“Hi! I said he had somethin’ up his sleeve,” chuckled Long Jim Cook. “Where they gone? After plunder, I bet you!”
“Of course,” declared Archie. “And the general’s raising Cain. He says to Geronimo: ‘Those bucks of yours are riding south to steal horses and cattle from the Mexicans.’ And Geronimo, he just smiles and says: ‘Oh, they wouldn’t rob anybody. They’re looking for some of our own horses and cattle that we’ve left.’ And the general says: ‘I won’t allow you to take any stolen stock across the border. I’d be court-martialed for it.’ And Geronimo says: ‘Don’t bother with that. All those Mexicans are good for, is to grow horses and cattle for the Apaches. We will ride on slowly. But if there is any trouble with the Mexicans, you have promised to protect us. Besides, it will be several days before my men come to join us.’ So the general, he’s regularly up a stump.”
And that was true. For the time being the wily Geronimo had outwitted him. Without doubt most of the able-bodied warriors had ridden away for the purpose of making one last raid, and returning to the reservation, rich!
The march north was begun. The procession stretched for more than a mile—the old men and old women, the wounded, and the little children riding upon ponies, the women afoot packing great bundles, and many carrying cottonwood boughs to shield their heads from the fierce sun.
Soon the Chiricahuas numbered three hundred, the majority women and old men and children. The herd of horses and cattle steadily grew. Near the border a dozen warriors caught up, at night; they brought fifty horses. But at the camp across the border the warriors, driving herds of stock, joined in streams, and the general found that he had three hundred and sixty-three Chiricahuas and over one thousand horses and mules and cows bearing Mexican brands!
“Every one of those must be turned back into Mexico,” he ordered.
“No,” replied Geronimo. “They belong to us. We bring them, so that we can go to farming, as you ask us to do. Who cares what a lot of howling Mexicans say?”
Mexicans, lawyers and angry ranchers claiming horses and cows were threatening to sue the United States, and General Crook, for helping to steal Mexican stock. But many of the brands had been changed over, and there were disputes without end, the Mexicans and the Chiricahuas both claiming all the cattle.
So the only way out of the muddle was, to drive the stock to San Carlos, and sell it, and send the money to the United States treasury. Then the Mexicans who could prove their claims should be paid.
This did not please Geronimo.