The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1894-01-04

roundiy obvious.
/ Moreno there. !" began Murphy.
finding himself compelled to speak.
i "I?" gravely. courteously protested
the Mexic ]. with deprecatory shrug
of his shoulders and upward lift of eve
brow. ~ What know /? | do but
say the Corporal Donovan is hot come.
How know ! you go not out tonight p
Neither you nor the likes Of You
knows, was Feeny's stern retort.
I'VE go when we will and no questions
asked. AS for you, Murphy. you be
ready, and it's me you II ask, not any
outsider, when we go. I've had enough
to swear at today without you fellows
playing off on me. 60 or no 90. no
liquor, mind you. The first man !
catch drinking III tie by the thumbs
to the back OF the ambulance, and he
foot it to Stoneman.'
No words were wasted in remon-
STRANGE or reply. These were indeed
1.-THE days of the empire" in Arizona
days soon after the great war of the re-
bellion. when men drank and swore
and fought and gambled in the rough
life OF their exile. but obeyed, and
obeyed without question, the officers
appointed over them. These were the
days when veteran sergeants like Feeny
men who had served under st. George
Cooke and Sumner and Harvey on the
wide frontier before the war, who had
ridden with the starry guidons in many
wild, whirling charge under Sheridan
and Merritt and Custer In the valley of
Virginia-held almost despotic powers
among the troopers who spent that en-
listment in the isolation of Arizona.
Rare were the cases when they abused
their privilege. Stern was their rule,
rude their speech. but by officers and
men alike they were trusted and re-
spected.
AS for Feety, there were not lacking
those who declared him spoiled. Twice
that day had the paymaster been on
the point of rebuking his apparent in
difference Twice had he withheld his
| censure, knowing. after all, Feeny to be
in the right and himself in the wrong.
And now in the gathering shades of
night, as he stood in silence watching
the brisk process of grooming, and
noted how thorough and businesslike,
even though sharp and stern, was Fee
ny, the paymaster was wishing he had
not ventured to disregard the caution
of so skilled veteran.
And yet the paymaster, having a hui
man heart in his breast, had been sorely
tried, for the appeal that came for help
was one he could not we'll resist. Pass
ing Ceralvo's at midnight and pushing
relentlessly ahead instead of hating
there as the men had hoped. the party
was challenged in the Mexican tongue
"Que viene?'
To which unlocked for and uncalled
for demand the leading trooper, scorn-
ing greaser interference in American
territory, promptly answered:
go to h-ll'
All the same he heard the click of
lock and was prompt to draw his own
Colt, as did likewise the little squad
riding ahead Of the creaking ambu-
lance. The two leaders Of the mules
whirled instantly about and became
tangled up with the wheel team, and
the paymaster was pitched out of a
dream into doubled up mass on the
opposite seat. To his startled questions
the driver could only make reply that
he didn't know what was the matter;
the sergeant had gone ahead to see.
Presently Feeny shouted Forward"
and on they went again, and not until
Ceralvo's was mile behind could the
major learn the cause of the detention.
"Some of Ceralvo's people, answered
Feeny; "d-n their impudence!
They thought to stop us and turn us in
there by stories of Indian raids just
below us-three prospectors murdered
"a miles this side of the Sonora line.
Cochises' people never came this far
west of the Chiricahua range. It's
white cutthroats maybe. and we'll need
our whole command -
And yet in the glaring sunshine of
that May morning, after they had un-
saddled at Moreno's, and the sergeant,
wearied with the vigils of two success
sive nights, had gone to sleep in the
coolest shade he could find, there came
AANAAA$3 eSSAOo0 LILO 0OAOC1hOus O0NOu0
dotted plain at the west young man
who had the features of the American
and the grave, courteous bearing of the
Mexican.
MY name is Harvey" said he.
my sisters, who have been in San
Francisco at school, are with me on
the way to visit our parents in Tucson.
Father was to have met us at the Bend
with relays of mules. We have waited
48 hours and can wait no longer. For
Gods sake let half dozen of your men
ride out and escort them down here.
There is no doubt in the world the
Apaches are in the mountains on both
sides, and I'm trembling for fear they
already found our camp. None of my
party dared make the ride. so had to
come
What was Plummer to do? He didn't
want to rouse the sergeant. This wasn't
going back to Ceralvo's, but riding
nOrthwar6 IN tho roac11a If iupori1n6