Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1895-07-07

Apaches We're upon us at last, and
through our foolishness had caught us
mapping
n Fight of 1t now. SO ! picked up the
two boys shooters, and sang out to
the girls TO come away with me TO O
cump OF bushes by the stream that
ran through the valley II was dark
there, and thought maybe that, II we
could get out OF the light Of the fire,
we might hide TIL the 1njuns had taken
their plumber and gone on with II. We
reached the bushes and then some
thing hit me on the back OF the neck
bit OF rock ! found 1t was afterwards
senseless, Just hearing the last scream
OF the two poor girls as | fell.
When | came to myself II was
nearly daylight, and ] pulled myself
! up and went to look at the camp. There
wasn't an Injun TO be seen. They'd
done their bloody work and gone OF.
but what | did see was great big
roaring fire that they'd made out OF
the wagons, which they'd broken up
ana taken every bit OF iron out Of. and
IN the middle OF this Are We're the halt
burnt bodies OF my poor old wife and
the two poor lads.
IT was bitter bad sight for a
husband and father TO look at, ms
| you may believe me. gentlemen, but
maybe because | was half stupid still
/ with the blow that had stunned me.
ana maybe because l was too much
broken up to do anything else | sat
/ me down there and watched the fire
butn. II burned all away. timber and
! ooules and all, and l sat there TIL II
was out. and when the ashes was q
blt cool i took some OF them out of the
middle and Allied this old baecy box
4 Wlth them. Here Il Is, gentlemen, and
them
As he said this the old man pulled
! out nat, square tin tobacco box, and
opened u very gently with his poor old
trembling hands, and showed It tous full
| OF sreylsh white ashes. None OF us
spoke, There wasn't anything to say
10 such thing as that, but we did
some pretty savage thinking. / can tell
you; and then he shut It up again and
THAT'S all, gentlemen. except that
| took a couple of slx-shooters and my
old rifle and started out to look for
them lnJuns 1 haven't found em
| yet, but / shall do so some day, II the
Lords good to me. and then I'll have
a scalp for every pinch OF ashes in
thls yer box, so help me God wlllr
we worked our way along towards
| the mountains for about week after
| mat and never saw track or sign of an
| Apache until the sixth night. think
| II was Don Manuel. who had been
|
| and told us he had struck trail that
was fresh enough for him to conclude
that there was big band Of the cop
| per-skinned vCrmln not much more
that i've miles OF, " as much as that
The way this bit Of ncws affected
| the old man Porter was Just wonderful.
| He had been very quiet all the time.
| sleeping, or anyhow, lying or sitting
with his eyes shut for hours together,
even In the daytime. when he was hav-
| Ing lift In one Of the wagons. While
| he was awake he was mostly cleaning
| his rifle and the two slX-shootcrs that
! had belonged 10 his boys. He looked
after those shooting irons as II they
| had been living things and We could
| hear him mumbllng and muttering
to thcm sometimes; but he hardly took
any interest In anything that was go
| Ing on about him until the Mexican
| brought us news OF the Apaches, and
| then he pricked up his ears. his eyes
| Frightened. he pulled himself up AS
| straight as the youngest of us, and you
| could have sworn that twenty years
had fallen away from him in as many
seconds.
"a bit later one of our men found nm
arrow that had been, seemingly shot
at an antelope or something, and
| missed.
That's the same sort Of an arrow
| that / pulled out OF my leg said the
old man, when he saw IT, Same az
Killed my poor old woman and the two
| boys. Maybe they'll be the same lot
81 told him that might be so. Even
IN they weren't the same lot they d be
Of the same tribe for all these tribes
had different ways of marking their
arrows and generally different shapes
for the heads, This seemed to cheer
him up ever so much more, and II ever
! saw q man spelling for a fight II was
old man Porter when he heard that
we had decided. after u bit of n council
OF war 20 go through that band n we
could only get up with them.
There We're II of us In all. counting
the old man and the MeNican---f mean
IL white men. II you call n greascr
white-but there were also six Moqus
| Indians with us, armed with bows and
| arrows. and two of them had shotguns
as well. We whites all had rifles and
six-shooters. and so you can guess we
felt ourselves match for a pretty
big band OF Apaches, II we could only
get the drop on them.
'As soon as 1t was dark we corralled
the wagons In a little gorge In the
hills we had been travelling along
al day, left one white man and three
| Moquis TO guard them, then the rest
OF us split into two parties. and started
out, one on each side OF the trail, hnv-
ing arranged that three banks OF n
coyote was 10 be the signal from the
hrst OF us that got near enough to the
/ 10 6tt lHtfll#
"Old Man Porter was with me, nnd l
kept n pretty sharp eye on him for
fear lie should do something rash, for
saw him keep lingering about the
lock OF his rifle as though he was itch-
ing for the shooting to begin, and | was
afraid he might shoot too, soon and
spoil things. Well. | didn't keep my
eyes skinned wide enough, and that is
Just what happened.
HE had got lust a bit ahead OF me
as we were creeping through some brush
within hundred yards or so OF where
we expected to find the Indians II
| very dark among the trees but The
old mans eyes were sharper than mine,
for all OF sudden his gun went up,
and before l could stop him there was
n flash and crack, and he started
off at a run, pulling his bowie out OF
the sheath as he went. He hadn't
gone many yards before / lost him In
the darkness. but he was back in
minute or two. and l said to him:
:" Look here. old man, that's playing
II pretty low down on us, isn't H.?
What In thunder did you want TO shoot
for2 That shot OF yours will have
given the whole game away, and we
shall have the Hkunks swarmlng on us
in n minute or two
HE didn't seem TO take any notice
of what I said. He Just held some
thing mp In his hand, and said:
"'That's oner
aaFV