The San Francisco call., 1897-11-07

| from view 500 men were ordered to horses
and with the scouts In the van the trail oi
the belllgerent V sitor was taken up. The
evening OF the fifth day, at sunset, the
command, strung out in single file and
walking TO save their animals for The ex-
pscted scrimmage, were ordered 10 mount
and move quicker for the purpose OF max
ing water and camp. Just then lookout
column, but instead of taking flight 10 the
front, he wheeled and took a course par
allel to the line of troops in the direction
whence they had come.
Mackenzie quickly reasoned that Blue
Blanket g camp, lying in one OF the watered
sinks of the plains, had been passed, and
commanded a sweeping charge after the
! fleeing Indian en- echelon. The result was
that the lookout and the cavalry made Blue
Blankets camp about the same time.
This was Laguinitas Rica, at which the
| Comanches experienced their last warlike
gasp. OF the 450 Indians in this tribe
thirty odd were killed and 1885, including
! Blue Blanket and Chillalis, were captured.
Fifteen hundred horses, all the Conan
/ ches had in reserve, were also taken.
The most romantic episode of the CAM
paign was the recapture OF the Germaine
sisters, Nina and Garcia. These unfor-
tunate young women had been in slavery
for six years. They were abducted from
! their home, near Fredericksburg, by Quo
hama, whose passion had been aroused by
their fair beauty. The one was 16 years,
the other Is. at the time of the raid. The
scouts swore to find and restore them to
their parents, but they followed the trail
long time before tracking Quohana to
McCleIland Creek.
The attack was successful. Forty war
riors were killed, though Quahana escaped.
Many papooses and squaws were taken,
among The latter the blonde sisters, who
were scarcely recognizable. The years OF
servitude and savage environment had
| reduced them to a mental and physical
condition little different from that of the
women OF the tribe. They were nearly
nude. Feet and hands were scrawny
and calloused. They were SCARED
from thong wounds Their once glisten-
! ing, saffron hair was matted in filth.
| Blue eyes had become murky and luster-
, less; rounded cheeks sunken and wrin-
kled. The vermin of the tribe could have
tails. Incredible as it may seem, the six
years of slavery, beginning at their ma
turity, had left no trace or suggestion OF
the civilization in which they were born
and educated. They seemed alike incapa-
Bile of modesty and insensibe to shame.
| The brutalizing bonds in which they had
been held seemed to have produced an
atrophv of every finer feeling, and to have
destroyed even hope itself.
They evinced no particular qualification,
though they understood the words telling
of their liberty and OF return to parents
and home. The dispositions made CT then
they accepted with savage stoicisn, and
the only sense of humor they manifested
was expressed in genuine laughter at the
spectacle of the soldiers fetching wood,
starting fires and cooking.
The chief Of scouts was detailed to es-
cort the sisters to Fredericksburg, 800
miles away.
All this distance across country the
sisters rode squaw-fashion. Harley
cooked for them and waited on them,
with all the consideration and tenderness
q frontiersman can conceal under such
circum stances, though they couldn't
restrain their evident contempt for his
unmanly kindness.
1t was evening when the three travellers
arrived stealthily at the Germaine ranch,
and the aged parents were inside.