The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1895-11-13
CHAPTER Iv.-CoHT1NurD
Copyright, 1894, by the Author

CHAPTER IV.-CoETINUED
Another thrill to the chorus of excite
ment that had throbbed the long night
through, and yet not the last. There
were still left few minutes to dark
ness and the devil of mischief seemed
afioat in the very air. go and tell Mrs.
Foster the truth the best way you can,"
said the major, miserably, to his adju-
tant. "Thcre she is on the veranda
now. I'll go round the west side of the
office You can join me there. Yes,
Turner, mount and start at once if your
men have had their coffee. Now sweep
that road clean from here to the Sandy,
and don't leave an Indian to tell the
story. Look for Foster or his men and
try to find Rafferty," And so saying
he turned him to the west and pushed
slowly up the slope, q heavy-hearted
man. Almost the last thing he heard
as he reached the end Of officers row
was Nellie Fosters weeping. If stout,
soldierlike Irish Jim could be so swiftly,
surely massacred by unseen foes what
must have been Icons fate? Little
blaclz-eyed Leon riding alone, unarmed,
with Mrs. Downey's sorely needed
medicine, through the dark depths of
this Indian-haunted night? But now
the mountain tops were all shimmering
with the glow of coming day, and even
into the valley depths the faint light
seemed to peer, and still there walked
no sign of life from the distant outpost,
no reassuring flame to warm his heart
with tidings of the boys safe coming
but something new and weird and
strange was bulging Signal Butte all
out of shape and the sentry on No. 4
stood halted in fascination and amaze.
The purple fringe of the familiar pine
crest seemed to be soaring slowly up
ward, drawn out into floating curl,
irose-tinted at the top where it met the
blush Of dawn, deep hued below where
it left the black base, then oil on a sud-
den it burst into lurid glare, red, yel-
low, banishing the rose and flaming
over the valley for many mile. No
welcome signal that, telling Of the
wanderers safe return, no message OF
hope or comfort, but most dreaded
sign of all, it was the cry for help from
the Sandy valley, the appeal of terrified
women and children-the token that
red war had burst about the walls OF
the old frontier fort, and even its little
garrison was now in peril.
If Maj. Thornton was in grave dis
tress before he was in the depths of de-
lection now. For hours he had been
longing for day, and day had only
brought him new and worse disaster.
Here he was with one small company
of infantry as permanent guard and
three troops of cavalry, fresh from the
saddle work Of the plains and utterly
untaught in mountain fighting, as his
striking and scouting column. Well
had the Apaches chosen their time, and
dire indeed was the effect of their con-
certed blows. All in flash the major
realized that his little force was scat
tered or scattering-Foster somewhere
up in the Socorro to the northwest, pos
sibly pushing still farther away from
the post and into peril; Turner already
marching out in support of him and in
pursuit of the ambushing Indians, who,
at this rate, before another sunset
would line the Prescott road with
graves, and this left only Raymonds
troop, diminished in strength by the
detachment of Lieut.. Crane and his
party to go to the rescue now. Thorn
ton was quick to think and act.
"Mount your horse, youl" he cried to
the orderly trumpeter just issuing from
the adiutant's office. "Ride like a
streak after Capt. Turner. He can't be
ACROSS the lowlands vet. Tell him to
return at once"
"Foster's strong enough to take care
of himself" reasoned the major. "PooI
Rafferty's done for, and anybody who's
fool enough to be riding the Prescott
road this morning must take his OWL
chances. My first duty is to save these
people to the west" Already the sen
try's cry had summoned the corporal
The guard was springing to ranks al
the tidings that the beacon was blazing
on Signal Butte. There was no neeC
of sounding "To arms" since the whole
command was practically alert ant
belted now-no need to sound reveill'
since the entire post was up and astir
The sunbeams were gliding the west
ward peaks and the upper pillows o
the clouds OF dust, in which Turner
troop came trotting back and, met hal
way by instructions, never entering
the post, turned Column half right
midway across the sandy swale ant
went cantering westward into the din
valley, squirting swiftly to the rescu
Thornton and his adjutant witt
them, leaving Raymond in command a
Retribution.
And as the sun climbed higher an
blazed slanting down upon the mes
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