Captured by the Navajos

for two days for rest and some needed repairs to wagons before undertaking the second and longer

ort Wingate officers concerning her son. None of them had heard more than she already knew, but a scout claime

ly camped half a mile to the west of Fort Wingate, which had been awaiting our arrival in order

ss brown eyes. He was clothed in a faded and stained butternut suit of flannel, consisting of a loose frock and baggy trousers, the legs of the trousers being tucked into the tops of road-worn boots. His hat was a battered and frayed broad-brimmed felt. Mrs. Arnold sat on a stool superintending the work, bowed forward, her elbows on her knees, holding a long-stemmed cob-pipe to her lips with her left hand, removing it at

ch was clad in a narrow-skirted calico dress, and each was stockingless a

the family in sight, I was riding slowly back to the roadway, intending to take a brisk canter to the f

, may I speak t

oice, I saw my young friend approaching, s

n all the family

those the mother said were all their

o-a niece. She's back of the wagons making friends with

sual glance, impressing me favorably. A blonde, possessed of abundant flaxen tresses held in a band of blue ribbon, having a complexion which her recent journey had tanned and sprinkled with abundant freck

rmaster, Lieutenant Duncan-and Mr. Duncan," continued the boy

voice in which the girl assured me of her pleas

uaintance of Corporal Henry B

alling. The stumble caused me to drop a package, and Mr. Burton chanced to come up and restore it to me, and he also picked u

ed something of the history

nk and Henry Burton and Lieutenant Duncan at Los Valles Grandes and

no doubt," I observed. "But about th

t who ca

morrow, our soldier-bl

belong to go

"I'll lead Gypsy to the forge for you, and Private Sattler sh

rge inland city of New York. Her father and mother had recently perished in a yachting accident, and the young girl had been sent to her paternal uncle in Colorado. There were relatives on the mother's

our country. One of the brothers was ambitious, of steady habits, and possessed of a receptive mind

was twenty-two miles; and it being impossible for us to leave the post before three

e Arnold camp with the information, and the former was duly presented to Miss Brenda. Gyps

turned out to graze for the first time without water, and although in this mountain region the

ing a thicker garment as the twilight deepened into night. Frank expressed the trend of

h the heart, but alon

make it lively f

osely, and will take advantage o

s any chance of our f

our route. We cannot leav

hen he said: "It is awful to think we are going so near the dear o

sand dollars to the man who will bring Manuel to her,"

aid. "I hope she is right, for I saw his mother at Algodones

. "Well, something may turn up to enable

a hundred yards west of the spring was a ridge which did not rise fifty feet above it, and that was the "backbone" of the co

ur cows, two ponies, and four dogs were usually grouped. The father and eldest daughter drove the ox-teams, the mother the horse-team, and two daughters rode the ponies. Brenda's pony, Gypsy, was her own property, purchased soon a

. The distance was seventeen and a half miles. The next march was to the junction of the Rio Pescado and Otter Creek, twenty-two miles, and the following to Ar

d by Mexicans, Indians, and Americans, Ojo Rodondo, Wah-nuk-ai-tin-ai-z, and Jacob's Well. It is a funnel-

d the wall. Our cooks first procured a supply of water, and then the animals were driven down

CAPTAIN BAYARD TO IN

stions they told us we would find plenty of water at Navajo Springs, seven miles from Jacob's Well, and that there had been a heavy rainfall at the west. As the Indians were preparing to leave, Corporal Henry came forward and asked Captain Bayard to inq

ly, turning over his schedule of dista

ting to two prominent peaks to the northwest. "Can't w

the road except upon an extraordina

ge reward his mother offers?" asked Brenda Arnold, who stood by the side

e of them replied that the chief had refused large of

e him by a threa

e grief and sorrow to women and children; tell him that the great chief at Santa Fé is fast bringing this war to a close, and that two-thirds of his people are already on

ou," sai

ft in a northe

g marches and the lack of good water, we would go no farther than Navajo Spri

gua Fria little water had been drunk, it being either muddy, stag

s of the dimensions of a barrel set upon end in the ground, with a mere thread of water flowing from it-a thread which the fierce

nd one-twentieth miles over a rough, red, and verdureless country brough

and go on to Carizo Creek, and, if I found no running water, to sink hol

e creek, when we reached it, was in no respect different from the one we had j

d about an acre of water, four inches deep, in the bed of the stream, under the shadow of a sandstone cliff. It was miserable stuff-thic

an exceedingly rough country, and it had been conti

om the soldiers, watching for the

he far distance gave us the first hint that the train was over the divide an

ched down to the roily pool and stooped for a drink. The rest of the men were straggling the length

ause the ground was rough and stony and cacti in endless variety strewed the surface, branc

agons calling for forage. Lowing of cattle, bleating of sheep, braying of mules, and whinnying of horses never ceased as the suffering animals wandere

e went back with my message, and I knew that if he had returned she would have looked me up immed

ve I seen Vic. They must

here. I have just seen t

visited th

ays they have not seen him s

aptain Bayard, who had approached and

ent him to you at Carizo to

d I sent him back at once with orders for you

came here because it see

rds the train. "Cause an immediate search to be made for him. Exa

idual in the command not too tired to stir. Henry was known to all, and had in many gentle

ould be useless. In the wagon assigned to the use of the boy corporals and myself, Henry's c

ing. Then the thought suggested itself that the lad might be wandering on the road we had j

that Henry had been picked up by the Navajos when ret

gathered near their wagons for a consultation

uit over the barren region about us would be to invite failure and disaster. If we had Mexican ponies, or Indian ponies like those of

ter prospect of success to-

amp. I received a letter from the department commander before I left Wingate, stating that Lieutenant Hubbell and forty New Mexican cavalry had been ordered there three weeks ago. We shall find an abundance of