Show SIGNAL BUTTE BY CAPTAIN CHARLES KING Author of The Colonels Daughter The Deserter etc f Copyright IBM by the Author v PART VIII CHAPTER VI CONCLUDED But what a fight Down in the depths of the gorge sheltering themselves them-selves as best they could from occasional > sional bullet and frequent bowlder hurled from up the heights tome forty blue uniformed troopers were falling slowly back before the ceaseless onslaught on-slaught of a foe they could neither see nor rcah Just a Kelly had feared Lieutenant Crane had been lured into a trap and the supporting platoon reaching him could only share his predicament pre-dicament Just how far up the canyon can-yon he had succeeded in following > the trail was now 3 matter of little consequence conse-quence Crane and his men were making the best of their way out bringing their wounded with them I was thefirst lesson a bitter one and one that would have been far more tragic but for the coming of their better led comrades along the upper up-per trail Long before Kelly could sight a single Apache the Apaches had caught sight of them and then i darting from rock to rock slinking from tree to tree away sped the lithe i sinewy fellows out of rifle range Only i a few long distance or random shots i were exchanged between Turner and the invisible scattering foe and Cranes fellows sending up stentorian cheers from the ntream bed below drowned for the moment the roar of the waters Throwing out some keen shots as j skirmishers to prevent the reappearance 1 reappear-ance o Indians Thornton and his J i l tU TiE G E ELLS BIG BLACK AMBULANCE troop leader signaled Crane to fallback back to a poiit where the Sandy flowed in smooth tranquil reach for a hundred hun-dred rd or so and there one side climbing down the heights the other climbing up the officers were able to contpale notes The first question was as to Cranes losses Several horses killed three abandoned and two men wounded But said he theyve cleaned out some Mexican outfit a mile up stream We almost caught them at it And so leaving the wounded with the guard and attendants to make the best of their way back to the old post the two commands again pushed on up stream Crane on the lower and Thornton following fol-lowing the uppertrail both parties In single file Turner kept the front well covered by a few skirmishers Half an hours march brought them around a wooded point and there deep down In p gorge just at the spot where Sant camped that luckless night two years before under the burning blue of the midsummer skies lay the wreck of anotner outfit Flood and fury had scattered the possessions of the former party broadcast down the L canyon Fire and flame and Tonto r bullet or barb had huddled those of the second into a blackened hideous heap Crane had followed in very truth the trail of the raiders at Kellys Jt ranch but the murderers of the luckless I 1 luck-less Bustamente were his own country I menthe robbers of Kellys corral were Iilanuel Cardoza and the genial Mun cey Here were the stiffening carcasses car-casses of the old case sergeants pets here the half dozen pack mules packs and all here the mutilated remadns of the poor devils whom Cardoza had aban I doned for up the canyon went the shod hoof tracks of American horses Overtaken Over-taken by Apaches two wellmounted leaders had left their humble followers V > fight i out as best they could and who could be the cowardly pair but I ftlunoey and Cardoza Extinguishing < the smoldering fires gathering up such contents of the sad dle bags and app rejoes as were un damaged toy the flames Cranes party par-ty watched by Thorntons from the op prlte heights slowly remounted and set forth on their return I Foster comes through the mountains with his troop tell him well join him at the old post in a few hours sang out the major from across the stream Weve got to come lack for something to eat soon as we scout to the north side and If < this be a specimen of Apache business busi-ness added Thornton to himself as he i slowly remounted its too complicated canmaifrninc for me > And fao by noon that sultry and long remembered day after burying the murdered Mexicans under calms of stones Crane and his weary men jogging jog-ging back within hal of Sgnal Butte while Major Thornton with Turner and some twenty hungry troopers pushed northward determined to scout the So 9rro to the Prescott road Turner still rrt his skirmishers ahead There was no telling where the Indians might open on them from rock or precipice or tree Kelly raging in his heart to think that he had lost his mules and herdsman through such scoundrels as Murcey