R EC RE A TION. 



: 59 



When we reached the bottom they 

 were disappearing up the face of the 

 opposite bluff, like the lot of wild crea- 

 tures they were, most of them climbing 

 directly over the top on to the mesa, 

 forcing their anim ds on at the point of 

 the lance. Others made their escape by 

 taking a course up or down the stream. 

 They had such an advantage that pur- 

 suit was useless, for I knew that each 

 would take a different course as soon as 

 he had gained the higher ground, to 

 rally again at some distant point, only 

 when they knew they were not fol- 

 lowed. Still most of the men took up 

 an individual pursuit on their own ac- 

 count, and were quickly out of sight 

 among the rocks and bushes. A vicious 

 looking savage — probably the chief — 

 was the last to go, and as he galloped 

 up the stream shook his lance at me. I 

 followed him, being in turn followed by 

 one of the buglers. Beside the pony 

 on which he was mounted, he led a 

 Mexican burro, packed with various ar- 

 ticles which he had hastily seized, and 

 with which, though closely pressed, he 

 was in a fair way to make his escape. 

 Reaching the bluff toward which he 

 had been making his way, he found it 

 would be impossible to hold on to the 

 burro and escape himself, so he drove 

 his lance into the side of the little ani- 

 mal and sent him rolling down the side 

 of the hill. Then, gaining the level 

 ground above, he disappeared. 



The Apache had probably expected 

 to divert me in this way. I rode to 

 where the burro had lodged against a 

 mesquite tree on the hillside. The poor 

 little animal seemed to recognize the 

 fact that he had fallen into friendly 

 hands, and, though badly wounded, he 

 willingly staggered along between our 

 horses, on the way back to the point 

 where we separated from the men, doing 

 his best all the time to keep pace with 

 us. Most of the men had already re- 

 turned, many of them with trophies of 

 the chase, which, like the burro, had 

 been abandoned by the Indians. Thev 

 were entertaining one another in an 

 animated way with their various experi- 

 ences as I rode in with the burro, and 

 the importance of our capture lost noth- 

 ing by the bugler's account of it. About 

 a dozen more or less used up horses and 

 mules were captured, besides some other 

 articles ; but not an Indian nor a soldier 



had been hurt, though numerous shots 

 had been exchanged. 



Having cared for the horses and eaten 

 our breakfast, it was interesting to 

 examine the odd collection of stuff the 

 Apaches had been obliged to abandon 

 — the greater portion of it from the 

 plundered train already mentioned. 

 There were guns, cartridges, powder, 

 bullets, bows, arrows and lances ; war 

 head-gear, ornamented with eagle feath- 

 ers ; buckskin shirts, painted in bright 

 colors and fringed with beads ; sacks of 

 flour, sugar, coffee, canned fruits, to- 

 bacco and cigars ; a lot of calico and 

 some hoop skirts ; several bolts of 

 muslin — these last articles evidently in- 

 tended for the squaws. Even a few 

 greenbacks, rolled in a piece of greasy 

 buckskin, and a dignified, well-bred 

 dog, who circulated among the soldiers 

 in a friendly manner, evidently glad to 

 find himself once more among his own 

 people. The most important — to the 

 Apaches — was a quantity of beef which 

 they had been for some days drying on 

 the bushes. This from the cattle they 

 had slaughtered, belonging to the plun- 

 dered train. I estimated that there was 

 more than a ton of it, which would have 

 furnished subsistence on many a hostile 

 raid. All of this material, excepting 

 that which had been appropriated to be 

 carried on the saddles of the men, was 

 collected and burned, two or three 

 hours being occupied in this work. 



It was nearly noon when "boots and 

 saddles " was sounded, and the troop 

 moved out on its way back to the post. 

 Driven in rear of the column were the 

 captured horses and mules, though some 

 of these were able to go but a short dis- 

 tance. Such as proved unable to travel 

 were shot and left on the trail, first, 

 however, being opened and sprinkled 

 with flour, to prevent the Apaches from 

 eating them. We knew they would be 

 on our trail during the night. Once 

 some of these Indians had been poisoned 

 by eating the meat of a dead horse which 

 had been sprinkled with arsenic and left 

 by some white men, after which they 

 would not eat anything upon which the 

 trace of a white powder could be dis- 

 covered. Driven also in rear was the 

 little burro His wound had been care- 

 fully dressed by old Sergeant Geary, a 

 veteran of the Army of the Potomac, 

 and of the "old army " before the war, 



