The outrages committed by him and his desperadoes are matters of history, as are the hardships and sufferings undergone by our soldiers in their desperate efforts to run him to earth. There was a universal sigh of relief among the ranches and settlements of Arizona, when it became known of a certainty that Geronimo and his principal associates had been taken eastward and would never again be permitted to place foot west of the Mississippi.
We are writing of the trying period preceding the capture of this Apache, when the mention of his name caused an involuntary shudder on the part of the bravest man.
Mendez had given such incontestible proof of his astonishing power of vision, that when he handed back the fieldglass and announced that the Indian, a mile away, was that ferocious chieftain no one doubted him.
The lieutenant passed the instrument to Cemuri with the request that he would make use of it. The fellow hesitated but did as desired. A moment after he pointed the glass westward, the Indian, as if aware of his own recklessness, sank down until as in the case of his companions, only the top of his head and forehead was visible.
But the second scout secured a good view the moment before this took place.
“Mendez right—he Geronimo,” remarked Cemuri, as if that being settled no further interest attached to their arch enemy.
“Since that is the case, it is probable that his whole band is with him. If I had the rest of the boys at hand, we would sail in and hustle those bucks westward faster than they came eastward.”
“But you haven’t them at hand,” observed Freeman, “so there isn’t much chance of doing anything against the party.”
Having “located” Geronimo and his band, the next question for the lieutenant to decide was what should be done. Brave as was the young officer (and his companions were equally brave) it would have been madness to attack a company of Apaches, fully armed and on the warpath, and who outnumbered them four or five to one.
Those cunning warriors were at home in this sandy waste and nothing would have pleased them better than to be assailed. No doubt they were keeping well out of sight in the hope of drawing on the little company of horsemen, who, had they ridden over the ridge, as there seemed a likelihood of their doing, would have entered a trap from which there was no extrication.