Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-06-25
The VANGUAR RID
TALE OF THE OLD FRONTIER
BY Edgar Beecher Bronson
Author Of
n Territory"
A. Fifth York City
BY Edgar Beecher Bronson
CHAPTER VI (Contenued)

With great care to aVOld leaVinS
any sign Of their visit they first drank
their own fill, and then each made a
bucket OF his hat and climbed back to
their furnishing mounts.
One more round trip they so made
successfully, and were returning for
third when, stealing softly forward as
before, the keen ear of Arollo caught
the soft clink of unshod pony hoofs IN
the loose single of the steep descent
from the summit Of the range to the
spring. A band of Indians, ten to one
a war party, was approaching.
Thus in those days was one new
peril ever dovetailing into an old one;
when one felt safest, then 1t was
cuidarse closest.
Fortunately night had fallen, with
a half moon aloft that helped greatly
to enable noiseless movement. In
deed without the moon there would
have been no war party abroad. for
no Indians ever went out on foray IN
the dark Of the moon. Night providers
they we're by instinct and habit, like
all other wild predatory things the
world over.
The white men had brought their
horses down to within three hundred
yards Of the spring for better con-
venience in watering. While Foun-
tain remained on watch, Arollo has
tened back to muzzle the animals, for
one neigh would have betrayed them
to the enemy. :,
Slipping, sliding, the band logged
rapidly down the declivity, until IL
sounded like the single had gone
adrift and was cascading into the
gulch.
Stealing cautiously forward, FOR
advance foot guards might be work
inx down the slope ahead Of the band,
Fountain dropped among some boul-
ders a scant thirty yards above the
spring. where he had clear view OF
it, immediate environs.
In small groups and one by one, the
usual loose Indian formation on
march, they filed in, until Fountain
had counted eighty warriors.
Quickly the simple gear was strip
ped from the ponies, half dozen
Young bucks were told off to drive
them down the gulch as soon as wat
cred to where the canon opened out
and better feed was to be found, while
the rest OF the band busted themselves
OnAnlnX
pouches made Of rawhide), and emp
tying them of meat.
soon a number of tiny fires were
alight-and it was Of the Indians we
had early learned that only at an &C.
tually tiny campfire may one con,
veniently cook and thoroughly ana
comfortably warm himself-slender
boughs cut, and on their sharpened
points thin strips Of juicy venlson
were cooking and sending up into
Fountains nostrils tempting doors
that left It hard for him, half lam
ished as he was, to resist descending
unbidden to the savage feast.
A soft hiss in his ear gave Foun'
tain his first hint Of Arollo's return.
There for an hour they lay, watching
the camp Of the enemy, until, stufed
as only savages can gorge themselves
one after another stretched out where
he had been squatting and eating ana
composed himself for sleep.
All down, and the camp silent. the
white men crept back up the hill to
the near vicinity of their horses,
where they could confer with safety
What to do was a puzzle. Arollo
urged that they should mount, slip
down the canon and stampede the In
dian pony herd, as the worst blow the
pair OF them could hope. single-hand-
ed to strike them, or else that one
should undertake the stampeding OF
the ponies while the other remained
above the camp on the chance Of pot
ting a few warriors, and then making
a safe getaway on his horse.
But this crude strategy did not ap-
peal to Fountain, for while the setting
the band afoot, obviously, must cause
them serious immediate embarrass-
ment, It was sure to be no more than
temporary, for in those days the tribes
always had heavy reserves of ponies
hidden away in one or another OF
their home camps in the hills.
Plainly this party was out to strike
serious blow somewhere: But
where? AT the overland travel along
the old road that crossed the tornado
del Muerte, or at the Mexican settle.
ments bordering the Rio Grande? II
their Intentions could be learned, it !
might be possible to balk them. At
any rate, could they fathom their
plans, the nearest cantonment OF
troops could be advised.
II tho Indians plan was 10 strlke
the settlements around Valverde, then
the little garrison at Fort McRae,
located at the Ojo del Muerte in the
Caballo Mountains, must be notified,
to stand any chance Of either heading
them off or OF successful pursuit; II,
instead, they we're planning descent
on the placitas above Dona Ana and
below the Big Canon of the Rio
Grande the commanding officer of the
troops in cantonment at Mesilla must
be reached.
AS for the tornado del Muerte, they
might attack the travel on the old
Chihuahua-Sa Fe trail that crossed
It. at almost any point with equal
chances Of success, for of the entire
ninety mile stretch without a single
drop Of sweet water, almost every step
Of the way led through a nearly un-
broken succession Of natural ambushes
from which fact, and the absence or
water this vast plain got it's name,
the Journey Of Death, having been so
named by the Spaniards away back IN
tha ciyteenth century, when they found