The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1894-07-03
THE RED SCAR.

applied a lighted splinter of cedar to his
cigar. This was said in answer to my re-
mark, calling attention to dark red scar
on his right arm, about two inches above
the wrist which was revealed as he
stretched out his arm toward the fire to
light the ohip 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
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.
Tho colonel was an old Indian fighter
and had seen somo rough work in the
winning of the west" With the prelimi-
nary WELL" which seems the usual way
for an American to begin q story, the colo
mol commenced:
Tho Nayajoes, powerful tribe to the
Ncnu Vi tHC ihio oI.iiitit, iDf lUDS Dtcu
on the wGrpath, robbing and numbering
white settlers, more especially at isolated
mining camps, until most of tho mines
were loft tcnantloss, the owners having
either been wiped OUT or Obliged to flee
to the towns .or more settled districts.
Tho 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 Navnjoos,
marching through their country, destroy
Ing their towns and killing many of the
tribe in numerous engagements and skir-
mshes.
Finally they returned, escorting about
5000 prisoners. was there with tho -th
cavalry, and q pretty busy time we had of
1t 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 vigil
lance, several small parties of Indians es-
capped. As the force at the disposal of the
commandant was not largo enough to fol-
low all the scattered bands of fugitives, I
got orders to raise company of scouts in
order to patrol tho range of mountains ly-
ing between the fort and the Navajo coun-
try.
After q considerable time and no end Of
difficulty got together band of as thor
ough rufflans as it was ever my lot to see.
These were hunters, trappers, scouts, min
ers, Indians, half breeds ruined gamblers
and scamps of every kind and nation, but
all we'll used to Indian fighting and In
dian ways. / 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
icai force, managed to get them into
some sort of discipline. With this band
was camping out on the east side of the
mountains when news was brought from
the fort that n band of 600 Indians had es-
capped and were making their way west
ward. They would bo Obliged to cross the
mountains by one of three passes. We were
encampcd at tho center pass, and the pass
es on either side Of us were so miles apart
from each other. After consulting with
my chief scout, a Mexican called Santos,
we agreed that they would probably make
for the north pass and would likely send q
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, 1 rode off with Santos,
taking two led mules with u.s. AS we ex-
pected, we found the trail of the scouting
party and soon came in sight of them, or
rather of cloud of dust which they raised
as they made their way toward the noun
tains. Keeping well 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 tho neighborhood of the spring.
Hitting about mile from it, Santos dis
mounted and crawlcd forward among tho
sagebrush. On examining the ground,
he saw that tho Indians had not been
there. accordingly watercd the horses
and then retired to canyon about 200
yards from the spring, 1t soon became
quite dark and as there was no sign Of
tho Indians We went to sleep.
At dayhreak next morning went up
the side of the canyon, and crawling
through the sagebrush l examined the
neighDorhood with my glass l 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 / saw q sudden
movement in camp. They began to move
toward their horses, at the same time ges-
tieulating and pointing in our direction.
Looking behind me, to my dismay / saw a
column Of smoke slowly rising in tho air.
! knew at once what had happened. I
had many time expestulated with San
tos about his habit of smoking at incon-
ycnient times, and now after lighting his
cigarette he had managed to set the grass
on fire. ut once crawled back through
the sagebrush, and as soon as / was out
of sight of the Indians I arose to my feet
and ran down to our camp, where found
Santos yainly endeavoring to beat out the
fire.
mo use now," said I. 1--WE are discoy.
cred and must run for 1t.
We mounted our horses, and leading
the mules set off at gallop, 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 Just
kept along parallel to our course, and SO
we raced along over the plain which was
of sand and gravel, with scanty growth
of gramma grass, with hero and there a
cactus or sonp plant. All day long we
kept on, sometimes stopping to change
the saddles from the horses to the mules,
or back again to the horses, and on again
in that NOR o.onous gallop, parchcd with
thirst and covered with dust.
Toward evening we were nearing tho
Nal Pals, that great lava bed which
stretches for 20 miles along tho plain. Tho
lava is piled up IN great ridges cracked
and fissured In all directions, broken up
into huge blocks, which here and there are
upheayed 10 and 90 feet above the plain,
with grass and small trees growing In tho
intcratices. Most of the bed is quite inn
passable for horses, but l remember one
pass, of which had taken advantage on a
former occasion. Skirting the lava bed to
the right, We came to the high piled up
blocks which knew indicated the where.
abouts of tho pass.
At length we reached the place where
the path led over the lava. Leaving San
tos to watch If the Indians We're following
us, ] rode up the pass. My limbs were
rather cramped after our long gallop, and