The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1894-02-11
FOES IN
AMBUSH
By GAIT. CHAs. KING, US. A.
Copyright, 1898, by Charles King.
Continued from last Wednesday,
CHAPTER XII.

upon the Jagged front of Il range of
helShts where occasional clumps of pino
and cedar, scrub oak and juniper. seem
ed the only vegetable products hardy
enough to Withstand the alterations of
1ntense heat by day and moderate cold
by night, or to find sufficient sustenance
to exc out living on so barren a soil.
Out to the eastward, stretching away
to an opposite range, lies sandy des-
ert dotted at wide intervals with little
black lunches of scrub mesquite"
and blessed with only one redeeming
patch of foliage, the copsc of willows
and cottonwood here Mt the mouth of
rock ribbed defile where little brook,
rising heaven knows how or where
among the heights to the west, comes
frothing and tumbling down through
the wlndings of the gorge only to bury
itself in the burning sands beyond the
shade. So narrow and tortuous is the
canyon, so precipitous its sides, as to
prove conclusively that by no slow proc
ess, but by some sudden spasm of ma
ture, was it rent in the face of the
range. And here in its depths, lust
around one of the sharpest bends, honey
combed out of the solid rock, are half
dozen deep lateral assures and caves
where the sunbeams never penetrate,
where the air is reasonably cool and
still, where Oh this scorching May morn
ing, far away from home and relatives,
two young girls are sheltered by tho
natural roofs and walls against the fiery
sunshine and by little band of reso-
Lutte men against the fury of the
Apaches.
Down in the roomiest of the caves
Fanny and Ruth Harvey are listening
in dread anxiety to the sounds of savage
warfare echoipg from crag to crag
along the range, while every moment
or two the elder turns to moisten the
cloth she holds to a wounded troopers
burning, tossing head. Sergeant Wing
is fevered indeed by this time. raging
with misery at thought of his helpless
ness and the scant numbers of the de-
tense. 1t is Il bitter pill for the soldier
to swallow, this of lying i'll hospital
when every man is needed ut the front.
at o clock this morning il veteran In
dian fighter, crOuching in his sheltered
lookout above the caves and scanning
with practiced eye the frowning front
OF the range, declared that not an
Apache was to be seen or heard within
rifle shot. yet was Ill no wise surprised
when, few minutes later, us he hap
pened to show his head above the rocky
parapet, there came tipping II dozen
bullets about his ears, and the cliffs
fairly cracked with the sudden flash
of rifles hidden up to that instant ON
every side. Indians who can creep
In the midst of All open and unsheltcred
plain find absolutely 10 difficulty in
surrounding unsupported and unseen
blvouac i'll the mountains IneXpcri-
enced officers or men would have been
picked off long before the opening of
the general attack, but the Apaches
themselves are the first to know that
they have veteran troopers to deal with,
for up to this moment only one has
shown himself at ALL At five minutes
after o'clock Lieutenant Drummond
glancing exultingly around upon his lit
tie band of fighters, had blessed the
foresight of Pasqual Morales and his
gang that they had SO thoroughly forti-
ned their lair against sudden assault
Three on the southern, two ON the north
ern brink of the gorge and behind i'm
penetrable shelter, and two more in re-
servo Ill the canyon, his puny garrison
was in position and had replied with
such spirit and promptitudc To the
Apache attack that only at rare inter
walls now is shot necessary. except
when for the purpose of drawing the
enemy and locating his position Il hat
Is pokcd up on the muzzlc of 4. carbine.
The assailants' fire. too, is still. but
that, as Drunmond's men well know.
means only look out for other devil
ment"
Out on the eastward desert. still far
over toward the other side. "A little partv
OF Apachcs is hurrying to Join the flav.
Two are riding Where cot they their
horses? The othcrs-ovcr half a dozen
come along ut their tirclcss leg trot.
1T was this party that. seen but dimly
at first, gave rise to such cbullition of
JOY among the defenders and defended.
liz was this party that. closely scanned
through his fieldsslass. occusioncd Lien
tenant Drunmond's moan of distress.
With all his heart he had been hopinr
for the speedy coming of relief over that
very trail-had counted on its reaching
him during the day. He was sure if
could bo nothing else when the como
raj reported something in sight, and so
when he discovered the approaching
party to be Apaches no words could
describe the measure of his disappoint
ment and dismay. Not for himself and
his men; they were old hands and had
fine position to defend. His thought
are all for those in whose behalf he has
already made such gallant fight and
for poor Wing, whose feeble moaning