable, but their fronts
were in perfect alignment.
The hut which had been occupied by the officers and which fell to the
boys and myself was at the right of the line, next the storehouse, a
little removed from the others. It was twenty by twenty feet,
partitioned on one side into two alcoves in which were rude bedsteads,
one of which was assigned to the boys and one to myself. A door opened
on the south side, and a window, the only glass one in camp, looked
out upon the parade. Floors in all the cabins were of earth, raised a
foot higher than the outside surface of the ground, smoothed with a
trowel and carpeted with blankets, until later, when skins of wild
animals took their place. Doors were made of puncheons, swung on
wooden hinges and fastened with wooden latches operated by
latch-strings.
Our first day in camp was principally spent in making ourselves
comfortable. The men were busy in filling bed-sacks from the
hay-stacks, and in repairing the cabins and articles of furniture. Ten
head of beef cattle had been turned over to me with the other property
of the camp. I had placed them in charge of a soldier, with orders to
herd them in the valley immediately in front of the opening, where
they could be plainly seen from the parade as well as the guard-house.
At noon two Mexican hunters, father and son, rode up to my door, the
former mounted on a mule and the latter on a burro, or donkey. The
elder said their names were José and Manuel Cordova, of Cañoncito,
that they were looking for deer, and would like permission to make the
camp their place of rendezvous. I gave them permission to do so, and
their animals were turned loose with our stock.
About four o'clock in the afternoon the boy corporals and myself,
tired with our work of repairing and arranging quarters, sat down to a
lunch of broiled grouse.
We were busily picking the last bones when we were startled by loud
shouts. Quickly running to the centre of the parade, where the men
were rapidly assembling with their arms, I saw the soldier-herdsman
coming towards camp as fast as he could run, waving his hat and
shouting. Behind him the steers were running in the opposite
direction, driven by six Indians on foot. They were waking the echoes
with their war-whoops.
II
ATTACKED BY NAVAJOS
The six Navajos made no attempt to shoot the herder, although for some
time he was within easy rifle range. They contented themselves with
driving the cattle towards the southern section of the valley.
At the first alarm Sergeant Cunningham got the men into line without a
moment's delay. He had hardly counted off when the report of the
sentinel's rifle was heard, followed by his shouting, excitedly,
"Indians! Indians! This way! This way!"
In the direction of the guard-house I saw the sentinel and guard
getting into line with great rapidity. They were gesticulating wildly
to us. Frank Burton, who was standing near me, shouted, "Henry, get
your carbine and fall in with me on the left!"
"Don't expose yourselves, boys," I said. "The colonel told me to keep
you out of danger."
"We are needed, sir," answered Frank, promptly, and the two youngsters
instantly placed themselves on the left of the line.
I broke the company to the rear through the intervals between the
cabins. The men had only the marching allowance of ten rounds of
ammunition, so I had a couple of boxes broken open with an axe, and
cartridges were distributed to them. The two Mexicans joined us, and
steadily and rapidly we advanced up the slope to unite with the guard.
Scarcely two hundred yards distant we saw a compact body of over three
hundred Indians. They were charging down upon us, and with a general
and frightful war-whoop they began firing.
We deployed as skirmishers. The men fired by volleys, sheltering
themselves behind bowlders, logs, and ridges.
Instantly, at the head of the mounted column, there was an emptying of
saddles. The onset was suddenly checked, and the Indians broke into
two divisions. Part of the force swept along the outer side of the
horseshoe ridge to the south, and the other part wheeled round to the
north.
I met the attack by dividing my men into two divisions. The men moved
along the interior slopes, firing as they ran, and kept pace with the
ponies running to the extremities.
The Navajos had lost twenty men. A chief, who had been in the front of
the fight throughout, had the utmost difficulty in holding them in
close column.
"That is the great chief, El Ebano," cried the elder Cordova, as he
put his gun to his shoulder. Taking careful aim at the gray-haired
leader, he fired, and one of the most famous chieftains of the Navajos
rolled from his saddle. The beautiful black horse he had been riding
ran on towards us. With El Ebano dead, the Indians were dismayed. A
moment later they were in full retreat, and joined their comrades who
had stolen our cattle.
* * * * *
Our casualties were few. Sergeant Cunningham's scalp had been grazed
along the left side, Private Tom Clary had the lobe of an ear cut,
Privates Hoey and Evans were wounded along the ribs, and Corporal
Frank Burton had a bullet wound in the right shoulder.
The Indians had gathered in a compact body about three miles to the
southward, evidently holding a council of war. Reflecting that they
would not be likely to repeat their attack immediately, I walked out
with the first sergeant and a few of the men to note what casualties
had befallen the enemy, and learn if there were any wounded men in
need of assistance.
As I neared the place where the charge had been checked, I met
Corporal Frank Burton leading a black pony, gently stroking his nose
and talking soothingly to him, while the animal seemed half divided
between fear and newly awakened confidence.
"Oh, isn't he a beauty, sir!" exclaimed the boy--"isn't he just a
perfect beauty!"
"He certainly is a very handsome horse," I answered, after walking
around him and taking in all his graces and points. "Take him to the
stable and we will see to what use we can put him."
"Do you think it would be possible for me to own him, sir?" inquired
the boy, in an anxious voice.
"As spoil of war, corporal?"
"I suppose so, sir. I was first to capture him, you know."
Before I could reply to this we were startled by a loud whinny, a
little to the north, which was promptly answered by the black, and,
looking in that direction, we saw a cream-colored pony, with
high-erected head, looking anxiously in the direction of our captive.
"That seems to be a friend of your pony's," I said.
"Another beauty, too, sir! Can't we catch it for Henry?"
"Perhaps we can. It seems inclined to stay by this one. I see all the
other loose ponies have joined the Indians. But wait now until we look
over the field."
We now turned our attention to the prostrate bodies of the fallen
enemy. All were dead.
The body of El Ebano, clad in black buck-skin, ornamented with a
profusion of silver buttons, chains, and bracelets, lay face upward,
his resolute, handsome countenance still in the embrace of death. I
told the men we would give him and his comrades a warrior's burial on
the morrow, and returned to camp to make it defensible against a
possible night attack.
The advantage of numbers was decidedly on the side of the Indians, and
I felt if they could show the firmness and dash of white men our
chances of repelling a resolute attack were small. Counting the
Mexicans and the boys, we numbered but forty-eight, to their three
hundred or more.
We were in the centre of a large valley, with no knowledge of our
surroundings nor with any way out except the road by which we had
entered. Should we leave the protection of our ridge and cabins and
take to the open valley we should be at the mercy of our foes.
Even supposing we could pass out of the valley unmolested, there were
the forests and defiles, filled with natural ambuscades. We could not
hope to pass them and reach the Rio Grande alive.
Only a few hours of daylight remained. Whatever was to be done in
preparation for defence must be done at once.
In the wood-yard there were tiers of dry pine-logs, many of them four
feet in diameter, and all about twenty feet long. With drag ropes and
by rolling we conveyed them to the points of the ridge and to each end
of the guard-house, and erected effective barricades.
While this work was going on the two boys were busy in an attempt to
capture the cream-colored pony. Frank led the black towards it, while
Henry rattled the contents of a measure of corn and coaxed the
cream-color in a tongue foreign to that with which the animals were
familiar to approach and partake of it. Tired at last of what seemed a
vain attempt, the young corporal set the box before the black, which
at once began to munch the crackling corn, and the other pony,
attracted by the sound, trotted up and placed her nose beside her
friend's. Instantly its bridle-rein was seized, and the lads uttered a
shout of triumph and led the prizes to the stable.
From the top of the ridge I looked occasionally through my field-glass
at the enemy. They still continued well to the south on the western
side of the brook. They had dismounted and appeared to be carrying on
an animated consultation.
After a considerable interval of time, four of their number mounted,
and, collecting the ten beeves, mule, and burro, which had been
grazing near by, drove them up and down in front of the camp, beyond
rifle range. They made gestures for us to come and take them--an
invitation which, for obvious reasons, I declined to accept. I quite
agreed with Private Tom Clary, who, as he placed his brawny shoulder
to a big log to roll it up the slope, remarked to his "bunky," Private
George Hoey, "That's an invitation, begorra, I don't fale loike
acciptin'."
"Ye'd niver make yer t'ilet for anither assimbly if ye did, Tom. I
don't think the lutinint will risk the comp'ny's hair in that way,"
replied Hoey.
To have attempted to recover our stock would have necessitated a
division of our force, and the main body of the Navajos stood ready to
dash in and cut off a party making such a reckless move.
This was what they had originally attempted to accomplish, as I heard
years afterwards from a chief who took part in the raid.
Failing to draw us out in pursuit of our lost stock, the Navajos moved
slowly away in the deepening dusk to a point close against the forest
on the eastern side of the valley and nearly opposite our camp. There
they built a row of five fires, which soon became, in the darkness,
the only evidence of their presence.
I caused the sentinels to be increased, and, after dressing the wounds
of the men and removing a bullet from Frank's shoulder, went to bed
without undressing. After some half-hour of silence, Henry said:
"Mr. Duncan."
"Yes; what is it?"
"I'm going to name my pony Chiquita."
"And I'm going to name mine Sancho," added Frank.
"What are you going to do with the animals you brought here?" I asked.
"Turn them in in place of the two we captured," answered Henry.
"All right; for general utility. Good-night."
"Good-night. Thank you, sir."
Half an hour before midnight the sergeant of the guard aroused me to
report that strange noises could be heard from the rear of the camp.
I went to the top of the ridge and listened. A sound like the dragging
of branches over the ground, with occasional pauses, fell upon my
ears. I sent for the elder Cordova, and he listened long, with an ear
close to the ground. His opinion was that the Indians were creeping up
for another attack.
Orders were sent to Sergeant Cunningham to wake the men without noise
and assemble them at the barricades.
A little after midnight the moon rose over the mountains and bathed
the valley in a beautiful light.
As the moon cleared herself from the summits of the range and her rays
fell upon the line of paling camp-fires of the Indians, my field-glass
revealed the fact that the raiders had departed. Ponies and riders
were gone. In the whole length and breadth of the Great Valley not a
living being was in sight outside the limit of our encampment.
An inspection to the rear, to the scene of the late conflict, revealed
the fact that the body of El Ebano and the group of dead warriors
which lay about him at nightfall had been taken away. Their removal
had caused the rushing and creeping sounds we had heard.
Mounting my horse, and accompanied by four men upon the four ponies, I
crossed the valley to the Indian fires, but found nothing there except
the horns, hoofs, and entrails of our captured cattle. The flesh had
probably been packed upon the Cordovas' mule and burro to ration a
raiding party into the valley of the Rio Grande.
A well-defined trail went back through the forest, which Cordova
afterwards assured me led to the town of Pina Blanca.
Returning to camp, I wrote a letter to the commanding general, giving
an account of the attack and its repulse, and despatched it by the
Mexicans, who, taking cut-offs with which they were acquainted, and
borrowing horses in relays at ranches on the way, delivered it next
evening at Santa Fé.
The general sent a hundred troopers to Los Valles Grandes, where they
came galloping into camp two evenings afterwards. As Captain Wardwell
sprang from his saddle and wrung my hand, he exclaimed:
"God bless you, Duncan! I came out expecting to bury the bones of you
and your men."
I was glad to see the California cavalry officers, and, during the
three days of their stay in the valley for rest after a forced march,
did the honors to the best of my ability. On the day of their
departure the wagons returned loaded with supplies. Instructions were
received to send back all but one wagon and six mules.
With the departure of cavalry and wagons, life in the valley settled
down to quiet routine. I spent some time in instructing my companions,
according to an agreement I had made with their father. Not being a
West-Pointer, but a college graduate with a fair knowledge of Greek
and Latin, and some other acquirements not considered of military
utility, I was able to carry out a desire of the colonel and assist
the boys in preparing themselves for college.
We rarely received visits from the outside world. The nearest hamlet
was an Indian pueblo, twenty-six miles away, in the Rio Jemez Valley,
and representatives of the army seldom had occasion to visit our
outposts. The mail arrived from Santa Fé every Saturday afternoon, and
left every Monday morning in the saddle-bags of two cavalry
express-men.
To the soldiers life in the valleys was very pleasant. Duty was light,
and there were no temptations to dissipation or to be out of quarters
at night, and there were no confinements to the guard-house for
disorder. Evenings were spent over books and papers and quiet games,
and the days in drill, repairing buildings, providing the fuel for
winter, hunting, and scouting.
As previously referred to, we were in a region of abundant game. The
boy corporals accompanied the hunting-parties, and became skilled in
bringing down whatever they sighted. Henry, as well as Frank, shot his
bear, and soon our floor was covered with the skins of wolves,
coyotes, bears, and catamounts, skilfully dressed and tanned by the
Cordovas.
And now I must introduce a principal character of my story, a valued
friend who took a conspicuous part in our scouting and hunting, and
who, later on, did valuable service to myself and my youthful
comrades.
Just as I was about to leave Santa Fé for Los Valles Grandes, the
regimental adjutant--since a distinguished brigadier-general in the
war in the Philippines--gave me a beautiful young setter named
Victoriana, and called Vic for convenience. She was of canine
aristocracy, possessing a fine pedigree, white and liver-colored, with
mottled nose and paws, and a tail like the plume of Henry of Navarre.
The boys, soon after our arrival in the valleys, carrying out a
conceit suggested by the letters "U.S." which are always branded upon
the left shoulder of all government horses and mules, marked with a
weak solution of nitrate of silver upon Vic's white shoulder the same
characters, and as long as she continued to live they were never
allowed to grow dim.
Vic came to me with no education, but plenty of capacity, and the
corporals and I spent much time during the long evenings and on the
days when we did not accompany the scouting and hunting parties, in
training her.
She learned to close the door if we simulated a shiver, to bring me my
slippers when she saw me begin to remove my boots, to carry messages
to the first sergeant or the cook, to return to the camp from long
distances and bring articles I sent for.
Vic was an unerring setter and a fine retriever. She was taught not to
bark when a sound might bring an enemy upon us, and she would follow
patiently at my heels or those of either of the boys when told to do
so and never make a break to the right or left.
Our repeated scoutings soon made us acquainted with every trail in and
out of the valley. I obtained permission from department head-quarters
to employ the elder Cordova as spy and guide, and he was of invaluable
use to us. He was able to show me a mountain-trail into the valley of
San Antonio besides the one through La Puerta, which I kept in reserve
for any desperate emergency which might make it necessary to use
another. We frequently went trout-fishing with an armed party, and
could pack a mule with fish in a few hours.
One morning, near the close of October, Cordova left the camp before
reveille on a solitary hunting-trip in order to reach Los Vallecitos,
four miles to the south of our valley, before sunrise.
He had gone but half an hour, and I was dressing after first
bugle-call for reveille, when I was startled by the rapid approach of
some one running towards my door. Presently the guide tumbled into the
cabin, gasping:
"Muchos Navajos, teniente, muchos Navajos!" (Many Navajos, lieutenant,
many Navajos!)
"Where are they, and how many?" I asked.
"About half a league over the ridge," pointing to the south. "They
chased me from the Los Vallecitos trail. They number about a hundred."
Without waiting for more definite information, I told the boys, who
were hastily getting into their clothes, to stay in the cabin, and,
going for Sergeant Cunningham, ordered him to parade the company under
arms without delay; then, taking my glass, I went to the top of the
ridge. Lying down before reaching the crest, I looked through the
screening grass and saw a party of eighty-three Indians, halted and
apparently in consultation. They were in full war costume, and were
painted and feathered to the height of Indian skill.
III
WARLIKE PUEBLOS
The party of Indians halted for nearly ten minutes, evidently in
excited dispute, accompanying their talk with much gesticulation. I
had time to notice that the details of dress were not like those of
the Navajos with whom we had recently had a fight; but as the old
hunter Cordova had pronounced them Navajos, I gave the matter little
consideration. They did not seem to be aware of the existence of an
encampment of soldiers in the valleys, and after a brief delay moved
on towards La Puerta.
Returning to the parade, I ordered the six mules and four ponies
brought to my door, saddled and bridled, and all the men not on guard
to assemble under arms with cartridge-boxes filled. Fortunately, the
mail-riders had arrived the previous evening from Santa Fé, so I
ordered them to form a part of the expedition, and placed the party
of thirteen under command of Sergeant Cunningham, mounted upon my
horse.
The sergeant was directed to take the "reserved trail" through the
hills into the valley of San Antonio and bring his men into the
western end of La Puerta before the Indians could pass through it. I
impressed it upon him on no account to fire unless the redmen showed
fight, to leave his mules and horses concealed in the timber at the
entrance of the cañon, and so dispose his men as to convey the
impression that thirteen was but a part of his force.
Just before the horsemen were to start I overheard Private Tom Clary,
who was mounted on Frank's recent equine acquisition, Sancho, say to
the boy:
"Corpril Frank, laddie, can ye give me the Naviho words for _whoa_ and
_get up_? I'm afeared the little baste 'll not understand me English,
and may attimpt to lave for his troibe."
"You needn't speak to him, Tom. Use your reins, curb, and spurs,"
replied the boy.
"True for you, corpril; a pull to stop, and a spur to go ahead. That's
a language that nades no interpreter."
For myself, I proposed to follow up the Navajos with the rest of the
company as soon as they were fairly within the cañon, and I expected
to capture them without blood-shed.
We started, the mounted men turning to the north of the wooded point
and entering the forest, and the footmen marching direct for La
Puerta. I kept my men out of sight under the rolls of the valley
surface, and moved at quick time. When the redmen were well within the
walls of the cañon we deployed right and left, and closed up rapidly
behind them.
The Indians showed perceptible astonishment when they perceived this
unexpected and warlike demonstration, but they soon recovered, and
then, feeling the superiority of the mounted man over the footman,
they broke into derisive shouts and made gestures conveying their
contempt for us. This continued for some time, when they suddenly
showed confusion. They dashed at a gallop to the north side of the
passage, and skirted it for a considerable distance, as if looking for
a place of escape. Failing to find one they dashed wildly to the other
side, where they met with no better success, and then they halted and
consulted.
Presently one of their number rode out and waved a white cloth. Upon
this I approached alone and made signs for them to dismount and lay
down their arms. They did so, and at another sign withdrew in a body,
when my men picked up everything and collected their ponies.
I was certainly surprised at such a bloodless result of my strategy,
and, after shaking hands with the chief, began my return march to
camp.
We had gone but a short distance when I overheard Private Clary, one
of the mounted men, who was riding near me, say to Private Hoey beside
him.
"D'ye moind the cut uv thim chaps' hair, Jarge?"
"Indade I do that, Tom," replied George.
"Thim's no Navihos!"
"Not a bit uv it. I'd as soon expict to see one in currls!"
