|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 70
South of this is a great chamber cut up into smaller rooms, with
long halls, with walls twenty feet in height. In one of the
rooms is a fireplace, and over the doorways are carved wood
lintels. An entrance from the south is given through a spacious
antechamber. The rafters, hauled fifteen miles, must have
weighed a ton.
Here lies the Colchis of the modern Argonaut. At first the
Mexican pried through the debris-choked rooms, or feebly tunneled
under the walls. With the coming of the white races and the
drill, holes have been sunk into the original bed-rock. To the
simple stories of the natives, fable-bearers have added maps,
dying confessions, and discovered ciphers.
This ruin, which has caused so many heart-breaks and
disappointments, are but the fragments of an old mission founded
by Francisco de Atevedo in 1628. Tabiri was to be the central
mission of Abo and Cuarac. The absence of water leads the modern
explorer to believe that when the town was deserted the spring
was killed. The gentle fathers who built the church supervised
the construction of a water-works. On a higher ride are three
crudely made reservoirs, with ditches leading to the village. The
Piros had no animals save a few sheep, and the water supply was
needed only for domestic uses, as the precipitation furnished
moisture for small crops of beans and corn.
All these towns were wiped out by the Apaches, the red plague of
the desert. First they attacked the outlying forts of the
Salines, once supposed to be well-watered, teeming with game, and
fruitful. Tradition again takes the place of unrecorded history,
and tells that the sweet waters were turned to salt, in
punishment of the wife of one of the dwellers in the city, who
proved faithless. In 1675 the last vestige of aboriginal life
was wiped out. For a century the Apaches held undisputed control
of the country; then the Mexican pioneer crept in. His children
are now scattered over the border. The American ranchman and
gold-seeker followed, twisting the stories of a Christian
conquest into strange tales of the seekers of buried treasures.
Through this land Dick had wandered, finding his search but a
rainbow quest. But he kept on by dull inertia, wandering
westward to Tularosa, then down to Fort Grant, and toward the
Lava Beds of southwestern Arizona. In all that arid land there
was nothing so withered as his soul.
Jack, well mounted, with a pack-mule carrying supplies, had
picked up Dick's trail, after it left Tularosa, from a scout out
of Fort Grant.
Slim Hoover headed for Fort Grant in his search for Jack.
Although the ranchman had only a brief start of him, Slim lost
the track at the river ford. Knowing Dick had gone into the
desert, Jack headed eastward, while Slim, supposing that Jack was
breaking for the border to escape into a foreign country turned
southward.
From the scout who had met Jack and Dick, the Sheriff learned
that the two men were headed for the Lava Beds, which were
occupied by hostile Apaches.
Detachments of the 3d Cavalry were stationed at the fort, with
Colonel Hardie in command of the famous F troop, a band of Indian
fighters never equaled. In turn, they chased Cochise, Victoria,
and Geronimo with their Apache warriors up and down and across
the Rio Grande. Hard pressed, each chieftain, in turn, would
flee with his band first to the Lava Beds, and then across the
border into Mexico, where the United States soldiers could not
follow. Hardie fooled Victoria, however. Texas rangers had met
the Apache chief in an engagement on the banks of the Rio Grande.
Only eight Americans returned from the encounter. Hardie took up
his pursuit, and followed Victoria across the river. The Indians
had relaxed their vigilance, not expecting pursuit and despising
the Mexican Rurales. Troop F caught them off guard in the
mountains. The fight was one to extermination. Victoria and his
entire band were slain.
This was the troop which was awaiting orders to go after the
Apaches.
Colonel Hardie told Slim that the Indians were bound to head for
the Lava Beds. If the men for whom he was looking were in the
desert, the troops would find them more quickly than Slim and his
posse.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|