FIN1HKG THE THAIL.

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 16, 22 September 1883, Page 4

FINIHKG THE TH AIL.

HivtiK in the shadow of Un*? «*rim mountain is :* camp of cavalry —200 men in faded on \ rngge I bluo 'mifor.ns, even, face sunburned and brenso !, every sabre and orbino showing: long use, every horse lifting it 3 head from the grass at intervals for a swift glance up and down the valley. Here, at the foot of the mountain, thi* Apache trail, which* has been ' followed for throe days, has grown cold. A?<», it has been lost It is as if fc'ie white men had followed a path which suddenly ended at a precipice. From this point the rel demons tonk wing 3, and the oldest trailer is at fault. The men on picket looked up «n 1 down the narrow valley with anxious faces. Down the valley, a mil* 1 «wny, « solitary wild horse paws anil prances and titters' shrill neighs of wonderment and alarm. Up the valley is a lons stretch of green grass, the earth as level as a floor and no visible sign of life. The pines and shrub* pnd rocks on the mountain side might hide ten thous»n I Indiana, bnt th'<re is noi the slightest movement to arouse suspicion. It \$ n still, hot day. Not a bird chirps, not :\ branch waves, The eve of a lynx could detect nothing beyond the erratic movements of the lone wild horjc adown the valley and the circular flight of an ea#le bo high in air that the proud bird seemed no larger than a sparrow. For an hour every man an I horse has looked for " sign*?," but nothing- ho* been discovered beyond what has been described. It i? a I opt trail. Tnere is something in it to-a'ons« suspicion a-* well as ft»noyH.ttce. Ten mile* away the trail was as plain as a country highway, and the Indiana had no suspicion of pursuit. Five miles back there were gitfng of commotion. Here, in the centre of the valley, every footprint suddenly disappears. Look, now 3 A sergvant with grizzly lock* and fighting 1 jaw rides down the valley, followed by five troopers. They are to scout for the lost trail. Every man has unslung his carbine, awry aaddle-girth has been tightened, and every man of the fix looks over the camp as be ride? out as if he had been told that he was bidding a last farewell to comrades. They ride at a slur gallop. Each man casts swift glances alont*- the mountain-side to his right — along the mountain-side to Ids left —at the gre^n grass under his home's feet. What's that J Afar up the slope to th« right something waves to and fro fur a moment. Highoi up the signal h answered. Across the valley on t'.e other slope it i* answere \ again. Down ! the valley, a full two miles beyond where the wild horse now stands like a figure , of stone, and «lt»»ro the v 4hy sweeps to [ the right like the sudden turn of n riv.T, | the signal is caught and 200 Apaches, ! eager, excited and mounted, draw back into the fringe at the base of the mountain and wait. The little band gallop straight down npon the lone horse. Now they are only half a mile away, and hi*, breath comes quick and his nostrils quiver us ho stands and stares at the sti.tn.je spectacle. A littl» nearer and his muacU-8 twitch and qom»r and his sharp-pointed ears woi-k faster. Only eighty rods now, and with a heice si.or of alarm and defiance he rears up, wiiirk about like a top, and is ofT down the valley like an arrow sent by a «{r<ui'_: hand. The sight may thrill, bur it dot's not increase the pace of those who follow. The men see the wild hors* t 6eei ng before them, bnt the sight does ?. f»ot hold their eyes more than a scrond. To the right — let the left — >above them —down the valley — they are loolciug "*~for a hoof-print, for a trammed spot, for a broken twig—for a s»«*n howevr-r insignificant to prove tint men hnve passed that way. They find nothing Tbc signals up the mountain-side weri visible only for a few seconds. After the first wild hur^t of speed the lone hor^e looks back. He sees thnt he i« not Insing pushed, and hp recovers courage. He no longer runs in a Straight line, b<it he sweeps away to the hit —^nerves ft way to the nVh<-, and changes his gait to a trot, W'»en he hears th« shunts of pursuit and the louder thump of hhoof-Wagt q he. will strrtiichten away and .show the pursuer-? a gait which uot-hing 1 but a wuirlvrind can equa). Look 1 It if only a q»iArtt»r «f a mil«> now to the (uni in t'n % Valley. The lone koree has sud Ivnly stopped to mi tiff i)w air. His enve are pointed ctr-tig-hf ahead, his eye* grow larger »md take ot^ a fiig'itened look. mi*\ iVe half whtvln a« if he would ffa!!o|) hack to those who ibave «wj;mnjrJy |>»irp«ed. Five, eight . ten Bwowh, and uit.» a snort of alarm he breaks into a terrific run. tikes the extreme teh of Jf»e valley, and goes tearing out of sight as if followed by lions. * Halt r The grim sergeant sees " sisjns " in the actions of the horse. Every trooper is looking ahead and to the ri^ht. Th« green valley runs into the fringe, the fringe into dense thicket, the thicket into rock and pine and mountain slope. No eye can pctietrato that fringe. The Indians may be in ambus!) there, or the horse may have aeented wolf or grizzly. u Foriwir<J!" No man knows what danger lurks in the fringy, but the order was to scout beyond the bend. To disobey is igno;nifiy and disgrace ; to ride forward j# — "naitl There is no air stirring in th<» valley. Every h'mh and bough is; as still as if made of iron. There ib a ] fifatce winch ireigiiß like a hoa.vy' \w<U'it, «n«l the harsh not*} of hawk or iio?garti would be a relief. Hot c is the bend. The \a]Je£ CQZri