I had a wholesome respect for the opinions of these old soldiers, for
they had campaigned against Indians in Texas, Utah, Colorado, and New
Mexico long before I had seen a more savage redman than the indolent,
basket-making descendants of the Passamaquoddies and Penobscots.
Accordingly, without appearing to notice their remarks, I approached
the chief, and said, interrogatively:
"Apache?"
A shake of the head.
"Ute?"
Another shake.
"Navajo?"
"Si, señor!" he said, with a bow of his head, and I moved triumphantly
on, satisfied that my eighty-three prisoners were Navajos.
But presently I heard Clary ask, "Jarge, did ye iver see Navihos with
blankets like thim?"
"Niver!" answered Hoey, emphatically.
Evidently the two soldiers did not believe they were Navajos, and were
"talking at me." But if not Navajos, Apaches, or Utes, who were these
warriors?
When we were near camp we were met by Cordova, who had remained behind
to recover from the fatigue of his early morning run. As soon as he
came up to the Indians there seemed to be an immediate recognition. He
and the chief met and embraced, and conversed for a few moments in a
language that was neither English nor Spanish. Then the hunter turned
to me, looking shamefaced, and said, in Spanish, "Lieutenant, these
Indians are Pueblos, of Santo Domingo."
Whoever knows the character of the Pueblos will appreciate the joke I
had perpetrated upon myself. Many towns in New Mexico are inhabited by
these Indians--towns which stood on their present sites when Coronado
entered the country in 1541. They form an excellent part of the
population, being temperate, frugal, and industrious. They dress in
Indian style, and when at war paint and disfigure themselves like any
other of the red peoples, so that a green soldier would see no
difference between them and the wilder tribes.
The Pueblos explained that they were in pursuit of a band of Navajos
who had stolen some of their cattle the previous night. When they
first saw Cordova they attempted to approach him to inquire if he had
seen any Navajo "signs."
My appearance and warlike demonstrations they could not account for,
not knowing there was a camp of soldiers in the valley. When I put
the questions, Apache? Ute? Navajo? the chief thought I was asking him
if he was in pursuit of a party of one of those tribes. Being in
pursuit of Navajos, he answered yes to that name.
A week after my captives had returned to their homes in Santo Domingo,
at the close of a long and fruitless search for their lost stock, a
gentleman and his servant, mounted on broncos and leading a pack-mule,
rode up to my cabin late in the afternoon. He introduced himself as a
government Indian agent for the Navajos, and handed me a letter from
the department commander. It stated that the bearer was on his way to
the Indian pueblo of Jemez, to prevent the massacre of a number of
Navajo women, children, and old men who had sought asylum there, and
authorized me to furnish him with all the aid in my power.
After dismounting and entering my quarters, the agent stated that, the
Navajo country being over-run by national troops, many of the
principal men had sent their wives and children, with a few old men,
to Jemez for safety; that the party of Dominicans which had been
recently captured by us, being bitterly disappointed at their lack of
success in retaking their missing cattle, had determined to go to
Jemez and wreak vengeance upon the enemy.
The Santo Dominicans had informed the people of Jemez that if they
interfered to prevent the slaughter of the Navajos they would be
considered by the military authorities as allies of that tribe, and
treated accordingly.
Convinced, from what the agent told me, that I should act without
unnecessary delay, I proposed that we should start for Jemez at once,
but he declared himself too much fatigued by a long journey to
undertake a night ride of twenty-six miles. My instructions from the
general were to conform my movements to the wishes of the agent, so I
very reluctantly and much against my convictions concluded to wait
until morning. He strongly insisted there was no reason for haste, as
the Dominicans had not planned to leave their pueblo before noon.
We set out, therefore, at four o'clock next morning. Sergeant
Cunningham asked permission to accompany the expedition, and I allowed
him to do so, leaving Sergeant Mulligan in charge until our return.
We were a party of thirteen, mounted on every available animal in
camp. Henry was left behind, but Frank accompanied us, mounted on the
recently captured Sancho, proud of his horse and proud to be included
in the detachment.
We passed through an interesting country, filled with wind-carven
pillars and minarets, eroded shelves and caverns, and lunched at
noonday beside a dozen boiling sulphur springs. We also passed
Cañoncito, the little village which was the home of José Cordova.
As we came in sight of the tinned spires of the church at Jemez, we
heard a distinct murmur, and halted at once. In a moment the murmur
swelled into an unmistakable Indian war-whoop. It was plainly evident
the Dominicans had arrived before us.
As soon as I heard the war-whoop I told Sergeant Cunningham to bring
up the men as rapidly as possible, sticking to the travelled road,
and, accompanied by the agent and Corporal Frank, I put spurs to my
horse and dashed towards the town.
Our route was through the cultivated land, while that of the soldiers
was on the hard ground along the foot-hills. Ours was in a direct
line, over deep, soft earth, frequently crossed by irrigating ditches,
while theirs, although nearly treble the distance, was over firm soil
without a break. We struck directly for the church spires, which I
knew rose from the central plaza.
Often we plunged down the banks of _acequias_, carrying avalanches of
soil with us into two or three feet of water, to make a difficult
scramble up the crumbling wall of the opposite side; and as we neared
the pueblo, the louder grew the discordant yells of the Dominicans.
As I reached the border of the plantation I found between me and the
road, which here entered the town, a cactus hedge about five feet
high, with no passage through it except at a considerable distance to
the right. The agent veered away to the opening, but Corporal Frank
kept Sancho close behind me, and I gave my good thoroughbred his head
and rode sharply at the hedge, cleared it at a bound, receiving but a
few scratches from the cactus spines. Turning my head as I came into
the road, I saw Frank come through like a trooper and join me.
Clear of the hedge, I found myself at the foot of a narrow street
which passed between two tall adobe buildings and entered the plaza
near the centre of its western side. I took it at a run, and when
half-way through saw directly before its inner end, facing the north,
a group of old, gray-haired Navajos standing alone with their arms
folded, and holding their blankets firmly about their breasts, while
in their immediate front were some one hundred mounted Indians,
painted and ornamented in true aboriginal warrior style.
On the terraced fronts of the houses and their flat roofs, and along
the three sides of the square, seemed to be gathered the entire
population of the town, looking passively on.
Before I had more than taken in the situation, a rattling discharge of
rifles came from the direction of the Dominicans, and the old men fell
in a heap to the ground. Covered with dust and mud, our horses reeking
with foam, Corporal Frank and I burst through the crowd of spectators
on the west side of the plaza, and gained the open space just as the
firing-party was advancing with gleaming knives and wild yells to
complete the tragedy by scalping the slain.
Raising my right hand I shouted, in Spanish, "Stop where you are!"
Frank had unslung his carbine and was holding it by the small of the
stock in his right hand, the barrel resting in his left, looking
calmly and resolutely at the hesitating Indians. The blood of three
generations of soldierly ancestors was thrilling his veins with a
resolution to act well in any emergency which might arise.
The Pueblos halted, and at the same moment a group of eighteen women
and nearly three times as many children, some of them in arms, who had
been reserved--as I afterwards learned--for later shooting, ran into
the space and clung to my feet, stirrups, and the mane and tail of my
horse, entreating with eyes and voices for protection.
The war-cries had ceased and the Dominicans had gathered in an angry
and gesticulating group, when Sergeant Cunningham and the rest of the
men appeared on foot, running into the plaza from a side street, and
formed in line before us.
The massacre ended with the death of the old men. Aided by the agent
and the Catholic priest of the pueblo I succeeded in impressing upon
the Jemez warriors that they must discountenance any further hostile
demonstrations of the Santo Dominicans, and told the latter that
unless they promptly withdrew and departed for their own reservation I
should punish them for their recent conduct. They at once sullenly
departed.
That evening, by the light of a brilliant moon, the dead Navajos were
buried upon a hill-top overlooking the town, amid the wailing of their
women and much ceremonious demonstration by the Jemez people, and
Frank and I retired for the night to the house of the hospitable
priest.
Early the following morning I held an inspection of the mules and
horses, and finding the wheel and swing spans were much exhausted by
the unaccustomed gait they had maintained in the forced march from the
valleys, I determined to give them a day's rest before making the
return trip. Finding Sergeant Cunningham's, Frank's, and my own horses
none the worse for their exertions, I concluded that we three would
return at once to camp. I placed Corporal Duffy in charge of the
party, and told him after one day had passed to return by way of the
hot springs.
Instead of returning by the route we came, the sergeant, Frank, and I
were to take a shorter and rougher one pointed out to us by Padre
Gutierrez. This trail was almost as straight as an arrow, but led
through a section of the country over which we had not scouted. At
half-past nine o'clock the three of us started, Vic bounding and
barking at my horse's head.
IV
IN A NAVAJO TRAP
Six miles from Jemez our road, which, after leaving the cultivated
valley of the Pueblos had narrowed to a path, entered the forest and
ran along the side of a small brook, which it continued to follow for
several miles, and then rose gradually to the side of a range of
hills. We were walking our animals along the side of this acclivity,
at a considerable distance above the brook on our left, their hoofs
making no noise in the soft, black earth, when I was startled by the
braying of an ass somewhere in the ravine.
Sergeant Cunningham and Corporal Frank threw themselves quickly from
their saddles and held the horses by the bits to prevent them from
responding to the greeting, and I quickly sought a place from which I
could make an observation.
We were in a clump of evergreen trees which commanded a view of the
ravine and obscured us from sight in all directions. Looking across
the ravine, I caught a glimpse of a party of Indians a little beyond
the brook. Through my glass I made them out to be a party of
twenty-seven Navajos, sitting about a camp-fire eating their dinner.
As many ponies were grazing near, and a mule and burro. From certain
peculiar markings I had observed the day Cordova joined me in the
valleys, I had no difficulty in recognizing the last two animals to be
his property. Packs were lying near the fire, showing that the
captured animals were being used as beasts of burden.
All this time I had entirely overlooked the presence of my dog Vic.
Had I thought of her in season, it would have been easy to have kept
her close at my heels; but I had left her free to wander, not thinking
of any threatening danger.
Suddenly I heard a chorus of grunts from the Indians, and looking in
their direction I saw Vic stand for an instant with her forefeet on a
prostrate log, look questioningly at the savages, and then drop down
into the furze and disappear.
The sight of a white man's dog, wearing a brilliant metallic collar,
produced an electrical effect. Instantly the redmen sprang to their
feet, seized their arms, and began saddling and bridling their ponies.
"Vic has betrayed us, sergeant," I said. "We must get out of here as
quickly as possible."
As we sprang into our saddles and regained the trail Vic came with a
bound before us, and I immediately gave her positive orders to keep
close at our heels. We rode as fast as it was possible to do without
making a noise, hoping that we might get a considerable distance away
before we were discovered. We had not proceeded far, however, when a
yell announced that we were seen.
As we galloped on we saw that it was impossible for the Indians to
cross to our side of the ravine. Every mile we passed the path rose
higher and the sides of the stream grew more precipitous. The Indians
were pursuing a path parallel to ours and about half a mile in our
rear. What was the nature of the country ahead we did not know. The
fact that they were pursuing, and with such eagerness, seemed to
indicate they knew of some advantage to be gained farther on.
On and on we rode, I in advance, the sergeant next, and Frank behind.
The trail wound through the trees and clumps of underbrush, with
occasional openings through which we could catch glimpses of our eager
pursuers. The prospect appeared exceedingly gloomy.
As we galloped on I noticed at last, through a rift in the wood a
considerable distance in advance, an eminence or butte which lifted
its summit nearly three hundred feet skyward, and which presented on
the side towards us an almost perpendicular wall. When we approached
it we saw a neat log-cabin nestling under its overarching brow. We
dismounted, led our panting and utterly exhausted animals into the
cabin, closed the doors, and went to the windows with our rifles.
The cabin was about thirty by twenty feet in area, and stood with its
northern end close against the perpendicular wall of the butte, with
an overhanging cliff a hundred feet above it. If a stone had been
dropped from the sheltering cliff it would have fallen several feet
away from the cabin's southern wall.
At the end of the cabin farthest from the butte the ground upon which
it stood broke off perpendicularly twenty feet downward, to a
spring--the source of the brook we had been following since we left
Jemez. The only way to cross from one trail to the other, except by
going several miles down the brook or to the north end of the butte,
was, therefore, through the cabin, and for this purpose a door had
been placed in each side. The cabin could be approached only on the
east and west sides, and was unassailable at its north and south ends.
Each wall contained a small window, except the one which rested
against the butte, and there a wide, stone fireplace had been built.
Three men with plenty of rations and ammunition could make a good
defence. Water could be had by lowering a bucket or canteen from the
southern window to the spring, twenty-four feet below its sill.
The Indians had discovered that we had found shelter from their
pursuit and for the present were safe, and all but five, who soon
afterwards appeared in the edge of the forest to the east, had joined
the main party to the west of us. They showed great respect for our
place of refuge and rifles, and kept well out of range. The
sergeant's and my Springfield rifle could throw a bullet farther and
could be loaded more rapidly than any rifles in their possession, and
Frank with his Spencer could fire about twenty balls to our one.
We removed the saddles and bridles from our animals, and, hitching
them in the corners each side of the fireplace, began a discussion of
our prospects.
"If we could keep a couple of fires going before the doors during the
night, sir," said the sergeant, "we might keep them away."
"I am afraid a fire would be of greater advantage to them than to us,"
I replied; "we should have to expose ourselves every time we
replenished it. I wonder if the roof is covered with earth? It is
flat."
"I'll tell you in half a minute, sir," said Frank, and entering the
fireplace he proceeded to ascend the wide-mouthed chimney by stepping
on projecting stones of which it was built. In a moment he called down
to me, "Yes, sir; it is covered with about two feet of earth."
"All right then. If we can get pine enough to keep a blaze going then
we will have one. A fire on the roof will illuminate everything about
us and leave our windows and doorways in darkness. It will aid our aim
and confuse the Indians."
We set to work at once and pulled down all the bunks, and with large
stones from the fireplace succeeded in breaking into fragments the
pine puncheons and posts of which they were made. Then Sergeant
Cunningham ascended the chimney and tore away one side of the part
which projected above the roof--the side looking in the direction
opposite the precipice. This would enable one of us to stand in the
top and replenish the fire, and at the same time remain concealed from
the enemy. As we could be fired upon from only two directions, the
fire tender would be safe.
Fortunately, Padre Gutierrez's housekeeper had put up a lunch
sufficient to last us, including Vic, for three days, and water could
be drawn easily through the southern window with a canteen and lariat.
"I'm afraid those chaps 'll get us in the end, sir," observed the
sergeant. "Of course we can eat horse-meat for a while after our
victuals are gone, but we are three and they are twenty-seven--we are
prisoners and they are free."
"Very true, sergeant," I replied, "but something may turn up in our
favor. The Jemez party will reach camp day after to-morrow, and when
it learns we are not there we shall be looked up."
"If another party of Navajos don't jump them, sir."
"Of course, the chances are against us, sergeant, but let us keep up
our spirits and make a good fight."
"I'll do my best, sir, as I always have done, but this is a beastly
hole to be caught in."
"But why don't you send Vic for help, Mr. Duncan?" asked Frank.
"Laddie, I believe you have saved us! Thank you for the suggestion.
We'll put the little girl's education to a practical test."
"What! Going to send her to Jemez for the men?" asked Sergeant
Cunningham.
"No; I hardly think I could make her understand our wishes in that
direction, but there is no doubt she can be sent to camp. She has done
that many times."
"Yes, sir, she'll go to the valley," said Frank. "You know I sent her
with a message to you from San Antonio Valley, six miles. I wonder how
far camp is from here?"
"'Bout nine miles," replied the sergeant; "but she'll do it, I think.
Look at her!"
Vic had come forward, and sat looking intelligently from one to the
other of us while this discussion ran on.
"All right, little girl," I said, patting and smoothing her silky
coat, "you shall have a chance to help us after dusk. Go and lie down
now."
The dog went to a corner and, lying down on Frank's saddle-blanket,
appeared to sleep; and while Corporal Frank took my place at a window
I wrote a message to Sergeant Mulligan at the camp, describing our
desperate situation and requesting him to send a detachment to our
rescue. I also prepared a flat, pine stick, and wrote upon it, in
plain letters, "Examine her collar." I intended she should carry the
stick in her mouth, as she had hitherto carried articles and messages,
fearing she would not understand she was to go on an errand unless all
the conditions of her education were observed.
During that day the Navajos simply showed their presence occasionally
among the trees, far away on either flank. We once heard the rapid
strokes of an axe, as of chopping, and wondered what it could mean.
Nothing further happened till dusk. Then I called Vic and attached the
note to her collar, wrapped in a piece of my handkerchief.
"I think, sergeant," I said, "we had better send our message before it
gets darker and the Navajos close up nearer or the corporal lights his
fire."
"Yes, she can't leave any too soon, sir, I think. It's going to be
pokerish work for us before morning, and I shall be mighty glad to see
a few of old Company F appear round that rock."
After fastening the note securely in the dog's collar, I placed the
stick in her mouth and, opening the eastern door, said, "Now, little
Vic, take that stick to the sergeant--go!"
She turned from the doorway, crossed the room, and dropped the stick
at Sergeant Cunningham's feet. The sergeant stooped, and placing his
hand under her chin raised her head upward and laid his bronze cheek
affectionately upon it. "Well, Vicky," he said, "there is but one
sergeant in the world to you, and he is here, isn't he?"
"That's so, sir," exclaimed Corporal Frank, addressing me. "We never
sent her to anybody but you, the sergeant, and the cook."
"True enough. I'll have to send her to the cook--the only one now in
camp to whom she has borne messages. As he is the dispenser of fine
bones and dainties, and she has had nothing to eat since morning,
perhaps it is as well he is to receive this message. Here, Vic,"
placing the chip once more in her mouth, "take this stick to the
cook--go!"
The setter looked at me an instant, then at the sergeant and corporal,
walked to the door, looked out, and then glanced questioningly at me.
"Yes, little one; the cook--go!"
She bounded through the doorway and turned the corner of the butte at
a run, bearing our summons to our comrades at Los Valles Grandes.
For some time after the departure of Vic the sergeant and I stood at
our windows and gloomily watched the darkness deepen in the woods.
Frank looked out of the window above the spring and was also silent.
I was disposed to put off the lighting of our fire upon the roof as
long as it appeared safe to do so, in order to husband our fuel. The
animals, disappointed of the forage usually furnished them at this
hour, stamped impatiently and nosed disdainfully the stale straw and
pine plumes which we had emptied from the bunks and which were now
scattered over the floor.
It was during a momentary lull of this continuous noise that I heard a
crushing sound as of a heavy wheel rolling over twigs and gravel, but
was unable to guess its meaning.
