The Irish standard., 1895-09-28

watching Foster and ready 70 lead him
astray, while others far to the north,
keeping wary eye on the movements o.
Col pelham's troops at Sandy, dis
patched swift runnerso or communicated
by smoke or flame signals that only
Indian eye could read: ii 538 b.
'.They feel secure for this day. sir"
said Kelly to the anxious and perplexed
field officer, whose command was now
50 widely scattered, ''or they wouldn't
wait to jump the lieutenant"
Had they Jumped" the lieutenantf
That was the absorbing question. The
firing had died away almost as sudden
" as it began. The sounds came from
the general direction OF the cany on
not that of the trail to the springs. It
could not, therefore, be clash between
Fosters troop and the Apaches. Il
must have been Cranes men. to whose
support whole platoon had been dis
patched; but if what Kelly said was
true, they were little better off than SO
many rats in trap. All this the major
was rapidly considering while Turnen
rallied his men down Stream and came
trotting up to the cienega. Then, led
by Kelly, afoot and in single file, the
little party began the tortuous ascent
to the heights. In ten minutes they
were again in saddle and trotting
through bold and beautiful range.
To their left lay the deep chasm OF
Apache canyon and of to the eastward
could be seen the dark rift through
which ran the trail to Ration Springs.
A guard of ten men, together with
Downey and his fellow ranehmen, res
manned about the post, so that
at this moment, say eight O'clock OF q
hot June morning, Maj. Thornton'a
force was distributed at five or six diff
ferent points at both the southern
angles and along the outer edge Of this
rough triangle. Verify, the Apaches
seemed to know how to ''play" the
newcomers.
".If poor Rafferty, hadn't been headed
off and killed." said the major to Capt.
Turner who, now that there was greater
room, rode,up alongside, 1--WE should
have known Fosters discoveries and
movements. AS it is, we are complete
ly in the dark. I'm not SO anxious about
Crane now, for he has evidently got
through the lower part of the canyon;
all right, and hasn't had time to reach
the northern end, but hope he's safe
out of the bad place in the middle"
And Just at this moment the old SER
geant, riding dozen yards ahead, and
coming to g. sharp turn around Il rocky
point, reined suddenly in, signaling
halt With much chatter and sputter ct
,hoofs the rear Of the column seemed to
double up on the leaders before the
rapid trot could be checked, and then
with heaving TANKS tho horses huddled
In bunch. There was an opening in the
hills to the right and game trail led
down around the very point where
Kelly had halted and was now OFF his
horse studying the ground -.
II thought SO, sir" said he, pointing
eagerly to certain prints in the rock
dust along the trail. Then, bending
low, he worked over toward the edge
of the cliff. "see, here again, sir, and
here-Tonto moccasins! They probably
crept up close to the edge, two or three
of them, to watch what might be COM
ing up through the gorge below"
Turner was listening with q whimsical
smile on his face, and here interposed.
= ''Look here moment, sergeant"
said he. 81 have been doing some lit
tie scouting down stream and there
are some points that may not have oc-
Cured to you. admit we're new to
Apache scouting, but there are some
general rules that all Indians recog-
nize. Now, we learned from our Paw
nee scouts, and Pawnee would say
that these fellows" (and here Turner