60 SADDLE AND CAMP 



and active as the day he began the journey, 

 seemed imbued with a new lease of life and 

 doubled energy. I rode Shorty, my new pony, 

 and we made such good speed that at twelve 

 o'clock the eighteen miles were behind us, and 

 we dismounted and unpacked at Cedar Creek, 

 under the shade of a large cottonwood tree. We 

 found the creek dry, but not far from our tree 

 a spring of clear, cold, refreshing water bubbled 

 out of the hot sand. 



Several Indians were camped near-by, and 

 one of them, "General Jim Crook," came down 

 to our bivouac to pay his respects. General 

 Crook is a famous character among the older 

 Apaches. He was one of the Indian scouts 

 who acted in conjunction with our troops in the 

 years when the Apaches were restless, and on 

 active duty with the army, during the Geronimo 

 wars, was wounded in the Mexican Campaign. 

 Old Jim Crook is desperately poor now, and 

 though he gave the best of his life to the service 

 and was wounded in the performance of duty, 

 he receives no pension. 



Normally the rainy season begins in Arizona, 

 with almost certain regularity, during the first 

 week of July, but thus far no welcome shower 

 had come to cool the parched sand since my de- 

 parture from Holbrook. This delay in the rains 



