had managed to give us an account of what had
happened at Skull Valley before he left. I will, however, repeat it a
little more connectedly, with additions obtained later from other
parties.

After I left Sergeant Henry in the valley, as I passed through there
from the Xuacaxella, he had for three days devoted himself to the
amusement of his young hostess, Brenda, and her cousins.

There were many reasons why the Arnolds were not fearing an attack at
the time, the principal one being that the Indians had recently been
defeated at Date Creek. With that affair they seemed to have
withdrawn, and no signs of them had been seen since.

Near the close of the afternoon of the fourth day of Henry's visit a
party of forty-one Apaches had suddenly appeared, and had spent an
hour or more reconnoitring the valley and its approaches. Apparently
becoming satisfied that they would not be interrupted in their attack
by outside parties, they began active operations by collecting the
Arnold cattle and horses, and placing them in charge of two of their
number near the spring.

Next they fired one of the out-buildings, and under cover of the smoke
gained entrance to a second, which stood less than a hundred feet from
the north side of the house. Knocking the mud and chips from between
the logs here and there, they were enabled to open fire upon the
settlers at short range.

With the first appearance of the Indians, Mr. Arnold, assisted by two
travellers who had arrived that afternoon from Date Creek on their way
to Prescott, closed the windows and doorways with heavy puncheon
shutters, removed the stops from the loop-holes, directed the girls to
carry provisions and property into the earthwork, got the arms and
ammunition ready, and awaited further demonstrations.

The available defensive force consisted of every member of the family,
including Sergeant Henry Burton and the two strangers. The mother and
daughters had been taught the use of fire-arms by the husband and
father, and Brenda had been taught by the boy sergeants. In an
emergency like the one being narrated, where death and mutilation were
sure to follow capture, the girls were nerved to do all that could
have been expected of boys at their ages.

Until the Apaches gained possession of the second out-building, few
shots had been exchanged, and the besieged closely watched their
movements through the loop-holes. It was while doing this that a
bullet pierced the brain of