'cholla'
cactus. If he felt thirsty, he drank from the nearest brook; if there
was no brook near by he went without, and, putting a stone or a twig in
his mouth to induce a flow of saliva, journeyed on. When he desired to
communicate with friends at home, or to put himself in correspondence
with persons whose co-operation had been promised, he rubbed two sticks
together, and dense signal smoke rolled to the zenith, and was answered
from peaks twenty and thirty miles away. By nightfall, his bivouac was
pitched at a distance from water, generally on the flank of a rocky
mountain, along which no trail would be left, and up which no force of
cavalry could hope to ascend without making noise enough to wake the
dead."

This graphic picture of the dusky scourge of the Southwest will explain
the dread in which he was held by all who were compelled to live away
from the towns. When practicable, the ranchmen combined against the
Apaches, but, from the necessities of the case, they were powerless to
extirpate the pests. Unsuccessful attempts were made by the military
forces, but nothing definite was accomplished until General George Crook
took the work in hand.

Crook was an old Indian campaigner who thoroughly understood the nature
of the difficult task before him. His preparations being completed, he
ordered his different columns to converge, December 9, 1872, on Tonto
Basin, which was one of the principal strongholds of the Apaches in
Arizona. The section is inclosed by the Mogollen, the Mazatzal, and the
Sierra Ancha Mountains, and the timbered region is so elevated that
during the winter months it is covered with snow. Crook himself took
station at Camp Grant, one of the most unattractive posts in the
country.

This officer having started on his campaign pushed it with untiring
energy. He had selected the best Indian fighters to be found anywhere,
and they pursued and rounded up the bucks with amazing skill and
persistency. As soon as they corralled a party of hostiles, they
impressed the best trailers and used them in running down the others.
The Indians were allowed no time to rest. When they had fled many miles,
and supposed their pursuers were left far out of sight, as had hitherto
been the case, they discovered them at their heels. Plunging into their
fastnesses in the mountains did not avail, for the white and the red
trailers could follow and did follow them wherever they took refuge.

The pursuing detachments fr