Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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CHAPTER II. Late that Bight, with jaded steeds, a little troop of cavalry was pushing westward across the desert. The yoting May moon was sinking t x rest, its pure pallid light gMrnng faintly in contrast with the ruddy glow of some distant beacon is the mountains beneath. Ever since nightfall the rock buttress at the pass had been reflecting the lurid glare of the leaping flames as, time and again, unseen bat busy hands heaped aa fresh fae! and sent the sparks whirl? ing in fiery eddies to the sky. Languid and depressed after a long day's bat? tling with the fierce white sunshine, horses and men would gladly have spent the early hours of night dozing at their rode bivouac in the Christobal. Ever since 9 in the morning, after a long night march, they had sought such shade as the burning rocks might afford, scooping up the tepid water from the natural tanks at the bottom of the canyon and thanking providence it was sot alkali The lieutenant commanding, a tall, wiry, keenf aced young fellow, had made the zounds of his camp at sunset, care? fully picking up and scrutinizing the feet of his horses and sending the far? rier to tack on here and there a starting shoe. Gaunt and sunburned were his short coupled California chargers, as were their ioughlooking riders ; fetlocks and beards were uniformly ragged; shoes of leather and shoes of iron showed equal wear. A bronze faced sergeant, silently following his young chief, watched him with inquiring eyes and waited for the decision that was to condemn the command to another night march across the desert, or remand them to rest until an hour or so before the dawn. "How far did you say it was to Cer alvo's, sergeant?" "About 22 miles,' west." "And to Moreno's ?" "About 15, sir; off here." And the sergeant pointed out across the plain, lying like a duncoiored V ~ket far toward the southern horizon. "We can get barley and water at both?" "P*mty, sir." "The men would rather wait here, I suppose, until 2 or S o'clock?" "Very much, sir; they haven't been able to rest at all today. I've fed out the last of tho barley, though. " The lieutenant reflected a moment, pensively studying the legs of the trum? peter's horse. "Is there any chance of Moreno's people not having heard about the Apaches in the Christobal?" "Hardly, sir ; they are nearer the Tuc? son road than we are. The stage must have gone through this morning early. It's nothing new anyhow. ..I've never known the time when the Indians were not in the neighborhood of that range. Moreno, too. is an old hand, sir." The lieutenant looked long and in? tently out over the dreary flats beyond the foot hills. Like the bottom of some prehistoric lake long since sucked dry by the action of the sun, the parched earth stretched away in mile after mile of monotonous, life ridden desert, a Sa? hara without sign of an oasis, a sandy barren shunned even by scorpion and centipede. Already the glow was dy- .? ing from the western sky. The red rim of the distant range was purpling. The golden gleam that flashed from rock to rock as the. sun went down had van? ished from all but the loftiest summits, and deep, dark shadows were creeping slowly out across the plain. Over the great expanse not so much as the faint? est spark could be seen. Aloft, the greater stars were beginning to peep through the veil of pallid blue, while over the distant pass the sun's fair handmaiden and trainbearer. with slow, stately mien, was sinking in the wake of her lord, as though following him to his rest. Not a breath of air was astir. The night came on still as the realms of solitude. Only the low chatter of the men, the occasional stamp of iron shod hoof or the munching jaws of the tared steeds broke in upon the perfect silence. From their covert in the west? ward slope of the Christobal the two sentries of the little command looked upon a lifeless world. Beneath them, whining their pipes after their frugal supper, the troopers were chatting in low tones, some of them already spread? ing their blankets among the shelving rocks. The embers from the cook's fire glowed a deeper red as the darkness gathered in the pass, and every man seemed to start as though stung with sudden spur when sharp, quick and imperativo there came the cry from the lips of "the farther sentry : "Fire, sir-out to the west!" In an instant Lieutenant Drummond had leaped down the rocky canyon, and In an instant Lieutenan