Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1894-12-26
A LIVE BOULDER,
Past Masters in the Art ne n
Ceiving.
QUEER EXPERIENCE IN ARrzoN,
Government Courier Escapes from
Apache's Strategy Carrying Dis.
patches a Dangerous Service

Talking of Indians and their strata.
gems, said D. A. Marston, lately Of tho
United States cavalry, "they are naa.
masters in the arts of skulking and DO
ceiving. An Apache will lie bebinS
soapweed on the open prairie and
you may ride past two or three bnn
dred yards away and never have an lido.
that there is redskin within fiftv
miles of you, unless he decides to r;si
a shot at you. As you pass the soon-
weed he works his body around 50 o.
to keep it always in line with the plant
and you. Even on the open nra;ria
with no more shelter than that sfford'
ed by some little inequality of surface
he will sift dust over his body. flatten
himself out, face downward, against,
the ground, and, lying as motionless "a
stone, will escape the observation Of
any except sharp and practiced ewes
Sometimes, in grove of cactus or
Spanish bayonet his buckskin garments
blending with the hues of the plants
his face and neck concealed by the head
of Spanish bayonet, he will stand
like post indistinguishable to the in.
experienced eye, even at close quarters
from the grotesque plants about him.
"a queer experience of this kind oc.
Cured to me in my service in Arizona
during General Crooks last campaign
against the Apaches. Tom Merriam
of my troop and myself were detailed
to carry dispatches from Camp Bowie
to Camp Grant up ON the Rio Benito
1t was dangerous service at that tina
and we had to keep sharp lookout and
be ready to fight or run at moments
notice for there was no knowing at
what point on the route the Apaches
might not be lying in wait to jump US
as we came along.
1--WE were ON our return to Camp
Bowie and had just crossed the wooded
canyon where the cold spring is and
were coming out upon the open prairie
that stretches down to the San Pedro
river when through the branches Of a
low tree 1 saw what I took to be an
Indian on the plain about half mile
ahead. But on squirting my horse for.
ward SO as to get better look nothing
was to be seen save the bare prairie
with no sign of man or beast upon its
expanse.
''As we rode along l spoke of the
matter to Tom who laughed at what no
called my scare which he said caused
me to see imaginary Indians. We
came opposite low gray boulder upon
from the trail.
81 don't remember ever to have seen
that rock before said Tom who had
been over the route several times.
How i'll the devil did it get there? III
ride over and take look at itl' And
he refined his horse and rode toward the
object. I followed him a few yards
behind.
''His horse had scarcely taken q
dozen steps when the seeming gray
rock moved slightly upward and there
came from its lower edge flash and
report with the scream of big caliber
ball that tapped Toms coat with its
wind and caused his horse to plunge so
suddenly that Tom, one of the best
riders in the troop not being on the
lookout for such a happening was
thrown. At the same instant an
Apache leaped from beneath the gray
blanket that had served him to mas.
querade as a boulder and ran Ikea
deer for the canyon leaping to left and
right as he went to avoid the shots
that Tom and l sent after him from
our repeating carbines.
eve knocked up the dust about bis
feet and made him do some tall dodg.
ing to the whistling of our bullets but
that was all for we didn't hit him.
To have chased him would have been
folly first because we were bearing dis
patches in haste and needed the last
ounce Of reserve force in our horses and
secondly, because with the start he had
we should not have had overbauled
him in his run for the canyon, into
which we could not have followed him.
So we took the trail again and rode
our way with another wrinkle added
to our experience of Indian trickeV
and cussedness.