“Yes—look like dat.”
“I don’t see the need to signal him, for he’s his own boss and knows what to do without directions from any one else.”
“Yes, he do,” assented Mendez, who seemed to be suffering from a burst of talkativeness, altogether unusual with him.
“Is there any use of our keeping up this chase, Mendez?”
“No use, big fool to chase Geronimo.”
“Then we’ll stop.”
And the troopers drew rein, talked a few minutes, after which the lieutenant gave the orders to wheel about and return to Camp Reno.
True the pursuit of Geronimo and his dreaded warriors had ended in failure, and yet in the right sense it was a brilliant success.
The Apaches had set out to raid a portion of Sutra Valley, but were discovered in time and sent skurrying back to their fastnesses, with the loss of two of their number and without having been able to set foot within the section which they had meant to devastate. It was they who had met the most egregious failure.