Fulton was sleeping soundly when released from his prison among the rocks, and Mendez started to carry him, but the disturbance awoke the child, and, seeing that he was feverish and frightened, his rescuer allowed him to walk at his side as he wished, while he led him to his father.
When a few minutes later the party was about to start northward, in the direction of the river, with the intention of picking up their ponies on the way, and seeing Maurice Freeman safe home again with his loved boy, Lieutenant Decker remarked:
“It seems to me we’re forgetting that we are not yet out of the woods; are we not in danger, Mendez, of being followed by Maroz and Ceballos?”
“No!”
While the little party were silently threading their way northward to the desolate home which, in due time, was illuminated with perfect joy by the return of the child that had been mourned as dead, Captain Shindle and his cavalry were pressing matters from a different direction. The severe ride deferred their assault on the Apache stronghold until later than was desired, but the diversion, described elsewhere, produced the best effects. Under the guidance of the other White Mountain scouts, the hostiles were so effectually entrapped that their overthrow was complete.
In the conflict that followed, half of them were destroyed by the cavalry, who knew it was mercy to the innocent that such heroic measures should be adopted. Those who were not exterminated were captured and taken back as prisoners to the fort.
The disastrous results of the outbreak speedily became known to all the hostiles on the reservation, Maroz and Ceballos, the leaders, being among the first victims to the vengeance they had invoked. The lesson was of the most salutary nature. Others were on the point of joining the hostiles, and, had a temporary advantage come to the band in the mountains, one of the most formidable outbreaks known in the history of the southwestern frontier would have followed, carrying in its train unutterable woe and suffering.
But the prompt measures of the cavalry, and especially the actions of Mendez and Cemuri, nipped it in the bud.
THE END.