and Cardoza attached himself closely to Turner with whoe judgment judg-ment and foresight he was greatly impressed Im-pressed I was extremely hot and the water in the canteens utterly undrlnk able The horses too were suffering but I was impossible to get them own the steep to the dashing stream 00 even when after an hours weary jnrbhing over the upland trail they caima in sight of the broad valley of the i SjMdy above the range Thornton de 4Id d to go on down to the lowlands r and water before starIng on his return re-turn I was high noon hot noon a t scorching noon and the mens eyelids were blistered i > y the fierce rays of an unclouded sun They were hungry ton for not one bad bite or sup since coffee at dawn but they bit at ther plug tobacco to-bacco and jogged silently on and up Jo the monvs of their thing sit again of the old trail that wound beside be-side the Sandy not an Indian had been seen or heard of Now there rose into mid air a little dust clould far out near the Prescott road telling of some party 4n rapid movement Muncey ilnd Cardoza skipping for nil theyre worth hazarded Kelly but Turner ed shook his head < That clouds coming lSils way saidhe and coming fast I JLad itjs some of our own people 1 i zz I c I Q V T 1 r i 1 And so it proved Less than half Jan j hour later down by the splashing waters the two detachments came together to-gether Comrades of the same regiment regi-ment et from stations miles apart The sunburned dustcovered fellows from far up the Sandy rode into the welcoming ranks of Retribution What news of the Indians was naturally nat-urally the first inquiry and rapidly officer to officer man to man the two parties exchanged views The captain of the little party from Camp Sandy was a soldierly fellow Tanner byname I by-name and with him were two or three experienced scouts Al Zieber was one a man who knew Apaches and Arizona I Ari-zona even as their old guide Buffalo Bill knew the Pawnees and the I nlains There isnt a hostile west of the Sandy this day said he Theyve all had their Mump anddone what damage they could and now theyre skipping back to the Mongollon country coun-try But Zieber looked grave and troubled when told of the deeds of the previous night They are little detached I de-tached war parties said Ie We may strike one of them down near the springs but I doubt it I In brief conference the officers decided de-cided what should then be done Tanner Tan-ner sent his lieutenant with a scout and twenty men down along the north face of the Socorro to find Foster and follow full speed any of the straggling Apaches whose trails they might discover dis-cover hoping even yet to recapture I Leon Then the pack train came up and presently cook fires were blazing 4 in the timber and from the Camp Sandy supplies a hearty dinner was served out to Thorntons men while I Tanner proposed his plan My instructions in-structions said he were to leave an escort of twenty men here at the ford i for the generals ambulance He is bener1s I hurrying down from Presott and should be here by sunset We have a i little party to meet him at the ranch 1 over toward Willow creek Now you and your men and horses need a few hours rest Suppose you stay here Iwith detachment and Ill take f your Il tle my men and see what we can find up yonder in the hills and Tanner pointed point-ed to the Socorro Leons captors i I may be waiting there for darkness before be-fore attempting t cross the open country I coun-try toward the Mogollon You can have four hours sleep and be ready to tonight ride on to Retribution with the general So said so done Captain Tanner called up his men saddled and rode roe j away horntons horses were given a I good feed of barley from the pack t I train and with a small herd guard on 1 duty the rest of the command sprawled sprawl-ed anywhere where they could find shade and were snoring in ten minutes time The sun went down red in the western sky The smoldering fires In the sandy bottom began to glow with the deepen lIng twilight One after another the j i ropers began to awaken stretch and yawn and ask if further news had come and just at nightfall one of Tanners Tan-ners sergeants brought in three jaded civilians Ferguson and his friends All night they had hunted Muncey without success All day they had hid den from Apaches who at dawn said they were thick a leaves in the So I corro and Ferguson was loud in disgust dis-gust at the escape of two arch thieves And not ten minutes after they came in from the south covered with dust and drawn by six spanking mules with a dozen grimy troopers < as escort the generals gen-erals big