Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1894-05-10
CONTINUED
CHAPTER XII.

morning. The hot sun is pouring down
upon the Jagged front of range of
heights where occasional clumps of pine
and cedar, scrub oak and juniper. SEEM
ed the only vegetable products hardy
enough to withstand the alterations Of
intense heat by day and moderate cold
by night, or to find sufficient sustenance
TO exc out a living on SO barren a soil
Out to the eastward, stretching away
10 an opposite range, lies sandy des-
t1t dotted at wide intervals with little
black lunches of scrub mesquite"
and blessed with only one redeeming
patch of foliage, the copse of willows
and cottonwood here at the mouth of
rock ribbed detile where n little brook,
rising heaven knows how or where
among the heights to the west, comes
frothing and tulnbling down through
the wlndings of the gorge only to bury
itself in the burning sands beyond the
shade. So narrow and tortuous is tho
canyon, so PERCEPTIONS its sides, as to
prove conclusively that by no slow proc
eSS but by some sudden spasm of ma
ture, was it rent i'll the face of tho
1ange. And here in its depths, just
around one Of the sharpest bends, honey
Comhed ont of the solid rock, are half
dozen deep lateral assures and caves
where the sunDeams never penetrate,
where the air is reasonably cool and
still. whcre on this scorching May morn
ing, far away from home and relatives,
Two Young girls are sheltered by the
natural roofs and walls against the fiery
tunehine and by little band of reso-
lutte mon against the fury of the
Apaches.
Down in the roomiest of tie caves
Fanny and Ruth Harvey are listening
In dread anxiety to the sounds Of savage
warfare echoing from crag to crag
elOng the range while every moment
Hr two the elder turns to moisten the
cloth she holds to wounded trooper 5
burning, tossing head. Sergeant Wing
is fevered indeed by this time, raging
with misery at thought of his helpless
ness and the scant numbers of the de-
Tense. 1t is bitter pill for the soldier
TO swallow, this of lving in hospital
when every man is needed at the front.
At o clock this morning a veteran In
tian fighter, crouching in his sheltered
lookout above the caves and scanning
with practiced eye the frowning front
of the range, declared that not an
Apache was to be seen or heard within
rife shot, yet was in no wise surprised
when, few minutes later, as he hap
pened to show his head above the rocky
parapet, there came tipping dozen
bullets about his ears, and the cliffs
fairly cracked with the sudden flash
of rifles hidden up to that instant on
every side. Indians who can creep
npon wagon train or emigrant camp
in the midst Of an open and unsheltered
plain find absolutely no difficulty in
surrounding unsupported and unseen a
blvouaC in the mountains. Inexperi-
cuced officers or men would have been
picked off long before the opening of
the general attack, but the Apaches
themselves are the first to know that
they have veteran troopers to deal with,
for up to this moment only one has
shown himself at all. At Eve minutes
after o clock Lieutenant Drummond,
glancing exultingly around upon his lit
tic band Of fighters, had blessed the
foresight Of Pasqual Morales and his
GanG that they had so thoroughly fcrti-
ma their lair against sudden assault.
Three on the southern, two or the north
"ln brink of the gorge and behind i'm
penetrahlo shelter, aud two more in re-
serve III the canyon, his puny garrison
was in position and had replied with
such spirit and prolnptitude to the
Apache attack that only at rare inter
walls now is a shot necessary, except
when for tho purpose Of drawing the
enemy and locating his position a hat
is poked up On the muzzle of a carbine.
The assailants' fire, too, is still, but
that as Drummond's men VOL know,
means only look out for other devil
inert"
out on the eastward desert, still far
over toward the other side, little party
of ApGcbes is hurrying to Join the fray.
Two are riding. Where got they their
horses: The others-over half dozen
come along at their tireless Jog trot.
il was TINS party that, seen but dimly
at first gave rise to such ebullition of
JOY among the defenders and defended.
1t was this party that, closely scanned
through his feldglass, occasioned Lieu
tenant Drummond moan of distress.
With all his heart he had been hoping
for the speedy coming of relief over that
very tl4il-had counted on its reaching
him during the day. He was sure it
could be nothing else when tho corpo-
raj reported something in sight, and SO
when he discovered the approaching
party TO be Apaches no words could
describe the measure of his disappoint
ment and dismay. Not for himself and
his mon they We're old hands and had
fine position 10 defend, His thought
IRE al for those in whose behalf he has
already made such gallant fight and
for poor Wing, whose feeble moaning
every now and then reaches his ear.
At 10 o clock he is able through his
glasses to distinctly make out the num-
her and character Of the coming party.
Nine Apaches, all warriors, but one Of