in> o.« a< before — no wider — no nnr*'»wer — level mid unbrikwi.. The wild so se was out of sight long asyo, a d he six troopers see nothing but the 4Te<?n grass as thei v eyes sweep the vall-y from side to siHe. * T«r the bend and ride down the alloy about a mile or so. and k ep your eye open to discover any pass leading out.' 'Halt!' It is more than ft mi'a beyond the bend. No pass has been discovered. No sign* of a trail have been ptcked.up. The ser^ea^. has raised himself up for a long and careful scrutiny, when an exelmnation causes him to turn his face up the valley, Out from the fringe ride, the demons who have been lurking there to drink Wood. Five — Urn — twenty — fifty-— the line has no end. It stretches ; clear across the valley before a word ha* been spoken. Tnm ifc faces to the rij>!»t i and 200 Indiana in war paint face the grim old sergeant and his five troopers. ; ' Into line— -ris*ht dress !' It i« the sergeant wlio whispers the | order. Six to 200, (>«< ho will face the j danger. To retreat down the valley is to \'Q overtaken one by one and sh>»t from the sadd'e or reserved for torture i Dtwn t'»e valley t »ere is u<> i»<»p^: up the valley is the ca-up and rescue. The two lin^s fiic" each other for a moment without a movement 4 Nd.v, men, one volley — -^ling carbines — draw sabres and ehar^e !' A «heet of fl.une — a jo.ir — a cloud of smoke, and the StX hordes spiinsr forward Tnen there is a jjnuid y^Ui »^ rush by every horse >\nd rider, and a whirlpool begins to circle. Sabres Hash and claiiif — arrows whistle — revolvers pop — voices <h«v\t and *er ( _\\m, anvl then the sviiirpuoi cea^s. It is not three minutes siuej th< (ii^t cniu'ne was fired, bntt'ie tratro<ly f'nsendyi, K very trooper is down nn<\ scnlped, half a dozen r°dg!;ins are dr id or <hin'jf, a 'loxen horses are strnuglin^or nni turning tha Ivnd at a mad ir.dlop ia the sergeant's riderless horse. He CMrrie> nn an'ow in his shoulder, and there, i* blool on the saddle. In five minutes he will be in camp, and the notes of tio butfb' will prove thtit the io-t trail nas been found.