"Do you think Mr. Baldwin knew his predecessor had been killed?"
"Yes; the story is well known. You boys were down at Postal's ranch when it happened."
"I can't see why Mr. Baldwin took the place. If we had not been along he would have been killed to-day."
"No doubt of it."
We were nearing the object in the road. Suddenly the mules caught sight of it, backed, and crushed the ten-gallon keg under the axle against a bowlder; a serious mishap as our after-experience will show. Walking on we came to the mutilated bodies of two men, several yards apart, whom we had no difficulty in recognizing to be the ranchmen Sage and Bell. I sent a man back to Skull Valley to report their death, and with the axe, bayonets, and tin-cups dug a shallow grave beside Ferrin's. We placed them side by side and heaped a pyramid of stones above them.
The courier again bade us good-by, and, our messenger to Skull Valley having returned, we went on. The further ride through the mountain-pass was accomplished without adventure, and evening found us encamped at Willow Springs. These springs were surrounded by immense bowlders of coarse granite which was undergoing slow disintegration; the whole region being covered with a coarse gravel, which had once been a part of the solid granite strata. In fact the springs were not only surrounded but buried beneath the gravel. We scooped it away to find the crystal water which lay beneath. The boys shot a few quail here of the variety known as the California quail, distinguished by an elegant plume of six feathers on the top of the head. Clary broiled them for breakfast.
The road the following day was so rough that for much of the way we were unable to move faster than a walk, the slow walk of draught animals. Small fragments of granite filled the track, making it impossible to trot. When near a place called Soldiers' Holes, on account of some rifle-pits sunk there, the Corporal called my attention to a pool of blood in the road. Instantly the boys and I thought the gallant young courier had met with death. Leaving the ambulance we examined the locality thoroughly. Moccasin tracks filled a clump of sage-brush on the left, and a few crossed to the pool of blood. Tracks of two horses and a mule, and shoes of white men mingled with the others.
The signs showed that two men had fallen, that one had been wounded, and that a second party had come and taken the wounded man away. The place was well adapted for a surprise. On the left was a long dense growth of low shrubbery extending from the road to the foot of a mountain-range. On the opposite side was an open plain.
We were going on again when Frank remarked,
"There seems to have been a big gathering of Apaches along this road."