t Drummond was standing by the sentry's side. ?HT, 18933Y KING, ?eldglass in hand was standing "by*" the sentry's side. No need to question "Where away?" Far ont across the intervening plain a column of flame was darting upward, gaining force and volume with every moment. The lieutenant never even paused to raise the glass to his eyes. No magnifying power was needed to see the distant pyre; no prolonged search to tell him what was meant. The troopers who had spiung to their feet and were already eagerly follow? ing turned short in their tracks at his first word. "Saddle up, men. It's the beacon at the signal peak." Then came a scene of bustle. No words were spoken; no further orders given. With the skill of long practice the men gathered their few belongings, shook out the dingy horseblankets and then, after careful folding, laid them creaseless back of the gaunt withers of their faithful mounts. The worn old saddles were deftly set; lariats coiled and swung from the cantle rings ; dusty old bits and bridles adjusted ; then came the slipping into carbine slings and thimble belts, the quick lacing of Indian moccasin or canvas legging, the filling of canteens in the tepid tanks below, while all the time the cooks and packers were flying about gathering up the pots and pans and storing rations, bags and blankets on the roomy apparejos. Drummond was in the act of swinging into saddle when his sergeant hastened np. ( "Beg pardon, lieutenant, but shall I leave a small guard with the pack train, or can they come right along?" "They'll go with us, of course. We can't leave them here. We must head for Ceralvo's at once. How could those Indians have got over that way?" "It is beyond me to say, sir. I didn't know they ever went west of the Santa Maria." "I can hardly believe it now, but there's no doubting that signal; it is to call ns thither at all speed wherever we may be and means only one thing -'Apaches here.' Sergeant Wing is not the man to get stampeded. . Can they have jumped the stage, do you think, or attacked some of Ceralvo's people?" "Lord knows, sir. I don't see how they could have swung around there. There's nothing to tempt them along that range until they get to the pass itself. They must have com8 around south of Moreno's." "I think not, sergeant." The words were spoken in a very quiet voice. Drummond turned in sur? prise, his foot in the stirrup, and looked at the speaker, a keen eyed trooper of middle age, whose hair waa already sprinkled with gray. "Whynot. Bland?" "Because we have been along the range for nearly 50 miles below here, sir, and haven't crossed a sign, and be? cause I understand now what I couldn't account for at 2 o'clock-what I thought must be imagination." "What was that?" "Smoke, sir, off toward the Gila north of Ceralvo's, I should say, just about north of west of where we are." "Why didn't you report it?" "You were asleep, sir, and by the time I got the glasses and looked it had < faded out entirely, but it's my belief the j Indians are between us and the river, j or were over there north of Ceralvo's today. If not Indians, who?" "You ride with me, Bland. I'll talk with you further about this. Come on with the men as soon as you have the packs ready, sergeant." And so saying Lieutenant Drummond mounted and rode slowly down the winding trail among the bowlders. At the foot of the slope, where the water lay gleam? ing in its rocky bed, he reined his horse to the left to give him his fill of the pool, and here the troop addressed as Bland presently joined him. "Where was it you enlisted, Bland?" was the younger soldier's first ques? tion. "I understand you are familiar with all this country. " "At Tucson, sir, six months ago, aft? er the stage company discharged me. " "I remember," was the answer as the lieutenant gently drew rein to lift his horse's head. "I think you were so frank as to give the reason of your quitting their employment. " "Well, there was no sense trying to conceal it or anything else a man may do out here, lieutenant. They fired me for drinking too much at the wrong time. The section boss said he couldn't help himself, and I don't suppose he could." "Asl remember," said Drummond presently, and with hesitation, for he hated to pry into the past of a man who spoke so frankly and who made no effort to conceal his weakness, "you were driver of the buckboard the Mo? rales gang held up last November over near the Catarinas." "Yes; that's the time I got drunk, sir. It's all that saved me from being