Fearing that further delay to light our fire might bring disaster upon
us, I told Corporal Frank to kindle it. He ascended the chimney,
lighted a few splinters of pitch-pine and placed them upon the roof,
and as soon as they were well lighted added to them half a dozen
billets of wood which Sergeant Cunningham passed up to him. Soon a
brilliant blaze was leaping upward, and, being reflected strongly by
the white sandstone of the overhanging cliff, lighted the whole space
about the cabin.
As soon as Frank descended to the floor we gazed long and anxiously
out of the windows. Everything about us was now plainly visible to our
eyes, and we felt sure our movements could not be seen by the Navajos.
To the east all was silent, and for a long while we saw nothing in
that direction to suggest a lurking foe. To the west we could see no
enemy, but the same mysterious sound of crushing and grinding came to
our ears. What could it be, and what did it threaten? Adjusting my
field-glass I looked from my window in the direction of the puzzling
sound, and on the farther edge of the opening, near the wood, saw a
log about three feet in diameter and twenty-five or more in length
slowly rolling towards us, propelled by some unseen force.
Passing the glass to the sergeant, I said: "The Indians seem to be
rolling a log in our direction. What do you think of it?"
"I think it's easy to understand, sir," replied the sergeant, after a
long look. "That log is a movable breastwork, which can be rolled to
our door."
"True, sergeant. Probably a dozen or more warriors are lying behind it
and rolling it forward. Rather a black prospect for us if we cannot
stop it!"
We all three gathered at the western window, and for some moments
watched the slow approach of the moving breastwork.
V
A SIEGE AND AN AMBUSCADE
We continued to watch long and anxiously the slowly rolling log. Not a
glimpse of the motive power could be obtained, but it ground and
crushed its way along with ominous certainty, straight in our
direction.
Just as I had come to the conclusion that assistance could not arrive
in time, the log stopped. I looked through my glass and saw the cause.
"Sergeant," I exclaimed, "the log has struck a rock! Open the door and
draw a bead on it! Don't let a man leap over it to remove the stone!
Corporal, guard the east window!"
The sergeant stood ready at the open door. All the efforts of the
prostrate men behind the log had no effect, except to swing the end
farthest from the obstacle slightly ahead.
"There seems to be nothing for them to do but to remove the stone.
Keep a sharp eye on the log, sergeant!"
I had hardly spoken when a sudden discharge of rifles ran irregularly
along the length of the log, and under cover of the fire and smoke a
stalwart warrior leaped over, raised the stone, and had borne it
nearly to the top, when Sergeant Cunningham's rifle spoke sharply.
The stone dropped on our side; the Indian fell forward, with his arms
extended towards his friends, who pulled him over the log, and he was
screened from our sight. The volley of the Navajos did us no harm.
Corporal Frank replenished the fire on our roof from time to time, and
our vigilant watch went on. At last the sergeant, who still stood at
the open door, exclaimed, "Lieutenant, the stone is moving! It's
dropping into the ground!"
"It's gone, and here comes our fate," I said. "They must have dug
under the log with their knives and sunk the stone."
"Yes, sir, and they're safe to reach the cabin door and roast us out."
"If there were two or three more stones in the way, sergeant, the
delay they would cause might serve us until help comes."
"I'll run out there with one, Mr. Duncan," said Frank.
"No, laddie," replied the sergeant, "that's a duty for me. I'll drop a
couple there in a minute."
"And when you return, sergeant, I will drop two more," said I.
We went quickly to work to carry out our plan. The corporal once more
mended the fire, and then we selected from the loose rubbish which had
been torn from the top of the chimney several large-sized stones.
Removing his shoes, the sergeant, with my assistance, raised two big
stones to his breast, and stood in the doorway with them clasped
firmly in his arms. I took the revolvers in my hands, whispered the
word, and he started out at a rapid walk, setting his feet down
carefully and without noise. He dropped the stones, one before the
other, without attracting attention, and regained the cabin without a
shot being fired on either side.
Now it was my turn, and I went beyond the place where he had dropped
his last stone.
At that instant an alarm was shouted from the distant wood, and an
Indian raised his head above the log and fired. The bullet struck the
falling rock, and sent a shower of stinging splinters into my face. I
turned and fled.
With the discharge of the Indian's rifle Sergeant Cunningham and
Corporal Frank opened a rapid fusillade with the revolvers, which
successfully covered my retreat to the cabin; but we knew that our
last chance at stone-dropping was past.
Several terribly long hours had crept past since we saw Vic turn the
butte on her errand to the valleys. Judging by the time it had taken
the Navajos to bore a tunnel under their log and undermine the first
trigging-stone, we estimated that two more hours must pass before the
four obstructions we had placed in their way could be removed, unless
they took some more speedy method.
It was quite nine miles to camp, and the dog could easily reach it in
about an hour. If she had arrived, help should by this time be fairly
on the way; but if she had been killed by the besiegers before she
reached the north end of the butte, or had been torn in pieces by the
wolves!
Should the log once reach our door, we could not hope to do more than
make the price of our lives dear to the enemy.
While the sergeant and I stood at the door and window, speculating in
no very hopeful vein over these probabilities, there came a scratch at
the eastern door. Frank was at the window on that side, and, startled
by the sound, he called to us, "I'm afraid an Indian has sneaked up on
us, sir."
Again the scratching was heard, this time accompanied by a familiar
whine, which presently swelled into a low bark.
"Oh, Mr. Duncan, it's Vic! It's Vic!" shouted the boy, and, springing
to the door, he flung it wide open.
In trotted Vic, and, coming up to me, she dropped a stick at my feet
bearing the words: "In the collar, as before."
It took some little time for Corporal Frank to secure the messenger.
She capered about the room, licked our hands and faces, jumped up to
the noses of the ponies, and behaved as if she was conscious of
having performed a great feat and was overjoyed to have returned
safely.
But Vic surrendered to the boy at last, and, submitting her neck for
inspection, he found attached to her collar a letter which read as
follows:
"CAMP AT LOS VALLES GRANDES.
"_November 20, 1863_.
"Lieutenant,--Message received, and the messenger fed.
Corporal Coffey and eight men leave here at 10.15 P.M.
"JAMES MULLIGAN, _Sergeant_."
"Come here, little doggie," said Sergeant Cunningham. "If we get out
of this, the company shall pay for a silver collar and a medal of
honor for the finest dog in the army."
"If that detail marches at the regulation gait of three miles an
hour," I said, "it should be here by a quarter-past one, and it is now
a quarter to twelve."
My anxiety over our prospects was so great I neglected to show proper
gratitude to our devoted messenger.
"The men will do better than that, sir, if they keep on the road. The
trouble will be in finding this trail. They have never been this
way."
"I think the junction of this and the hot-springs trail cannot be far
from here. Let's take a shot at that log every three minutes from now
on, and the noise may attract our friends."
We began firing at once, aiming at the under side of the log where it
touched the earth. I am confident this must have sent some sand and
gravel into the eyes of the rollers, if it did no other damage.
Two of the trigging-stones we had dropped were soon undermined and
sunk, and the log had stopped at the third, less than a hundred yards
away. As it came on, the sergeant climbed to the top of the chimney,
and shortly afterwards returned with the report that he had seen the
prostrate body of a warrior revealed beyond--good evidence that his
first shot had been fatal. If the next two stones should be as rapidly
removed as the others, we feared the Indians would reach us, unless
the rescuing party prevented, at about half-past twelve.
Marked by our periodical shots at the log, the time hurried all too
rapidly on, the Indians slowly and surely approaching the cabin.
The third stone disappeared, and the log moved with a louder grating
over the gravelly soil to the fourth and last obstacle, about thirty
yards away, and paused.
"I believe, lieutenant," said Cunningham, "I could hit those fellows'
legs now from the chimney."
"All right, sergeant. Close your door and go up and try it," I
replied. "A redskin with a broken leg can do us as little injury as
one with a broken head."
The words were hardly spoken and the sergeant had barely reached the
fireplace, when, as if in anticipation of this movement, two figures
leaped over the end of the log nearest the perpendicular rock, ran to
the corner formed by the cabin and the wall, and by the aid of the
dovetailed ends of the logs clambered quickly to the roof. I sent a
shot at them, but it had no effect.
No sooner had they reached the roof than they threw the flaming brands
and coal of our bonfire down the chimney, where they broke into
fragments and rolled over the floor, setting fire to the scattered
straw and plumes.
Busy putting stops into the windows, and fastening them and the doors,
we could do nothing to extinguish the fire before it got well under
way.
A blanket was thrown over the top of the chimney to prevent a draught,
and soon the whole interior was thick with stifling smoke.
The horses plunged frantically, sending the fire in every direction.
Our eyes began to smart painfully, and we felt ourselves suffocating
and choking in the thick and poisonous atmosphere.
To remain in the house was to be burned alive; to leave it was to
perish, perhaps, in a still more horrible way. Just as I was on the
brink of despair, the sergeant gasped rather than spoke:
"They are here, lieutenant. Hark! Hark!"
Ping! Ping! We heard the sound of rifle-shots, accompanied by a good,
honest, Anglo-Saxon cheer. Was there ever sweeter music?
The war-whoops ceased, the blanket was quickly withdrawn from the
chimney-top, and two thuds on the east side of the cabin showed the
Indians had left the roof. A general scurrying of feet and other thuds
down the perpendicular wall back of the spring were evidence that the
besiegers were in full and demoralized flight.
We threw the doors open, and our friends rushed in, and before a
greeting was uttered feet and butts of rifles were sweeping brands and
straw into the fireplace, and the roaring draught was fast clearing
the air.
Before I had fairly recovered my sight, and while still engaged in
wiping away the tears the smoke had excited to copious flow, I heard a
sobbing voice near me say:
"Oh, Franky, brother, if it had not been for dear little Vicky what
would have happened to you?"
Blinking my eyes open, I saw the boy corporals with their right arms
about each other's neck, holding their Spencers by the muzzles in
their left hands.
"Why, Henry," I said, "you did not make that march with the men?"
"Couldn't keep him back, sir," answered Corporal Coffey. "Said his
place was with his brother. Made the march like a man, and fired the
first shot when we turned the bluff."
We shook hands all round, and then went out to see whether the volleys
of the rescuing party had inflicted any punishment upon the Navajos.
Two dead Indians lay near the cabin, and farther away the one that
had fallen when attempting to remove the obstacle before the log.
There were traces of others having been wounded.
A fire was promptly kindled outside the cabin, and we sat about it for
a time to rest and enjoy a lunch. The horses had been somewhat singed
about the legs, but were not disabled. An hour afterwards Sergeant
Cunningham placed Corporal Henry on his pony, Chiquita, and we started
for the valleys.
At daybreak the day after we left Jemez we reached camp, and on the
evening of the same day the detachment we had left behind for a rest
also arrived, without adventure on the march. Cordova and his son at
once set out on the trail of the Navajos, whom we reported to be in
possession of their animals, to ascertain why they were in our
vicinity.
After four days' scouting the Mexicans returned with the information
that they found the Indians had left their camp on the Jemez road
after their defeat. They had struck straight through the hills for the
Rio Grande, where they joined the main body, the same which had
attacked us the day after our arrival in the valleys, and which had
recently made several successful raids on the flocks and herds near
Peña Blanca and Galisteo.
It was the guide's opinion that the party which had besieged me in the
cabin had been to the valleys to see what chance there was of running
captured stock through there. Their report must have been favorable,
for Cordova said a detachment of forty-seven Navajos was now encamped
in Los Vallecitos, apparently intending to pass us the following night
with a large number of cattle, horses, mules, and sheep.
I began at once to make preparations to retake the stolen stock and to
capture the Navajos.
That the Navajos, if they were watching our movements, might not
surmise we knew of their presence near us, I ordered the scouting
party and huntsmen not to go out next morning, and all the men to keep
within the limits of the parade.
The next evening I marched all the company, except the guard,
including the boy corporals, by way of the reserved trail into the
valley of St. Anthony, and entered La Puerta from the western end.
This was done for fear some advance-guard of the redmen might witness
our movement if we went by the usual way, and because so large a party
might leave a trail visible to the keenly observant enemy even by
starlight, and there would be moonlight before we could cross the
valley.
It was my intention to make an ambush in La Puerta. In the narrowest
part of that cañon, where it was barely fifty yards wide, the walls
rose perpendicularly on each side. A hundred yards east and west of
this narrowest portion of the pass were good places of concealment. I
placed Sergeant Cunningham and thirteen men at the western end, and
took as many and the boys with me to the eastern.
The sergeant was instructed to keep his men perfectly quiet until the
head of the herd had passed their place of concealment, and then,
under cover of the noise made by the moving animals, to slip down into
the cañon, and when the rear of the herd came up make a dash across
the front of the Indians and begin firing, taking care not to hit us.
For myself, I intended to drop into the pass with my detachment when
the Navajo rear had passed, deploy, and bag the whole party and the
booty.
It was a long and tiresome wait before the raiders appeared. The men
had been told that they might sleep, and many of them had availed
themselves of the permission.
The moon rose soon after ten o'clock, and made our surroundings
plainly visible in the rarefied atmosphere peculiar to the arid region
of the plains and Rockies. I sat on a bowlder and watched through the
tedious hours until three o'clock, when Corporal Frank approached from
the direction of the place where his brother was sleeping.
"What sound is that, Mr. Duncan?" he whispered.
I listened intently, and presently heard the distant bleating of
sheep, and soon after the deeper low of an ox.
"The Indians must be approaching," I replied. "You may stir up the
men. Be careful that no noise is made."
I continued to listen, and after a long time noticed a sound like the
rushing of wind in a pine forest. It was the myriad feet of the
coming flocks and herds, hurrying along the grassy valley. The men
began to assemble about me, all preserving perfect silence, listening
for the approaching Indians.
Another half-hour passed, and over a roll in the surface of the
valley, revealed against the sky, looking many times their actual size
in the uncertain perspective, appeared two tall figures, whose nearer
approach showed to be mounted Indians piloting the captured stock,
which followed close behind.
"Corporal Henry," I said, "drop carefully down into the trail and
skirt closely along the wall until you come to Sergeant Cunningham's
position, and tell him the Indians are close by. Tell him also to
allow the two Indians in advance to pass unmolested."
I sent this order by the younger boy because I suspected he was
feeling that Corporal Frank's expedition to Jemez, with the adventures
of the return trip, had given him a certain prominence to be envied. I
meant Henry should divide honors with his brother hereafter.
The little corporal silently disappeared beneath the wall, and a few
minutes afterwards the two Indians entered the defile, and the goats
and sheep, which had been spread widely over the open valley,
scampered, crowded, and overleaped one another as they closed into the
narrow way. There seemed to be fully two thousand of them,
intermingled with a motley herd of horses, mules, asses, and kine of
all sizes and descriptions, numbering three hundred or more, all
driven by a party of seventy-three Indians.
The cattle-thieves were evidently congratulating themselves upon
having run the gantlet of the military camp and being out of danger,
for they had abandoned the traditional reserve of the Indian race, and
were talking loudly and hilariously as they passed my wing of the
ambuscade. The Indians fell completely into the trap, and they and the
cattle with them were captured without any difficulty.
During the winter our supply of grain ran short, and I sent a party,
with the Cordovas as guides, to Jemez. They were unable to get through
the snow, and the elder Cordova was so badly frost-bitten that in
spite of all we could do he died in the camp.
Then I went with a larger party, and was successful. On June 1st
orders came to break up the camp, and on the 9th the accumulated
stores of nineteen months' occupation were packed, and with a train of
ten wagons we set out for Santa Fé.
VI
CROSSING THE RIVER
Two days after my arrival at the Territorial capital I was ordered to
proceed alone to Los Pinos, a town two hundred miles south, in the
valley of the Rio Grande, and report to Captain Bayard, commanding
officer of a column preparing for a march to Arizona.
On reaching Algodones, on the eastern bank of the great river, I was
visited by a Catholic priest. He told me that Manuel Perea, the
Mexican lad with whom the boy corporals were so friendly at Santa Fé,
was a prisoner in the hands of Elarnagan, a chief of the Navajos. He
begged me to assist in his release, and I promised to do all I could,
consistently with my military duty. Two days after arriving at Los
Pinos, where I found a troop of California volunteer cavalry and also
another troop of New Mexican volunteers, the boy corporals
unexpectedly arrived. Colonel Burton had changed his plans and had
allowed them to accompany me. They at once asked to be assigned to
duty, and I promised to consult with Captain Bayard.
My interview with him concluded, I returned to my tent and found the
boys busy in fitting up two cot bedsteads, spreading mats before them,
hanging a small mirror to the rear tent-pole, and arranging their
marching outfit as they proposed to set it up at every encampment
between the Rio Grande and Prescott.
"Did you have this tent pitched for our use, sir?" asked Henry.
"I did not know you were coming, corporal, so that is impossible. Your
tent was placed here some days ago by the post commander, for the
accommodation of visiting officers who have since gone. Captain Bayard
has assigned it to you."
"Then we are to have the tent to ourselves?"
"Yes."
"Isn't that just jolly, Frank?"
"Fine. To-morrow we'll place a short rail across the back for our
saddles and saddle-blankets, two pegs in the tent-pole for bridles,
and raise a box somewhere for curry-combs and brushes."
"Can't we have Vic here, too, sir?" asked Henry.
"And leave me all alone?" I replied.
"You wouldn't mind it, would you, sir?"
"Well, I'll leave it to Vic. You may make a bed for her, and we'll see
which she will occupy--yours, or her old bed near mine."
"All right, sir; we'll try it to-night."
"Now something about yourselves, boys. Your tent is to be always
pitched on the left of mine; you are to take your meals with the
officers, and your ponies will be taken care of by one of the men
who--"
"That will not do, sir," interrupted Frank. "Father has always
required us to take care of our arms, clothing, and horses like other
soldiers, just as we always did in the valleys, you know. He says an
officer who rides on a march, particularly an infantry officer, should
not require a soldier who has marched on foot to wait upon him."
"Very well; do as you choose."
I returned to my own tent and went to bed. Placing two candles on a
support near my pillow, I tucked the lower edge of the mosquito-bar
under the edge of my mattress, and, settling back comfortably,
proceeded to read the last instalment of news from "the States"--news
which had been fifteen days on the way from the Missouri. As I read of
battle, siege, and march I was conscious that the boys were having
some difficulty in inducing Vic to remain with them. When at last all
was quiet, except their regular and restful breathing, a soft nose was
thrust up to my pillow, and I opened an aperture in the netting large
enough to exchange affectionate greetings, and Vic cuddled down on her
bed beside mine and went to sleep. This was always her custom
thereafter. While she was very fond of the boys, and spent most of her
waking hours with them, no persuasion or blandishments could prevent
her, when she knew the boys had dropped into unconsciousness, from
returning to my tent, offering me a good-night assurance of her
unchanged affection, and going to sleep upon her old bed.
