Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-07-08

VI IlllNcu dS " sex, WnSCner they were
fleeing from pursuers or going to a new
hunting ground!
Some of the most expert Indian scouts
have even beeen astute enough to dis
tinguish from the character of smoke that
ascends from a lamp fire ten and more
miles distant whether the campers were
whites or Indians. General Miles used to
have a Pima scout in the campaign Of
1880 against Geronimo and COchise who
could pretty accurately tell from gazing
at the smoke through a glass whether the
fire in a distant camp had been kindled
for a long or a short time. The same scout
once led a detachment of soldiers across
the twenty mile desert valley at what is
now the settlement Of Dos Cabezos. in
southeastern Arizona, and thence into
Dragon Mountains. where he found a
week-old trail of a dozen fugitives Apa-
ches among the granite. yet the troopers
saw not the least indication that any hui
man being had been that way in years.
For five days the Pima scout scented
the trail like a hound. He led the SOL
diers through ravines, among thorny cac-
ii and chaparral, amid miles of powders.
over sun-baked hills and along the foot
of bald mountains. All this time he sell
dom spoke. He kept his eyes constantly
busy. and occasionally he motioned to his
followers as If to point out that he was
following the right trail. AT last one noon
he suddenly stopped his horse, motioned
to his followers to set their weapon
ready and to dismount. Then the indian
scout crawled for half an hour on his
hands and knees over the hard brown
earth, scrutinizing the soil for footprints.
He went back to Lieutenant CoWles. In
command of the detachment, and said
softly that the Apaches We're in camp less
than a mile away. Then he guided the
soldiers and horses slowly and silently
up the %fOothill, and when the men had
picketed their horses and crawled to the
brow Of the hill they saw the trailed Apa-
ohes in camp down in the valley on the
other side Of the HIN
One Of the difficult things to determine
is the age of a trail. If the track is very
fresh it will show moisture where the
| earth is turned up. Should rain have
fallen the edges will be less clear, and
will be washed down somewhat. The
scout can tell by glance what tribe OF
Indians had made a given trail. its age
and every particular about it as truth
fully as though he had himself seen the
cavalcade pass. but this m after
! years Of observation and familiarity with
the customs and dress of the several
tribes. Major Robinson. q. $. A. Gre
tired, Of Pomona, Cal. says that once,
while going with a veteran scout and a
| guard to Fort Bowie to pay the soldiers,
he stopped his horse and pointed to a
Well-defined bear track in the dry sand Of
the desert. The scout gazed at it a mo-
ment and said: mo, that's no bear
track
Well, if I ever saw a bear track, and
I've seen thousands of them. that's one
Cant help it, Major, but that's no bear
track
Quickly alighting. the Major pointed
out the heel and toes Of the crack as clear
ly defined as if made a few minutes be-
fore.
WELL" said the scout, ''if it does look
like a bears track, still it isn't one. The
marks you imagine to be the heels and
toes are made by those spires of foxtail
grass, which, bent by the wind, scoop out
the sand in the name you see"
The indentation in the sand was care
fully examined, and the scout was right.
,nen the murederous Apache Kid was
hunted along the border between the
United States and Mexico a few years
ago a detachment of cavalry had trailed
the fugitives across the San Simon val
ley to the Pedregosa Mountains. came to
an area, several miles square, of rock
formation. If the soldiers had scrutinized
that rock with magnlfying glasses their
unprctised eyes would probably never
have discovered what course the Apache
Kid and his gang had taken across the
finty floor. TIL lieutenant and the SER
geant thought that the trail was at an
end and that they might as we'll turn
back to Fort H%uachuca. But Jose Cara
llez. a famous scout (since shot to- death
by an Apache assassin), was in the party,
and, d~ismounting, he Wake slowly over
the place where the trail in the sand led
up to the trackless granite ledge. He was
an hour at the work. The rest of the par
ty smoked and looked on. He went over
the rocks with the care and nicely of a
botanist examining a flower. He sur
veyed the mouth of the canyo and re-
sumed his studious walk over the ledge.
Come, come; this way him go; him
put rags on him horse hoof, but him no
fool me- drawled the scout at length.
Then on hands and knees he showed the
lieutenant how there was a train of very
minute particles of jute on the gray.
rocky floor straight toWard the mouth of
a distant canyon. 1t was then as plain
to the detachment as the MONDAY sun
that the fleeing Indians had muffled their
horses hOOfs with gunnysacks SO as to
close at the rock the trailing after them.
The chase after the Apache Kid was re-
newed, but again he escaped across the
border line into Sonora Mexico, and there
the United States soldiers had to stop.
In the grass a trail can be seen for a
long time, as the blades will be bent in
the direction followed by the party, and
even after it has recovered it's natural
position an expert trailer will detect a
slight difference in the color of the grass
that has been stepped On and that grow
ing around it. So the appearance of the
tracks will also show him the gait at
which the party was travelling, and he
thus knows how to regulate his pace to
overtake the party. There are stories
among the garrisons of how such scouts
as Kit Carson and "Bill' Hassier used
to be able to trail a party over miles of
buffalo grass in New Mexico six months
after the party had gone away. The
scouts did it by observation of a very
delicate difference in the hues of the
trodden and untrodden grass.