killed, and between keeping sober and losing my life or getting drunk and losing a job I preferred the latter." "Yet you were in a measure respon? sible for the safety of your passengers and mail, were you not?" "Well, no, sir; not after tho warning I gave the company. I told them Ramon Morales was in Tucson the night before we had to pull out, and wherever ho was that infernal cutthroat of a brother of his wasn't far away. I told them it was taking chances to let Judge Gillette and that infantry quartermas? ter try to go through without escort. I begged to throw np the job that very night, "but they held m? to my contr?i and I had to go. We were jumped i 10 miles out of town, and before a: one could draw a derringer every m of us was covered. The judge mig have known they'd shoot him on sig ever since that greaser from Hermosi] was lynched. But they never harm the quartermaster." "Huh! The devil they didn't laughed the lieutenant. "They to his watch and his money and ever thing he had on except his underclot ing. How long had you been drivii when that happened?" "Just eight months, sir, betwe< Tucson and Grant." "And did you never serve with tl cavalry before ? You ride as thouj you had." "Most men hereabouts served on oi side or other, " said Bland calmly, ; his horse finished his long pull at tl water. "And your side was" ..Confederate," was the brief repl; "I was born in Texas. Here comes tl troop, sir." "Come on, then. 1 want to ask ye about that trail to Crittenden as n ride. We make first for the Picacl pass from heie." "Why, that's south of west, sir," a swered Bland. ' ' I had thought perha; the lieutenant would want to go norfc ward to\ -ard the Gila to head off ai parties ot the Apaches that might 1 striving to get away eastward wil their booty. They must have pick? up something over at the Bend. " "They're more likely to go sont! ward, Bland, for they know whe: we've been scouting all the week. ?' I'll march straight to the signal. The: they must know where the India] have gone." "Aye,1 aye, sir, but then you can on] pursue, and a stern chase is a lor one." Drummond turned in his saddle i they rode forth upon the dark falda ar gazed long ? ad fixedly at the trooper t his side. Imperturbably Bland coi tinned to look straight ahead. Que< stories had been af oat regarding th new acquisition. lie mingled but li tie with the men. Ee affected rath* the society of the better class of noi commissioned officers, an offense n( likely to be condoned in a recruit. H was already distinguished for his eas mastery of every detail of a cavalry man's duty, and for his readiness to g at any or all times on scout, escort o patrol, and the more hazardous or lonel the task the better he seemed to like il Then he was helpful about the office in gvrrison, wrote a neat hand, was of ten pressed into service to aid with th? quartermaster or commissary papers and had been offered permanent daih duty as company clerk, but begged off saying he loved a horse and cavalry work too well to be immured in an office He was silence and reticence itself oi matters affecting other people, but tb soul of frankness apparently where he was personally concerned. Any body was welcome to know his past, h< said. He was raised in Texas.; hac lived for years on the frontier; hac been through Arizona with a bull tean in the fifties, and had 'listed under th( banner of the Lone Star when Texai went the way of all the sisterhood oJ southern (not border) states, and then, being stranded after the war, had "bull whacked" again through New Mexico: had drifted again across the Mimbres and down to the old Spanish-Mexican town of Tucson ; had tried prospecting, mail riding, huckboard driving, gam? bling ; had been one of the sheriff's posse that cleaned ont Sonora Bill's little band of thugs and cutthroats and had expressed entire willingness to officiate as that lively outlaw's executioner iu case of his capture. He had twice been robbed while driv? ing the stage across the divide and had been left for dead in the Maricopa range, an episode which he said was the primal cause of his dissipations later. Finally, after a summary dis? charge he had come to the adjutant at Camp Lowell, presented two or three certificates of good character and brav? ery in the field from officers who bore famous names in the southern army, and the regimental recruiting officer thought he could put up with an occa? sional drunk in a man who promised to make as good a trooper under the stars and stripes as he had