Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-03-16

| Black Mesa beyond. Later still that night,
| slipping and sliding down the jagged
sides Of dark canyon, Indians again
/ hopelessly behind. we reached sheltered spot
where there was water and grass for our stock,
and here we rolled ourselves in our blankets
and slept till dawn and then had good look
about us. Nine of our scouts" had managed
| TO crawl in, the rest were gone. Here we break
tasted, inspected our horses feet. and found
| that, although every horse and mule had been
| carefully attended to by the blacksmiths and
paniers before we started, four had cast shoes
IN the scramble up and down the rocks and
| twenty or more had loosened theirs
The next night, crossing in its course three
! deep and rock-ribbed canyons we struggled
| along. Three times the Indians were ordered up
| 70 the 'front.' but each time they managed TO
| slip back IN the darkness. Tonic" signs had
been discovered soon before sunset. Fresh sig
nal fires blazed against the northern sky and
| these poor devils were evidently convinced
that we were tramping straight into the jaws OF
| destruction. l say ''tramplng" adyisedly, be-
cause not until late at night did we mount at
! all 1t was all climb or scramble. but about 10
! o clock Sergeant Taylor and Trooper Frank
Blhar, who were formost feeling the way
halted, and when L joined them. pointed to
what appeared to be a broad dark batch against
the low eastern sky and said, There are the
woods, sir; We must be nearing the road" At
midnight we found the trail of the cattle; had
looked upon the star-deched surface of Stone
mans lake; had lost our scouts entirely and
half the shoes in the command.
FROM WARN To COLD.
When we left Verde our comrades were wear
ing light summer clothing all day long and no
fires were IN sight except for cooking purposes.
Here we had climbed so high that the water
| troze solid in our canteens. At $50 in the
morning seven of our hapless scouts came
lmping into the bivouac. All heap sick" yet
able to eat like hounds. We pointed ont the
cattle tracks. told them they could rest and
sleep until 1 III the afternoon, then we would
/ push ahead through the woods until we reached
their eastern verge and wait there until dark
before riding out across the open mesa
II they could keep up, well and good; if
they couldn't, they might go to the devil
They were only in the way anyhow.
Through thick and beautiful growth Of
pine and cedar We tripped briskly along late
that afternoon. noting silently the occasional
hoof prints and cattle signs reached high
transverse ridge at sunset; waited while for
our valuable allies. and finding that one OF them
had really cut his foot on piece OF flint,
Welded to his opportunities and tumbled him
up on spare mule. He thought he was going
back home, but found to his disgust he had
| to come along. and late that night were
getting down toward Snow lake. he fell into q
doze, his mule started at something by the trail
side, and tumbled him off on his head cutting
a big cash and otherwise delaying proceedings
half an hour or SO while Eaton patched him up.
! The next day, October 81. we were close at the
! heels of our quarry and still keeping under
cover. We wanted not only to get the cattle
but to include the Apaches.
THE FIRST SIGHT.
Late that afternoon, just as the sun began to
throw long shadows across the hollows in the
Mesa we peered over the crest of low range
and there, z miles in front and just entering
detile known as Jarvis pass, we caught sight Of
our missing steers Two or three men and the
Indian scouts were left with Harry HAYES TO
look after the pack train; the rest of US reset
our saddles, took an extra loop on the cinchas
looked to the breech locks Of our carbines and
the chambers OF the revovers Officers and men
went armed, dressed and equipped alike in
Arizona. We had no more use for swords than
we had for shoulder knots. Then mount
was the word and. moving slowly and cautiously
at first we rode to the crest. formed line. and
then-there was 40 help tor it since the coun-
try was an open undulating surface destitute of
shelter for over miles, struck into rapid trot
next. as We reached the level below. without
word Of command bugle call, or any of the
stirring Accomplishments of other warfare. the
riders simply conforming to the gait OF their
leader, away we went at the gallop.
SURROUNDING THE CATTLE
Ours were the short coupled, stocky Cali
fornia horses, not very fast but very useful for
mountain climbing; it seemed to me an uncon-
scionable time before we were half across the
plain, and then the men began to open out
little SO as to surround the cattle as We neared
them and at the same time be less "bunched"
in case the Apaches were lurking in ambuscade
in the rocks beyond. Eagerly as looked, not
a hostile Indian could / see. nor, indeed did
expect to see until We hustled them out OF their
holes. Alarmed by the thunder of advancing
hoofs and the irrepressible cheering of some of
the men the cattle were beginning to trot wildly
about with tails and heads alike in air, but all
sight of their captors was denied US. As we
no
of and some. in their eagerncss. through them
we closed in tritle, confidently expecting to
be greeted by shots from the rocky entrance
to the pass. Even at the gallop quick eyes
could detect the print of Tonton m0ccasns in
the soft earth of the roadway, but not shot
nor a sound was there. Warned by the signal
fires, they had kept sharp lookout to the crest
and so soon as our coming was detected they
had scattered for the nearest height shrewdly
arguing that so long as we had got the cattle
We could afford to let the captors go.
THE INDIANS.
But that wasn't Gen. Crooks idea of dealing
with these renegades at all As soon as it was
dusk, leaving four men and the used-up Indian
to drive the herd back by slow and easy stages
to the valley, we pushed ahead that night
through Jarvis pass, forcing our few Apache
1umas to keep alongside, and at l in the morn
ing We found ourselves in the heart of the
''Sunset Pass" only IL miles from the Colorado
mountains was the likeliest place for the rene
gades to rest, believing themselves safe from
further pursuit, and here we hid in a deep can
yon until dawn; and here again our scouts pro-
tested. mo Tonic! No Tonic! No Injun,"
until we showed them the prints of the moe
casins under their very n0ses-and here on
Sunday, the LIST of November, climbing the
high mountain to the south, we caught the
scamps and carried out our orders. Our little
squad of allies turned tail and ran at the very
frGf firn and d III,
Justified; the hostiles were many and the fight
was lively for while. l wrote no letters for
many week thereafter, nor fired another shot
from the right shoulder from that day to this.
but there was no more cattle thieving in the
upper Verde. CHARLES KING, U. S. A.
A Poker Story.
From the Minneapolis Tribune.
81 can tell you poker story that did not come
out during the Doodle investigation, although