THE CAPTAIN'S SCHEME
"Dusk had fallen as we made our way out of the canyon, and we proceeded
slowly along a rather bare and rounding ridge, under the light of the
stars.
"From this ridge ran several canyons downwards towards the plains. We
passed the heads of two of them, and at the third I stopped. This was
the one which I had seen the Indians entering from the plain.
"'Can you make out anything down there in the darkness, Tom?' I asked.
"Tom peered keenly into the gloom below us.
"'I believe I can catch a glimpse of a fire down there,' he answered.
"But I did not have to depend on Tom's eye-sight altogether, for my
hearing was acute, even if my sight had become somewhat defective and I
was positive that I heard the Apache war cry.
"I determined, however, to make a closer investigation to see exactly
how the land lay. There was a possibility that I might be able to reach
the boys in the darkness, if they were besieged in the canyon below, as
I now felt positive they were.
"The first thing, however, was to find some suitable place for a camp,
where I could leave Tom with the horses, while I made my reconnaissance.
"It was somewhat difficult to do in the darkness, but at last I located
a camp on the south side of the south ridge of the canyon. There were
some great boulders with a semi-circle of trees or brush shutting in one
side of the rocks.
"When I had Tom safely ensconced in our new camp, I gave him his orders
and started to see what I could discover. I was armed with my revolver
and a knife in my belt, as I wanted to be free to move quickly, and to
fire instantly.
"I made no noise as I slipped over the ground in my moccasined feet. I
could, from long experience, make myself as stealthy and invisible as
any Indian and I moved noiselessly down the side of a broad valley, for
such it was, rather than a canyon.
"I was approaching a high hill that rose in the center of the valley,
and was making my way down a narrow hunting trail through some brush,
when I became aware that there was someone coming down the trail behind
me.
"I pressed close into some bushes and waited perfectly silent, as though
turned to stone. In a minute I saw a dark figure coming down the trail.
It was a gigantic brave and he passed so close to me that he almost
stepped on my feet.
"It was fortunate he did not, for I must acknowledge a corn on one of my
toes. It would have been as much as his life was worth for him to have
trod on it.
"After he had gone I took up the trail again, but more cautiously. In a
short time I had approached within a few hundred yards of the big hill
and found myself in a regular nest of Indians. They seemed to spring up
all around me. All that I could do was to lie still between two rocks.
"At any moment I might be stepped on and discovered. I could see the
hill rising above me in the darkness, with its great crown of white
rock. It was very quiet up there, but once I thought I heard a horse
whinny.
"I was not sure that the boys were the ones that the Apaches had
surrounded, as some soldiers or hunters might be the unfortunate object
of all this attention from the Apaches.
"I was beginning to wonder how I was to get out of my predicament, when
there seemed to be something preparing on the east side of the hill. I
could see dark figures creeping up that side, keeping under the cover of
the rocks as much as they could.
"I wanted to give the defenders of the fort some signal of warning, but
I was perfectly helpless, but I soon found that whoever was on guard was
not to be caught napping.
"For a succession of shots came from the top of the rock fort.
"'No, you don't,' I heard a familiar voice. 'You boys can go right home
and go to sleep.' It was Jim and it was all that I could do to keep from
giving him a cheer.
"But if I was going to be of any help to them, I must get out of the
situation with a whole scalp. So I took advantage of this diversion to
get out of the vicinity of the Apaches.
"In a few minutes I was free of their lines and was making my way back
through the valley, and crossing over the bridge, I approached the place
where I had left Tom.
"My mind was so engrossed with my plans for the morrow that I did not
realize that I was so close to the camp until I heard, 'Halt, who's
that?' From the tone I judged Tom was alarmed.
"'It's the captain,' I replied promptly.
"'I thought it was you, but I wasn't sure,' said Tom. 'I'm mighty glad
to see you back again.'
"'It's a privilege to be here safely,' I admitted. 'I have discovered
where Jim and Jo are.'
"'Where?' exclaimed Tom.
"'They are on a high hill in the middle of the valley on the other side
of the ridge, surrounded by Apaches.'