made under the stars and bars. And so he was enlisted, and to the surprise of everybody hadn't taken a drop since. Now this, said the rank and file, was proof positive of something radically I wrong, either in his disposition or his I record. It was entirely comprehensible and fully in accordance with human nature and the merits of the case that a man should quit drinking when he quit the anny, but that a man with the blot I of an occasional spree on his escutcheon I should enlist for any other cause than j sheer desperation and should then be I come a teetotaler was nothing short of ! prima facie evidence of moral deprav jity. "There's something behind it all, fel i lers," said Corporal Murphy, "and I ! mean to keep an eye on him ?rom this j out. If he don't dhriuk next payday, look out for him. He's a professional gambler laying for your hard earned greenbacks. " i j "And so while the seniors among the j sergeants were becoming gradually the ! associates, if not the intimates, of this j fine looking trooper, the mass of the j regiment, or rather the little detach j ment thereof stationed at Lowell, looked j upon Bland with the eye of suspicion, j There was one sergeant who repudiated I him entirely, and who openly professed I his disbelief in Bland's account of j himself, and that was Feeny. "He I may have testimonials from all Texas, ' ' : said he hotly, "'but I've no use for that ' sort of credentials. Who can vouch ; for his goings and comings hereabouts ; before ho joined us? I think Murphy's ; right, and if I was stationed at Lowell and belonged to his troop you bet I'd I watch him close." Now, in all the command it would j I have been a hard matter to find a sol- ! I dier in whose favor appearances were j ! so unanimously allied. Tall, erect. | ; sinewy and active, he rode or walked ? with an easy grace that none could f to mark. His features were fine a clear cut; his eyes a dark hazel, w heavy curling lashes and bushy, lo arched brows ; his complexion, natura dark, was bronzed by sun and sai storm to a hue almost Mexican. '. shaved clean all but the heavy mi tache that drooped over his firm li; and'the sprinkling of gray about t brows, temples and mustache most becoming to his peculiar sty One prominent mark had he whi the descriptive book of his compa referred to simply as "saber scar right jaw," but it deserved menti more extended, for the whitish stre ran like a groove from just below t ear tip to the angle of the square, res lute chin. It looked as though in soi desperate fray a mad sweep had be made with vengeful blade straight i the jugular, and, just missing th; had laid open the jaw for full fo inches. "But," said Feeny, "what could have been doing, and in what positi could he have been, sitting or standiu to get a saber stroke like that ? Whe was his guard ? A bowie knife, now' ' and there the suggestion ended. But it was the scaned side of Blanc soldierly face that young Lieutena Drummond was so closely studying they rode out into the starlit Arizo night. He, too, had heard the cai chat about this apparently frank, ope hearted trooper, and had found hinisi more than once speculating as to 1 real past, not the past of his imag?E tion or of his easy offhand descriptic By this time, in perfect silence save f the occasional clink of canteen, t gurgle of imprisoned water, or, once a while, the click of ironshod hoof, t troop was marching in shadowy c< umn of twos well out beyond the fal and over the almost dead level of t plain. Far ahead the beacon st blazed brightly and beckoned them o It was time for precaution. "Sergeant," said Drummond, "sei a corporal and four men forward. L them spread ' out across the front ai keep 300 or 400 yards ahead of u Better take those with the freshe horses, as I want them to scout thc oughly and to be on the alert for tl faintest sound. Any of our men wi know this valley well?" "None better than Bland here, sir, was the half hesitant reply. "W-e-1-1, I need Bland just nov Put some of the old hands and old? heads on, and don't let anything escaj their notice." "Beg pardon, lieutenant, but what to be the line of direction ? When \i started it was understood that we wei to take the shortest cut for Ceralvo' and now we're heading for the P cacho." "No, we make for the pass firsi that's tho quickest way to reach ti signal station, then we learn where 1 strike for the Indians. Did you ev( hear of. their being as far west as tl Maricopa range before?" "Never, sir, in th? whole time we'\ been here, and