Daily camera., 1901-08-12
CHAPTER XVI,

Late that anxious night one battalion
Of the rihers returned 10 Sedgwlck,
Haynes company one of the four, and
very grave he looked when told of the
events of the past Is hours. Acting on
the report of Capt. Grafton that Apache
signs had been found in the foothills
north of Jose's, Buxton had ordered an
other troop to march 10 reinforce him,
ard this troop Hayne obtained permis-
sion to accompany. IT marched al
dawn, so he had barely three hours in
which TO prepare. Mr.. Parry, wearied
with his journeying and many cares.
had been escorted 10 Merriam's vacated
quarters by Whitaker some little time
before midnight, and there he was
rlade welcome by Hop Ling and given
the room abandoned by the master OF
the house so short time before. Many
people, between anxiety as to the fate
Of their beloved Florence and their
eagerness to receive the rifiers on their
return, sat up until two O'Clock; but
Parry, though filed with anxiety as
keen. was well aware that nothing was
to be gained by his spending a wakeful
| night and listening to all manner of the
cry as to the cause of the fair fugitive S
sudden detection from the road to the
ranch. Hayne, therefore, did not meet
nor see him, but, as soon as ii was light,
rode forth ahead of the troop, meaning
to go first to Jose's, see his wife and Dr.
Gould, and then strike out northward,
confident of meeting the second troop
somewhere in the open country that
there spread for miles before him.
Buxton had sent party on the trail
Of Merriam within an hour of his dash
and with orders to bring him back to
the post, but they had not been heard
from since their start, "and, said Whit
taker, they're not likely to be. Those
fellows barely ride one mile to Randy's
two. It's my belief he will just pull up
at Jose's and then go straight on to the
foothills, as probably she did"
But Randy was having ride the like
OF which was not recorded IN the annals
Of Fort Scdgwick since the days when,
long before the war, the First Dragons
and the Navajos battled for the master
ship of the Santa Clara. Ignorant as
yet of the report of Apaches in the
foothills of the Mescalero, his one the
ory was that she had gone to Jose's,
intending from there to push on to the
eantonment. The thought of her dar-
ing SO long and SO hard ride at time
when she should be guarded with the
utmost care was in itself source of
dire distress to him, and he could hard
l. have speeded faster and with grim
mer determination to defy all pain or
weariness had he dreamed of the dead
ly perils that lurked about her path.
OF the fact that Valdez and his few fol-
levers had eventually fed northward
and across the road to the Catamount
he had heard nothing. Through Hop
Ling's chatter he had gathered that
Grafton and his men were gone in
search of Florence ana that Mrs. Hayne
and DR.. Gould were at Jose's. He dare
not stop to make inquiries at the gar
rison. He was under medical care
therefore under doctors orders, and
on complaint of the acting sur.
geon it would be perfectly com:
petent for Buxton to place him
in close arrest. His one idea, there:
fore, was to put as much ground
as possible between the post and him,
self. He know he could get another
horse at Jose's, SO Brown Dick was
never spared IN instant. At three
o'clock, galloping free, the gallant
horse was stretching away northwe Il.