Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1894-08-29


which were watched and protected, find
ing remote ranchers more profitable
prey, as their friendlessness often made
disappearance unknown and unRoticed
These are the deductions of wiser men,
and Hodgson had but lately joined, so
he rode on planning the attack and To-
Gated it in little arroyo which holds
very snugly some hundred yards of the
Florence road where it reels off the
Pinal foothills to cross the Rio Gila
Just why Hodgson should have To-
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 is
mere coincidence, unless you credit tele-
pathy, which 1 profess not to under
stand. The locality was well chosen, as
is easily seen by those who have passed
it. The inclosing hillsides of the arroyo
are covered with granite cairns, and
they may have suggested to Hodgson's S
excited brain certain pictures from an
old cart of war; illustrating the de-
fense of stone structures, showing loop
holes and crenulated flanking arrange
ments easily reproduced by imagination
from the freaks erosion had played
among the patches of bastard granite
now exposed and left lying like great
brown scars on the bare bosom of this
narrow valley.
The detachment halted on fording the
Rio Gila, and while O'Leary was wet
ting and filling the lieutenant S canteen
Hodgson's eyes were resting on a foot
hill overlooking his chosen valley, and
from it he was deploying his little
squad in rapid counter attack. Yes,
Christopherson had at that moment been
surrounded, and he was just in time to
protect the mail!
In moment the Apaches were re-
pulsed, and he had saved from savage
hands his letter. He had picked it up
from the ground, where they had drop
ped it. Yes, it was the same old hand
writing on the same "old rose" paper
as always before. He was just about to
open it when reason, for some unaccoun-
table freak, shone for an instant on his
vagary and asserted that, as Christie
pherson broke camp at Rillito arroyo on
Friday morning, he could not possibly
have any concern with Apaches there ON
Saturday afternoon, and the absurdity
striking in his reverie took on q more
rational turn Of course the mail had
been attacked there Friday morning,
and now he had picked up the trail,
was following it hot haste over the
rugged Superstition range and was
heading for the four peaks of the Mat
zatzals. He had followed this tortuous,
arid trail many days and was rescuing
that precious letter, while his own tired
saddle horse, heading the detachment,
had borne him from Rio Gila to Rillito
arroyo, as the road winds 10 miles.
Hodgson was not even aware that he
was nearing the arroyo, so engrossed
was he with his imaginative war chase,
until O'Leary, riding close behind,
called out, ''Lootenant, they've been at
ut againp'
Starting from his reverie, Hodgson
saw white letters and papers littering
the level road a few PAGES before them.
AO luDDOu LIS w GoStiIC llllioC1I IL
was not mirage, and as he rode up SO
that his horse stepped on them he shud-
dered at the uncanny coincidence.
Spread before him was fair reality of
follies that for hours had controlled his
BRAIN
There was little to be told. The mail
had been emptied, the letters and pa
pers scattered about, but apparently un-
touched. The blackboard, with traces
uncut, stood just as Christopherson had
left it when camping two nights before.
The mules were gone, while under a
cholla bush near a granite cairn, few
yards from the blackboard, was the body
of old Christopherson lying mutilated
and disfigured. Near his body and in
front of the cairn, lying OH the ground,
were a handful of winchester shells.
They told the story of the fight. The
old man had not been killed at the first
hostile shot, but had crept to the cairn,
returning the fire until his ammunition
was exhausted. His winchester, hat and
belt had been taken.
"Poor devil! Poor devilp' said
O'Leary as they placed the mangled
body ON the blackboard. "Oi'd niver "a
thought the ould sinner nd "a died SO
game.
At the same moment Hodgson was
controlled by thoughts of men whose
lives lead to danger performing brave
acts of plain duty in the struggle for
material existence unassociated with
glory. The idea was as new to him as
it was wholesome, for this was the first
time his experience had confronted it.
Then they picked up the mail and
sent it back by two troopers, with the
body Oh the blackboard Hodgson exam
ined the letters several times The one
he wanted did not come. That meant
another weeks waiting, SO he was glad
that meantime he could be following
the trail.
In reality they made a dry camp on
it that night in the foothills of the next
mountain range Lying i'll the wealth
of western sunset, Hodgson had often
viewed that most gorgeous pile OF form
and coloring known as the Superstition
range and now that the trail led there
he felt glad, for he wished to visit it.
But by night they had lost the trail in
this arid fastness, and being all day
without water were barely able, with
much suffering from thirst, to get their
jaded animals back to the Rio Gila.
4
Hodgson had now seen four years
service, and next year, if poker pros
pered, he could go on leave. Already he
could hold his own in the game at the
traders club He worried least Of the
cantonment about mail, thereby gaining
Coggins' complete approval. Only once
ON reading an announcement two
years before, copied from a society pa
per, and again few months later, when
reading of a wedding-did he evince
any interest in the mail. On the latter
evening he did not care for the club,
but smoked alone in his quarters and
burned some letters after reading them.
Then suddenly he seemed seized with
all the cynicism youth freely daunts as
if it valnly feels-affected to care only
for married women and a few like
transparencies. Then, i'll illustration of
his preference, devoted himself violent
ly to Mrs. Blank, clever, kindly soul,
who understood his symptoms, humored
and helped him. being q good woman,