The time had now come for us to begin our march to Arizona. Company F
had arrived, and the boy corporals were again in possession of their
beautiful horses. Grain, hay, and careful attendance had put new
graces into the ponies' shapes, and kind treatment had developed in
each a warm attachment for its young master.
The first day of our march was spent in crossing the Rio Grande del
Norte and making camp four miles beyond the opposite landing. There
was a ferry-boat at Los Pinos, operated by the soldiers of the post,
capable of taking over four wagons at a time.
We rose at an earlier hour than usual, and by daybreak our train of
eighty-nine wagons, drawn by five hundred and thirty-four mules, was
on its way to the river. The two boy corporals joined me as I followed
the last wagon. Mounted on their handsome animals, with carbines on
their right hips, revolvers in their belts, portmanteaus behind their
saddles, and saddle-pouches on each side, they were, indeed, very
warlike in appearance.
The two detachments of cavalry and their officers, accompanied by a
paymaster and a surgeon, proceeded at once to the river, crossed and
went into camp, leaving the infantry and its officers to perform the
labor of transferring, from one shore to the other, wagons and mules,
a herd of three hundred beef cattle, and a flock of eight hundred
sheep. The boy corporals also remained behind to act as messengers,
should any be required.
Mules and oxen swam the stream, but the sheep were boated across. On
the last trip over our attention was attracted by a sudden shouting
up-stream, followed by a rapid discharge of fire-arms. In the river,
less than a quarter of a mile distant, were several objects making
their way towards the western shore. When near the bank, and in
shoaling water, we saw the objects rise, until three Indians and three
ponies stood revealed. As soon as they reached the shore the men
sprang into their saddles and rode rapidly away.
A shout from our rear caused us to look towards the shore we had just
left, and we saw the post-adjutant sitting on his horse on the
embankment. He said: "Three Navajos have escaped from the guard. Send
word to Captain Bayard to try to recapture them. If they get away they
will rouse their people against you, and your march through their
country will be difficult."
[Illustration: "MOUNTED, THE BOYS PRESENTED A WARLIKE APPEARANCE"]
I wrote a brief message, handed it to Corporal Frank, and when the
boat touched the western landing he dashed off at full speed in the
direction of camp.
The afternoon was well advanced when Henry and I, with the infantry,
entered the first camp of our march. We found Frank awaiting our
arrival, and learned from him that Captain Bayard had sent two
detachments of cavalry in pursuit of the Indians, and that they had
returned after a fruitless attempt to follow the trail.
On our first evening in camp many of the officers and civilians
gathered in groups about the fires for protection against the
mosquitoes, to smoke, to discuss the route, and to relate incidents of
other marches. Captain Bayard took from his baggage a violin, and,
retiring a little apart, sawed desperately at a difficult and
apparently unconquerable exercise. There I found him at the end of a
tour of inspection of train and animals, and obtained his sanction to
a plan for the employment of the boy corporals.
I proceeded to tell the boys what their duties would be. Corporal
Frank was to see to the providing of wood, water, and grass while we
were on the march. He was further instructed that he was to conform
his movements to mine, and act as my messenger between the train, the
main body, and the rear guard. These were to be his regular duties,
but he was to hold himself in readiness for other service, and be on
the alert for any emergency.
The odometer with which to measure the distance to Prescott was placed
in charge of Corporal Henry, and he was told to strap this to the
spokes near the hub of the right hind wheel of the last wagon in the
train, taking care that the wagon should start from the same point
where it had turned from the main road into camp the previous day. He
was to report the distance we had marched to the commanding officer at
guard-mounting, which, on the march, always takes place in the evening
instead of morning, as at posts and permanent camps. After reaching
Fort Wingate, and taking up the march beyond, he would ride with the
advance, and act as messenger of communication with the rear; but
until then he would ride with his brother and me.
The next morning found all ready for a start at three o'clock. The boy
corporals found it a hardship to be wakened out of a sound sleep to
wash and dress by starlight and sit down to a breakfast-table lighted
by dim lanterns. There was little conversation. All stood about the
camp-fires in light overcoats or capes, for Western nights are always
cool.
When the boys and I started to ride out of camp we were, for a few
moments, on the flank of the infantry company. It was noticeable that
although the men were marching at "route step," when they are not
required to preserve silence, few of them spoke, and very rarely, and
they moved quite slowly. Corporal Henry, at the end of a prolonged
yawn, asked, "Are we going to start at this hour every morning, sir?"
"Yes, usually," I replied.
"How far do we go to-day, Frank?"
"Eighteen miles is the scheduled distance," answered Frank.
"How fast do men march?"
"Three miles an hour," said I.
"Then we shall be in camp by ten o'clock. I don't see the sense of
yanking a fellow out of bed in the night."
"Of course, Henry, there's a good reason for everything done in the
army," observed Frank, with soldierly loyalty.
"Where's the sense of marching in the dark when the whole distance can
be done in six hours, and the sun rises at five and sets at seven? I
prefer daylight."
Evidently our youngest corporal had not had his sleep out, and was out
of humor.
"Will you please explain, sir?" asked Frank.
"With pleasure," I answered. "It is more comfortable to march in the
early morning, when it is cool. Marches rarely exceed fifteen or
twenty miles a day, except where the distance between watering-places
is more than that. Sometimes we are obliged to march forty miles a
day."
"Seems to me the officers are very tender of the men," observed the
sleepy Henry. "Fifteen and twenty miles a day, and five or six hours
on the road, can't tire them much."
"Why not try a march on foot, Henry?" suggested his brother. "It might
prove a useful experience."
"Let me suggest something better," said I. "Tie your pony to the back
of that wagon, and crawl in on top of the bedding and have your nap
out."
Henry disdained to reply, but with a long and shivering yawn relapsed
into silence.
In a little more than six hours we reached the Rio Puerco, and forded
its roily, brackish current to a camping-place on the other side.
Harry, who with daylight and warmth had recovered his good-humor,
examined the odometer and reported the distance travelled to be 18.65
miles. He entered in his note-book that the Spanish name Puerco meant,
as a noun, hog, and as an adjective, dirty. He thought the river well
named. He also mentioned that on the eastern side of the stream there
was an excellent camping-place, but that much pains had been taken to
ford it to a very poor one. After pondering this apparently
unreasonable movement he asked: "Why did we not camp on that grassy
park on the opposite side?"
"I suppose it appears to you there can be no good reason for crossing
to this side?" I asked, in reply.
"It does seem even more absurd than starting on a march just after
midnight--something like going into a wood-shed to rest on a wood-pile
when one could as well go into a parlor and rest on a divan."
"And certainly," added Frank, "we have gained nothing in distance in
crossing. The march is to be short to-morrow."
"Still, boys, there is quite as good a reason for doing this as for
starting early to avoid the heat of the day. These Far Western streams
have a trick of rising suddenly; very rarely, to be sure, but
frequently enough to cause commanding officers to be on their guard. A
rainfall fifty or seventy-five miles up-stream might send down a
volume of water that would make it impassable for several hours or
several days, according as the fall is large or small; so the rule in
the army is, 'cross a stream before camping.'"
"Have you ever been caught by a rise, sir?"
"Twice. Once on this very stream, near its mouth. I was in command of
a small escort to a train. The wagon-master advised me to cross, but I
was tempted by a fine meadow on the lower side, in contrast to a rough
place on the opposite side, to take my chances. I was compelled to
remain there five days. The other delay was on the Gallina; but that
was rising when we approached and we had no choice about crossing. We
were delayed that time but two days."
"I heard the paymaster and surgeon grumbling about the folly of
crossing just now," said Frank.
"Very likely; this is their first march in the Far West."
"The captain and lieutenants heard them, but did not explain, as you
have. Why was that?"
"There are two reasons. One is that in the army, as well as out of it,
'tenderfeet' are left to learn by experience; the other is that our
surgeon resents being cautioned or advised. Now, boys, after dinner
you had better take a _siesta_. By doing so you will find it less
difficult to make an early start to-morrow morning."
"Thank you," replied Frank. "Tom Clary and George Hoey have told us
that a nap is the correct thing after dinner on the march. Henry and I
are going to try it."
"I am sorry, sir," added Henry, "that I was so ill-humored this
morning. I will try to do as the soldiers do when they first start
out--say nothing till day breaks."
"The early start was a surprise to you; you will be prepared for it
hereafter."
A reverberating peal of thunder interrupted our conversation and
caused us to glance towards the west. There we saw a mass of dark
clouds rolling down upon us. Bolt after bolt of lightning zigzagged
across the sky and from sky to earth, and peal after peal of thunder
crashed upon our ears.
VII
A SWOLLEN STREAM AND STOLEN PONY
It was our custom at all camps to park the supply-train in the form of
an oval, with the tongues of the wagons outward and the wheels locked.
An entrance, the width of a wagon, was left at one end.
When, therefore, it became certain that a tempest was about to break
upon us, using the boy corporals as messengers, the chief wagon-master
received orders from me to drive up the mules and corral them within
the circle of wagons, and the commissary stock was hurried under the
shelter of a rocky mesa west of the camp. All this was to prevent a
stampede should the coming tempest be accompanied by wind and hail.
Tent-pins were driven in deeper, guys tightened, cavalry horses driven
up, hobbled, and secured to picket ropes, loose articles thrown into
wagons, and every precaution taken to be in readiness for the storm.
We had not long to wait before the rain came down in torrents. In an
incredibly short time the water was flowing swiftly down the slope to
the river. It gathered against our tent, and finding the frail
structure must go, we seized everything portable, dashed into the
furious downpour, and climbed to the tops of surrounding bowlders.
Through the sheets of rain we could dimly see the cavalry horses
standing knee-deep in water, men looking out of the covered wagons,
into which they had crawled for shelter, or standing, like ourselves,
on the bowlders, their bodies covered with ponchos and gum blankets.
Wall-tents, the sides of which had been looped up when pitched, stood
with the flood flowing through them; cranes, upon which hung lines of
kettles in preparation for dinner, standing alone, their fires and
firewood swept away. The whole country as far as we could see was one
broad sheet of rushing water, and the river, which was little more
than a rill when we crossed it a few hours before, now rolled and
boomed, a torrent several fathoms deep and dirtier than ever.
The storm continued little over half an hour, and with the return of
sunlight the surface water rapidly disappeared. Demoralized tents were
then set up, baggage and bedding examined, and the wet articles
exposed to the sun; and before night, except for the booming of the
river, little remained to remind us that we had been through a storm.
Just before retreat, Frank, Henry, and I stood on the bank of the
river watching the trunks and branches of trees rush past, and the
occasional plunge of a mass of earth undermined by the current.
"Well," said Frank, after silently contemplating the scene a few
moments, "what you told us about crossing a stream before camping upon
it has proved true, sir, and very quickly, too."
"Yes; I think even the paymaster and surgeon must be congratulating
themselves they are on this side of that flood," I replied.
Next morning we resumed our march at the usual hour, and passed over
23.28 miles to a deserted Mexican town and Indian pueblo.
On the following day we crossed a chain of hills into the valley of
the Rio Gallo. As we debouched from a deep ravine we caught sight of
the pueblo of Laguna, illuminated by the sun, just rising, behind us.
The town stands upon a rocky eminence overlooking the river, which
waters, by irrigation, its large and well-cultivated valley.
When within four miles of it I proposed to the boys that we should
hasten forward in advance of the wagons and visit the town. We
galloped on, and were hospitably received by the Indian governor, who
did the honors of the community in person. He showed us the interior
of the terraced buildings, and conducted us through the subterranean
_estufa_ where, for centuries before the invention of the
friction-match, the Indians kept their sacred fire--fire made sacred
through the difficulty of obtaining it or rekindling it when once
extinguished--and so watched day and night by sleepless sentinels.
When we entered the town we left our horses hitched to the willows on
the bank of the irrigating ditch, near the wall of the first house,
and I ordered the dog Vic to remain with them. Three-quarters of an
hour afterwards Vic looked into the _estufa_ from above, gave three
sharp barks, and dashed away.
We were so deeply interested in the examination of a lot of scalps,
quaint pottery, weapons of warfare, etc., that we paid no attention to
her. Presently she appeared a second time, repeated her barking, and
ran off again. A few moments later the dog again showed herself at the
sky-light, and thrusting her head downward continued to bark until I
approached the foot of the ladder. As I did so she uttered a sound of
anxiety, or distress, and disappeared.
"Something must be the matter with our animals, boys," I remarked.
"Frank, go and see what has happened, while Henry and I take leave of
our host."
Corporal Frank climbed the ladder two rungs at a step, while Henry and
I remained to thank the governor for his kindness and bestow some
trifling gifts upon the rabble of children that had followed us
closely throughout our visit. We then ascended the ladder and started
for the place where we had left our animals.
Hurrying down the narrow alley we met Frank, who was nearly
breathless with exertion and excitement. While yet at a considerable
distance from us he shouted:
"Chiquita's gone! Can't see her anywhere!"
Hastening to the willows I found that Henry's pony was indeed missing.
I thought she had simply broken loose, and would be found somewhere in
the neighborhood, so mounted and made a hasty search. I saw our train
several miles away, toiling up a long ascent, but there was no sign of
a riderless pony on the road. On my return to the willows Henry said:
"Chiquita did not break away, sir; her halter-strap was too strong,
and I tied it with a cavalry hitch. She must have been unfastened by
some one. Perhaps these Pueblos have stolen her."
"She may have been stolen, as you suggest," I replied, "but not by the
Pueblos. We were their guests, and our property was sacred."
The Indians, seeing our trouble, gathered about us, and among them I
saw the governor. Making my way to him, I explained what had happened.
He turned to his people and addressed them in his own tongue. A young
girl approached and said something, at the same time pointing to the
southwest.
Looking in the direction indicated, over a long stretch of broken
country, bordered on the west by an irregular range of sandstone
mesas, I thought I saw a moving object near the foot of a rugged
bluff, several miles distant; but before I could adjust my field-glass
the object had turned the bluff and disappeared. One thing, however, I
did see--it was Vic, sitting on a knoll less than a mile from the
pueblo.
"I wonder we have not thought of Vic's absence all this time," I said;
"there she is, on the trail of the thief, wondering why we do not
pursue."
"The good doggie," said Henry. "She did her best to tell us Chiquita
was stolen, and she means to do her best to retake her."
Turning to the governor, I asked, "Are there any Navajos about here?"
"There is a large band in the _cienaga_, three leagues from here. The
lost pony will be found there."
I directed Henry to run after the train and report what had happened.
"Wave your handkerchief," said I, "and some one will come to meet
you. If it should be a mounted man, take his animal, overtake Captain
Bayard, tell him all you know, and say that Frank and I have gone in
pursuit, and that I request him to send a detachment of cavalry to
look us up."
Henry started off with a celerity begotten of his anxiety at the loss
of his pony and the fear that his brother might fall into danger
unless a body of troopers followed him closely.
Frank and I then galloped towards Vic. As soon as the dog saw us
approaching she sprang into the air, shook herself in an ecstasy of
delight, then put her nose to the earth, and went steadily on in
advance, threading her way through clumps of sage-brush and greasewood
and along the ravines.
The tracks of a shod pony satisfied us that we were on the trail of
Chiquita and her Navajo rider. The boy had kept well down in the
ravines and depressions, in order to screen himself from observation
and possible pursuers. We, however, were not obliged to follow his
tracks; Vic did that, and we took the general direction from her,
cutting across turnings and windings, and making much better progress
than the thief could have done.
An hour's ride brought us to the bluff behind which I had seen an
object disappear. Vic turned it and began to ascend the almost dry bed
of the stream, in the bottom of which I could see occasional
depressions at regular distances, as if made by a horse at a trot.
Soon the brook enlarged, becoming a flowing stream, and the tracks
were no longer visible.
That the brook flowed from the _cienaga_, or marsh, where the Navajos
were rendezvoused, was an easy inference. The Indian boy was
endeavoring to reach that place with the stolen pony. Directing Frank
to keep up the left side of the stream, and to look for tracks
indicating that Chiquita had left its bed, I took the right side and
hastened on.
Willows now began to appear along the banks, showing that we had
reached a permanent flow of water. Twice we came to masses of bowlders
which made it impossible for a horse to travel in the stream, and we
found that the pony had skirted them.
We had now reached a point where a small brook entered the larger one
from the right. We dismounted at the confluence to make an
observation. Vic suddenly began to bark furiously; then a yelp and a
continued cry of pain showed that the dog was hurt, and presently she
appeared with an arrow through the thick of her neck.
Advancing cautiously I caught sight of Chiquita in a cleft of the rock
at my left, and an Indian boy standing behind her and aiming an arrow
over the saddle. A sharp twang, and the missile flew through my hair
between my right ear and my hat-rim. The boy then sprang forward, and
raised a knife as if to hamstring the pony. But it was not to be, for
a carbine spoke, and the raised arm of the Indian fell at his side.
"Well done, Frank!" I called.
We ran forward to capture the young Navajo, but he quickly disappeared
behind a large rock and was seen no more. Returning to the main brook
with Chiquita, we tied the horses to the willows and began a search
for Vic. I called her by all the pet names to which she was
accustomed, but received no response. I searched over as great a
distance as I dared, with a consciousness that a band of Navajos was
not far distant.
Reluctantly abandoning our search, we were preparing to return to the
train and escort when we descried a large war-party of Indians riding
towards us from the direction of the _cienaga_. It was at once evident
they saw us, for, raising a terrific war-whoop, their irregular mass
broke for us in a furious charge.
Death certainly awaited us if captured, and this thought prompted us
to leave our exposed position instantly. Leading Chiquita, and telling
Frank to follow, I dashed down the stream in the direction of the Fort
Wingate road.
As we flew along, feeling positive that the Indians would overtake us,
I eagerly surveyed the rocky wall on our left, hoping to find a break
in which we could shelter ourselves and hold the enemy in check until
our friends arrived. But no opening appeared, and it seemed impossible
for us to reach Laguna alive.
On we went into the dense bushes, a hail of bullets and a rush of
arrows about our ears. But at this moment the clear notes of a cavalry
trumpet sounded "deploy," and the California cavalry crashed through
the willows and we were saved. They broke into a skirmish-line behind
us, but only a few shots were fired and the Navajos were gone.
Being an escort, we could not delay for further operations against the
enemy. Our duty was to return at once to the train. Frank and I were
both uninjured, but a bullet had raised the chevron on the boy's
sleeve, and another had shattered the ivory hilt of his revolver.
The volunteers dismounted for a rest, and I took the opportunity to
make a further search for Vic, my faithful companion and friend.
Leaving my horse with Frank, I started towards the place where I had
last seen her.
