Foes in Ambush

rebellion, and declared himself quite ready to take his ease now and let the youngsters see for themselves the hollowness of military glory. Weariness and physical exhaustion had lent their claims,

mbled; they could have a long night's sleep, and with the rising of the morrow's sun, convoying their three wagons and their recaptured treasures, the little detachment would take the back track for the Tucson road, confident of meeting "old Harvey" and, probably, a doctor on the way. He himself, though mo

t leave him. In his half-dreaming, half-waking state, he once thought he heard a light foot-fall, and presently as he doze

sting?" he asked, "

Mr. Drummond, yet you do not seem to have had more than a cat nap. Twice I have stolen in here

until within the last few minutes. Have none of the men got back yet,

out there in the rocks, oh, about an hour ago, and when the sergeant came back he mounted his horse and rode away do

e. He was too anxious, too ne

t. No, please do not strive to detain me here. I'm perfectly able to be

near at hand a soldier had thrown himself on his saddle blanket and was sound asleep. The plash of the waters in the brook, dancing and tumbling

darken with menace at the sight of a sentry sleeping on guard. "Moreno is securely tied, and both Patterson up t

faithful to his trust, Drummond saw that he was peeri

" he hailed. "Where is Wing?

ly, were coming back, but they didn't come fast enough to suit him. The ambu

ame into view around a jutting point, the dingy yellow ambulance jolting after them, one soldier

ed the lieutenant. "You can unhitch and unharness just

fe's go

ha

valley, I reckon. I supposed you knew it, sir, and him, too, but he didn't. Those Mo

Drummond st

h," he ordered. "I'll take Patterson's. You two remain here and see that that old scoundrel

empt such a thing. Please lie down again. Surely Mr. Wing will do all that any man could do to recover the safe. All the oth

esign, but a glance at his two troopers told him that they plainly and earnestly advocated Miss Harvey's view of the case. He was in no

go, Fan; don't le

ng red. It was the first time he had seen her to speak to since they landed at the old wharf at San Francisco a year gone by, and for th

s this you? How

, would leave them, and, wounded though he was, insist on attempting to follow his men in their pursuit, the shyness of maidenhood was forgott

necessary to struggle for the release of the hand she had so unhesitatingly used to detain him. This might have

a moment? There's something going

d face of the Irish trooper Walsh, he became as suddenly oblivious to all earthly matters beyond the pale of his own physical woes. And now it was R

? What was it lik

ile Wing was galloping as though to meet them, and when they weren't more than a mile apart Wing's horse went down,-looks no

s no easy scramble for a man in Drummond's condition to make, bu

his, and you know it, Patterson.

o were in sight and warn them to keep out from the rocks. What I'm afraid of is that they've been ambushed, or at least that the Indians have ambushed him. His horse is dow

ected, was out of the question. Fail to go, or send, to Wi

, especially if Wing is wounded. I can't shoot now, but I can ride and direct. Every man who can shoot may be needed here. You have four now and can stand off forty Apaches-Tonto or Chiricahua-in such a

Moreno and his sleeping guardian as he pa

de just to the other side of th

g that something of a serious nature was impending, and that he could not get away at all without

at the entrance to the cave. His revolvers were in there

ction?" asked Miss Harvey, laughingly. "It is high time.

strong spot for a place of refuge. You are safe here, safer than anywhere between Yuma and

y dashed away without even a saddle. 'Something

wd packer among Morales's people whisked it out of the wagon and onto a burro, and now we are all keen to get it back. Of cou

y with the elder sister, Ruth stood

e forth. "You have no right to-now." And J

me or detain when I tell you, as I feel forced to tell you now, that Sergeant Wing is

ment he bent, kissed her forehe

moment later one face was blushing like the dawn,

hand no man in the old dragoons would ever have believed for an instant. Such scholars as had drifted into the ranks were, as a rule, irreclaimable drunkards, lost to any chance of redemption at home, and only tolerated in the service in the rough old days because of their meek and uncomplaining performance of long hours of extra duty in the troop or regimental offices when, their whiskey and their money alike exhausted, they humbly went back to their desks, asking only to live in the hope of another drunk. Hundreds of the old dragoons could barely sign their names, many could only touch the pen when called upon to make "his (X) mark." "Another busted clerk" was the general expression when the young Californian came forward to enlist. Yet he was the picture of clear-eyed, athletic manhood, was accepted with much hesitancy by the officers and undoubted suspicion by the men, yet speedily proved a splendid horseman, scout, s

ctised eye no vestige of doubt remained as to the character and purpose of the signal-smokes. Not a moment was to be lost. Within that very hour, perhaps, unseen Indians would come skulking, spying, "snaking" upo

agility the mountain Indians could speed along from rock to rock and still keep under cover, and every man who had served a month in Arizona could have predicted that if Indians in any force were within a day's march of those three stragglers ambush and death would be their fate, perhaps even when within view of their longed-for goal. That they had not seen the sign, that they were ignora

epression in the range,-something like a broad cleft in the mountains, possibly a pass through to the broader desert on the other side. He gave it little thought, however. There, only a mile or so away now, came his fellow-troopers, two in front, another lagging some distance behind, riding sleepily towards him and dangerously close to a number of sheltering rocks. Intent only on them and still wishing to attract their attention, he swung his broad-brimmed hat, waving it off to the left, but with no apparent result. Confound them! Were they sound asleep? Could they never be made to see? Poor Dick was able now only to strike a feeble canter, so utterly was he used up, and just when Wing, looking only to the front, was thinking that he might as well discontinue the spur and let his poor horse rest, they labored forth from

ft of the horse's head and fired, then, cramming a cartridge into the chamber, came riding farther. The others, too, followed suit, shooting at some object apparently among the rocks in front of the sergeant's position. One of the men threw himself from his saddle, and kneeling on the sands drove two or three shots at long range. Eager to add his own fire to theirs, Wing pulled his hat-brim over his eyes, threw forward the barrel over the now stilled carcass of poor Dick, and peered eagerly up the ravine in search of some foe at whom to aim. Blindly he searched for dusky Apache skulking from rock to rock; there was no moving thing in sight. But what was this,-this object that suddenly shot out from behind a little ledge and, turning sharply to the left, went clattering into the depths of a

g to the rude bandaging of his leg and lying limp and weak, his head resting on Dick's stiffening shoulder. But Wing's e

rt? Were there

was in a dead faint when we got to him. I don't know how many there

must have thought the sergeant was alone, for when we charged they just lit out for al

e were too far off to tell how many there was. I only saw one as

mond. Look up a moment if you can. You w

ns, sir?" asked

how

. Then

t see on