since the lieutenai joined they've never been heard < crossing the Santa Maria valley." "What on earth could tempt thei out so far? There's nothing to I gained and every chance of being cr off by troops from Grant and Bowie even if they do succeed in slipping b us." "That's more than I can tell, sii The men say the paymaster's comin along this week; they heard it from th quartermaster's train we passed at th Ci?nega three days ago." Trooper Bland was riding in ailene on the left of the detachment com mander as he had been directed. Th sergeant had come up on the othe flank. "What men heard this?" aske< Drummond, quickly. "Why, Patterson told me, sh*, an? Lucas and Quinn, and I think Blan< here was talking with the train escor and must have heard it. " "Did you, Bland?" asked the lieu tenant, as he whirled suddenly in hi saddle and faced the trooper. "Yes, sir," was the prompt reply "several of the men spoke of it. It': about the most welcome piece of new: they could give to fellows who had fou months' pay due." In the isolation of this mountaii scouting business, when, as often hap pens; one officer is out alone for week; with no comrades or associates but hii detachment, it naturally results that ? greater freedom cf intercourse anc speech is developed between the com ma* Jer and some, at least, of his part} tht-n would ever be the cass in year: of garrison life ; and so it happened thal for the moment Drummond forgot th' commander in the man. "It is most extraordinary," he said, "that just when a paymaster is anxious to keep secret the date and route of In? coming the whole thing is heralded ahead. We have no telegraph and yet three days ago we knew that Majoi Plummer was starting pn his first trip. He ought to have been at Ceralvo's last night. By Jupiter ! suppose he was -and had but a small escort ? What else could that signal fire mean ? Here ! get those men out to the front now at once; we must push ahead for all we Te worth." And so at midnight, with steeds panting and jaded, with the pass and the Picacho only four miles ahead, the little detachment was tripping noise? lessly through the darkness, and, all alert and eager, Drummond was riding midway between his scouts and the main body so that no sound close at hand might distract his attention from hails or signals farther out. Suddenly he heard an exclamation ahead, the snort of a frightened horse, then some muffled objurgations, a rider urging a reluctant steed to approach some suspicious ob? ject, and, spurring his own spirited charger forward, Mr. Drummond came presently upon the corporal just dis? mounting in the darkness and striving to lead his boon companion, whom he could not drive, up to some dark object lying on the plain. This, too, failed. A low whistle, however, brought one of the other scouts trotting in to tho res? cue. XXX7XCL mm a minnie, .Dante, * - ?aid the corporal, handing np the reins. "There's something ont here this brnte shied at and I can't get him near it again."' With that he pnshedontto the front while the others listened ex? pectant. A moment later a match was struck, and presently burned brightly in the black and breathless night. Then came the startled cry : "My God, lieutenant, it's Corporal Donovan and his horse-both dead." And even there Mr. Drummond noted that Bland was about the first of the column to come hurrying forward to the scene. j Ten minutes' investigation threw but j little light npon the tragedy. Some stamps of candles were found in the saddlebags and packs, and with these the men scoured the plain for signs. Spreading well out from the center, they closely examined the sandy level. From the north came the trail of two cavalry horses, shod alike, both at tb* lope, both draggy and weary. From the point where lay Donovan and his steed there was but one horse track. Whirling sharply around, the rider had sent his mount at a thundering gallop back across the valley; then 100 yards , away, in long curve, he had reined him to the southeast. The troopers who followed the hoof marks out about an eighth of a mile declared that, un? wounded, both horse and rider were making the best of their way toward Moreno's ranch. Farther search, not 50 yards to the front, revealed the fact that at the edge of a little depression and behind some cactus bushes three human forms had been lying prone, and from this point probably had sped . the deadly bullet. "Apaches, by God!" muttered one of the men. "Apaches, your grandmother!" was the sergeant's fierce