84 PERILS OF THE I^IUIAN COUNTRY. 



stood off (beat oflft the Apaches " "A little way from 

 whar they took in Colonel Stone's stage" or "Jes* 

 whar th'big killin' took place on th' long Mesa" 

 and much more to the same effect. * 



Such was the state of society at the western 

 frontier posts of the United States only a few years 

 ago, when even in the towns a man would as soon 

 have thought of going about unarmed, as of going 

 about without his clothes. While most positively, if 

 out upon the high plains, " a man had to keep his 

 eyes skinned," in western parlance, if he meant to 

 get back without " getting his hair lifted " (scalped). 

 The old rule of the frontier then was this "When 

 you see Apache sign, be keerful, 'n when you don' 

 see nary sign, be more keerful. "f No man in fact 

 could go for a mile in many places, beyond the limits 

 of the posts, with the certainty that he would survive to 

 return; and to pass from one town to another by the 

 regular stage was a work of such imminent peril that 

 no one could ever tell whether he would reach his 

 destination alive or not. 



And yet, there were men who from choice passed 

 their lives as stage-drivers in such districts! although 

 in that wild country, with only tracks for roads, one 

 would have thought driving a team of half wild 

 mules, by day or by night, would have afforded 

 ample employment for the faculties of even the most 

 adventurous man, without the additional excitement 

 of a possible attack at any moment from Indians, 

 under circumstances which might render successful 

 defence impossible. 



* On the Border "with Crook, by John G. Bourke, Captain 3rd 

 Cavalry U.S.A., 1892, p. 64. 

 f Ibid., p. 27. 



