The operations of the troops in this Department in the late campaigns against the Apaches entitle them to a reputation second to none in the annals of Indian warfare. In the face of obstacles heretofore considered insurmountable, encountering rigorous cold in the mountains, followed in quick succession by the intense heat and arid waste of the desert; not infrequently at dire extremities for want of water to quench their prolonged thirst; and when their animals were stricken by pestilence or the country became too rough to be traversed by them, they left them, and, carrying on their own backs such meager supplies as they might, they persistently followed on, and, plunging unexpectedly into chosen positions in lava-beds, caves and canyons, they have outwitted and beaten the wildest of foes, with slight loss comparatively to themselves, and finally closed an Indian war that has been waged since the days of Cortez.
Jimmie heard the orders read at Fort Whipple, where he was herding horses for the quartermaster’s department. A scourge of epizootic had played havoc with the army animals, and much of the cavalry required remounting. The new horses were driven to Whipple from Los Angeles and San Diego of California, in bunches of several hundred at a time, to be divided among the posts.
This was rather a poky job, but if the war had ended, a fellow needs must do something.
Joe Felmer had decided to quit scouting and ranching, and try prospecting. So he had headed for Tucson.
The two thousand Yavapais, Tontos and Apache-Yumas at Camp Verde were content. Everybody working, with worn-out tools they had dug an irrigating ditch five miles long, to water fifty-seven acres of land, and were putting in crops. The general had promised them that they should be paid money, the same as white people, for whatever they raised to sell, and they believed him.
From Camp Apache and the San Carlos agency there came encouraging reports. In the south the Chiricahuas were quiet. Mexico complained that stock was being stolen and run across the line into the Chiricahua reservation; but Agent “Staglito” or Red-beard, who was Tom Jeffords, declared that this was done by the Chief Whoa outlaws in Mexico.
Arizona did indeed seem at peace, for the first time in three hundred years.
XVII
BAD WORK AFOOT
“Lieutenant Almy is killed! Almy’s been murdered!”