equently crossed one another's trails, often
met and kept within supporting distance. The danger which threatened the
Apaches was as present in the darkness as when the sun was shining. One
of the seemingly inaccessible strongholds was reached by the troopers
pushing the pursuit all through the night. As a proof of the skill of
the Apache trailers, it may be said they were often guided in the gloom
by the feeling of their feet, which told them when they were on the
trail of the enemy. Captain Bourke, whom we have quoted, was in command
of a detachment of the best Indian trailers and sharpshooters. He thus
describes the scene and incidents, when, after hours of stealthy pursuit
through the rough region, they came upon the hostiles, who believed
themselves beyond reach of the most persistent enemies of any race:

[Illustration: GENERAL CROOK'S APACHE GUIDE.]

"Lieutenant William J. Ross, of the Twenty-first Infantry, was assigned
to lead the first detachment, which contained the best shots from among
the soldiers, packers, and scouts. The second detachment came under my
own orders. Our pioneer party slipped down the face of the precipice
without accident, following a trail from which an incautious step would
have caused them to be dashed to pieces; after a couple of hundred yards
this brought them face to face with the cave, and not two hundred feet
from it. In front of the cave was the party of raiders, just returned
from their successful trip of killing and robbing in the settlement near
Florence on the Gila River. They were dancing to keep themselves warm
and to express their joy over their safe return. Half a dozen or more of
the squaws had arisen from their slumbers and were bending over a fire
and hurriedly preparing refreshments for their victorious kinsmen. The
fitful gleam of the glowing flame gave a Macbethian tinge to the weird
scene, and brought into bold relief the grim outlines of the cliffs,
between whose steep walls, hundreds of feet below, growled the rushing
current of the swift Salado.

"The Indians, men and women, were in high good humor, and why should
they not be? Sheltered in the bosom of these grim precipices, only the
eagle, the hawk, the turkey buzzard, or the mountain sheep could venture
to intrude upon them. But hark! What is that noise? Can it be the breeze
of morning which sounds 'click, click?' You will know in one second
more, poor, deluded, red-skinned wretches, when the 'bang! boom!' of