The daily Alaskan., 1914-10-09
THE YAOUIs' REVENGE
 By M QUAD
By M QUAD
Copyright, 1914. by Associated Lit
 erary Pfess.

Every American of us at the silver mines had turned out with the Mex. ican soldiery to help drive the YaquiS back to their hiding place in the noun tains. It was a case of self preserva- tion with us. When the YaQul was on a raid he made no difference between the property or scalp of an American and Mexican He owned tho land before Cortez appeared. The process of weeding him out iE still going on-
 And SO when the news came in that the Yaquis had. taken the warpath and killed or driven oH the men at the Sol talto mine above us wstrrned out with the 300 soldiers sent up to meet the war party and drive it back.
 For three days we fought the Yaquis before we got them on the retreat. It was not enough, however, that we had saved the big mines and Jo0 almost de- fenseless people. Orders came to the colonel lo push on after the retreating Indians and hold them up if possible and exter1ninats them. We went with them to see the thing through and be- cause they had need of our rifles and Of our sharpshooting. Once among the mountains the soldiers could no longer move in a body. There wss constant fighting. but the Indians were continually forced back. By and by they had reached the women and chil dren and their stronghold, and the Mexican colonel rubbed his hands and laughed and said: ' '.'
 We have got them penned up at last, and not one shall escape. It Is the best show We have had for half a century to eSterminate them"
 The stronghold of the Indians was a series of rifts and caves in the face of the mountain. There was but one path leading to 1t. That wound over a number of ridges and then dipped down into a basin which had circum- ference of about half d mile. The colo ners plan was to advance the whole force into this basin when night fell, and. taking cover behind the powders lying thickly beneath the caVesr we should be ready at daylight to begin the work of extermInation. While portion of the troopers. kept up fire to prevent the YaQuis from leaving their caves another portion would collect fuel and smoke them to death. We were not averse to dealing the Indians a hard blow and one to be remember ed, but we did not so iR for the ex- termination of g thousand souls at once, more than half of whom were women and children.
 "Gentlemen, you are not under my command" said the colonel as he rub bed his hands and smiled, "and you will therefore decide for yourselves. When darkness comes my command will march down into the basin For fifteen years l have been hunting the Yaqufs. For fifteen years have been hoping for Just this chance" .r
 They could not charge us with cow ardice, but when our decision not to support them in a massacre was made known there were smiles and expres- sions of contempt
 An hour after dark the soldiers left us and went marching in single file down into the basin. I do not believe the first man had yet descended into the basin when we suddenly caught sight of signal fire to the right
 The YRQuis were not to be surprised. During the next hour the whole side of the mountain showed signals at inter yals. and then there was an interval of three hours, during which not light WAS to bo seen. At midnight from the center of the mountain signal fire suddenly bIaEed out l. did, not last more .han 6 minute and vas follow ed by noise none of us could make out It was like the roaring of gale in q narrow gorge of the mountains, and we had been listening to 1t for per haos ten minutes when from the dark basin beneath us arose such cry as few men ever heard.
 "In the name of God, what can N be?' asked each man of his comrade, but no one could answer. Down there lin the midnight blackness some tesri- ble tragedy was. being enacted, but we must wait for daylight to solve it. The roaring. rushing sound came to US aft CT the scream died away, but more softly than at first. From that hour till dawn came there was no signaling, no noise, nothing to prove that there was life in the mountains beyond our little band. The peaks of the noun tains stood out first. Then we follow. ed the dawn down i'll our eyes rested on the caves. In front of them were hundreds of people, but they were standing quiet and peering down into the basin. In another minute daylight had crept down there, and we looked and cried aloud in horror. The bottom l of the basin. as We saw 1t the evening ing before, had been covered with scrubs and grass. It was a basin still, but the bottom was hidden under ten twenty, thirty feet of water. There was no outlet, and we could see the waters rushing and Bwirling round and round as if to find one. And
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