As I descended a shallow ravine to the willow-clad brook I came upon
an unexpected sight, and paused to witness it. On his knees, close to
the water, his back towards me, was Corporal Henry. Extended at his
left side was Vic, held closely under his left arm, her plumy tail
hanging dejectedly in my direction. An occasional dispirited wag
showed that she appreciated the kindness being shown her. The boy was
evidently busy at something that elicited from the animal, every now
and then, faint cries of pain. I heard something snap, and saw him lay
two parts of an arrow on the ground to his right; then he drew a
handkerchief from his pocket, dipped it in the brook, and apparently
washed a wound.
All the time the boy could be heard addressing his patient in soothing
tones, occasionally leaning his face against her head caressingly.
"Poor little Vicky! Nice, brave doggie! There, there; I will not hurt
you more than I can help. They can't shoot you again, girlie, for lots
of your friends are here now. You shall ride back to the train on
Chiquita with me. We'll own Chiquita together after this."
I felt a little delicacy about breaking in upon this scene and letting
the boy know I had overheard all his fond talk to Vic, so withdrew
into a clump of bushes and began calling the dog.
Henry promptly answered: "Here she is, sir. This way. She wants to
come, but I think she had better not."
"Is she much hurt?" I asked, approaching them.
"Not dangerously, sir. This arrow passed through the top of her neck.
I notched it and broke it, so as not to be obliged to draw the barb or
plume through the wound. She is weak from her long run and loss of
blood. The wound might be bound up if her collar was off."
"I will remove it and not put it on again until the sore heals," I
answered, and, taking a key from my pocket, I took off the collar and
assisted in dressing the wound.
After petting Vic for a while, and using quite as much "baby talk" in
doing so as Henry had in dressing the wound, I asked the boy how he
came to return with the cavalry.
"I ran ahead, as you told me to, sir, and the wagon-master came to
meet me. He lent me his mule, and I rode on to Captain Bayard and made
my report. The captain sent Lieutenant Baldwin and his men, and lent
me a spare horse to come along as guide."
"Have you seen Chiquita?"
"At a distance. Is she all right?"
"Yes, but very tired. Let us join the troop, for it is time we were on
our way to the train."
Our return ride was at a walk. Henry turned his cavalry horse over to
a trooper to be led, and mounted Chiquita with Vic in his arms.
Arrived in camp he took the dog to the surgeon for treatment, and in a
few days she was as lively as ever.
VIII
OVER THE DIVIDE--A CORPORAL MISSING
Fort Wingate was reached in two more marches--six in all from the Rio
Grande--and we went into camp for two days for rest and some needed
repairs to wagons before undertaking the second and longer section of
our military journey--a section upon which at that time no white man
had set up a home.
Recalling my promise to the priest who had interviewed me in behalf of
Señora Perea, I made inquiries of the Port Wingate officers concerning
her son. None of them had heard more than she already knew, but a
scout claimed he had recently seen a Mexican boy herding ponies for
the Navajo chief Elarnagan, thirty miles north of Zuñi.
The evening before resuming our march Captain Bayard informed me that
there was an emigrant family camped half a mile to the west of Fort
Wingate, which had been awaiting our arrival in order to travel to
Arizona under our protection. He told me to assign the family a place
in the train.
I went to their camp, and found it located in a grove of cottonwoods a
short distance out, on the Arizona trail. Mr. Arnold, the head of the
family, never ceased his occupation while I was talking to him. He was
constructing a camp-table and benches of some packing-boxes he had
procured from the post trader. He was a tall, well-proportioned man,
of dark complexion and regular features, with black, unkempt hair and
restless brown eyes. He was clothed in a faded and stained butternut
suit of flannel, consisting of a loose frock and baggy trousers, the
legs of the trousers being tucked into the tops of road-worn boots.
His hat was a battered and frayed broad-brimmed felt. Mrs. Arnold sat
on a stool superintending the work, bowed forward, her elbows on her
knees, holding a long-stemmed cob-pipe to her lips with her left hand,
removing it at the end of each inspiration to emit the smoke, which
curled slowly above her thin upper lip and thin, aquiline nose. She
was a tall, angular, high-shouldered, and flat-chested woman, dark
from exposure to wind, sun, and rain, her hair brown in the neck, but
many shades lighter on the crown of her head. Her eyes were of an
expressionless gray. A brown calico of scant pattern clung in lank
folds to her thin and bony figure.
The three daughters were younger and less faded types of their mother.
Each was clad in a narrow-skirted calico dress, and each was
stockingless and shoeless. Mother and daughters were dull, slow of
speech, and ignorant.
After staying long enough to give the necessary instructions and
exchange civilities with each member of the family in sight, I was
riding slowly back to the roadway, intending to take a brisk canter to
the fort, when Corporal Henry's voice called from a clump of cedars at
the back of the Arnold family's wagons.
"Oh, Mr. Duncan, may I speak to you a moment?"
Turning my horse in the direction of the voice, I saw my young friend
approaching, switching a handsome riding-whip in his hand.
"You haven't seen all the family, sir," he said.
"I have seen Mr. and Mrs. Arnold and those the mother said were all
their children--the three barefooted girls."
"But there is one more girl, sir, a very pretty one, too--a niece.
She's back of the wagons making friends with Vic and Chiquita. You
must not go without seeing her."
I went back with Henry and saw a girl of about fourteen standing by
Chiquita, holding her by the bridle-rein and smoothing her neck, while
Vic nestled at her feet. She seemed very attractive at my first casual
glance, impressing me favorably. A blonde, possessed of abundant
flaxen tresses held in a band of blue ribbon, having a complexion
which her recent journey had tanned and sprinkled with abundant
freckles, but giving promise of rare beauty with added years and less
exposure to sun and wind. Her clothing was fashionably made and well
fitted, and her delicate feet were encased in neat boots and
stockings.
"Miss Arnold," said Henry, "permit me to introduce our quartermaster,
Lieutenant Duncan--and Mr. Duncan," continued the boy, "it gives me
pleasure to present to you Miss Brenda Arnold."
The quality, modulation, and refinement of the voice in which the girl
assured me of her pleasure in meeting me, confirmed my first
impression.
"But how did you make the acquaintance of Corporal Henry Burton, Miss
Arnold?" I asked.
"I was riding back from the fort, sir, where I had been to mail some
letters, and my pony, Gypsy, lost a shoe and came near falling. The
stumble caused me to drop a package, and Mr. Burton chanced to come up
and restore it to me, and he also picked up Gypsy's shoe. He
accompanied me to camp, and since we arrived has been giving me the
history of Vic, Sancho, and Chiquita."
"And that, of course, included something of the history of their
devoted attendants?"
"Yes, I have learned something of the gallant deeds of Corporals Frank
and Henry Burton and Lieutenant Duncan at Los Valles Grandes and on
the march here. When I meet Corporal Frank I shall know you all."
"He will present himself to-morrow, no doubt," I observed. "But about
that pony's shoe; do you want it reset?"
"Yes, but who can do it?"
"At our next camp, to-morrow, our soldier-blacksmith shall set it."
"But I do not belong to government, sir."
"But part of this government belongs to you," replied Henry. "I'll
lead Gypsy to the forge for you, and Private Sattler shall shoe her as
he does Chiquita, and polish the shoes, too."
The Arnold family history, gathered incidentally on the march, and at
a period later in my story, was briefly this: Brenda was the only
daughter of Mr. Arnold's only brother, and had been reared in a large
inland city of New York. Her father and mother had recently perished
in a yachting accident, and the young girl had been sent to her
paternal uncle in Colorado. There were relatives on the mother's side,
but they were scattered, two brothers being in Europe at the time of
the accident. Brenda had reached her Western uncle just as he was
starting on one of his periodical moves--this time to Arizona.
The different social status of the families of the two brothers was
unusual, but not impossible in our country. One of the brothers was
ambitious, of steady habits, and possessed of a receptive mind; the
other was idle, impatient of restraint, with a disinclination to
protracted effort of any kind.
The distance to the first camp beyond Fort Wingate where we were sure
to find water was twenty-two miles; and it being impossible for us to
leave the post before three o'clock in the afternoon, we determined to
make a dry camp five and a half miles out.
When Frank and Henry learned that the start was not to be an early one
they rode out to the Arnold camp with the information, and the former
was duly presented to Miss Brenda. Gypsy was brought into the fort and
shod, and returned to her mistress in season for the march.
The evening was well advanced when we pitched our tents at the dry
camp. Horses and mules were turned out to graze for the first time
without water, and although in this mountain region the grass was
abundant, they did not cease to whinny and bray their discontent
throughout the night.
The sun dropped behind the mountain spurs, and we drew nearer and
nearer the fires, adding a thicker garment as the twilight deepened
into night. Frank expressed the trend of thought by asking, "We now
march into the heart of the Navajo country, do we not, sir?"
"Not precisely through the heart, but along its southern border."
"They'll try to make it lively for us, I suppose?"
"They will certainly watch us closely, and will take advantage of any
carelessness on our part."
"Do you think there is any chance of our finding Manuel Perea?"
"Hardly; he is too far off our route. We cannot leave the train to
look him up."
There was a suspicious choke in the voice of the little corporal when
he said: "It is awful to think we are going so near the dear old boy
and can do nothing for him. Only think of his poor mother!"
"I was told at the fort that she has offered five thousand dollars to
the man who will bring Manuel to her," said Frank. "I wish I could
bring him in for nothing."
"Brenda says she believes we shall find him somehow," Henry said. "I
hope she is right, for I saw his mother at Algodones and promised her
to rescue him or become a prisoner with him."
"So she wrote me at Los Pinos," I replied. "Well, something may turn
up to enable us to serve his mother. Let us go to bed."
Next morning we were again on the road by starlight. A march of
sixteen miles brought us to Agua Fria--cold water. Less than a hundred
yards west of the spring was a ridge which did not rise fifty feet
above it, and that was the "backbone" of the continent. The water of
Agua Fria flowed into the Atlantic; the springs on the other side of
the ridge flowed into the Pacific.
The wagons of the Arnold family travelled between the rear-guard and
the government wagons. They consisted of two large "prairie
schooners," drawn by three pairs of oxen each, a lighter wagon, drawn
by four horses, beside which four cows, two ponies, and four dogs were
usually grouped. The father and eldest daughter drove the ox-teams,
the mother the horse-team, and two daughters rode the ponies. Brenda's
pony, Gypsy, was her own property, purchased soon after she joined
her uncle in Colorado. As my station and Frank's were with the
rear-guard, or along the flanks of the train, Miss Brenda commonly
rode with us after daylight. Henry, after leaving Fort Wingate, rode
with the advance.
After supper at Agua Fria, Corporal Frank ordered all water-kegs to be
filled, for the water at El Morro, or Inscription Rock, our next
camping-place, was poor. The distance was seventeen and a half miles.
The next march was to the junction of the Rio Pescado and Otter Creek,
twenty-two miles, and the following to Arch Spring, nineteen miles.
This way took us through the ancient town of Zuñi, an Indian community
described by the Spanish priest, Father Marco de Niga, in 1559.
After leaving Zuñi, a march of thirty-two miles brought us late in the
evening to a spring variously called by Mexicans, Indians, and
Americans, Ojo Rodondo, Wah-nuk-ai-tin-ai-z, and Jacob's Well. It is a
funnel-shaped hole in a level plain, six hundred feet in diameter at
the top, and one hundred and sixty feet deep.
At the bottom of the hole is a pool of brackish, green water, reached
by a spiral track around the wall. Our cooks first procured a supply
of water, and then the animals were driven down in detachments. They
waded, swam, and rolled in the water until it was defiled for human
use.
An hour after our arrival four Navajos appeared and were admitted to
an interview with Captain Bayard, of whom they asked information
concerning the terms offered their bands as an inducement to surrender
and go upon the reservation. In reply to our questions they told us we
would find plenty of water at Navajo Springs, seven miles from Jacob's
Well, and that there had been a heavy rainfall at the west. As the
Indians were preparing to leave, Corporal Henry came forward and asked
Captain Bayard to inquire for Manuel Perea. The captain thanked the
boy for the suggestion, and did so; and we learned that a Mexican boy,
answering the description given, was assisting in herding the ponies
of Elarnagan, north of the Twin Buttes, at the head of Carizo Creek.
"Carizo Creek," said Frank, reflectively, turning over his schedule of
distances, "that is 19.05 miles from here."
[Illustration: "CORPORAL HENRY ASKED CAPTAIN BAYARD TO INQUIRE FOR
MANUEL PEREA"]
"Yes, and there are the Twin Buttes," said Henry, pointing to two
prominent peaks to the northwest. "Can't we go there, sir? It cannot
be more than thirty miles."
"I would not be justified in leaving the road except upon an
extraordinary emergency," replied Captain Bayard.
"Don't you suppose, sir, that Elarnagan would give Manuel up for the
large reward his mother offers?" asked Brenda Arnold, who stood by the
side of the boy corporals, an interested listener to all that had been
said.
The captain asked her question of the Indians, and one of them replied
that the chief had refused large offers heretofore, and would
doubtless continue to do so.
"Cannot you scare him by a threat?" asked Henry.
"I will try it, corporal," answered the captain. Then, turning to the
Navajos, he continued: "Tell the chief, Elarnagan, that it is not the
part of a brave warrior to cause grief and sorrow to women and
children; tell him that the great chief at Santa Fé is fast bringing
this war to a close, and that two-thirds of his people are already on
the reservation at Bosque Rodondo; tell him that when he
surrenders--which will not be long from now--if the boy Manuel is not
brought in safe he will be severely punished."
"Thank you," said Henry.
The Indians left in a northerly direction.
At guard-mounting Captain Bayard announced that, owing to the recent
fatiguing marches and the lack of good water, we would go no farther
than Navajo Springs the following day, and that we would not break
camp before eight o'clock.
This announcement was received with pleasure; for since leaving Agua
Fria little water had been drunk, it being either muddy, stagnant, or
alkaline. The water at Navajo Springs was said to be pure.
Ten o'clock next morning found us at the springs. They were fifteen in
number, clustered in an area of less than an acre. Each was of the
dimensions of a barrel set upon end in the ground, with a mere thread
of water flowing from it--a thread which the fierce sun evaporated
before it had flowed a rod from its source. It soon became plain to
every one that we could not long remain there.
The Indians had said there had been a heavy rainfall at the west. Five
and one-twentieth miles over a rough, red, and verdureless country
brought us to the Rio Puerco of the West. There was not a drop of
water in it.
The commanding officer ordered me to take ten cavalrymen, with
shovels, and go on to Carizo Creek, and, if I found no running water,
to sink holes in a line across its bed. The boy corporals were allowed
to go with me.
The distance to Carizo was seven miles, over a high, intervening
ridge, and the creek, when we reached it, was in no respect different
from the one we had just left. We opened a line of holes six feet
deep, but found very little water.
Sending Corporal Henry back with a message to Captain Bayard, we
pushed on to Lithodendron Creek, a distance of thirteen miles, and
found about an acre of water, four inches deep, in the bed of the
stream, under the shadow of a sandstone cliff. It was miserable
stuff--thick, murky, and warm--but it was better than nothing; I sent
a soldier back to the command, and sat down with Frank under the
cliff to wait.
The march had lengthened into thirty-two miles, over an exceedingly
rough country, and it had been continuous, with no noonday rest, and
under a broiling sun.
Frank and I sat a little apart from the soldiers, watching for the
arrival of the approaching wagons.
Time dragged slowly on until after nine o'clock, when a faint
"hee-haw" in the far distance gave us the first hint that the train
was over the divide and that the unfailing scent of the mules had
recognized the vicinity of water.
An hour more passed before Sergeant Cunningham and half a dozen
privates of the infantry company marched down to the roily pool and
stooped for a drink. The rest of the men were straggling the length of
the train, which arrived in sections, heralded by the vigorous and
continued braying of the mules.
No one felt inclined to pitch a tent, partly on account of extreme
fatigue, but chiefly because the ground was rough and stony and cacti
in endless variety strewed the surface, branching and clustering
about the petrified trunks of giant trees which gave the creek its
name.
There was no grass in the vicinity, and no grain on the train. The
animals when turned loose went to the pool and drank, and then
wandered about the wagons calling for forage. Lowing of cattle,
bleating of sheep, braying of mules, and whinnying of horses never
ceased as the suffering animals wandered in search of food. There was
no fuel for fires in the midst of this petrified forest of prostrate
trees, so hard bread and raw bacon made our supper.
After a time I began to wonder why Vic had not come to greet me. She
had accompanied Henry when he went back with my message, and I knew
that if he had returned she would have looked me up immediately. I was
about to search for her, when Frank appeared, and asked, "Have you
seen my brother?"
"No," I replied, "nor have I seen Vic. They must be with the rear
guard."
"No, sir; they are not there. I have just seen the sergeant of the
guard."
"Have you visited the Arnolds?"
"Yes, sir; and Miss Brenda says they have not seen him since he came
back from you."
"Is not Corporal Henry here?" asked Captain Bayard, who had approached
and overheard a part of our conversation.
"No, sir," I answered. "I sent him to you at Carizo to say we had
found no water."
"He reported to me," the captain replied, "and I sent him back at once
with orders for you to proceed to Lithodendron, as you have done."
"He did not reach me. I came here because it seemed the only thing to
do."
"Henry not here!" and the captain and all of us began moving towards
the train. "Cause an immediate search to be made for him. Examine
every wagon. He may have got into a wagon and fallen asleep."
It is needless to say, perhaps, that this search was participated in
by nearly every individual in the command not too tired to stir. Henry
was known to all, and had in many gentlemanly and kindly ways acquired
the respect and affection of soldiers and civilian employés.
Every wagon was examined, although from the first there was a general
presentiment that it would be useless. In the wagon assigned to the
use of the boy corporals and myself, Henry's carbine and revolver were
found, but Frank said his brother had not worn them during the day.
The mule and cavalry herds were examined for the cream-colored pony,
but that also was missing. Then the thought suggested itself that the
lad might be wandering on the road we had just traversed; but an
examination of the sergeant of the guard showed that to be impossible.
But one conclusion could be arrived at, and that was that Henry had
been picked up by the Navajos when returning from the command to my
detachment on the Carizo.
At the conclusion of the search the officers gathered near their
wagons for a consultation. Frank remained apart, silent and miserable.
Captain Bayard said: "It is impossible for us to make an immediate
pursuit with horses in such a condition as ours. To attempt a pursuit
over the barren region about us would be to invite failure and
disaster. If we had Mexican ponies, or Indian ponies like those of the
boys, we might start at once. The boy is probably a prisoner, and a
delay of one or two days can make little difference to him."
"But can we go with any better prospect of success to-morrow or next
day?" I asked.
"Yes, a march of sixteen miles and a half will bring us to the
Colorado Chiquito--a stream flowing at all times with pure water;
there, also, we shall find abundance of grass and a recently
established cavalry camp. I received a letter from the department
commander before I left Wingate, stating that Lieutenant Hubbell and
forty New Mexican cavalry had been ordered there three weeks ago. We
shall find an abundance of grain at the camp, and can put our animals
in good condition for an expedition into Elarnagan's country in a few
days. Now, gentlemen, let us get such rest as we can, and start at an
early hour in the morning."