reply. "Will you never learn sense. Moore? When did Apaches take to wearing store clothes and heeled boots? There's no Apache in this, lieutenant. Look here, sir, and here. Move out farther, some of you fellows, and see where they hid their horses. Corporal Donovan was with C troop down the Gila last week, sir. They were to meet and escort the pay? master most like. It's my belief he was one of the guard and that the am? bulance has been jumped this very night. These are road agents, not Apaches, and God knows what's hap? pened if they've got away with Patsy. Sure ho was one of the nerviest men in the whole troop, sir." Drummond listened, every nerve a-tingle, even while with hurried hands he cut open the shirt at the brawny throat and felt for fluttering heart beat or faintesf sign of life. Useless. The shot hole under the left eye told plainly that the leaden missile had torn its way through the brain and that death must have been instan? taneous. The soldier's arms and ac? couterments, the horse's equipments, were gone. The bodies lay unmuti lated. The story was plain. Separated in some way from the detachment, Don? ovan and his companion had probably sighted the signal blazing at the pass and come riding hard to reach the spot, when the unseen foe crouching across A match was sirvck and burned brightly in thc black and breathless night. their path had snddenly fired the fatal shots. Now, where was the paymas? ter? Where the escort? Where the men who fed the signal fire-the fire that long before midnight had died ut? terly away ? Whither should the weary detachment direct its march ? Ceral vo's lay a dozen miles off to the north? west, Moreno's perhaps eight or nine to the southest. Why had the escaped trooper headed his fleeing steed in that direction? Had there been pursnit? Aye, 10 minutes' search over the still and desolate plain revealed the fact that two horsemen lurking in a sand pit or dry arroyo had pushed forth at top speed and ridden away full tilt across the desert, straight as the crow flies, toward Moreno's well. Even while Drummond, holding brief consul? tation with his sergeant, was deliberat? ing whether to turn thither or to push for the signal peak and learn what ho could from the little squad of blue jackets there on duty, the matter was decided for him. Sudden and shrill there came the cry from the outskirts of the now dismounted troop clustered about the bedy of their comrade. ' * Another fire, lieutenant ! Look ! out here toward the Santa Maria. " The sergeant sprang to his feet, shouldering his burly way through the excited throng. One moment more and his voice was heard in louder, fiercer tones; "No signal this time, sir. By God, they've fired Moreno's ranch!" CHAPTER III. Shortly after sunset on this same hot evening the sergeant in charge of the little signal party at the Picacho came strolling forth from his tent puffing at a battered brier root pipe. Southward and a few hundred feet below his perch thc Yuma road came twisting through tho pass, and then disappeared in the gathering darkness across the desert plain that stretched between them and tho distant Santa Maria. Over to the east the loftiest crags of the Christobal were still faintly tinged by the last touch of departed day. Southward still, beyond the narrow and tortuous pass, the rango roso high ai.d precipi? tous, covered and fringed with black masses of cedar, stunted pine and juni? per. North of west, on the line of the now invisible road and far out toward the Gila, a faint light was just twinkling. There lay Ceralvo's, and nowhere else, save where the embers of the cook fire still glowed in a deep crevice among the rocks, was there light of any kind to be seen. A lonely spot was this in which to spend one's days, yet the sol? dier in charge seemed in no wise op? pressed with sense of isolation. It was his comrade, sitting moodily on a convenient rock, elbows on knees and chin deep buried in his brown and hairy hands, who seemed brooding over the desolation of his surroundings. Watching him in silence a moment, a quiet smile of amusement on his lips, Sergeant Wing sauntered over and placed a friendly hand on the broad blue shoulder. "Well, Pikey, are you wishing your? self back in 'Frisco?" "I'm wishing myself in Tophet, ser? geant; it may be hotter, but it isn't as lonely as this infernal hole." "No, its populous enough probably," was the response; "and," added he, with a whimsical smile, "no doubt you've lots of friends there, Pike." "Maybe I have, and