limb, then
without a word proceeded to take off the shirt of the uninjured youth,
with strips of which he carefully bound up the broken leg. After this
the two Indians ate the prepared breakfast and remounted their ponies.
Then the old warrior, indicating the direction with his thumb, said
"Doctor--Lordsburg--three days," and silently rode away. The young men
rode twenty-five miles to Sansimone, where the cowboys fitted them out
with a wagon to continue their journey to Lordsburg, seventy-five miles
further, where a physician's services could be secured.

In 1883 two prospectors, Alberts and Reese by name, were driving a team,
consisting of a horse and a mule, through Turkey Creek bottoms, when
they were shot by the Indians. The wagon and harness were left in the
road, and the mule was found dead in the road two hundred yards from
that place. Evidently the Indians had not much use for him. The guns of
the prospectors were found later, but the horse they drove was not
recovered.

In none of the above-named instances were the bodies of the victims
mutilated. However, there are many recorded instances in which the
Apache Indians did mutilate the bodies of their victims, but it is
claimed by Geronimo that these were outlawed Indians, as his regular
warriors were instructed to scalp none except those killed in battle,
and to torture none except to make them reveal desired information.

In 1884 two cowboys in the employment of the Sansimone Cattle Company
were camped at Willow Springs, eighteen miles southwest of Skeleton
Canon, and not far from Old Mexico. Just at sundown their camp was
surrounded by Apaches in war paint, who said that they had been at war
with the Mexicans and wished to return to the United States. There were
about seventy-five Indians in the whole tribe, the squaws and children
coming up later. They had with them about one hundred and fifty Mexican
horses. The Indians took possession of the camp and remained for about
ten days, getting their supplies of meat by killing cattle of the
company.

With this band of Indians was a white boy about fourteen years old, who
had evidently been with them from infancy, for he could not speak a word
of English, and did not understand much Spanish, but spoke the Apache
language readily.

They would allow but one of the cowboys to leave camp at a time, keeping
the other under guard. They had sentinels with spyglasses on all the
hills and peaks surrounding the camp.