IX
THE RESCUING PARTY
At the close of the consultation I rejoined Corporal Frank, and we
went back to our former seat under the cliff. The boy was exceedingly
depressed, and I did my best to persuade him that all would end well
and his brother would be rescued.
"But he may be dead, or dying," he answered to my arguments.
"No; that is improbable. Had he been killed, the Indians would have
taken particular pains to mutilate and place his body where the
passing column would have seen it. That in itself is good evidence
that he is living. The worst that is likely to happen is that he may
be held for ransom or exchange."
"But how _can_ I wait?" exclaimed Frank. "I feel as though I ought to
start now."
"That would do no good," I replied. "You cannot find your brother's
trail, nor could you follow it in the night."
"I cannot help thinking, sir, that Henry will send Vicky with a
message, and I fear that she cannot follow us so far. She must be
fearfully hungry and thirsty. I feel as if I ought to go and meet
her."
"You may be right about the message. As Vic was without her collar,
she may not have been killed."
The hours crept slowly on. The uneasy animals never ceased their walk
backward and forward between the water and the wagons, uttering their
discontent. Towards midnight, overcome by the fatigues of the day, I
fell into a doze, and did not wake until called at three.
A breakfast similar to our supper was served, and we were ready for
the road. The mules were harnessed while vigorously braying their
protests against such ill usage, and, once under way, slowly drew the
wagons to the summit of the divide between the Lithodendron and the
Little Colorado, a distance of twelve miles.
I did not see Frank while overlooking the drawing out of the train,
but gave myself no anxiety on his account, thinking he had
accompanied the advance. We had proceeded about a mile when a corporal
of the guard ran after me, and reported that the Arnolds were not
hitching up. Halting the train, I rode back and found Brenda sitting
by the road-side in tears.
"What is the matter, Miss Arnold?" I asked.
"Oh, it is something this time," she sobbed, "that even you cannot
remedy."
"Then you think I can generally remedy things? Thank you."
"You have always helped us, but I do not see how you can now."
"What is the trouble, please?"
"Our poor oxen have worn their hoofs through to the quick. They were
obliged to travel very fast yesterday, and over a flinty road, and
their hoofs are worn and bleeding. Uncle says we must remain behind."
"Perhaps things are not as bad as you think," I said. "Let us go back
and see."
Rising dejectedly, and by no means inspired by hope, Brenda led the
way to the Arnold wagons, where I found the father and mother on their
knees beside an ox, engaged in binding rawhide "boots" to the
animal's feet. These boots were squares cut from a fresh hide procured
from the last ox slaughtered by the soldier-butcher. The foot of the
ox being set in the centre, the square was gathered about the ankle
and fastened with a thong of buck-skin.
"Are all of your cattle in this condition, Mr. Arnold?" I asked.
"Only one other's 's bad's this, but all uv 'em's bad."
"That certainly is a very bad-looking foot. I don't see how you kept
up, with cattle in that condition."
"Had to, or git left."
"That's where you make a mistake. We could not leave you behind."
"I didn't think 'twould be uv any use t' say anythin'," said Mr.
Arnold. "You seem t' have all you can haul now."
"We have over three hundred head of oxen in our commissary herd that
we purchased of a freighter. We can exchange with you. A beef is a
beef. Turn your cattle into our herd, and catch up a new lot. When we
get to Prescott you can have your old teams if you want them."
"Thank you agin, sir. I shall want 'em. They know my ways an' I know
theirs."
From the top of the divide the road, smooth and hard, descended to the
river, ten miles away. At nine o'clock the head of the column had
reached the banks, and a few moments later men and horses had partaken
of the clear, cool water.
As the infantry and cavalry moved away from the shore the wagons came
down the decline, the mules braying with excitement at the sight of
the water gleaming through the green foliage of the cottonwoods and
the verdant acres of rich grass that stretched along the river-side.
Brakes were put on and wheels double-locked, until the harness could
be stripped off and the half-frantic animals set free to take a turn
in the river.
Sheep and oxen plunged down the banks and stood leg-deep in the
current while they drank the grateful water. A few moments later all
the refreshed animals were cropping the generous grass. As I was going
to Captain Bayard I observed Brenda Arnold taking the odometer from
its wheel and making an entry in a note-book. Approaching her, I
asked: "Why are you doing that, Miss Brenda?"
"I promised Mr. Frank I would do it until he and Mr. Henry return,"
was her answer.
"Promised Frank? Where has he gone?"
"Gone to find his brother."
"And you knew what you are telling me when we were exchanging oxen
this morning?"
"Yes, sir."
"Why did you not tell me?"
"Mr. Frank said I must not before we arrived here."
"Have you no idea of the fearful danger in which he has placed
himself?"
"I know he has gone to find Henry, and that he said he should find
him," and the pretty girl betrayed her lack of confidence in the boy's
project by sitting down in the grass and bursting into tears.
"When did Corporal Frank start?" I asked.
"Last night. He gave Sancho about a dozen pounds of hard bread, filled
his canteen with water which Aunt Martha had filtered through sand,
and asked me to attend to the odometer, and rode off in the darkness.
Don't you really believe the boys will return, sir?"
"God grant they may," I answered; "but it is very doubtful."
Here was fresh trouble--trouble the whole command shared, but which
rested heaviest upon Captain Bayard and myself. We were answerable to
Colonel Burton for the manner in which we executed his trust.
"Ride down the valley," said the captain to me after I had concluded
my account of what Brenda had said, "and look for Lieutenant Hubbell's
camp. It cannot be far from here. Tell him to send me three days'
grain for forty animals. While you are gone I will select a camp
farther down stream, and within easy communication with him, park the
train, and establish order. We will remain here until we know what has
become of the boys."
I found the New Mexican cavalry camp three miles down the river, and
obtained the desired forage. When I returned our new camp was
established, fires burning, and cooking well under way.
Captain Bayard informed me that the detachment of Mexican cavalry
which had accompanied us thus far would leave at this point and not
rejoin us. "I have ordered Baldwin to grain his horses and be ready to
start in search of our boys at daybreak," continued the captain. "You
will accompany him. We shall be in no danger, with Hubbell so near.
You can take thirty pounds of grain on your saddles, and you will find
plenty of water on the Carizo where it breaks from the hills."
"How many days are we to stay out?"
"You are to take five days' rations. If the boys are not found in that
time I fear they will never be found."
I went to bed early, and soon fell into a fitful slumber, which lasted
until an hour before midnight. I arose, dressed, and sat down by the
smouldering camp-fire, a prey to unpleasant reflections.
Suddenly the sound of a cantering horse approaching from the north
fell upon my ears. What could it mean? I listened intently. The horse
slowed down to a walk. He entered the camp. The voice of Private Tom
Clary, who was posted as sentinel No. 1, challenged: "Halt!--who comes
there?"
"A friend--Corporal Frank Burton," was the answer.
"Blest be the saints! Corpril Frank, laddie, is it you--and aloive?"
said the sentinel, forgetting in his joy to continue the usual
formality of the challenge or to call the corporal of the guard.
Springing from my seat I walked towards the sentinel, and there, by
the light of the moon, I saw Frank, mounted upon Sancho, with Vic in
his arms. I reached up to take my dog, but the boy quickly exclaimed:
"Be careful, sir, be careful! She's badly hurt. Here's the letter she
brought. Henry is alive."
To attempt to relate all that now occurred would be impossible. In
some mysterious manner the news of Frank's arrival crept through the
camp, and half-dressed figures of officers and soldiers gathered about
the camp-fire, curious to listen to an account of the boy's adventure.
One little, blanketed figure ran out of the darkness, caught Vic's
face between her two palms, nestled her cheek against it, and with a
cheerful "good-night," disappeared as suddenly as she had come.
I took Vic in my lap as I sat on the ground, and by the light of a
blazing pine-knot proceeded to examine her condition. I found the
mouth and feet of the poor animal full of the spines of the _cholla_
cactus, a growth which is simply a mass of fine thorns. This cactus
grows in patches, and when the dead clusters fall to the ground the
spines stick to everything touching them. The dog had stepped into a
bed of these bunched needles, and filled her feet, and in trying to
remove them with her teeth had thrust them through cheeks, lips, and
tongue, literally closing her jaws. Her paws bristled with them like
pin-cushions.
As to Frank's adventures: After leaving the Arnolds, as already
described by Brenda, he retraced the route to Carizo Creek and to the
Rio Puerco without seeing any sign of his brother. Returning to the
west he dismounted at the crossing of the Carizo. He felt sure that if
Henry had been captured by the Navajos he must have been taken in the
dry bed of that creek.
A long and patient search resulted in the discovery of tracks made by
several ponies running along the eastern side of the Carizo to the
north and the hills. One of the set showed the print of iron shoes.
Frank mounted again and followed this trail up the valley for some
hours. He was thinking about returning, when he saw a white object
moving on a hill-side, far in advance. It seemed to tumble, rise, and
go in a circle, then tumble, rise, and circle again. Frank's curiosity
was aroused, and he rode on to examine the object. A few hundred yards
more revealed the fact that he had come upon the missing Vic, and that
something was seriously the matter with her. At first Frank thought
she was mad or in a fit, but as he came nearer she sat up and made
demonstrations of joy at his approach. He dismounted, and found her in
the condition already described. On the ground was a chip, neatly cut
and shaven, which she was in vain attempting to take between her
sealed jaws. Frank understood the matter at once. Whenever Victoriana
was sent on a message she was given a stick to deliver. It was plain
that some one had sent her to either Frank or me. Of course, it could
have been no one but Henry. She had come thus far, and had stepped
into a bed of _cholla_. In trying to remove the needles from her feet
she had absolutely sealed her mouth; in the attempt to recover the
chip she had made the movements that had attracted the boy's
attention.
Nothing was written on the stick. Around the dog's neck was tied a
cravat of dirty buck-skin. Untying and opening it, Frank found the
inner surface covered with writing, evidently traced in berry-juice
with a quill or a stick. It read as follows:
"Captured by the Navajos. Am herding ponies north of Twin
Buttes, at the head of Carizo. Come to butte with cavalry,
and wave handkerchief from left peak about noon. If I do not
come, look for me in plain north of butte. Don't worry; I'm
all right.
"HENRY."
I remained at the fire long after every one had returned to their beds
or duty, busy in extracting the _cholla_ spines from Vic's mouth and
feet. The dog seemed to understand the necessity of the treatment she
was receiving, and bore the pain submissively, with only occasional
moans and cries, until the operation ended. She then received a drink
of water, and went to bed with Frank.
At daybreak the rescue detachment left camp, retraced our route to the
Carizo, where Corporal Frank put us upon the trail of the Indians. We
climbed to the highest point reached by the path, and saw it descend
on the opposite side to a brook, deep in the valley. Here we halted,
took the horses a short distance down the slope we had just ascended,
picketed them in a grassy nook, and Frank and I started to ascend the
left peak.
"Mr. Baldwin," I said, as I moved away, "when you see us start to
return, saddle and bridle as rapidly as possible, so as to be ready
for emergencies."
"I'll do so. You can depend upon us to be ready when wanted," was the
reply.
We scrambled through a scattering growth of piñon and junipers for
several yards, and at last came to a perpendicular shaft of sandstone
twenty feet high, with a flat top. The diameter of the shaft was about
fifty feet.
"Henry could not have come up here, or he never would have set us to
attempt an impossibility," said Frank, as his eyes ran up and down
the rock.
"Perhaps it may not be so impossible as it appears," I replied. "Let
us walk round the butte."
We passed to the right, and, having found a practicable place for
attempting the ascent, accomplished the feat in a few moments.
On the flat summit we found the remains of former fires that had
undoubtedly been lighted as signals. The view was grand and extensive.
Directly to the north lay many verdant valleys--grazing-grounds of the
nomadic Navajos. One of these valleys lay at the foot of the mountain
upon which we stood, with a bright stream of water crossing its hither
border. Well out in the valley were several flocks of sheep and goats,
and close to the opposite side of the brook was a herd of ponies.
After Frank had looked long and anxiously towards the flocks and
herds, he said: "Those specks near the ponies must be men, I suppose.
I wonder if Henry is among them? Shall I make the signal?"
"Not yet. It is not yet noon. Let us lie down among these rocks,
where we shall be less conspicuous, and use the field-glass."
"Tell me what you see, sir, if you please."
"There are five large flocks of sheep in the charge of a lot of women,
some mounted and some on foot. The pony herd, which must number
several hundred, is in charge of three naked Indians--boys, I think.
There are no other persons in sight. Take a look for yourself."
Frank accepted the glass and surveyed the valley. "I can see nothing
that looks like Henry," he said. "He certainly cannot be there. Why
are those boys so ghostly white?"
"They are covered with yeso to protect them from sunburn."
"Oh yes--whitewash."
"Gypsum. The Mexicans use it for whitewash, and to preserve the
complexion."
"Well, those boys must have plastered it on thick; they look like
living statues. Not a rag on them except 'breech-clouts.' Hello, there
comes a troop around that mound to the right. Must be two hundred
men."
Taking the glass, I looked again. Coming into sight from the opposite
side of an elevation on the farther side of the valley was a party of
two hundred and fifteen Navajo warriors. They rode to each flock of
sheep in succession, stopped near the women a few moments, and then
came down to the pony herd. They approached the boys, and one large
Indian, who appeared to be the chief, lifted the smaller boy out of
his saddle, and, swinging him to his shoulder, dashed around the herd
at full speed, and then set him back in his own saddle, and patted him
approvingly on the back.
The party next proceeded to exchange the ponies they were riding for
fresh ones from the herd, and then disappeared behind the trees which
bordered the brook to the west.
"The pony that small boy rides looks like Chiquita," remarked Frank;
"but the saddle and bridle are different. Señora Perea said that
Manuel was herding ponies for the Navajos, and that he was naked."
"Yes, I know; but the letter Vic brought from Henry made no mention of
another boy, and there are three with that herd. But let us make the
signal and see what will happen."
Standing up and advancing to the edge of the butte's top, I waved my
handkerchief from side to side, keeping my eyes fixed upon the three
boys. They formed in line, facing us, looked long in our direction,
and then, as if started by a spring, they flew down the plain, leaped
the brook, and galloped up the long ascent towards the concealed
cavalrymen.
X
THE CORPORALS ARE PROMOTED
The three Indian boys were doing their utmost to excite their ponies
to their greatest speed up the height. As they sped on they glanced
repeatedly backward, as if fearing pursuit. Higher and higher they
came up the steep until we could not doubt it was their intention to
reach the command.
"What does it mean? What does it mean?" exclaimed Frank. "Why are
those Navajo boys running their horses in this direction? It can't
be--"
"Never mind, Frank," I interrupted. "Let us get down to the men as
soon as we can. The Indian women are already riding after the
war-party."
At considerable risk to life and limb we slid down the ragged angle
which we had ascended, and hurried to where Baldwin and the soldiers
stood beside their saddled steeds.
We had barely reached the crest from which we could see the valley
when the three whitewashed boys appeared on their panting and foaming
animals, the little one on the buck-skin pony in the lead.
"What in the world is this?" exclaimed Baldwin. "Three whitewashed
young redskins! What do they want of us?"
"Here we are!" shouted a familiar voice, in excellent English. "Here
we are--Manuel, Sapoya, and I!"
Before we could sufficiently recover from our surprise, or, rather,
calm our joyful realization of a hope born of the boys' start from the
valley below, they were among us, and Henry had sprung from his horse
and embraced his brother, leaving a generous coating of _yeso_ upon
the army blue. Tears of joy had ploughed two streaks through the
whiting on his face, and lent a comical effect to the boyish
countenance. A general handshake ensued, and Corporal Frank asked,
"Where are your clothes, Henry?"
"Confiscated by the chief Elarnagan."
"Not to wear?"
"Well, no; I think they might prove baggy on his diminutive person."
"Then why did he take them?"
"He has a numerous progeny, and the young Elarnaganitos have an
article apiece. My saddle and bridle went to Mrs. Elarnagan. She rides
astride, you know."
"When did the chief take your clothes?"
"Just as soon as I arrived in the valley my horse and I were stripped
of--But hold on, Frank; what am I thinking of?" and Henry ran to one
of the other boys, a graceful youngster whose perfect limbs and
handsome face the _yeso_ could not mask, and who sat his horse as if
he were a part of the animal. Saying something to him in an undertone,
the boy dismounted and approached me with Henry, who said, in Spanish:
"This is Manuel Augustine Perea y Luna, of Algodones. It is he who
planned the escape when I told him there were soldiers near."
I took the Mexican boy's hand and assured him of the great happiness
his escape afforded me, and the greater happiness it would afford his
mother and relatives.
Frank approached, took Manuel's hand, and then dropped it to give him
a hearty and brotherly embrace.
"Ah, Manuelito mio, I dreamed many dreams of rescuing you as we
marched through this country, but I never believed they would be
realized," he said.
"But the little Enrique acted, and I am here," laughed Manuel.
"And Frank acted, too," said I, "as you shall soon hear; and you will
learn that it took both boys to effect your rescue."
"Pardon me," replied Manuel, "but it is not safe to remain here
longer. Elarnagan, whom you saw leaving the valley with his warriors,
is intending to move down the Lithodendron to attack your train
somewhere on the Colorado Chiquito."
At the close of his remarks Manuel turned away, as if to mount his
horse, and then, as if correcting an oversight, he said, "Wait one
moment, sir." Going up to the third boy, he spoke a few words to him
in an unknown tongue. The boy sprang to the ground and came forward.
"This is Sapoya," continued Manuel, "a Cherokee boy, whom I found a
captive when I joined Elarnagan's band. He is my brother, and will go
with me and share my home."
Sapoya extended his hand and clasped mine. He was a handsome Indian
boy, about the same age and height as his friend. He addressed me in
Navajo, which was interpreted by Manuel: "I am glad to meet one who
has helped to open the broad land again to my brother and me. But our
horses stand still, while those of our enemy fly to retake us."
Evidently the Mexican and Cherokee boys had no desire to again fall
into the hands of the Navajo chief. We made no further delay, but
mounted and forced our animals down the mountain defiles as rapidly as
possible. As soon as the route would permit, Henry and Manuel rode on
each side of Frank, and I heard the former ask about Vic. Frank
answered in Spanish, so that the Mexican boy might understand. Such
expressions as "La perra brava!" "La fina perrita Vic!" from time to
time showed they were hearing of Vic's adventures.
