The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-07-18
SAVED By 4 MULES sAeACIrH.
The Animal Detected the Danger which the
Rider Fniled to Discern.

Rider Failed to Discern.
HE was an ordinary, every day sort of mule,
with o yellow skin and q shaved tail, but he
was knowing enough to save my life and the
lives of Tim Masten and his wife and their two
little children said James Crossman. formerly
o ranchman in New Mexico. "Ho was q good
allround animal that I could put to team work
of every kind. and If I had occasion to ride ffty
miles he could carry me there In Q day as easily
as any beast 1 ever rode. 80 on this September
evening. In 1885. after my work OF the day was
done. I saddled up Peter-that was tho mules
name-and started over to Masten's ranch. three
miles away, expecting that no would carry me
there without q hitch. as he always had done
before.
my ranch was In the Mimbres Valley, at Q
place called Fairbrothers, where there was Q
little colony OF six or seven American families
strung along a. many miles OF the river, and We
all were engaged both in farming and stock
raising, with q market for our meat and vegeta-
bles at the mine camps in the Black Range.
Masten had the most stock Of all of US, and he
kept In his employ two herders for his sheep and
cattle. KNEW that he had gone with his family
to Mimbres that day, and, that being our Post
Office, my purpose in riding over to his house
was to see II he had brought me any mail. Just
as I was starting from my house the thought Of
Chief Geronimo. then on the warpath, came to
my mind, and I went back and got my Winches-
ter rife.
Tho country along the Mimbres River is
hilly. with considerable timber In the valley and
the ravines leading down into it. For this
reason I did not come in sight Of Masten's house
until I was within o hundred yards Of 1t. had
got to where could SEQ tho house. I myself
being still in the shadows Of the trees. when
Peter, for the first time in all my experience
with him, baked, and not a step further would
he go. was both estonished and panied at this
into bis sides diligently. but I could not
force him ahead one stop. All he would do
from side to side, with his ears cooked straight
ahead and his nose pointed straight toward the
horder, T wsns n was i no t iisnt m IN inc ,R RGISS; out oD the the
veranda. showed one OF them seated In a chair,
and the other = sitting on the floor of the veranda
II wrestled about ten minutes with Peter
and was undecided in my mind whether / had
stones at the mule, as the MeIicans do with their
post horses, when the thought struck me that
They had not changed their position or moved
once, since I had come In sight Of the house:
o a,uss .aa Ai lice rs stssa t sSsy f hsd n wGFs sos of
to s saais was the that r.t tasH Of fore Ms sitting an. na
WAS evids1t, and having HHS IN moi this sc way rea.o aasi
out the whole matter to ny satisfaction saw e
ten. The mules feet fairly danced when I
mile 70 the road, and another miles riding
brought me to whore I heard the sound Of Mas
I'm my ride Of two miles / had had time to
take 9 second thought, and I reflected that there
must DO come reason for the mules strange be-
him how the mule had behayed and what / had
children at . ranch q mile back while he and
vent ahead n ia, And explored the premises. was
upper valley tho day. before. and he was
22ios. 81 E,ilRR be l sS 'f II: VIZ. . sna d mn sS,
Ct the ranch. borrowed a saddle to put on one Of
ranch. a quarter Of a, mile away we tied the
horse and mule in q thioket and went forward
on %. foot %s,, The si,t house CIV w1 rs stu lsr and DARK nIisc.t!h the TIVE
had seen them before. while we croncbed in
the shadow Of tho trees, Watching; 2 nickerips
one, seven Apaches hled out OF the door and
took their way across the open space. coming
whether Masten or I killed the Apache that
fell will never, be known, for We both were fr.
back the levers. The Indians We're 60 near when RRen
we turned loose on them, thai We could hear he
other Indians dragged him away and We're lost
in the shadows before We had half emptied our
MAGAZINES. They sent two Or three random
%stampeded by our sudden, attack, not knowing
what they had run up against AS soon as they
house, and. OF course. l followed. The Indians
had set Il on IRE. but the flames had not made
much Roadway and We easily ertinguished the
blaze.
Then we had time to look about us. The two
herders were dead. pTopped up in the positions
in which wa found them by tho Indians, who.
after killing them, had placed them so as decoys
to lull the suspicious of any one approaching the
ranch. The men must have been killed at night
fall. after their return from work. From that
20 away, the Indians had lain inside waiting for
the return OF Masten and his family. And they
would have got them, ana me besides, had not
my mule Peter been for once wiser than his