The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1894-12-11

O'Leary. Good noighti"
Good noighti'' and O'Leary saun-
tered over TO barracks by o ronte known
best to himself and unfrequented by pa
trolls after midnight.
q
The duty was not exciting. It might
prove only o 80 mile ride on his favorite
saddle horse across the weary, brown
desert under q grilling autumn sun, but
it was Hodgson's first detached service.
He was to ascertain the cause of delay
of the mail, and riding along he tugged
at his fatigue blouse to see If the order
given him by the adjutant ON leaving
the post was still in his pocket.
Hodgson was secretly glad OF this
field service and welcomed it as q par
tial escape from himself, for he was ex-
pecting an important letter-just how
important this story is written to show
and with expectancy, inaction and
heat he was getting nervous Chris
topherson might have drunk native
brandy and be lying by the roadside, or
his mule might have gone lame, as had
happened before, for the road from San
Carlos to Florence ylimbs the rocky
comb which crowns the ,Pinal divide,
as those who have nee travelled it well
remember. The Apaches may have ap-
propriated both mail and blackboard.
This last e~ventuality was so pleasingth that
Hodgson, being inexperienced, chung to
it closely until from familiarity the
idea seemed probable.
The commanding officer at Fort Mil
ton as well as his less versed subalterns
knew better, as Hodgson should have
known. The Chirachucas were ON the
reservation, all having drawn beef the
day before, else Wilson, with White
Mountain scouts, and not he, would
now be tracing up the mail. Besides
Apaches now rarely attacked mails
which were watched and protected, find
ing remote ranchers more profitable
prey, as their friendlessness often made
disappearance unknown and unnoticed.
These are the deductions of wiser men,
and Hodgson had but lately Joined, sc
he rode ON planning the attack and 10.
very snugly some hundred yards of the
Florence road where 10 reels Oh the
Pinal foothills to cross the Rio ella
just why Hodgson should have 10
Gated the attack ON the mail in this par.
ticular arroyo he himself probably could
not tell you and is no part of my story,
but that it actually occurred there Ii
mere coincidence, unless you credit teler
pathy, which I profess not to under,
stand. The locality was well chosen, Al
is easily seen by those who have passed
it. The inclosing hillsides of the arroyo
are covered with granite cairns, an6
they may have suggested to Hodgson't
excited brain cert;.in pictures from al
old ''art of war;" illustrating the de-
tense of stone structures showing loop
holes and crenulated fianking arrange
ments easily reproduced by imagination
from the freaks erosion had playet
among the patches of bastard granite
now exposed and left lying like greai
brown scars ON the bare bosom OF thil
narrow valley. ..a
The detachment halted on fording th,
Rio ella, and while O'Leary was wet
ting and filling the lieutenant's canteer
Hodgson's eyes were resting ON a foot
hill overlooking his chosen valley ant
from ID he was ~deploying his little
squad in rapid counter attack. Yes,
Christopherson had at that moment beer
surrounded, and he was Just i'm time *
protect the maill
In q moment the Apaches were re
pulsed, and he had saved from savag.
hands his letter. He had picked it NJ
from the ground. where they had drop
ped it, Yes, IL was the same old hand
writing ON the same ''old rose'' paper
as always before. He was just about tx
open it when reason, for some unaccoun
table freak, shone for an instant ON hi
vagary and asserted that, as Christie
pherson broke camp at Rillito arroyo OF
Friday morning, he could not possibly
have any concern with Apaches there OF
Saturday afternoon, and the absurdity
striking in his reverie took on o more
rational turn. OF course the mail haG
been attacked there Friday morning
and now he had picked up the trail,
was following it hot haste over ths
rugged Superstition range and wa
u6duluB Aux buC AOuE pc0h5Nu1 bu0 MAI
zatzals. He had followed this tortuous
arid trail many days and was ~rescuins
that precious letter, while his own tiret
saddle horse, heading the detachment
had borne him from Rio ella to Rillitt
arroyo, as the road winds 10 miles.
Hodgson was not even aware that b,
was nearing the arroyo, sc engrosset
was he with his imaginative war chase
until O'Leary, riding close behind,
called out, "Lootenant. they've been a
ut againl"
Starting from his r~everie, Hodgsor
saw white letters and papers litterine
the level road a few PAGES before them.
He rubbed his eyes to assure himself i
was not mirage, and as he rode up q
that his horse stepped on them he shud
dered at the uncanny coincidence
Spread before him was o fair reality q
follies that for hours had controlled hi
brain.
There was little to be told. The mai
had been emptied, the letters and pa
pers scattered about, but apparently un
~