FORT YUMA. W371 
Colonel could have called, had he deemed their aid 
necessary. As the wagons began to lag, Mr. Seaton 
hastened on to camp. 
About an hour after, Sergeant Quin rode into 
camp, his hat gone, and in a great state of excite- 
ment. He stated, that soon after he and Sergeant 
Bale had left the train, according to Colonel Craig's 
orders, they came up with the two deserters; where- 
upon the latter halted, and declared they would go 
no further, but must settle the business on the spot. 
Colonel Craig again expostulated with them, and 
used every argument to induce them to surrender 
themselves, and return with him to Fort Yuma, 
but in vain. The Colonel told them who he was, 
and said that, if a return to the Fort was so re- 
pugnant to them, he would endeavor to have them 
assigned to his command, in which event they 
might accompany the Commission. He then dis- 
mounted from his mule and handed his revolver to 
Sergeant Bale, at the same time throwing off his 
sabre. Thus disarmed, he approached the deserters, 
showing that he intended no violent measures, and 
believing that when he pictured to them the dif- 
ficulties before them in crossing the desert, they 
would yet consent to abandon their desperate under- 
taking. 
At this moment, the Colonel’s mule, being without 
his rider, moved off, and had got some fifteen or 
twenty yards, when the Colonel directed Sergeant 
Quin to stop him. He did so, and had thereby sepa- 
rated himself from the Colonel and Sergeant Bale, 
when he heard the report of muskets, and looking 
