The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1895-03-08

II was aodgson's first detached service.
He was 10 ascertain the cause Of deI:.,
OF the mail, and riding along he tugsea
at his fatigue blouse 70 see if the or,is,
gwen him by the adjutont on leil5 IL.
the post was still in his porket
hodGson was secretly glad of THE
held service and welcomed it as q FAR
tIal escape from himself, for ne was e>-
pect1ng an important letter-iust hov
important this story Is written 10 she
and with expectancy, iuaction ar
heat ne was getting nervous. ChTis-
toPhersOn might have drunk native
brandy and be lying by the roadside, G..
his mule might have gone lame, IS h;G
happened before, for the road from S:-n
| CARLOS to Florence climbs the roc!,v
| comb which crowEs the Pinal divide.
| as those who have once travelled it well
remember. The Apaches may have ap-
| prorriated both mail and blackboard.
| This last eventuality was so pleasingthat
| Hodgson, being inexperienced, chung a
| 1t closely until from familiarity ths
idea seemed probable.
The commanding officer at Fort Nil
ton as well IS his less verscd subalte-ns
knew better, as Hodgscn should have
known. Yhe ChirachUcas we're on the
reservation, all having drawn beef TIE
| day before, else Wilson, with Whit;
| Mountain Scouts, and not he, would
now be tracing up the mail. Besides
Apaches now rarely attacked mails
which were watched and protected, find
| ing remote ranch more proftaL ~
prey, as their friC- ,sness often mace
disappearance unknown and unnoticed.
These are the deductions of wiser non,
and Hodg5on had but lately joined, &c
he rode On planning the attack and To-
| Gated it in a little arroyo which holds
very snugly some hundred yards of the
Florence road where it reels off tie
Pinal foothills to cross the Rio Gle.
Just why Hodgson should have To-
Gated the attack ON the mail in this par
ticular arroyo he himself probably could
not tell You and is no part Of my story.
but that it actually occurred there l.
mere coincidence, unless yOu credit tele
pathy, which / profess not to under
stand. The locality was well chosen, a.
IS easily seen 10y those who have passed
it The inclosing hillsides OF the arroyo
are covered with granite cairns, and
they may have suggested TO Hodgson's
excited brain certain pictures from an
old art OF war;" illustrating the de-
fvnse of stone structures, showing loop
holes and cren1lated fanking arrange
mcEts easily Reproduced by imagination
fToa the heaEs erosion had played
among the patches OF bastard granite
now exposed and left lying like great
brown scars on the bare bosom of this
narrow valley.
The detachment halted OH fording the
n I,-I a:
ting and filing the lieutenant cantetn
Hodgsor's eyes wore resting on a foot
hill overlooking MS chosen valley, and
from it lie was deploying his little
squad in rapid counter attack. Y,
Christopherson had at that moment BEEN
surrounded, and nc was just III time to
protect the mHitt
In moment the Apaches were Te-
pulsed, and he had saved from savage
hands his letter. He had picked it t?
from the ground, where they had drop
ped it. Yes, 1t was the same old hand
writing on the same ''old rose" paper
as always before. He was just about to
open it when reason, for some unaccoUn-
table freak, shone for an instant or Iii
vagary and asserted that, as Christie
pherson broke camp st Rillito arroyo Oh
Friday morning, he could not possiEl;
have any concern with Apaches there on
Saturday afternoon, and the absurdity
striking IN his reverie took on a more
rational turn. OF course the mail had
been attacked there Friday morning,
and now be had picked up the trail,
was following it hot haste over the
rugged Superstition range and was
heading for the four peaks of the Mat
zatzaIs- He had followed this tortuous,
arid trail many days and was rescuing
that precious letter, while his own tired
saddle horse, heading the detachment,
had borne him from Rio ella to Rillito
arroyo, as the road winds 10 miles
Hodgson was not even aware that he
was nearing the arroyo, so engrossed
was he with his imaginative war chase,
until O'Leary, riding close behind,
called out, ''Lootenant, they've been at
Mt again.
Starting from rs reverie, HoC.!-s0I
saw white letters and papers littorinG
the level road a few PAGES before them.
He rubbed his eyes to assure himself il
was not mirage, and as he rode up So
that his horse stepped ON them he shEd-
dered ar the pucaEpy coincidence
Spread before him was fair reality OF
Foilies that for hours had controlled his
brain.
There was little 10 be told The mail
had been emptied, the letters and pa
pers scattered about, but apparently IN
touched. The blackboard, with traces
uncut, stood just as Christopherson had
left 1t when camping two nights before.
The mules were gone, while under
cholla bush near granite cairn, few
Yards from the blackboard, was the body
OF old ChristOpherson lying n1utilated
and disfgured- Near his body and in
front of the cairr, lying on the ground,
were a handful of winchester shells.
They told the story of the fight The
old man had not been killed at the first
hostile shot, but had crept TO the cairn,
returning the fire until his ammunition