"'Can they hold out?' inquired Tom anxiously.
"'As far as I can judge they can stand them off as long as the water and
food hold out. I guess they haven't lost their spunk either. I heard Jim
yell for them to go home and go to sleep after they had made a
demonstration on one side and he had given them a salute of three shots,
driving them to cover.'
"'That's just like Jim,' exclaimed Tom in admiration. 'He's the lad with
the nerve all right. But what are you going to do to rescue them,
captain?'
"'We will have to study the situation by daylight to-morrow, and then we
will know better what to do.'
"'How many Apaches were they, captain?' asked Tom.
"'There was enough to go round, but don't you worry, Tom. Get a good
night's sleep and then you will be ready for whatever comes.'
"I guess Tom took my advice to heart, for in a few minutes I heard a
heavy breathing from his roll of blankets. It was very comfortable in
our sheltered camp with the big granite boulders back of us and the
screen of trees and bushes in front.
"There is something mysterious and wonderful about night in the
mountains and though I have lived for years in their presence, this has
never become common to me. There is the dim bulk of the mountains all
around, the moaning and moving of the mysterious winds through pines and
aspens, and overhead the wondrous clearness of the innumerable stars.
"I did not pretend to sleep as I lay there in my blankets, but kept
turning over in my mind different plans for the morrow. It would do no
good to try and join forces, for if by a determined rush we could break
through their lines and get into the fort, there would be just two more
to feed.
"Was there any way in which I could get food and water to them? This was
the first idea that I wrestled with. Perhaps with my craft I might be
able to get through on an overcast night with provisions and water.
"Another idea came to me. I might get the help of the U. S. soldiers
from the nearest fort in New Mexico, but that was one hundred and fifty
miles distant and time was precious. There was no assurance that the
boys could hold out until assistance should come. Finally, about
midnight, I, too, fell asleep, but not soundly, as the situation was
always half consciously before me.
"I woke up in the early dawn, and it did not take Tom and me long to get
through our breakfast. After we had watered our horses at a stream in
the bottom of a ravine, about a half mile distant, we proceeded to
reconnoiter the situation.
"I felt that something must be done this day and it was certainly a
perplexing condition of affairs, and in many ways it was desperate. The
responsibility for the two beleaguered boys weighed on me.
"One thing gave me assurance and that was Jim Darlington's resource and
pluck. At least he and Jo knew enough not to be taken alive by those
fiendish Apaches. However, it must not come to that.
"We went along below the south side of the ridge until opposite the hill
fort, but I was not able to take any observation on account of the thick
covering of trees, so I left Tom there and worked my way down the valley
slope of the mountain until I was within a half mile of the hill.
"Then I came to a great pine that towered like a commanding general
above the rank and file of common trees. I drove my knife deep into its
trunk, and this gave me a foothold from which I was able to reach a
lower branch.
"Quickly I clambered up until I was high enough to look over the
surrounding trees. Cautiously I gazed down from behind the trunk.
Everything was spread out before me. I could see the two ponies standing
on the top of the hill.
"Jo and Jim were moving about inside their defences, apparently
indifferent. I could see how cleverly they had built up their fort. If
there was only some way in which I could let them know that I was near.
"But what appalled me was the number of the Apaches. I could see that
there were hundreds of them moving like stealthy, cruel snakes through
the undergrowth.
"My jaw gripped itself and my resolution hardened. Something must be
done. I descended swiftly from the tree, and as I went back up the
slope, my mind was working at high tension. Then, when I reached the top
of the ridge my plan came to me. And I struck my leg with my clenched
hand. 'I have it! I have it!' I exclaimed.
"It was a broad, desperate scheme, but it would work, it must work. I
took careful note of the weather, not a cloud was to be seen anywhere.
'That's good,' I said, 'no rainstorms to-day. Now for a good wind and
from the looks of things it's going to come,' and it did.
"Later it came on to blow, as it only can in the high altitudes.
"It was a wind from the New Mexican Desert, blowing through the canyons
and roaring over the summits of the range. The fierce wind that blows
from stark, clear horizons."