The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1903-08-27
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By JOHN A. SPRING.

of grotesque shapes and forms that bound
the horizon on the north-I turned to eX-
anime my immediate surroundings.
A circular, almost level, depression on
the summit, of perhaps 70 feet in circum-
ference, is strewn with ashes and charred
remains of ancient camper sisnal-hres.
Evidently the use of the site was long in
the past that of lookout or signal hill to
which, perhaps for thousands of years,
the tribes in the valley below have been
wont to look for the daily signal "All is
well' or Danger ahead.'
The once smooth face of the cliff has
been damaged and disintegrated by the
ravages of time. But we can still see the
public records of the prehistoric race. in
few spots, written in an unknown Ian
guage. Even these reminders will ere
long vanish. while yet no tongue has been
able to explain their meaning. Near the
summit, on the face of much-broken cliff.
appear the figures shown in the cut.
Originally these were united but crevasses
have separated them and broken off por-
tons.
In the Fall of 1870 Deputy Sheriff
arrived in Florence from Tucson, the
Countyseat of Pima County, with sum
mons for me to appear as n witness III
the case of the Major Duffield, mentioned
in a previous chapter, whom the Common
wealth of Arizona accused of disturbing
the peace of the community with weapons
lie. firearms. then and there being load
ed as aforesaid. with powder and ball, as
aforesaid''-as the ancient form of the in
dictment read, as drawn up by the District
Attorney in pursuance to true bill
found against said Dufiield by the Grand
Jury.
THE sILyERY YUCCA.
arrived in Tucson too late for the trial,
however, being detained en- route by
.'silvery yucca" cactus growing over
plentifully in southern Arizona. l spoke
above of the ''barbs'' of the cacti encOun-
tered upon Poston's Butte. and l did so
advisedly. for although many species of
the Cactaceae produce straight, smooth
thorns or prickles there are some which
carry at their points an exceedingly fine
barb that will lift up persons skin,
when being pulled out. fully a half inch
before they ''let co. Now it happened
that on the day following the Deputy Sher-
ifs visit, l hired a horse 70 make the
trip to Tucson in obedience 10 the Courts
summons. with the intention of making
short cut across the desert by the new
road we of Florence had partly establish
ed. and upon which we had begun the
digging of well about 80 miles south OF
/ the town. as related in a former chapter.
| / started about dark, and soon after my
start the rain began to pour down. The
road had not as yet been Travelled over
much, and was therefore not very dis
tinct | knew that after about five or six
hours riding | would arrive at the camp
of the well-diggers, where | intended to
stop till early morning, when a sharp ride
of six hours duration would bring me to
Tucson in time for the session of the
Court, set for 10 o'clock n. m. But / rode
and rode and came to no camp; the we'll
| diggers had set mp Il large tent on the i'm
mediate edge of the road, and l knew
that / could not miss seeing it. At last,
towards about II o'clock, perceived that
the road l was on was very hard and led
more and more to the left into some foot
hills, while in the distance straight ahead
| could plainly perceive n high. dark, jag
ged line. Then it occurred to me that
somewhere and somehow l, or rather my
horse, had branched off upon the road
leading to old Fort Grant, and that l was
making a Decline for the mountains sur
rounding that military camp. l had no
sooner made this discovery when | came
to branch road leading still farther to
the left, which shone out quite white and
plain even in the dark. AS soon as l re-
allied that l was really lost l resolved.
remembering former occurrences of like
nature, to stay where | was and wait for
daylight, when l could probably get my
bearings from the 'lay" of the surround
ing country. l led my horse to a small
"palo verde" tree, tied him to it, and I'M
saddled. Near by there was another tree
that looked very inviting, on account of
its overhanging branches. Thither l car
ried my saddle blanket and spread it I'M
der those inviting branches, holding it by
two corners some distance from the tree
and shaking it open towards the latter's
trunk Then l brought my saddle and