Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1894-03-15
lCONTINUED.l
CHAPTER III.

evening the sergeant III charge of the
little signal party at the Picacho came
strolling forth from his tent putting at
II battered brier root pipe Southwark
and few hundred feet below his perch
the Yuma road came twisting through
the pass, aud then disappeared i'll the
gathering darkness across the desert
plain that stretched between them and
the distant Santa Maria. Over to the
east the lofticst crags of the Christobal
were still family tinged by the last
touch of departed day. Southwark
still beyond the narrow and tortuous
pass, the range rose high and precipi
tons, covered and fringed with black
masses of cedar, stunted pine and juni
per.
North of west, on the line of the now
Invisible road and far out toward the
ella, faint light was just twinkling.
There lay Ceralvo's, and nowhere
else, save where the embers of the cook
fire still glowed in deep crevice among
the rocks was there light of any kind
10 he seen. \ lonely spot was this in
which to spend ouo's days, yet the sol
rier in charge seemed in no wise OPP
pressed with sense of isolation. 1t
was his comradc sitting moodily on
convenient rock elbows ON knees and
chin deep buried in his brown and hairy
hands, who seemed brooding over the
desolation Of his surroundings.
Watching him III silence MON emf,
quiet smile of amusement on his lips.
Sergeant Wing Sauntered over and
placed friendly hand on the broad
blue shoulder.
"Well, Pikey, are you wishing your
self back in 'FriscoE"
I'm wishing myself III Tophet, ser
geant; it may be hotter, but it ism t as
lonely as this internal hole "
NO, its populous enough probably
was the response; and" added he,
with a whimsical smile, no doubt
You We lots of friends there, Pike.
Maybe have. and maybe haven't.
At all events, I've none here. Why in
thunder couldn't you let me look into
that business over at Ceralvo's instead
Of jackson: He gets everything worth
having. IN shelved for his sake day
after day"
"Couldn't send you, Pike, on any
such quest as that. Those greasers have
sharp eyes, and one look at your face
would convince them that we'd lost
our grip or We're i'll for a funeral.
jackson, now, rides III as Dlithe as a
May morning-a May morning out of
Arizona, l mean. They never get the
best of him. The only trouble is he
stays too long; he ought to be back here
now.
"Humph, he'll be apt to come back
in a hurry with Pat Donovan and those
G troop fellows spending their money
like water ut Ceralvo 3.
You still insist they're over there,
do you, Pike: l think they're not /
tagged old Feeny half an hour ago
that they hadn't come through here"
Who was that fellow who rode back
here with the noto:" asked Pike
Il don't know his name. 'Dutchy'
they call him in G troop. He's on
ts second enlistment
More TOOL he! the man who re-en-
lists in this territory must be either
drunk or Dutch. And Pike relapsed
into gloomy silence again, his eyes
fixed upon the faint flicker of the bar
lights at CcralvO's miles away, hut
Wing only laughed again, and still
putting away at his pipe went on down
the winding trail to where in the deep
shelter of the rocky walls a pool of
water lay cleaning. Here he threw
himself fiat, and lying aside his pre-
cious pipe drank long and eagerly then
with a sudden plunge he doused his hot
face in the cooling flood and came up
dripping,
THANK the Lord ] have no desert
march to make today-all ON wild
goose chase a." was his pious cjacula-
ton. What ON earth could have in
duced the paymaster to send detach-
mcnt over to the Gila?" He took from
his pocket penciled note and slowly
twisted it in his fingers. 1t was too
dark to read, but in its soldierly brevity
he almost knew it by heart.
The major sent ! On ovan with half
the escort back to the - ia ON an Apache
scare this morning. They will prob
ably return your way. empty handed
Signal if they have passed Latham
knows your code and we have a good
glass. Send man to Ceralvos with
orders for them TO join at once if they
haven't come, and flag or torch when
they pass you. It's my belief they We
gone there"
This was signed by Feeny and over
and again had Wing been specializing
al TO what it all meant. When the cs-
cort with the ambulance and paymaster
went through before the dawn, Feeny
had reused him to ask if anything had
been heard Of Indians on the warpath
between them and the Sonora line, and
the answer was both prompt and posi-
tive, mo" AS for their being north
or north Of west of his station, and up
toward the CHA, Wing secuted the sug
gestion. lie wished, however, that
jackson were back with such tidings as
he had picked up at Ceralyo's 1t was
always best to he prepared, even though
thIs " il: some distance away tlom the
lusIomaly aiding glodnd VI the Tribe