Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1893-04-23

signal fire mean? Hcrc get those men
out 10 the front al onCe We must push
ahead for an we're worth"
Aud 80 at Midnight with stoeds pant
ing and ladcd, with the pass and the
Picacho only four miles ahead, the little
detachment was tripping noiselcsaly
through the darkness, and, OH alert and
eager Drummond was riding midway be-
tween his scouts and the main body so
that no sound close &C hand might dis
tract his attention from halls or angals
further out. Suddenly he heard an OK
cl0mation ahead, the snort Of q fright
cned horse, then some muiiled objurga-
tions rider urging a reluctant steed 10
approach some suspicious object, and,
squirting hrs own spirited charger for.
ward, Drumm0nd came presently upon
the corporal just dismOuntlhg In the dark
ness and striving 10 lead his boon COM
panion, whom he could NOT drive, mn 10
some dark object lying on the plain.
This too. failed A low whistle, how
ever, brought one of the other scouts
trottlng IN to the rescue.
Hold him q minute, Burke" said the
corporal, handing up the reins. There's
something ont here this brute ahiod at
and ] can't get him near II again" With
that he pushed out 30 the front while the
Others listened expectant- a moment
later match was struck and presently
burned brightly Ia the black and breath
less night, Then came the startled cry
My GOdl lieutenant lts Corporal
Donovan aud his horse both dead"
And even there Drummond noted that
Bland was about the hrst Of the column
20 come hurying forward 20 The scene.
Ten minutes investigation threw but
little light upon the tragedy Some
siumps of candles We're found Ia the
saddlebags and packs, and with these
the man secured the plains for signs
Spreading well out from the center they
closely examined the sandy level From
the north came the trail of two cavalry
horses shod alike, both 40 the lope, both
draggy and weary. From the point
whore lay Donovan and his steed there
WAS but one horse track. Whirling
sharply around, tho rider had sent his
mount al laundering gallOp back across
the valley; then hundred yards away,
In long curve, had refined him to the
southeast The troopers who followed
the hoof marks out about an eighth Of
q mile declared that, unwounded, both
horse and rider were making The best
of their way toward Moreno's ranch.
Further search, not fifty yards 20 the
front revealed the fact that at the edge
Of "a little depression and behind some
cactus bushes three human forms had
been lying prone, and from this pOini
probably had sped the deadly bullet.
"Apachesm muttered one Of the men
"Apaches, your grandmother" was the
sergenut's fierce reply "Will you never
learn sense, MoOrci When did Apaches
take TO wearing store clothes aud heeled
bOotsY There's no Apache 10 this, Lieu
tenant. Look here, sir, and here. Move
out further, some Of yon fellows, and
see where they hid their horses. Cor
p0rai Donovan was With q troop down
the ella last week. sir They were 70
meet and escort The paymastcr most Ike
It's my belief be was one of the guard
and that the ambulance has been jumped
this very night These are road agents
not Apaches; and God knows what's
happened III they've got away with
Patsy. Sure be- was one ~ toe neFFiest
men in the whole troop. SIR
DrummOnd listened. every nerve a.
tingie, even while with hurried bands
% cut open Che shirt at the prawny
throat aud feit Tor huttering heart beats
% ialniest sign ~ lie Useless The
shot nolc under the left eye told plainly