Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-23
CHAPTER I.
Tonto Pass

In the blistering heat of the afternoon
sun. tormented by thirst and harassed by
the merciless fire of the surrounding foe.
little band of regulars had been crouching
for hours among the rocks of the Sierra
Ancha grlmly standing eff swarm OF
fierce Apaches until rescue should reach
them from the distant fort. Only twenty
In number when they left Danger Canyon
with their prisoners at dawn two days be-
fore. they we're reduced to less than ten eff
fectives now. and the Lieutenant command
ing his head bound in a bloodstained hand
kerchief, his eyebrow scared by the sharp
fang of the Indian arrow, had already be-
gun to count his cartridges and to pray for
might or Butcher" Every hour seemed to
claim it's victim and diminish his fighting
strength. Every moment seemed to add to
the numbers of the enemy The great res
ervatton was not very far away. BY
hundreds the keen-eyed quick witted
young braves could readily slip unnoticed
from it's westward line, take full share In
the slow humiliation of the secretly hated
soldiery, then swiftly HE them back TO
the shelter of the agency. innocent, ap-
parently, of their deadly weapon OF evil In
tent.
1t was the old story of the old days be-
fore railway or telegraph had traversed
the territory. Raiding parties. recruited
doubtless from San Carlos or the Sierra
"a.
ed by such virulent foemen as Cochise and
Victoria, and led by young Geronimo IN
person. had murdered a stage load OF pros
pectors at the mouth OF the deep. DARK
canyon, had burned Hogan's ranch ana
butchered Hogan's household. Small de-
tachments from the nearest posts had peen
sent with the customary orders, Pursue
and punish" The Mcdowell "Outht, forty
strong. under Lieut.. Blake, mad chased Que
little gang southwark toward the fastness-
es of Superstition mountain. The San Car
los guard, twenty Of them at least, uhuer
Lieut. Hunter, had trailed another batch
into the Wild Rye valley and lost them;
while third scout under Lieut.. Fame hao
had a sharp fight with third fragment III
the heart Of the canyon itself; had Killed
three, captured two wounded warriors, TWO
sauaws and some children, and scattered
the rest. Then, incumbered win tnese
charges and two of their own men quite
seriously injured, they started homewaro
only to find the way barred py raIyIns
bands, with the result that, AFTER Iorty
hours' siege, with half their NUMBER oeao'
diving or dangerously wounded, they We're
penned among the rocks high up the SOUTH
ward face of Tonic Pass, their prisoners
turned loose, and their butchered horses al
ready beginning to tester In the fierce rays
In the rayine below. They were out OF wa
ter Well-nigh out of ammunition. ana par
ticularly out of patience with a post COM
mander who would send forth so very re"
civilized men-at-arms to tackle so very
manv savages. The main dread was that
their cartridges would not last until relief
could come The one hope was that COR
moral Iafferty, who knew the country ike
ma tive had succeeded in slipping through
the encircling foe during the dark hours be-
fore the dawn and could make his way 10
the cantonment, two days ordinary march
to the east, bearing warning OF their piight.
Then, if the post commander was neither
on ass NOR q coward as some declared and
more suspected, sufficient force Wouiu prop-
ably be sent to the rescue. ,-
Rut rescue might not come too surely,
and could not come too soon. Inc lhaJoi
was not the Wisest man In the army, nell
Their was he the bravest American soldiers
are quick to analyZe the Individual TRAITS OF
their officers The personal equation IS
sneedily estimated and. nine times out or
ten with shrewdness and accuracy Ouiu
Snigots wouldn't have sent twenty 1eilefs
to do the job of full hundred II he nam
been scared of his own skin, was Serst.
Hckeys way OF p utsing 1t hs wI'e Two Com" COM.
NAMES of foot to guard the post ana Two
companies of cavalry to do his scouting.
There were not Apaches enough IN all Arr
IONA to whip those two companies OF m
fantry fighting in defense of the women,
children and the post, and Spigots would
have been far wiser had he sent Capt: Iur-
ner with seventy or eighty troopers IN the
first place. But he PROGRESSED 10 pei,ege ING
Fame 1t was Turner who took the neuten-
ant aside before the start and gave the
Young fellow pointers that made MIN grave
and anxious-pointers that proved only 100
well founded. = ,,,,. w,
II was his first serio9s responsibility. He
had seen some little scouting on the open
plains Of Nebraska and Kansas, some
blithe years of service IN eas.waro s.a.,o nn1
West Point, but mountain work
in Apache land was new to him, ana he was
new to almost all the men. Only month
or so had he been with them and there mad
been no opportunity to gauge his callber or
to approve in his riding and his knoWleoge
of drill: but those were days when IN Arl-
IONA they rode little. drilled less, lived on
field rations. and died as rue On iIos
him a fop Ten years later they would
have dubbed him a dude, put the term
was unknown in the early seventies. oio
hands knew that the well.Dorn ,, anu sen.ig
their officers, generally came out strong
when it came to a fight New hands were
Invariably confident that the contrary
would be the case. But pom ON anu s Nv
tho lieutenant when he ordered forward
after shaking the thirst of both mounts
and men at the crossing OF the Coyotero,
where scouting parties rom me pos' Ia"
always camped for the night. II lay now
ever in a deep pocket of the mountains,
with commanding heights on every side
heights which might be occupied by an &C
tive enemy to the discontinue II not ne.
camn later" he mad briefly said to Sergt
nolan as he led the way up the rocky tral!
in the ravine beyond, and the wisdom OF
the decision was apparent WITHIN three
hours. for hating and unsaddllng at nisht-
fall seven miles farther on and wen up the
range. observant troopers. looking back
across the deep valley. saw the signal
smokes floating heavenward from the very
heights whose shadows they had summed
Tha Anache. then, was already there In
force. and there, like rats In hole, would
thew. the returning troopers, prooaoiy nave
died cut off and surrounded. NOW II hem-
Ined in as answering eastward smokes
quickly told them they might be- they could
feht more on the level, with a chance Tor
Rmt even Turner had not foreseen the pos
s,hiIitv of a rally from the reservations.
How was he to know that one OF the
wounded Indians, being Uttered along by
Eane's little command, was no less per-
sonare than Solalay, medicine chief seer,
dreamer. prophet and high priest OF the
Sierra Blanca Apaches-fomenter OF more
mischief and possessor OF more Following
than any war chief in the seven tribes OF
the Sierras-all due to his Internal rites
and lamentations and the superstitious ma
tire Of his people. 'Solalay shot! "Solaiay
taken!" "Solalay. his sauaws. his son. his
hrother-all prisoners. and being taken TO
the fortr' Come, warriors all!' Come to
the rescued" were the words that went like