The words "Apache Cañon" sent a thrill through Manuelita; she knew well that there had been a bloody fight there.
"Yes," answered Stephens, a strange new light beginning to dawn upon him; "I fought at Apache Cañon, if you must know."
"You was on the Northern side, warn't you?" queried the storekeeper again.
"Yes," said the prospector quietly; "I was a volunteer in the Second Colorado Regiment."
"By gum, then, I knowed it!" cried the Texan excitedly; "you was one of the Pet Lambs."
At the beginning of the Civil War the Colorado troops, a pretty tough lot, were sometimes sportively alluded to as the "Pet Lambs."
A dry smile came to Stephens's lips at the sound of the old name. "I was a Lamb," said he.
"And I was one of Baylor's Babes," returned the other.
"Baylor's Babes" was the nickname bestowed upon a force of Texas rangers who invaded New Mexico, and had the audacity to propose to conquer the whole Rocky Mountain country for Jefferson Davis off their own bats.