The Irish standard., 1895-09-28

watching Foster and ready TO lead him
astray, while others far to the north,
keeping wary eye on the movements Of
Col Pelham's troops at Sandy, dis
patched swift runnersor communicated
BY smoke Or flame signals that only
Indian eye could read. .5. .S.s8 5,. s5
'..They feel secure for this day. SIR
said Kelly to the anxious and, perplexed
field officer, whose command WIS now
50 widely scattered, ''or they wouldn't
wait to jump the lieutenant. Z
Had they Jumped" the lieutenantf
That was the absorbing question. Tho he
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. #
could not, therefore, be q 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 Turner
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 q bold and beautiful range.
To their left lay the deep chasm OF
Apache canyon and off 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 ranehmeh, re-
manned about the post, 80 that
at this moment, say eight o'clock OF q
hot June morning, Maj. Thornton's
force was distributed at five or six dir
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.
*sIf 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
Nv In the dark. I'm not SO anxious about
Crane now, for he has evidently got
through the lower part of tho 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.n
And Just at this moment the old sser-
geant, riding d dozen yards ahead, and
coming to 8 sharp turn, around q rocky
point, reined suddenly in, signaling
halt. With much chatter and sputter OF
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 the horses huddled
In bunch. There was an opening in the
hills to the right and 81 game trail led
down around the very point where
Kelly had halted and was now OFF his
horse studying the ground ~,
IT 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
iof the cliff ''See, here again, sir, and
here-To onto roccasins! 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 whimsical
smile on his face, and here interposed.,
- ''Look hero a moment, sergeant"
said he. II have been doing some lit-
tie scouting down stream and there
are some points thet 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'S