364 ON THE FRONTIER 



driven under any circumstances so far up the valley as to 

 give the Indians a chance to cut it out by a rush from cover 

 between the hacienda and the cattle ere the herders could 

 drive them in. 



Before the beeves had long been on the rancho, an effort 

 to capture them was made. As the Apaches broke cover, 

 the vedettes fired the alarm, and started for the herd ; the 

 herdsmen who were with it instantly " bunched " the stock 

 and drove at a gallop for the corral. There was a race, and 

 the Indians lost it. 



Again the Apaches undertook a similar attempt. This 

 time the rush was made closer to the hacienda, so that the 

 cattle having farther to go, there might be a better chance 

 to cut them out. It very nearly succeeded ; in fact the 

 Indians and the herd met at right angles, but in charging 

 distance of the hacienda. Nearly two score men, armed 

 with carbines and six-shooters, dashed out to the rescue, 

 and over a dozen Indians were stretched before they knew 

 what struck them ; the remainder turned and fled, and the 

 herd was again saved. This affair seemed to settle the 

 question, no signs of intentions to further molest the 

 stock were given; everybody considered them perfectly 

 safe. 



Two months elapsed, and there came a storm a howler ! 

 The valley lay in about the same latitude as does the 

 Arabian desert, and at an elevation of about six thousand 

 feet above the level of the sea, nestled in the midst of the 

 immense mountain tract that constitutes the central plateau 

 of Arizona. The storm was such as only a country so 

 situated could produce. All day long the thunder-clouds 



