The Portland daily press., 1894-07-10
Thu Red SCAR,

IldG Is Un0 marx Oh an indian arrow,
Navajo arrow" said the colonel as he
applied a lighted splinter of cedar to his
cigar. This was said in answer to my re-
mark, calling attention to a dark red scar
on his right arm, about two inches above
the wriss, which was revealed as he
stretched out his arm toward the fire to
light the chip of wood.
The colonel and /, with our host, were
sitting around the stove one evening in
October when the nights were getting
chilly. We were living at a ranch which
was situated among the foothills Of a
range of mountains lying in New Mexico
to the east of the Rio Grande. The colonel
had driven 80 miles that day in his two
horse buggy, and having as far again to
go before he reached his destination he
had stopped at the ranch for the night,
availing himself of that hospitality which
is SO freely offered to travellers by all ranch
men in the Wild west
Tell us the story, colonel" said our
host, relighting his pipe and leaning back
comfortably in the rocking chair.
The colonel was an old Indian fighter
and had seen some rough work in the
winning of the west.'' With the prelimi-
nary well, which seems the usual way
for an American to begin story, the colo
mel commenced:
The Navajoes, a powerful tribe to the
west of the Rio Grande, had for long been
on the warpath, robbing and numbering
white settlers, more especially at isolated
mining camps, until most of the mines
were left tenantless, the owners having
either been wiped out" or obliged to flee
to the towns or more settled districts.
The government was at length reused to
take steps to end this state of things. A
strong force, composed principally of cav
airy, was sent out against the Navaioes,
marching through their country, destroy
ing their towns and killing many of the
tribe in numerous engagements and skir-
mishes.
Finally they returned, escorting about
5000 prisoners. ] was there with the til
cavalry, and pretty busy time we had of
it rounding up these redskins. They were
marched to Fort S. and located close to the
fort, being kept within their camp by cav
airy patrols. In spite of our utmost vigi-
lance, several small parties of Indians es-
capped. AS the force at the disposal of the
commandment was not large enough to fol-
low all the scattered bands of fugitives, I
got orders to raise a company of scouts in
order to patrol the range of mountains ly-
ing between the fort and the Navajo coun-
try.
After considerable time and no end Of
difficulty got together band of as thor
ough rufffans as it was ever my lot to see.
These were hunters, trappers, scouts, min
ers, Indians, half breeds, ruined gamblers
and scan,ps Of every kind and nation, but
all well used to Indian fighting and In
dian ways. I may mention that this was
the band which my old friend, Mayne
Reid, calls the scalp hunters
After the expenditure of good amount
of time and temper, not to mention phys
ical force, 1 managed to get them into
some sort of discipline. With this band I
was camping out on the east side of the
mountains when news was brought from
the fort that band of 600 Indians had es-
capped and were making their way west
ward. They would be obliged to cross the
mountains by one of three passes. We were
encamped at the center pass, and the pass
es ON either side of us were 80 miles apart
from each other After consulting with
my chief scout, Mexican called Santos,
we agreed that they would probably make
for the north pass and would likely send a
small party on ahead to see if the coast
was clear. So we resolved to make a rec
onnoissance in that direction.
Leaving the main body Of the men with
orders to watch the south pass as well as
the center one, I rode off with Santos.
taking tive led mules with us. AS we ex-
pected, we found the trail of the scouting
party and soon came in sight of them, or
rather of a cloud of dust which they raised
as they made their way toward the noun
tains. Keeping we'll out of sight, we
passed them and made for spring where
I expected the Indians would camp. We
rode hard all day, and toward sunset ar
rived in the neighborhood of the spring.
Hating about a mile from it, Santos dis
mounted and crawled forward among the
sagebrUsh. On examining the ground,
he saw that the Indians had not been
there. We accordingly watered the horses
and then retired to a canyon about 200
yards from the spring. 1t soon became
quite dark, and as there was no sign of
the Indians we went to sleep.
At daybreak next morning I went up
the side of the canyon, and crawling
through the sagebrush examined the
neighborhood with my glass. I discovered
the Indians encamped about 200 yards
from the spring, ON the farther side They
had arrived after dark and SO had not dis
covered our trail. AS l was watching
them through my glass and trying to
make out their numbers I saw sudden
movement in camp. They began to move
toward their horses, at the same time ges-
ticulating and pointing in our direction.
Looking behind me, to my dismay saw
column of smoke slowly rising in the air.
l knew at once what had happened.
had many a time expostulated with San
tos about his habit of smoking at incon-
venient times, and now after lighting his
cigarette he had managed to set the grass
ON tire. l at once crawled back through
the sagebrush, and as soon as was out
Of sight of the Indians [ arose to my feet
and ran down to our camp, where I found
Santos vainly endeavoring to beat out the
fire.
''No use now," said L ''We are discov-.
cred and must run for it,.
We mounted our horses, and leading
the mules set off at a galiop, the Indians
keeping on our left, to cut us off from the
fort, where they supposed we were going.
They did not actually chase us, but lust
kept along parallel to our course. and SO
we raced along over the plain, which was
Of sand and gravel, with a scanty growth
af orra7r1,,c fyraaS with hara o1d tboro d.