The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1901-07-05


air. 1 ducked down again. very quick
ly. There was whole band of
Apaches, instead Of only one, It
seemed. No doubt they were. coming
down to the tenaja for water when
the foremost one, scouting the way,
spied me and took a snapshot at me,
and the others had crawled up in
time to- help spoil my hat.
There was plenty of fun in it for
the Indians, maybe, but precious lit
tie for me; what with my leg hurt
ing as if it were paid for it, and
the heat pouring down on me as if
the sun were hung only ten feet above
me, 1 was getting feverish, and as
thirsty as dead fish. There was not
single chance in my favor that
could see. My comrades could do
nothing for me without exposing
themselves to almost certain death,
and I knew T could not last long
where 1 was-the heat alone would
kill me. I decided that my game was
up, and with that came the determi-
nation to take at least one of the red
devils along with me for company.
BY sheer accident I had one of nv
guns buckled to me. Again watch
ing through my loop-hole, 1 present
ly thought I detected suspicious
movement in a bunch of grass 200
feet or so up the mountain. l
watched it closely, and soon was re-
warded by distinct quivering of its
stems. Poking out the muzzle of my
As, l took careful aim and fired. In
stantly the grass was scattered about,
a brown arm went convulsively up in
the air, stayed there a moment, then
fell back on dark form that was
quivering in death.
1 yelled with exultation, and then
again with defiance as volley OF
shots came from up the mountain.
But 1 was puzzled that I heard no
kissing or pattering of bullets. We're
they not shooting at me, wondered.
Then I heard a rattle of shots from
our side of the arroyo, and 1 under
stood-the boys knew now that
was still alive, and were taking
hand at last.
To my surprise the firing was kept
up, and presently heard somebody
running toward me, white man 1
knew by the crashing of his shoes in
the gravel, and cautiously raising my
head l saw Hays running up the ar
royo, bareheaded and unarmed. Bull
let's were knocking up the dust all
around him, but the boys were MAX
ing it so interesting for the Apaches
they couldn't shoot straight, and he
got to me without being hit. He
looked like he was scared half to
death, his face was so white and
drawn, and he was painting like a
horse with the thumps. He nearly
blood on my leg, but without a word
he gathered me up in his arms and
started back down the arroyo, stag
gering as he ran, for was no feather
weight.
And maybe that was pleasure trip
for me! If you've ever had your face
all swelled up with toothache and
with somebody punching you in the
jaw as steadily as clock ticks, you
may be able to form an idea of what
L suffered. You see, the bullet had
cut nerve in my leg, and, with every
twist and jolt 1 received, that nerve
just got right up and kicked, sending
excruciating pains shooting all
through me. I tried to make believe
that I was having a picnic, gritting
my teeth together till my jaws
cracked, but it wouldn't work, and
before we were half way to camp I
was so sick I'd quit lodging my head
from the bullets that kept tipping
past us. The rest comes to me hazily.
AS I remember it, Hays had left the
arroyo and was climbing the ridge,
when he let out screech like some
wild thing, and I felt myself falling;
the next instant my head seemed to
explode, and I went to sleep without
any rocking.
I don't know how long I stayed
clear out of it, but the sun had got
over behind the mountain and things
were getting cool, when the string
of red-hot devils and Apaches and
such things quit chasing Though my
brain, and I found that I was still
alive. The sure-enough Apashes had
hit the trail, too, owing to COM
pany of Mexican soldiers following
them up too close for comfort. Then
the boys told me about Hays. He
made the home-run with me down
that arroyo and up that ridge with
out getting a scratch, and was within
20 feet of the rocks that covered the
boys when bullet cut clean through
his heart. Of course it ratified me to
learn this, but I was all broke up
when they went on and told me about
finding letters in his war-bag that
said he'd been sending his salary to
his invalid mother.
The boys felt pretty bad. too, at
the way it ended. 1t was Tex that
started the ball to rolling. ''We've
got to do somethin' to square this
thing" he said. "Of course, now t
he's dead, he's goin' to stay dead, an
so our only shows with tn old wom-
an-his mother, I mean. Now, I've
got four months pay a-cOmh' to me,
an if ever I'd hit civilization with all
that stuff in my jeans I wouldn't do
nothin' but go on tn biggest old hal
leluiah of a drunk white nan ever
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