[Illustration: "'GOD HAS GIVEN ME, AMONG MANY FRIENDS, TWO THAT ARE
SOMETHING MORE'"]
Finding that Corporal Frank was not doing himself justice in his
narration, I drew alongside the boys and related what I knew of
Frank's midnight ride and rescue of Vic, an event which, had it not
occurred, would have left Henry and his friends still in captivity. At
the conclusion of my tale Manuel changed his position from the flank
to one between the brothers, and, taking a hand of Frank in his left,
and one of Henry's in his right, rode on a few moments in silence.
Then he said: "God has given me, among many friends, two that are
something more. But for your brave acts I should still be a captive.
Thank you for myself, my dear mother, and Sapoya."
Having reached the wagon-road crossing of the Carizo, we turned at a
canter over the divide between it and the Lithodendron. As we rose
above a terrace our attention was attracted to two mounted Indians
scurrying off into the broken and higher country on our right.
"Ah, look!" shouted Manuel; "they expected to stop three naked,
unarmed boys, and they are surprised to meet a troop of cavalry! Viva
los Estados Unidos! Run, you sheep-stealers, we are safely out of your
hands!"
Upon reaching the summit of the divide the whole war-party stood
revealed, far to our right, out of rifle-shot. Plainly, our presence
was a great surprise to them. Although they greatly outnumbered us,
the country was too open for their system of warfare, and they were
poorly armed. They stood sullenly aloof, and allowed us to canter past
unmolested.
Just as our rear was passing them we noticed a solitary warrior
advance and show a white cloth.
"That is Elarnagan," said Manuel. "He wants to speak with you."
Accompanied by the Mexican boy to act as interpreter, I advanced to
the chief. He took my hand with dignity, and said he accepted the loss
of his pale-faced captives as the fortune of war, but he demanded the
return of Sapoya. He said that in a fight with the Utes, ten years
before, his people had captured a Cherokee chief, who was visiting
that tribe with his wife and child. The chief and his wife had died,
and he, Elarnagan, had brought up the child as his own. He asked that
Sapoya be restored to him.
I called the Indian lad to me and, repeating the words of the chief,
said, "You may answer for yourself."
"Sapoya says to the bravest warrior of the Navajos, that he is
grateful for all the favors that he has received, and that he thinks
he has returned by hard service ample payment for all. He brought
parents, three horses, and ample clothing to the Navajos; he takes
nothing away but the pony he rode. He has shared his blanket and food
with his brother, Manuel, for these many moons, undergoing fatigue and
exposure with him, until his heart beats as one with his comrade's,
and he desires to go with him to his home and become one of his
people."
The chief said nothing in reply, but advancing gave his hand in amity
to both boys, and rode back to his people.
"He is a good chief and a brave one," said Manuel, as we rejoined the
command, "but I should cherish kindlier memories of him if he had
given us some clothing and an extra blanket."
Later, as we were riding slowly out of the bed of Lithodendron, Frank
said, "I do not see how the Indians came to spare Vic."
"One of them did attempt to kill her, but I threw my arms about her
and the chief patted her head and gave orders that she should not be
hurt. I think if her collar had not been taken off at Laguna she would
have been killed in a scramble to possess it. Even Elarnagan would
have considered her life worthless compared with the possession of
such a beautiful trinket."
"The chief seems to have taken quite a liking to Corporal Henry," I
remarked.
"Not enough to allow him to retain his clothing," said Manuel; "but he
would not permit him to be deprived of his pony. Perhaps you saw him,
when you were on the butte, dash round the herd with Henry on his
shoulder?"
"Frank and I saw it," I answered.
"He said, when he placed Henry back upon Chiquita, 'He will make a
brave chief.'"
Camp was reached a little after dark, and the boys plunged into the
river to remove the _yeso_, and then dressed themselves in civilized
garments, Henry drawing on his reserve, and the others from the
quartermaster's stores.
Had not Victoriana been a modest doggie, the amount of praise and
attention she received from the four boys would have turned her head;
and the boys themselves had no reason to complain of the kindly
congratulations they received from the infantry company.
Word was sent to Lieutenant Hubbell that Manuel Perea had been
rescued, and the following morning all the New Mexicans not on duty
rode into camp to congratulate the boy upon his escape. Spanish cheers
and Spanish felicitations filled the air for an hour.
When the volunteers had gone and quiet was resumed, Brenda came, and
her delight at seeing the boys again showed itself in ceaseless
caressings of Vic and many requests for a repetition of the account of
their flying ride when the signal was waved from the butte. When she
at last withdrew, to repeat the story to her relatives, the corporals
and I wrote a letter to Señora Perea, to be delivered by her son. In
my portion I related the circumstances attending his recovery,
detailing the part taken by the boy corporals, the dog, and the troop.
I said no one desired to claim the generous reward she had offered,
since no one in particular had rescued Manuel; many things had
combined to enable him to escape. If the lady insisted upon paying
the reward, we all desired that it should be devoted to the education
of Sapoya.
Frank added a few lines, and Henry closed the letter. The younger
corporal wrote:
"I've laughed with the rest over my two days' captivity
among the Navajos, and made light of it. I don't mind
telling you that after shivering through two nights without
clothes and without enough blankets, being bitten by
mosquitoes and flies, and scorched daytimes by the sun, I
begin to think Manuel a great hero.
"You know when I saw you I told you I was going to bring
back Manuel or be a prisoner with him. That, of course, was
all foolish talk, for I planned nothing. To be sure, I was a
prisoner with him for two days and had something to do about
bringing him back, but it all happened without planning. It
seems as if God directed us all through. Frank, Vic, the
soldiers, officers, and myself--even the dry time from
Jacob's Well to the Lithodendron--all had something to do
with finding Manuel.
"About the reward the lieutenant speaks of, we think none of
us deserve it. We've talked it over, and we think if you
would give Sapoya a chance at school, and if you cannot make
a white boy of him make him an educated man, that would be
the best reward. He's very intelligent, and if he can have a
good chance will learn fast.
"Frank and I have a scheme we hope you will approve of. Mr.
Duncan has secured a detail from the War Department to a
boys' military school in the States as instructor in
tactics, and will probably go in November. We are intending
to ask papa to let us join that school after the Christmas
holidays. We want you to send Manuel and Sapoya there. Won't
you, please? Be sure and say yes. Think what a fine chance
it will be for Sapoya.
"You know we boys feel something more than a friendship for
one another. I suppose it is like the comradeship of
soldiers who have stood shoulder to shoulder in battle.
There is a tie uniting us that is closer and firmer than
friendship; we feel more like brothers.
"We will write often. Hoping Manuel will arrive home safe,
and that he may never again be a captive,
"I remain your friend,
"HENRY BURTON."
Our letters were despatched by Manuel and Sapoya to Lieutenant
Hubbell's camp, where Captain Bayard directed the boys to await the
detachment of New Mexican cavalry which had accompanied us from the
Rio Grande and which was shortly to return there.
We resumed our march the following day at a very early hour, and as we
passed the cavalry camp two half-dressed boys came bounding out to the
road-side to once more repeat their affectionate good-byes and renew
their promises to meet in the future.
The march continued for a week longer, through a region over which the
Pullman car now rushes with the modern tourist, but through which we
moved at the gait of infantry. The boy corporals and Brenda Arnold
climbed eminences, looked through clefts in precipices into the
sublime depths of the great cañon, stood on the edge of craters of
extinct volcanoes, penetrated the mysterious caverns of the
cliff-dwellers, fished for trout in a mountain lake, caught axolotl in
a tank at the foot of San Francisco Mountain, shot turkeys, grouse,
and antelope, and enjoyed the march as only healthy youngsters can.
Brenda became a pupil of the boys in loading and firing their
revolvers, carbines, and fowling-pieces, and made many a bull's-eye
when firing at a mark, but invariably failed to hit anything living.
Henry said she was too tender-hearted to aim well at animals. That she
was no coward an incident to be told in a future chapter will prove.
When our train and its escort reached Fort Whipple, or, rather, the
site of that work--for we built it after our arrival--the Arnolds
caught up their cattle from our herd, and after a two weeks' stay in
Prescott removed to a section of land which they took up in Skull
Valley, ten miles to the west by the mountain-trail, and twenty-five
miles by the only practicable wagon-road. This place was selected for
a residence because its distance from Prescott and its situation at
the junction of the bridle-path and wagon-road made it an excellent
location for a way-side inn.
At a dress-parade held the evening before the family's departure for
their new home, Brenda sat on her pony, Gypsy, near Captain Bayard,
and heard an order read advancing her young friends from the grade of
corporal to that of sergeant, "for soldierly attention to duty on the
march, gallant conduct in the affair at Laguna, and meritorious
behavior in effecting the rescue of captive boys from the Navajos at
Carizo Creek; subject to the approval of Colonel Burton."
XI
BOTH PONIES ARE STOLEN
"Here, Frank, come and help push this gate, I can't start it alone."
"Don't be in such a hurry, Henry. Wait just a moment. I think I hear a
horse coming down the Prescott road. I want to see if it is the
express from La Paz."
The younger boy ceased his efforts to close the gates, and advancing a
few steps before the entrance of the fort, looked up the valley to
where the road from Prescott appeared from behind a spur of the
foot-hills. The two boys had mounted their sergeant's chevrons and
adopted white stripes down the legs of their trousers. As they stood
side by side Vic approached and placed herself between them, nestling
her delicate muzzle against the younger boy's hip and responding to
his caresses with waves of her plumy tail.
"Do you think we shall hear from father, Frank?"
"We ought to; you know he said in his last letter he was getting
settled at the Presidio, and would soon send for us."
"Takes twelve days to bring a letter from San Francisco. I suppose
it'll take us longer to go there; seems to me he might get ready for
us while we are on the road," said Henry, lugubriously. "I'm getting
mighty tired of opening and shutting these gates."
"You forget father has to visit all the posts where companies of his
regiment are stationed. That will probably take him all of a month
longer."
"And we must go on opening and closing gates and running errands in
Arizona? But come; let's get a swing on 'em and watch for the
expressman afterwards. We haven't much time before retreat."
The gates closed a fort which we had built since our arrival in
Arizona. Peeled pine logs, ten feet long, had been set up vertically
in the ground, two feet of them below the surface and eight above,
enclosing an area of a thousand square feet, in which were
store-rooms, offices, and quarters for two companies of soldiers and
their officers. At corners diagonally opposite each other were two
large block-house bastions, commanding the flanks of the fort. The
logs of the walls were faced on two sides and set close together, and
were slotted every four feet for rifles. At one of the corners which
had no bastions were double gates, also made of logs, bound by cross
and diagonal bars, dovetailed and pinned firmly to them. Each hung on
huge, triple hinges of iron.
The two boys returned to the gates, and, setting their backs against
one of them and digging their heels in the earth, pushed and swung it
ponderously and slowly, until its outer edge caught on a shelving log
set in the middle of the entrance to support it and its fellow. Then,
as the field-music began to play and the men to assemble in line for
retreat roll-call, they swung the second gate in the same way, and
braced the two with heavy timbers. The boys then reported the gates
closed to the adjutant.
As the companies broke ranks and dispersed the boy sergeants went to
the fifth log, to the left of the gates, and swung it back on its
hinges. This was one of two secret posterns. On the inside of the
wall, when closed, its location was easily noticeable on account of
its hinges, latches, and braces; on the outside it looked like any
other log in the wall. Their work being completed, the boys asked
permission of the adjutant to stand outside the wall and watch for the
mail.
"All right, sergeants," said the adjutant; "there is no further duty
for you to perform to-day."
Frank and Henry ran through the postern, and arrived on the crest of
the bluff overlooking the Prescott road just as a horseman turned up
the height. The news that the La Paz courier had arrived spread
rapidly through the quarters, and every man not on duty appeared
outside the walls.
Joining the boy sergeants, I said, "Boys, if you want to drop the job
of opening and closing the gates, it can hereafter be done by the
guard."
"Thank you, sir. We took the job, and we'll stick to it," replied
Sergeant Frank.
"I wonder if Samson could lift those gates as easily as he did the
gates of Gaza?" questioned Henry, seating himself on a log which had
been rejected in the building and taking Vic's head in his lap and
fondling her silken ears.
"We can't remain here much longer," said Frank; "I think this express
will bring an order for us to go to San Francisco."
"Very likely. No doubt life here is not very enjoyable for boys."
"I should say not," said Henry, "for we can't look outside the fort
unless a dozen soldiers are along for fear the Apaches 'll get us."
"But you can go to Prescott."
"Prescott!" in a tone of great contempt; "twenty-seven log cabins and
five stores, and not a boy in the place--only a dozen Pike County,
Missouri, girls."
"And we can't go there with any comfort since Texas Dick and Jumping
Jack stole Sancho and Chiquita," added Frank.
Further conversation on this subject was temporarily interrupted by
the arrival of the expressman. A roan bronco galloped up the slope,
bearing a youthful rider wearing a light buck-skin suit and a soft
felt hat with a narrow brim. He was armed with a breech-loading
carbine and two revolvers, and carried, attached to his saddle, a roll
of blankets, a haversack, and a mail-pouch.
Dismounting, he detached the pouch, at the same time answering
questions and giving us items of news later than any contained in his
despatches.
After handing his pouch to the quartermaster-sergeant, his eyes fell
upon the boy sergeants.
"I saw Texas Dick and Juan Brincos at Cisternas Negras," he said,
addressing them.
"My! Did you, Mr. Hudson?" exclaimed Henry, springing to his feet and
approaching the courier. "Did they have our ponies?"
"You know I never saw your ponies; but Dick was mounted on a black,
with a white star in his forehead, and Juan on a cream-color, with a
brown mane and tail."
"Sancho!" said Frank.
"Chiquita!" said Henry.
"Do you know where they were bound?" asked Captain Bayard.
"I did not speak to them, nor did they see me; I thought it would be
better to keep out of the way of such desperate characters in a
lonely place. I learned from a friend of theirs at Date Creek that
they intend to open a monte bank at La Paz."
"Then they are likely to remain there for some time."
"Can't something be done to get the ponies back, sir?" asked Frank.
"Perhaps so. I will consider the matter."
The mail was taken to my office and soon distributed through the
command. Among my letters was one from Colonel Burton, the father of
the boy sergeants. He said he had been expecting to send for his sons
by this mail, but additional detached service had been required of him
which might delay their departure from Whipple for another month, if
not longer. He informed me that a detail I had received to duty as
professor of military science and tactics in a boys' military school
had been withheld by the department commander until my services could
be spared at Fort Whipple, and that he thought the next mail, or the
one following it, would bring an order relieving me and ordering me
East. This would enable me to leave for the coast about the first week
in November.
Frank and Henry shared my quarters with me, and that evening, seated
before an open fire, I read their father's letter, and remarked that
perhaps I should be able to accompany them to San Francisco, and, if
the colonel consented to their request to go to the military school
with me, we might take the same steamer for Panama and New York.
"Oh, won't that be too fine for anything!" exclaimed the younger
sergeant. "Then I'll not have to leave Vicky here, after all."
Vic, upon hearing her name called, left her rug at my feet and placed
her nose on Henry's knee, and the boy stroked and patted her in his
usual affectionate manner.
"Then you have been dreading to leave the doggie?" I asked.
"Yes; I dream all sorts of uncomfortable things about her. She's in
trouble, or I am, and I cannot rescue her and she cannot help me.
Usually we are parting, and I see her far off, looking sadly back at
me."
"Henry is not the only one who dreads to part with Vic," said Frank.
"We boys can never forget the scenes at Los Valles Grandes, Laguna,
and the Rio Carizo. She saved our lives, helped recover Chiquita, and
she helped rescue Manuel, Sapoya, and Henry from the Navajos."
"Yes; but for her I might have lost my brother at La Roca Grande,"
remarked Henry. "That was probably her greatest feat. Nice little
doggie--good little Vicky--are you really to go to San Francisco and
the East with us?"
"I believe if I only had Sancho back, and Henry had Chiquita, I should
be perfectly happy," observed the elder brother.
After a slight pause, during which the boy seemed to have relapsed
into his former depression, Henry asked:
"Do they have cavalry drill at that school?"
"Yes, the superintendent keeps twenty light horses, and allows some of
the cadets to keep private animals. All are used in drill."
"And if we get our ponies back, I suppose we shall have to leave them
here. Do you think, sir, there is any chance of our seeing them
again?" asked Frank.
"Not unless some one can go to La Paz for them. Captain Bayard is
going to see me after supper about a plan of his to retake them."
"I wonder what officer he will send?"
"Perhaps I shall go."
"Father could never stand the expense of sending them to the States, I
suppose," said Henry, despondently.
"They could easily be sent to the Missouri River without cost," I
observed.
"How, please?"
"There is a quartermaster's train due here in a few weeks. It would
cost nothing to send the ponies by the wagon-master to Fort Union, and
then they could be transferred to another train to Fort Leavenworth."
"Frank, I've a scheme!" exclaimed the younger boy.
"What is it?"
"If Mr. Duncan finds Sancho and Chiquita, let's send them to Manuel
Perea and Sapoya on the Rio Grande. When they go to the military
school they can take our horses and theirs, and we'll join the
cavalry."
"That's so," said Frank. "Manuel wrote that if he went to school he
should cross the plains with his uncle, Miguel Otero, who is a
freighter. He could take the whole outfit East for nothing. There
would remain only the cost of shipping them from Kansas City to the
school."
"Yes, but before you cook a hare you must catch him," said I.
"And our two hares are on the other side of the Xuacaxélla[1] Desert,"
said Frank, despondently. "I suppose there is small chance of our ever
seeing them again."
[Footnote 1: Pronounced Hwar-car-hál-yar.]
Our two boy sergeants had found life in Arizona scarcely monotonous,
for the hostile Apaches made it lively enough, compelling us to build
a defensible post and look well to the protection of our stock. A few
years later a large force, occupying many posts, found it difficult to
maintain themselves against those Indians, so it cannot seem strange
to the reader that our small garrison of a hundred soldiers should
find it difficult to do much more than act on the defensive. Close
confinement to the reservation chafed the boys.
A ride to Prescott, two miles distant, was the longest the boys had
taken alone. Two weeks before this chapter opens they had been invited
to dine with Governor Goodwin, the Governor of the Territory, and he
had made their call exceedingly pleasant. When, at an advanced hour in
the evening, the boys took leave of their host and went to the stable
for their horses, they found them gone, with their saddles and
bridles.
Inquiries made next day in town elicited the information that two
notorious frontier scamps, Texas Dick and Juan Brincos, an American
and Mexican, were missing, and it was the opinion of civil and
military authorities that they had stolen the ponies. The boys took
Vic to the Governor's, and, showing her the tracks of her equine
friends, she followed them several miles on the Skull Valley trail. It
was plainly evident that the thieves had gone towards the Rio
Colorado.
