The evening bulletin. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1887-1905, 1896-08-22

and rescued General Fremont and his COM
| panions from the avalanches Of the Sierra
Madre, / decided to visit the hero TO
whom I had letters Of introduction.
On reaching the fort found that Gen
eral Carson always spent his Sundays in
attending to his traps, which were set
along the streams for 90 miles to the north
1 found Lieutenant Colonel Pfeffcr in
| command, and a more courteous gentle
man never occupied such position. Colo
mel Pfeffer was a Dutchman by birth, hay
ing run away from Holland when a boy in
order to join Kit Carson, of whom he had
read so much He had been with the ia
nous scout for 25 years before the war, and
during this time had learned hunting and
Indian fighting as well as acquired Span
ish and dozen native dialects.
Pfeiffer had my horse put away and then
told me it would be impossible TO find the
animal till the following morning. After
midday dinner l went down to the suit
tiers with the lieutenant colonel, and in q
little back room, provided with all the
creature comforts of such place, l drew
many story from the gallant old soldier,
among them the following which mar
rate because of its direct relation to the
story teller himself.
shall not attempt to reproduce Colonel
Pfeffer's decided accent. Suffice it to say
that this apart, he spoke excellent English.
Although it is years ago." began the
colonel, "the whole event is to me as vivid
as if it occurred yesterday.
"Seven years before this had married a
beautiful Mexican girl at Santa Fe and
moved up 10 the Aqua Caliente, where
had good farm and considerable stock.
News had come to us that the Apaches of
Arizona, the meanest Indians the devil
ever let loose to torture the white men, had
left their hunting grounds and were NOV
ing up in the direction of the San Juan.
Exit Carson, who was then living over
at Taos with his family, came galloping
one morning in hot haste to my ranch,
and with him were Ouray, chief of the
San Luis Utes, and 30 mounted warriors.
you ask me how Kit Carson and the
chief looked but as they will both be here
about supper time you can judge of their
appearance for yourself Well, as l was
saying never saw such troubled look on
Kits face before, though 1 had seen him
in many hard place.
"'Pfeiffer,' said Kit to me, there's q
band of 100 Apaches at the headwaters of
the Conejos, and if we don't stop them
right away they'll sneak down the Rio
Grande and clean out everything in their
course, till they buck up against the troops
from Fort Marcy, and we can't get them
out for u week.
"'I'm for heading them off, said l, but
it strikes me that our party is n bit small
10 lick n hundred Apaches. l have four
Mexicans working for me who are good
brave men and We'll lake them along.
II, l. IL, L., Il.
and said: No; leave the MeSicans back at
the ranch. You know how it is with the
young Apache bucks; they are apt to stray
away from the main body and at such
times are not very tender with helpless wo-
men and children that come across their
course.
"Ouray, who spoke Spanish very WELL
said: Il have sent runners up to La Iona
del Norte, where the tribe is now encamp-
ed, and they will meet me tonight with
100 men, every one of them eager to get at
the Apaches.
"Wcll, to make long story short, l
kissed my wife and two children, told the
Mexicans, who were good men, what they
must do If the Apaches put in an appear
ance in my absence, and then off we start
ed.
"we met Ourays warriors, 100 strong,
that night on the Piedra Pintara and rested
till about an hour before day the following
morning, for our horses were pretty we'll
played out
There were no better scouts in the
world than Ourays Utes. We had just
eaten hurried breakfast and were sad
ding up when some of them came gallop-
ing into camp to tell us that the Apaches
had taken alarm and We're then riding in
hot haste for the Agua Caliente and the
Rio Grande to the south.
II felt my hair stand on end when 1
heard this, and being better mounted than
the others l refused the counsel Of Kit and
OuraY and galloped away to the south, fol-