maybe I haven't. At all events, I've none here. Why in thunder couldn't yon let me look into that business over at Ceralvo's instead of Jackson? He gets everything worth having. I'm shelved for his sake day I after day." "Couldn't send you, Pike, on any such qnest as that. Those greasers have sharp eyes, and one look at your face would convince them that we'd lost our grip or were in for a funeral. Jackson, now, rides in as blithe as a May morning-a May morning ont of Arizona, I mean. They never get the best of him. The only trouble is he stays too long; he ought to be back here now." "Humph! he'll be apt to come back in a hurry with Pat Donovan and those C troop fellows spending their money like water at Ceralvo's." "You still insist they're over there, do you, Pike? I think they're not. I flagged cid Feeny half an hour ago that they hadn't come through here." ' ' Who was that fellow who rode back here with the note?" asked Pike. "I don't know his name. 'Dntchy' they call him in C troop. He's on his second enlistment." * * More fool he ! The man who re-en? lists in this territory must be either drunk or Dutch. " And Pike relapsed into gloomy silence again, his eyes fixed upon the faint flicker of the bar lights at Ceralvo's miles away, ont Wing only laughed again, and still puning away at his pipe went on down the winding trail to where in the deep shelter of the rocky walls a pool of water lay gleaming. Here he threw himself flat, and lying aside his pre? cious pipe drank long and eagerly; then with a sudden plunge he doused his hot face in the cooling flood and came up dripping. "Thank the Lord I have no desert march to make today-all on a wild goose chase, ' ' was his pious ejacula? tion. "What on earth could have in? duced the paymaster to send a detach? ment over to the Gila?" He took from his pocket a penciled note and slowly twisted it in his fingers. It was too dark to read, but in its soldierly brevity he almost knew it by heart "The major sent Donovan with half the escort back to the Gila on an Apache scare this morning. They will prob? ably return your way, empty handed. Signal if they have passed. Latham knows your code and we have a good glass. Send man to Ceralvo's with orders* for them to join at once if they haven't come, and flag or torch when they pass you. It's my belief they've gone there." This was signed by Feeny and over and again had Wing been speculating as to what it all meant. When the es? cort with the ambulance and paymaster went through before the dawn, Feeny had roused him to ask if anything had been heard of Indians on the warpath between them and the Sonora line, and the answer was both prompt and posi? tive, "No." As for tjieir being north or north of west of his station, and up toward the Gila, Wing scouted the sug? gestion. He wished, however, that Jackson were back with such tidings as he had picked np at Ceralvo's. It was always best to be prepared, even though this was some distance away from the customary raiding ground of the tribe. Just then there came a hail from aloft. Pikey was shouting. "All right," answered Wing cheer? ily; "be there in a minute," and then he went springing np the trail as though the climb of 400 feet were a mere bag? atelle. "What's np? Jackson here?" he asked, short of breath, as he reached the little nook in which their brush covered tents were pitched. There was no re? ply. '' Pike ! O Pike ! Where are you ?" he called. And presently, faint and far, some? where down in the dark canyon to the south, a voice replied: "Downhyar. Something's coming up the road." Surely enough. Probably a quarter mile away a dim light as of . swing? ing lantern could be seen following the winding of the rough and rock ribbed road. Then came the click of ironshod hoofs, the crack of the long mnlewhip, and a resonant imprecation in Spanish leveled at the invisible draft ani? mals. Bounding lightly down the southward path, Sergeant Wing soon reached the roadside, and there found Pike in converse with a brace of horse? men. "It's old Harvey 's outfit, from Yuma, making for Moreno's," vouchsafed the soldier. "Oh, is that you, Sergeant Wing? I ought to have known you were here. I'm Ned Harvey." And the taller horseman h 1 out a hand, which Wing grasped an*' v "ok with cordial fervor. "Which way, Mr. Harvey, and who are with you?" "Home to Tucson. My sisters are in Concord behind us, going to visit4 the old folks for a few weeks before their trip to Cuba." [TO BE CONTINUED.] Subscribe for this paper now.