CHAPTER XXVI.
A SURPRISE INDEED.
Mendez, the White Mountain Apache and friend of the whites, possessed mental gifts above most of his race. More than once he had displayed a grasp of details and a comprehension of plans rarely shown by his people, and which were so unexpected to the officers on the reservation that they were filled with admiration. They trusted more to his skill and perception than they did to any other of the dusky scouts.
He had little to say, immediately after the outbreak of Maroz and Ceballos, but those who knew him were sure his active brain was at work, and that, sooner or later, he would surprise them by some exploit that proved an almost intuitive knowledge of the schemes of the hostiles.
The part he acted during the day of the revolt of Maroz and Ceballos has been told. Lieutenant Decker, who was his constant companion, afterward stated that from the moment he rode out from Fort Reno with him and the three cavalrymen, he did not utter twenty words, and those that fell from his lips were mostly in answer to inquiries, while the majority remained unanswered.
It is to be presumed that Mendez was satisfied with the steps taken to head off Maroz and his confederates, for, had it been otherwise, he would have protested. But the effort failed, and then the fellow found use for his tongue. He was freely consulted by the colonel, and the steps that were taken to subdue the outbreak were materially modified to meet the views of the sagacious Mendez.
No member of the hostiles knew more about the fastnesses of the Apache range than did he. He read in the display of the signal smoke and the actions of the band that had slain the family of Captain Murray an attempt to mislead the whites as to their true purpose. Instead of rendezvousing at the advanced point, where from their actions it would be supposed they had arranged to come together, they fixed upon a wild, precipitous gorge nearly two miles further in the mountains.
Locating there and keeping vigilant watch against surprise the leaders would send out their runners and bring in all the disaffected warriors that could be persuaded to take the risk of another revolt against the authorities. When they were fully assembled they would burst from the mountains like a cyclone and spread woe and death among the ranches and settlements over an area of hundreds of square miles.
To crush this rebellion in the bud was the work of the soldiers, and enough has been told to show that it was a task most difficult of accomplishment. How could the brave boys in blue hope to surprise the camp of the hostiles, when they were prepared for such an attempt and were certain to take every possible precaution against it?