Arizona republican., 1900-07-30

I ] been on before. Just after striking the | foothills we captured a ladrone. He 1 tried to pass us on the trail as an
 amigo. He was carrying e small
 bundle of rations on his shoulder, We
 found a rifle barrel in the middle of it.
 the stock, trigger, hammer, and other
 small parts, as well as fine bolo, were
 secreted about his body. He had seen
 enough to realize his position. He was
 promised his life and liberty If he would guide us by the enemy's oatp- sts,
 to which he readily eensehted to do,
 but think he intended to make his es- | cape, He said we were four hours
 march from their camp. That was lie
 number one. We went in camp at the foot of the mountain, ate our supper
 and slept until midnight, then started
 out, with the ladrone as a guide. The trail went over the mountain and down
 into a thick jungle. We gave the la
 drone no sbance to escape. We tired a | picket rope around his waist. The moon twas full and shining brightly, but the jungle was So dense We could not
 see our hands before our face. It took
 us about three hours to pass through | the jungle, when we came 70 .. small | open prairie. Here our guide got stub | born and made considerable Poise and
 claimed we could not Cross the river
 We had reached, and that the trail that Went over the mountain could 4lat De | travelled with our horses. We found in | the morning that the river was not
 more than one foot deep and the trail l TIVE he tair
 We soon arrived at a place where we i had been before and were still several
 miles from the ladrones' camp, We aid
 not expose ourselves on any high ! ground Tor fear of being seen, and se- | creted ourselves and horses iii d small!
 stream until night. Our ladrone guide ] looked worn and worried. and there
 wss large red ring around his neck,
 caused by one of our picket ropes. When | he refused to go that night we hung | him up to a limb until re was nearly | dead, but he could talk when We let
 him down and he was given to under stand that we would kill him if he tried | any more of his nonsense. We saddled up again al night and followed the trail until We Were within one mile of the l ladrones' outpOstE, then dismounted. | tied our horses and left q small guard 1 with them and proceeded on foot with | great caution. Our guide poin:ed nut
 the positions of their pHtposts and We
 all succeeded n sneaking by them
 without being discovered. The pale ] blue light in the east warned us that | daylight was near. Their camp fires
 were in the bed of an almost dry river
 and some of them were cooking break i fast We were still far up the muun-
 tain above them our guide pointed 10 a
 steep, narrow, and rocky trail; there
 were just fifty of us, and we started
 down the trail. As steep and rocky as it was there was no noise made. Soon
 we could hear them talking. laughing
 and see them around the camp fires.
 Still We kept crawling on down. down.
 Except for the ladrones around the fires , it was silent as death and was still very dark down in the river bed. I ex- | pected every moment to see the flash of siX-shooters or carbines on our point,
 only a few yards ahead of me. Many of the hated black fiends we're still
 asleep in the river bed and those awake
 had not the faintest suspicion of their desperate situation.
 As our point reached the river bed
 three or four of our men moved silently
 out on the sand-bar, only a few feet
 from the camp fires and sleeping camp. | There were two or three bright flashes, the signal to begin the battle, instantly followed by the sharp reports of the | Krag- Jorgensons. Almost instantly the
 trail was lit up the whole length of our
 line by a volley. then a rapid magazine
 fire was poured into the startled camp.
 Our fire was quickly returned from the opposite side of the river by two diff ferent parties. and some of the niggers in the river bed stood their ground. They were firing on us from three diff
 ferent directions, but they were too
 badly scared to do good shooting. They
 only stood their ground for a few mo- | ments. when they ran Uhose that could). We kept shooting toward them
 in the jungles, where we could hear them running l did not hear an Ameri- can speak while the fight lasted. As soon as the firing stopped I went down
 in their camp. Some had passed from peaceful sleep into eternity, without a struggle; some were dying where they had fallen, others Were whining and l grooming and wallowing in their blood on the sandy river bed. The ground was strewn with rifles, cartridge boxes straw hats and all kinds of scanty
 wearing apparel that they possessed | Two of our own men were badly wounded, one died in a few days and
 the other has gone to the states We
 made a couple of filters, while some oi us followed their bloody trails to the
 top of the mountain to guard agains
 being surprised ourselves. At sun ris
 We started to our camp. which W,
 reached about 10 o'clock. A scanty mea
 was prepared and eaten in haste, da tail was made to take our wounded back to San Ysidor. and the balance
 went back to chase up the lddrone
 again. I was on the detail with tn wounded. We travelled steadily all da. , and until midnight, when d courier tha . We had sent ahead met us with al ] ambulance. We arrived in San Ysido