American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1874-08-29

VOL. XIV.

not easily be surprised. and quietly
amusing myself while resting with build
ing castles in the air and writing eXecra
bic sonnets in my diary One day
while lying thus listlcssly beneath
clump of manzanita, | did not get III
| when my flock began to stir but allowed
| them to gradua ly scatter in all direc
| tions over one of those little parks l have
described. They did not seem inclined
to move in any particular direction but
Just kept extending themselves on al
! sides from common center until they
occupied an extent of perhaps five acres
of ground. Suddenly some of the mum
Der took fright at something, and with
that unaccountable celebrity common
to herds or droves communicated
| their fears to the rest of the flock, and
in an instant the whole mass that had
been feeding so quietly a moment before
were rushing at the top of their speed
| toward the center, each one wheeling
sharp about and running in an opposite
direction, and almost instantly
- punching the flock so completely that
one might have walked over their backs
with ease. | was startled out of my rev
erie by the pattering whir-r-r of their
| rushing feet, and saw instantly that
something unusual had caused their
| fright. Often such launching was caused
by the vamosing of Il disturbed coyote
| or jack rabbit; but this time their fright
seemed more thorough than | had ever
before observed, each one striving to
penetrate the flock so as 20 gain the pro
lection of his comrades. did not change
my position in the least, but lay perfectly
quiet, listening and looking with senses
rendered doubly acute by the danger
which | almost fancied / could detect in
the air My position was very favorable
for screening my person, but untor-
tunately gave the same opportunities to
any assailants might have.
All at once my heart jumped into my
mouth for a single instant. and then my
nerves seemed changed into chilled steel
wires as l saw the coppery, snakey form
OF an Apache, about forty yards distant,
slowly rise from perfectly prone posi-
ton to one on the hands and knees, and
peer glaringly about. 1t was clear from his
manner that he was in doubt as to my
exact position, owing, l suppose, to the
fact that invariably moved some dis
lance from the spot where | was last Wis
ible whenever l lay down, in order to
prevent them from marking my cover,
and SO creeping easily upon me.
The savage's body, through a little
opening - the bushes, was completely
exposed to my aim while he remained
in his attitude of intense listening; and,
with scarce a movement, / laid the barrel
of the rifle in the palm of my left hand,
and, with the elbow on the ground as
rest, took deliberate aim and drew the
trigger. He fell heavily forward at the
sharp report which followed: and l am
certain that the angel who keeps the
great book wherein are recorded the
deeds done in the flesh here opened the
same, turned to the letter II, ran his eye
down it until he came to Reed, J. r., and
under the heading of GOOD Deeds"
then and there credited me with having
made 'good Indian" out of very bad
material.
But, great heavens! what a change was
wrought in that hitherto quiet scene by
the sharp port of my rifle as it rang
out on the still air! Instantly twenty.
five or thirty red devils arose from as
many hiding places and gave such a
hideOus yell that the demons of the infer
nal regions might well have taken les
son in their art from it. hey evidently
supposed that one of their number mad
discovered me and had fired the shot.
But their yells suddenly leased as |
sprang from my own cover, rifle in hand,
in order to get correct idea of the stu
alton, just where my enemies were and
what ought to do. | saw that the band
had surrounded the thicket where they
supposed l was, but which proved
to be the wrong one, and that the
brave l had slain was probably
the only one who had crawled into
dangerous Proximity to me. They
quickly discovered their error, and their
appalling yells at once ceased, while each
one darted to cover like so many fright
ened cartridges. One alone remained
exposed. He was evidently the chief of
the band, and had remained at some dis
lance away and, thinking himself out of
reach of danger, stood boldly out, and in
short, sharp sentences seemed to be di-
recting the movements of the rest, who
were now darling from covert to covert
for the purpose of surrounding me. He
was about 300 yards distant, and /, who
knew myself, with my trained Henry, to
be able to shoot into the size of a hat
crown all day at at distance, almost
chuckled as | recognized how thoroughly
he was deceiving himself. Raising my
rifle l took IA rapid aim and fired He
broke short off in the midst of IL COM
mand, leaped nearly his owD height in
the air, and fell. Instantly every Indian
of the rest of the band arose, and, with
terrible howl, poured in upon me their
fire.
felt sharp sting in my left shoulder
as / returned the fire before they could
again get concealed, and made up my
mind that l must go into more shell
tered spot, as l would soon fall. Taking
advantage of their momentary dIstrac-
ton at the loss of their chief, | lodged
under the cover of the b. shes, and then
ran swiftly at right angles to my assail-
ants toward a bare peak at some little
distance, whose rocky top would afford
me kind of forti cation. They
OWNED that l had fled very
quickly, but were deceived as to
my course of fight, and it was not until
| was half-way-lo my intended position
that they discoyhesd the point for which
was making. They then pursued with
shots and frightful yells, but few
bounds more and | gained the top and
found it far better for my purpose than
| had anticipated. 1t had loose rocks
enough to afford ample protection, while
the ground for about 100 yards on all
sides was perfectly bare. / turned the
moment l gained the summit and sent a
ball at the foremost of my pursuers, who
had just emerged from the bushes He
gave yell and darted back again into
the cover, as did all his companions as
soon as they saw that did not intend
fleeing any further, for there is not
bravery enough in the whole Apache
tribe to enable them to march up openly
in the face of a repeating rifle in the hands
of determined, desperate man. Like
most other indians they must have some
protection for heir bodies, or their bray
cry soon vanishes in the air.
And just allow me to pause one mo-
ment here to make the assertion that of
upward of twenty tribes of Indians with
I, f,.,