350 
INCIDENTS AT THE 
As may be supposed, this news produced a great 
excitement in our camp. Immediate preparations 
were made to pursue the robbers, and Colonel Craig 
with his usual promptness set off at midnight, with 
between twenty and thirty men, which were all that 
we could mount. Unfortunately we possessed few 
good horses, and there was no alternative but to 
mount the soldiers on mules. My only hope was that 
the Indians would not go far, finding they were 
not at once pursued, which would enable Colonel 
Craig to overtake them, or surprise them in ' the 
camp. He soon struck the trail of the robbers, to 
which he was guided by Tucker, one of the herders 
who had followed them for several miles. About 
thirty miles beyond the Gila, the Colonel surprised 
two camps ; but discovering his approach, the Indians 
made off, and, by scattering in every direction, as is < 
usual in such cases, eluded further pursuit. Their 
fires were still burning, with mule meat and corn half 
roasted about them. His men also found some blan- 
kets such as are made by the Navajos, which caused 
him to attribute the robbery to that tribe. The Nava- 
jos were known to be in force to the amount of about 
four hundred near the Gila, and I believed the Colo- 
nel’s inference to be correct. 
On the day this robbery took place, I sent a mes- 
senger to Major Shepard, commanding at Dona Ana, 
advising him of the depredation of the Indians, and 
soliciting such aid as it might be in his power to 
extend to us in the emergency. He promptly attended 
to my request, and on the 22d instant Captain Buford 
arrived with his company of forty Dragoons. 
