The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-04-05
The aahita Daily Eagle Saturday gornne april s. 1890.

the meat of our mountain sheep-after which
both men fell into the deep, lethargic sleep of
utter exhaustion.
We attended to the burros and straight
ened I'D the camp and awaited the awaken
ing of the prospectors to learn the manner
in which they had been placed in such
strange predicament and distressing condi-
ton. They awoke late in the afternoon and
Joined heartily in the evening meal They
gave the names of Jerry Rooney and David
Briggs, and after supper Briggs relapsed
into slumbsr, while his more sturdy compan-
ion proceeded to relate the circumstances Of
their strange and painful experience, which
was, in purport, as follows:
A few weeks previous the men left Utah, to
go to the United Verde copper mines in the
Yavapai country, Arizona, following the
Lees ferry road. Being attracted by some
mountains, they left the road for the purpose
Of prospecting them for the precious metals,
and soma days later found themselves r1u-
ding short Of water. They had encountered
some water tanks in coming out on the desert,
and had made up their minds TO retrace their
way to the road by these, and then proceed
south, when they met with the almost in
credible experience whico nearly resulted in
their death. Just at dawn one morning
Rooney was surprised bat delighted to see
small troop Of cavalry riding by, and calling
the attention Of his companion to the fact,
hailed them. To use Rooney's language, "tbey
was a most curious set of chaps, and wore
uniforms like none ever saw, aud although
they were only a bit of a ways off, they didn't
seem to make any noise riding. You may
not believe it, but when l passed the time Of
day. what did those crazy soldiers do but
bout face, and take shot right square at
US, but their guns didn't make any noise at
all. This scared Dave and me bad enough,
but it put the devil into the mules and they
run off like wild. The brutes and the sol
diers went out of sight at the same time, but
while l could see the direction the mules took
I'll never know whether the uncivil troop
went up in the air or were swallowed by the
ground; they just faded away" 1t was not
until the day following their strange meeting
with the mysterious soldiers that the unfortu-
nate prospectors regained their pack animals
and for a week afterwards they had been
travelling over the desert, four days without
any water. They reached the spot in the
canyon the day previous to our discovery Of
them, for which alone they could rejoice that
it had not became their tomb.
Rooney'S story was peculiar in but one re-
specific meeting with the soldiers. 1t was
utterly impossible that the military would
show such incivility under any circumstan-
ces, and their presence in that section was ex-
tremely improbable. 1t was off all usual lines
of their travel, and as the Painted Desert is
not inhabited by white men, and is religiously
avoided by all Indian tribes, through some
great superstition, no reason could be assigned
for an expedition of troops to that desolate
region To the phenomenon of the mirage or
the effect OF a fevered Imagination did we at
tribute this portion of Rooney's tale; but
while we gave it no credence, it at the same
time decided us upon making a trip to the
mountains where the prospectors had met
their queer experience, in the hope that adj
venture would fall to our lot.
Two days subsequent we assisted the pros
pectors out of the canyon and turned back
on our new enterprise of exploration, not
withstanding the most earnest protests and
enreaties to the contrary on the part of the
two grateful men. A week later we were
somewhere in the neighborhood Of the spot
where Rooney and Briggs had been over
taken by misfortune and strange to say our
situation was scarcely more pleasant than
that described by them. 1t is true that we
selves on a mountain surrounded by impass-
able canyons, and were even unable, after a
search of two days, to locate the place by
which we came upon the plateau, much less
to discover another route of egress.
One afternoon, after having left Ackley to
look after the camp for two or three hours,
Waite and l, upon returning from another
futile search for a passage more important to
TO ha icaI
at a statement he made, which was to the
effect that two or three times since our alb
sence he had distinctly heard a military call
sounded on a bugle. Ackley was much
alarmed and highly excited, declaring that if
we were destined to starve to death we should
ali die together like men, but that he would
never again submit to being left alone in that
accursed region. That he was deeply in earn |
est, and momentarily expected an attack |
from the spectral troop the prospectors had
told about, was made evident by the fact that /
he had tied up to immense ricks, with double /
ropes, two of our pack burros. While we
laughed at his fears, for my part I was not so /
confident in my own mind as to feel entirely /
at ease.
After the evening meal and while we were
discussing our plans for the morrow, no |
ticed the color suddenly leave the face of /
Ackley, who was sitting on a rock opposite /
me, and in great excitement and terror he /
exclaimed: My God, here they come! We /
are gone this time, boys"
As | turned to look in the direction of his |
gaze the sound of trumpet, in notes weird |
and supernatural, broke on the quiet still /
air. In the wonderfully bright, yet uncer- /
tain twilight of that high altitude, the sight .
which was then presented was strange, !
startling and uuaccountable, and created an
impression of grave apprehension and mys- /
FERROUS danger that can never be effaced .
from my memory. Apparently emerging /
from a canyon which formed junction with .
one Of those we desired to cross was an officer 1
aud several mounted troopers, and as they /
moved slowly along by twos, their number |
at least reached twenty-five or thirty The .
men were richly uniformed, partially in .
armor, and wore helmets trimmed in gay
colors while their horses were heavily capari-
soned. The soldiers carried lances and .
shields, while only at their sides was there
any indication Of firearms
TO the military of another age could they
only belong, Vet by the appearance Of both
men and beasts was it plain that hard and
heavy service had but recently been per-
formed. Our establishment, fear and awe
were further inspired by the fact that while
the little troop was scarcely 100 yards dis
tant, the rattle of horses feet upon the
earth chatting of bits, jiugling of spurs,
creaklnE Of saddle and other sounds peculiar
to a moving squad of cavalry were all lack
movement was as still as death
itself. When az a point directly opposite
Us the rruDlper sounded and the rrO0D cana :