The Press., 1892-01-21

its man. Still, true to the habits oi theirrace, they did not, as they went of. leave one brave behind.
 ssEven in: the midst of our fighting fury we could but admire the rude chiv- airy or superstitious piety which i'm pelled these children of the desert to carry of every last one of their wounded or dead comrades-and the performance itself was wonderful Wherever lay Q fallen brave there would ride two war riors, one on each side, who without for an instant checking their ponies would stoop swiftly down, and seizing the prostrate form between them bear ii off beyond the reach of possible dishonor.
 .sNone of the enemy retreated to the pass, but all made for the great couiee and shortly disappeared within it's depths. Not one of our party had thus far received B scratch, and so short and all absorbing had been the fight that, but for the dead bronchos scattered about the plain and the keen eyed vul- tures already lowering aloft, we might we'll have supposed the whole affair a wild phantasmagoria of q troubled mid day dream.
 Captain Jim was greatly elated at our successful defense and unstinted in his praise of our steadiness. .Ef we kin give the pisen sarpints 'nuther sich a dose, boys, he exclaimed, i've won't need ter think uv 'em no more. fur all crea- ton wouldn't coax 'em in no third time. But I reckon they won't Tow us no chance ter do it. More'n likely they'll try on the stayin out dodge now, or mebbee night 'sprise, fur the Apache Iniuns is bout the only tribe that'll fight in the dark, and they'd ruther not onless they've got mighty sure thing uv it.
 "The afternoon, was wearing away; four o'clock had come; no sign of an enemy was to be seen, and the captain called little council of war to consider the feasibility of replenishing our store of water from spring which, he said, was situated at short distance within the pass. As this was no farther away from us than was the head of the cou- lee. 1t was finally agreed that six volun- teers should take the saddle horses, kept for hunting purposes, and. singing a ten gallon keg between each two of them, make the attempt, the remainder of us agreeing to give an alarm in case the Indians again showed up.
 Accordingly the party, armed only with revolvers, set out on their impor- tant mission, and we saw them enter the defile, apparently unnoticed. Ten min .utes passed in silence, and then we. were startled to hear resounding war whoop, succession of rapidly fired pistol shots and the loud shouts of our men as, E partly mixed up with, partly pursued by, g. band of twenty Apaches, they rode helter skelter, and always fighting out of the jaws of death. while at the same instant, from the coulee, rushed once more the main body of savages, who, speeding along at the base of the triangle, sought to get between the re- treating horseInen and the corral.
 "sGreat snakesr roared Burrows, now at last raging like lion, sthe cunnin varmints hez fooled old Jim this time! Stiddy, boys, stiddyl Them fellers'll hey ter fight ther way in or we'll all go under. No! nary man break cover, an don't shoot till they git clost up, SOS we kin pick off the reds from 'mong them.'
 .'But the gallant six, as it proved, did not require our help, for, when yet two hundred yards from the wagons, they had reduced the number of their treacher- ous assailants to thirteen, and these, see ing the game was played out, turned tail and fled to the heavier force, now about twice that distance from us and them selves.
 'sOur men then iarted into the opening emade by displaced wagon, the gap was again closed, and we proceeded to take stock of damages. Every man of the
 IrOic siy niau ,,..,,,--- wounds, but none were disabled. All their horses, too, had been struck, and one of them nfterward died.
 "Gus Taylor was in command of this squad, and it was solely owing to his prudence that single member of 1t es- caped. It seems that he took his men to the margin of the spring, but caused four of them to remain mounted, while the other two began to fill the kegs, into which. however, they had dipped only a few gallons when the ambushed Indians, then numbering twenty-five, emerged from behind the nearest point of rock, fortunately forty yards distant, and poured among thema flight of arrows, instantly answered by volley from their ready revoivers. Three of the sav- ages fell at this fire, and two more at the next, and by the time the remaining twenty had closed up our fellows were all in their saddles and away. Taylor concluded by saying that if his party had carried only single. shooters all would inevitably have been slain, but the yepeaters so surprised the enemy, none of whom had been in the first fight, that they were half demoralized from the start.
 pPerceiving that all their schemes had so far failed, the hostiles now be- gan regular blockade, intending, doubtless, to keep tup until want of water should compel us either to surren- der or charge out on them, to be over- whelmed by numbers in hand to hand fight.
 "Reverting to their old time practices, they all that evening until nightfall circled about the plain on every side, but always beyond rifieshot, and the last thing we saw was strong party entering the pass to guard the precious water, while the greater body returned to the coulee..
 Z "Then we quietly enjoyed hearty supper-the wounded men as much as any-a double watch was set, and those 5 not on guard dropped off to sleep. But the hardy guide, who seemed proof against fatigue, never closed an eye. The nigbt was intensely dark, and up to ten o'clock not sound except the gen tle trampling of our cattle broke the op- pressive silence. Then, first one by one and shortly in combined chorus of snarling yelps, there foated through the stygian gloom the herrid concert of prowling coyotes and buffalo wolves, al ready engaged in their loathsoms feast.