black ambulance drove In from the north I First to emerge from the interior was a snappy aid de camp followed quickly by the grave quietmannered chief himself Save Whats the truth about Munceys party asked the aide in a gasp He and a Mexican rode by us like mad said theyd been cleaned out complete ly and were so demoralized they could not stop Only a case of diamond cut diamond dia-mond answered Thornton briefly They lad been running off horses mules and boys for what I know and the Apaches caught them red handed These gentlemen said he indicating Fergusbn and his party want them for horse stealing and all of us I fancy for boy stealing A tall man in scouting dress was Backing out of the ambulance at the I moment helping a bright blue eyed lad to alight He turned in quick j anxiety a the general asked What boyLeon Leon sir Little MacDuff I he wasnt with Muncey Im sorely afraid I the Apaches have got him Whereupon the blueeyed boy burst into tears Oh father he cried havE we come too late after all CHAPTER VII Major Cullen hastening back to the field of duty had made much quicker time than even he had thought possible possi-ble Alighting from the Central Pa cHic express at the Oakland wharf at I 8 oclock of the fair June evening the I i little party was met by an aiddecamp of l the general the mili genC commanding mi j I tar division of the Pacific whose i headquarters were in San Francisco and a they steamed across the beauti ful bay toward the great city of the Golden Gate with its myriad lights and rivaling the reflected images of t the stars the latest tidings from Apacheland were unfolded The mili tary telegraph the pioneer of its kind had not then been strung across the a Mohave desert and all communica tion between Arizona and the nearest telegraph station Drum Barracks at Wilmington on the California coast was by courier or buckboard and tit was here Instead of In Arizona tfli2t Arzona for a time the department commanders had been allowed to establish their office It was here that the news of the revolt at the rvolt reservation was received eve by the new commander here that he had wired to tt Cullen and received re-ceived his reply here a few dstys re later that tttiere was brought to him the tidings of the general uprising Unlike his predecessors the new general gen-eral commanding this remote gen er1 commading thi field de dded thatthe place from which to di < J I < rect operations was not Drum Barracks racks several hundred miles from the scene but the heafc of the Indian country and thither he went fast a buckboard could bear him Tell Cullen hell find me somewhere in the Sandy valley or Tonto Basin he said to his adjutantgeneral as he drove away and this message w placed in Cullens hands a with his silent and devoted wife by his side and Randy looking eagerly into his face he was tens borne swiftly over the dancing water wa-ter That means that the general expects them to leave the mountains and raid the mines and settlements said he reflectively re-flectively Whats the first stage or steamer down the coast Nothing now before tomorrow night was the reply unless you can catch the Maritana Shes off for Santa Barbara and Wilmington with supplies and ammunition in about an hour iZis Cullen gave a little shiver and drew closer to her soldier husbands side but said no word She knew that what he conceived to be the soldiers duty would rule Then you and Randall will go with Captain Thorp to mothers he gently said after a moments thought and I will take the boat But when the Maritanai sailed that night the majors family went with him Mrs Cullen calmly announced her intention of going back to Arizona with her husband and accepting the warmly proffered hospitality of the generals wife until their new quarters should be in readiness The mal buck board went on across the California desert within an hour of the Mari tanas arrival and while Mrs Cullen w cordially welcomed by the little colony of army wives and mothers at Wilmington her husband and her only son hurried on to overtake the chief I was with infinite misgiving that she let Randall go but the boy pleaded with all his heart and soul and the father decided I promised him that Tie should cross the desert with me he said instead of going round by sea as he has both ways thus far and he will be as safe at Prescott or Camp Sandy or Retribution as he is her and Mrs Cs house is crowded now He Is wild to meet Leon again and the two boys can remain together at the post while Im in the field Im only afraid the fun will be all over before we get there And so it was settled To be concluded next Sunday |