After supper I accompanied the commanding officer to his quarters. He
told me that the express had brought him a communication from the
department commander, stating that, since Arizona had been transferred
to the Department of the Pacific, our stores would hereafter be
shipped from San Francisco to the mouth of the Rio Colorado, and up
that stream by the boats of the Colorado Steam Navigation Company to
La Paz. He said he had decided to send me to La Paz to make
arrangements with a freighter for the transportation of the supplies
from the company's landing to Fort Whipple.
"And while you are in La Paz," said the captain, "look after those
horse-thieves, and turn them over to the civil authorities; but,
whether you capture them or not, be sure to bring back the boys'
ponies."
"What do you think about allowing the boys to go with me?"
"No doubt they would like it, for life has been rather monotonous to
them for some time, especially since they lost their horses. Think it
would be safe?"
"No Indians have been seen on the route for some time."
"The 'calm before the storm,' I fear."
"The mail-rider, Hudson, has seen no signs for a long time."
"So he told me. The excursion would be a big treat to the lads, and,
with a good escort and you in command, Duncan, I think they will be
in no danger. Tell the adjutant to detail a corporal and any twelve
men you may select, and take an ambulance and driver."
"Shall I go by Bill Williams Fork or across the Xuacaxélla?"
"The desert route is the shortest, and the courier says there is water
in the Hole-in-the-Plain. There was a rainfall there last week. That
will give you water at the end of each day's drive."
I returned to my rooms and looked over an itinerary of the route, with
a schedule of the distances, and other useful information. After
making myself familiar with all its peculiarities, I told Frank and
Henry that if they desired to do so they might accompany me.
They were overjoyed at the prospect. Henry caught Vic by the forepaws
and began to waltz about the room. Then, sitting down, he held her
head up between his palms and informed her that she was going to bring
back Sancho and Chiquita.
"I do not intend to take Vic, Henry," I said.
"Not take Vic? Why not, sir?"
"The road is long and weary--six days going and six returning, over a
rough and dry region--and she will be in the way and a constant care
to us."
"But how are we going to find our horses without her? She always helps
whenever we are in trouble, and she will be sure to assist us in this
if we take her," said Sergeant Henry, emphatically.
"She need be no care to you, sir," said the elder boy; "Henry and I
will look after her."
"I am sorry to disappoint you, boys, but I cannot take the dog. She
will be left with Captain Bayard."
This decision made the boys somewhat miserable for a time. They
commiserated the dog over her misfortune, and then turned their
attention to preparations for the journey.
"Have you ever been to La Paz?" asked Frank.
"I have never been beyond Date Creek in that direction," I replied.
"Is the Xuacaxélla really a desert?"
"Only in the rainless season. Grasses, cacti, and shrubbery not
needing much moisture grow there. One of the geological surveys calls
it Cactus Plain. It is one hundred miles long. There is water in a
fissure of a mountain-spur on one side called the Cisternas Negras,
or Black Tanks, but for the rest of the distance there was formerly no
water except in depressions after a rainfall, a supply that quickly
evaporated under a hot sun and in a dry atmosphere. A man named Tyson
has lately sunk a well thirty miles this side of La Paz."
"It was at Black Tanks the expressman saw Texas Dick and Juan Brincos
with our ponies," said Henry. "What a queer name that is!--Juan
Brincos, John Jumper, or Jumping Jack, as nearly every one calls him."
"He is well named; he has been jumping stock for some years."
"I thought Western people always hanged horse-thieves?"
"Not when they steal from government. Western people are too apt to
consider army mules and horses common property, and they suppose your
ponies belong to Uncle Sam."
"Frank," said Henry, just before the boys fell asleep that night, "I
felt almost sure we should recapture the ponies when I thought Vic was
going, but now I'm afraid we never shall see them again."
XII
INDIANS ON THE WAR-PATH
The following day we were so delayed by several minor affairs that we
did not begin our journey until the middle of the afternoon.
At the time of which I write there were but two wagon-roads out of
Prescott--one through Fort Whipple, which, several miles to the north,
divided into a road to the west, the one over which we had marched
from New Mexico, and a second which left in a northwesterly direction.
We took the latter, pursuing it along the east side of Granite Range
for eight miles, when we passed through a notch in the range to Mint
Creek, where the road made an acute angle and followed a generally
southwesterly course to La Paz.
We halted for the night at the creek, eight miles from the fort. Our
ambulance was provided with four seats--one in front for the driver,
fixed front and rear seats in the interior, with a movable middle
seat, the back of which could be let down so that it fitted the
interval between the others and afforded a fairly comfortable bed. On
the rack behind were carried the mess chest, provisions, and bedding,
and inside, under the seats, were the ammunition and some articles of
personal baggage. Beneath the axle swung a ten-gallon keg and a nest
of camp kettles.
While supper was being prepared the boys wandered about the reed-grass
in a fruitless search for some ducks they had seen settle in the
creek. Private Tom Clary, who was acting as our cook, having spread
our meal of fried bacon, bread, and coffee upon a blanket to the
windward of the fire, called them to supper. While sugaring and
stirring our coffee, the cook stood by the fire holding two long rods
in his hands, upon the ends of which were slices of bacon broiling
before the glowing coals. Suddenly he exclaimed:
"Look there, sergeant laddies! look there!" raising and pointing with
both sticks and the rashers of bacon towards the reed-grass behind
us.
There in its very edge sat Mistress Vic, winking her eyes and
twitching her ears deprecatingly, plainly in doubt as to her
reception.
"Stop, boys! keep quiet!" I said, to prevent a movement in her
direction. "Vic, you bad girl, how dared you follow me?"
No reply, only a slow closing and opening of the eyes and an
accompanying forward and backward movement of the ears.
"Go home! Go!"
The setter rose, dropped her head, and, turning dejectedly,
disappeared with drooping tail into the tall grass. Both boys
exclaimed at once:
"Don't drive her off, sir! Poor little Vic!"
"Well, go and see if you can coax her back. If she returns with you
she may go to La Paz."
The boys ran eagerly into the grass, and soon I heard them soothing
and pitying the dog, telling her that it was all right, and that she
could go. But it was evident she doubted their authority to speak for
me, for Henry presently came running towards me.
"She won't come, sir. Keeps moving slowly back in the direction of the
fort. She looks so sorry and so tired. Only think how badly she feels,
and it is a long distance to Whipple! Can't she stay with us until
morning?"
"Then she will not come with you?"
"No. She is your dog, and knows it. She never disobeys you."
"But she followed me here; that looks very much like disobedience."
"But you did not tell her not to come."
"I believe you are right. I forgot to tell her to stay."
"And she did not hear you tell the corporal to tie her, sir. You told
him in your room, and she was outside."
"Then you think she is not to blame for following us?"
"Of course not. She's a military dog, and always obeys orders."
"But how guilty she looked."
"It was not guilt made her look so, sir; it was disappointment."
"Yes, I think you are right, Henry. I'll let her go with us. Let us
try an experiment, and see if she understands ordinary conversation.
You know some people think dogs do."
"Yes, sir; I know Vic does."
"I'll speak to her without altering my tone of voice. Now watch.
'Here, Vicky, little girl, it's all right; you may go with us.'"
Out of the reeds, bounding in an ecstasy of delight, came Vic. She
sprang about me, then about the boys, the soldiers, and animals, and
then approaching the fire, sat down and looked wistfully at the
rashers of bacon Clary was still broiling. It was settled in her dog
mind that she was now a recognized member of our party.
We resumed our journey with the first break of dawn and rode to Skull
Valley. The first section of the road passed through a rough,
mountainous, and wooded country; but at the end of thirteen miles it
entered a level valley, which gradually broadened into a wide plain
that had been taken up by settlers for farms and cattle ranges. Being
well acquainted, I made several calls at the log-cabins which skirted
the road. At the Arnold house we were made very welcome, and after a
generous dinner were escorted through the house and stables by the
entire family. I had visited the valley many times when on scouting
or escort duty, and had seen the Arnold cabins gradually substituted
for their tents, and their acres slowly redeemed from grazing ground
to cultivated fields; but since my last visit Mr. Arnold had adopted
an ingenious means of defence in case of an Indian attack.
The house and stables from the first had been provided with heavy
shutters for windows and doorways, and loop-holes for fire-arms had
been made at regular four-foot intervals. These the proprietor had not
considered ample, and had constructed, twenty yards from the house, an
ingenious earthwork which could be entered by means of a subterranean
passage from the cellar. This miniature fort was in the form of a
circular pit, sunk four feet and a half in the ground, and covered by
a nearly flat roof, the edges or eaves of which were but a foot and a
half above the surface of the earth. In the space between the surface
and the eaves were loop-holes. The roof was of heavy pine timber,
closely joined, sloping upward slightly from circumference to centre,
and covered with two feet of tamped earth. To obtain water, a second
covered way led from the earthwork to a spring fifty yards distant,
the outer entrance being concealed in a rocky nook screened in a thick
clump of willows.
As we were climbing into our ambulance, preparatory to resuming our
journey, Brenda said:
"If you had reached here three hours earlier you might have had the
company of two gentlemen who are riding to La Paz."
"Sorry I did not meet them. Who were they?"
"Mr. Sage and Mr. Bell from Prescott. They are going to purchase goods
for their stores; and that reminds me that not one of you has
mentioned the object of this journey of yours."
"That is really so," I replied. "You have made every minute of our
call so interesting in showing us your improvements and the fort, and
in doing the hospitable, that we have not thought of ourselves. Frank,
tell her about the ponies."
Sergeant Frank, aided by Sergeant Henry, told in full of the loss of
their animals, and said we intended to try to capture Texas Dick and
Juan Brincos and recover Sancho and Chiquita.
At the end of the boys' story, Brenda asked: "The thieves were a
Mexican and an American?"
"Yes."
"The American had a scar on the bridge of his nose, and the Mexican
had lost his front teeth?"
"Exactly. What do you know about them, Brenda?"
"They were here, but I did not see their ponies nearer than the
stable; they were black and cream color. The Mexican traded saddles
with uncle. You'll find the one he left in the lean-to, on a peg
beside the door."
Both boys leaped to the ground and ran round the house to the lean-to,
and presently returned with Henry's neat McClellan saddle. It had been
stripped of its pouches and small straps, but was otherwise unharmed.
"Well, when I come back with Chiquita, Mr. Arnold, I'd like to trade
saddles."
"All right, youngkett, I'll trade, or you can take it now, and
welcome," replied the ranchman.
"No; I'll leave it until I return."
The saddle was taken back to the lean-to, and after a few more words
of leave-taking we started up the valley. A few miles of rapid
travelling brought us to a steep ascent into a mountainous range to
the right. We had proceeded but a short distance through a narrow and
rugged roadway when we were overtaken by the military expressman whom
we had left at Fort Whipple. He had come from Prescott to Skull Valley
by a short cut.
"I have a letter for you, lieutenant," said he, approaching the
ambulance.
Unfastening the mail-pouch, he turned its contents upon the back seat.
A heap of loose letters and three well-worn books strewed themselves
over the cushion. Frank picked up the books and examined their titles.
"Xenophon's _Memorabilia_, Euripides' _Alcestis_ and _Medea_, and a
Greek grammar!" exclaimed the astonished youngster. "What are you
doing with these college text-books on the La Paz trail?"
"Making up conditions," replied the courier, a blush deepening the
brown of his face.
"What are conditions?" asked Henry.
"Oh, blissful ignorance! Why was I not spared the task of enlightening
it?" answered the courier. "Conditions are stumbling-blocks placed in
the way of successful trackmen, football players, and rowing men by
non-appreciative and envious professors."
"'Joseph Gould Hudson, University of Yalvard,'" read Frank from the
fly-leaf of the _Memorabilia_. "Is that your name, Mr. Hudson?"
"I'm so borne on the Yalvard catalogue."
"Please explain, Mr. Hudson," I said, "how a college boy happens to be
in Arizona running the gantlet of this mail-route and making up
conditions in Greek?"
"I was stroke in the crew that won the championship for Yalvard at New
London one year ago, and got behind in these. I was conditioned, and
being ashamed to face an angry father, struck out for myself on the
Pacific coast. I drifted about from mining-camp to cattle-range until
I was dead broke; this place offered, and I took it because I could
find nothing else. I've had lots of opportunities for reflection on
the Xuacaxélla. I'm the repentant prodigal going home to his father."
"Oh, you are no prodigal, Mr. Hudson," observed Henry. "We've heard
all about you; you are too brave."
"Thank you, Sergeant Henry. No, I've not wasted my substance in
riotous living, nor have I eaten husks, but I've been prodigal in
wasting opportunities."
"Lost a whole college year, haven't you?" I asked.
"I hope not. There is a German university man at La Paz who has been
coaching me. He thinks if I keep at work until after Christmas I can
go on with my old class. This is my last trip, and if I escape the
Apaches once more I'm going to lay off and work hard for a few months,
and then return to New Havbridge for examination. There's something in
that letter that concerns me."
Opening the letter, I learned that Captain Bayard knew Mr. Hudson's
story. He said this was to be the last trip of the courier, but that
after his return to La Paz he would come out to meet me at Tyson's
Wells and report whether the horse-thieves were in town. He also
suggested that in establishing a transshipment storehouse at the
steamboat-landing I place Hudson in charge. The pay would be of use to
him while "making up."
The courier wished us a pleasant journey, and rode away at a
scrambling canter up the pass. He had been gone but a few moments when
I heard a shout, and, looking up, saw him standing on a pinnacle by
the way-side, on the summit of the ascent. He was looking in the
opposite direction, and I saw him fire three shots from his carbine in
rapid succession. Dismounting the men, I made rapid preparations to
meet an attack, and proceeded to work our way slowly up the height,
and when we reached the narrow level at the top we found Hudson and
the two soldiers that formed our advance occupying a shelter among the
rocks to the left, and gazing down the opposite slope.
"What is it, Hudson?" I asked.
"A party of Indians attempted to jump me here. There they go
now--across that opening in the sage-brush!"
A dozen Indians dashed across an open space south of the road, but too
far away for effective shooting, and then two more passed over,
supporting a third between them.
"You must have hit one of them."
"I tried to. I think another was hurt more seriously, by the way he
acknowledged my shot."
"Are you hurt?"
"A slight scratch on the arm near the shoulder, and my horse is hurt."
An examination of Hudson's arm proved that the scratch was not
serious, but I thought it best to exchange his horse for one belonging
to a soldier. We then went on, Frank and I walking in advance of the
ambulance mules.
"There's something down there in the road by Ferrier's grave, sir,"
said Corporal Duffey. "Looks like a dead man."
"Is that where Ferrier was killed?" I asked.
"Yes, sir; I was in command of the detail that came here to look him
up. He had built a little stone fort on that knoll up yonder, and kept
the redskins off three days. He kept a diary, you remember, which we
found. He killed six of them, and might as many more, but he couldn't
live without sleep or food, and the rascals got him. They scattered
the mail in shreds for miles about here."
"Who was Ferrier?" Frank asked.
"He was a discharged California volunteer, who rode the express before
Mr. Hudson."
"Do you think Mr. Hudson knew his predecessor had been killed?"
"Yes; the incident was much talked of at the time."
We were nearing the object in the road. Suddenly the mules caught
sight of it, backed, and crushed the ten-gallon keg under the axle
against a bowlder--a serious mishap, as our after experience will
show. Walking on, we came to the mutilated bodies of two men, several
yards apart, whom we had no difficulty in recognizing to be the
tradesmen Bell and Sage. With axe, bayonets, and tin cups we dug a
shallow grave beside Ferrier's. We placed the bodies side by side, and
heaped a pyramid of stones above them.
The courier again bade us good-bye, and we went on. The rest of the
ride through the mountain-pass was accomplished without adventure, and
evening found us encamped at Willow Springs. The boys shot a few quail
here, of the variety known as the California quail, distinguished by
an elegant plume of six feathers on the top of its head. Clary broiled
them for breakfast.
The road on the following day was so rough that for much of the way
we were unable to move faster than a walk--the slow walk of draught
animals. When near a place called Soldiers' Holes, on account of some
rifle-pits sunk there, the corporal called my attention to a pool of
blood in the road.
A close examination led us to believe that two men had fallen, that
one had been wounded, and that a second party had come and taken the
wounded man away. The locality was well adapted for a surprise. On the
left was a growth of dense shrubbery extending from the road to the
foot of the mountain-range. On the opposite side was an open plain.
We were moving on again, when Frank remarked:
"There seems to have been a big gathering of Apaches along this road."
"Yes; a war-party bent on mischief. They have struck at two points,
and I fear a third--Date Creek--may have been attacked by this time.
That is where we are to pass the night." Then turning to Corporal
Duffey, I continued: "The road from here to the creek is soft and
loamy, and we are not likely to make much noise; caution the men to
be quiet and not show themselves outside the track. If the Indians are
at the ranch it will be best for us to appear there unexpectedly."
"Do Indians never stand up like white men, and fight?" asked the
younger boy.
"Frequently, but their system is different from ours; however, our
latest military tactics appear to be modelled on theirs."
Although this section of our journey was but twenty-five miles long,
our rate of progress had been so slow that the day was nearly closed
when we came in sight of the lines of cottonwoods that bordered Date
Creek. We turned at last sharply to the left, and began a descent
through a narrow ravine towards the creek. We were nearing its
widening mouth when a half-dozen sharp reports of fire-arms broke upon
our ears. A halt was ordered and the men directed to prevent the
animals from betraying our presence by whinnying or braying. Telling
Sergeant Henry to remain behind and keep Vic with him, I went in
advance with Sergeant Frank.
"What do you think is going on?" asked my companion, as several more
reports rang out.
"What I feared; the Apaches are attacking the men who went out to
bring in the dead and wounded men at Soldiers' Holes."
"And if Mr. Hudson was not the wounded man there, I suppose he is sure
to be in this scrape. Why not rush in with the escort and frighten
them away?"
"They may be too many for us," I answered, "and it will be prudent to
learn the situation at the ranch before we go nearer. I want to join
the white men without the Indians' knowledge, if possible."
"If Mr. Hudson is not dead, he must know we are here."
"He may be there, and the men may know we are on the road, but it
certainly does not look like it."
"Can't Vic be sent with a message?"
"No; she will not take a message to a stranger."
We had now reached a point from which we could see a log cabin, a
stable, and an open shed or tool-house. On the side of the buildings
towards us, as if screening themselves from an enemy in the opposite
direction, were a few men.
"If you would like me to, sir, I can crawl to the house without being
seen," said Frank. "That cart, wagon, oven, and stack will screen me."
"Yes, you can do it easily. Tell Mr. Hopkins that we are
here--seventeen, counting you two boys--and to make no demonstration
when we close up. I will explain a plan to him which, I think, will
enable us to teach the Apaches a lesson. If you find Mr. Hudson there,
tell him to show himself at a window or do
Showing first 200,000 characters. Full text: gutenberg.org/ebooks/18352