Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1894-08-21
=. THE RED SCAR.

"That is the mark Of an Indian arrow,
q Navajo arrow" said tho colonel as he
applied lighted splinter Of cedar TO his
cigar. This was said in answer to my re
mark, calling attention 10 a dark red seal
on his right arm, about two iacheS above
the wrist, which was revealed as he
stretched out his arm toward the fire to
light the chip Of wood.
The colonel and !, with our host, were
sitting around the stove ono evening In
October when the nights were getting
chilly. We were living at q ranch which
was situated among tho foothills of a
range of mountains lying in New Mexico
to the east of the Rio GrAnde Tho 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
availing himself of that hospitality which
is so freely offered to travellers by all ranch
men in the wild west.
"Ten us the story, oo1opel, saAd eur
host, relighting his pipe and leaning back
comfortably in the rocking ehAiE.
The colonel was an old Indian fghtoP
and had seen some rough work IN the
winning of the west" With the DTSlimi-
nary well" which seems the HSHAl way
for an American to begin q story, thS colo
mel commenced:
The Navajoes, powerful tribe 30 the
west of the Rio Grande, had for long been
ON the wGrpath, robbing and numbering
white settlaTs, nOro especially n IoeIA$Od
mining camps, until most Of tho mines
were loft tenantleSs, tho owASrS having
either been wiped OUT or OthLgOd 10 Zee
to the towns or more settled Districts.
The government was at length rousOd 10
take steps to end this state Of things. A
strong force, composed principally Of cav
airy, was sent out against the NAVAtoes,
marching through their country, destroy
ing their towns and killing many Of the
tribe in numerous engagements and skfT-
mishes
Finally they returned, GsSortinG shout
5000 prisoners. 1 was there with the -th
cavalry, and pretty busy tinso we bad Of
it rounding up these redskins. They were
marched to Fort S. and located desc 30 the
fort, being kept within their camp By cav
airy patrols. In spite Of our utmost ViRi
lance, several small parties Of Indians e.
capped. As the force at the dispOaAl Of the
oommand0nt was not lsRgO C0SGGh ~ fOl-
low all the scRttered bands Of fuEdtivSG,
got orders to raise company Of scouts in
order to patrol the range Of mountains ly-
ing between the fort and the Navajo ooun.
try.
After a considerable time and no end Of
difficulty I got together hand Of as thor
ough rufians as it was ever my lot to SEQ.
These were hunters, trAppers, scouts, min
ers, Indians, half breeds, ruined gamblers
and scamps Of every kind and nation, but
allSwen used to Indian fighting and In
dian ways. 1 may mention that this was
the band which my old friend, Aaync
Reid, calls the scalp hunters."
After the expenditure Of good amount
of time and temper, not to mention phys
ical, force, managed 30 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 a band Of 600 Indians had es-
capped and were making their way west
ward They would be obliged to cross tho
mountains by one Of three posses. We wero
encamped at the 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 mako
for the north pass and would likely send
small party on ahead to soc II the coast
was clear. So we resolved TO mako rec
onnoissance in that direction.
Leaving the main body Of the men with
orders to watch the south pass ~ well a.
the center one, rode OF with Santos,
taking two lod mules with lie. As We eI-
pected, we found the trail OF the sooutin,
party and soon came in sight Of them,
rather Of cloud OF dust which they raise.
as they made their way toward the noun
tains Keeping well out Of sight, wo
passed them and made for a spring where
1 expected the Indians would camp. We
rode hard all day, and toward sunset an
rived in the neighborhood Of the spring.
Hating about a mile from it, Santos dis
mounted and crawled forward among tho
sagebrush- On examining tho ground,
he saw that the Indians had not been
there. We accordingly watered the horses
and then retired to a canyon about 200
yards from the spring. 1t soon became
quite dark, and as there was no sign of
the Indians we went to sleep.
At daybreak next morning went up
the side Of the canyon, and crawling
through the sagebrush I examined the
heighborhood with my glass discovered
the Indians encamped about 300 yards
from the spring, on the farther side. They
had arrived after dark and so had not dis
covered our trail. As was watching
them through my glass and trying to
make out their numbers I saw a sudden
movement in camp. They began to movo
toward their horGes, at the same time ges-
ticulating and pointing in our direction.
Looking behind me, to my dismay saw
column Of smoke slowly rising in the air.
knew at once what had happened. I
had many a time cIpostulRted with San
tos about his habit Of smoking at incon-
venient times, and now after lighting his
cigarette he had managed to set the grass
on fire. at once crawled back through
the sagebrush, and as soon az waa out
Of sight Of the Indians arose 10 my feet
and ran down to our camp, where found
Santos vainly endeavoring to beat out the
fire.
mo use now" said L "Weare discov-
cred and must run for it"
We mounted our horsOs and leading
the mules set Oh at q gAllop, the Indians
keeping ON cur left, to cut US sH from tho
fort, where they supposed we we1S going.
They did not actually chase us, but Just
kept along parallel to our course, and 80
we raced along over the plain, which was
of sand and -avel, with q scGnty growth
of granma grass, with here and there
cactus or soap plant. All day long we