Through Apache Lands   By: Edward Sylvester Ellis (1840-1916)

BY LIEUT. R. H. JAYNE

AUTHOR OF "LOST IN THE WILDERNESS," "IN THE PECOS COUNTRY," "THE CAVE IN THE MOUNTAIN," ETC.

NEW YORK THE MERSHON COMPANY PUBLISHERS

Copyrighted, 1893, BY THE PRICE MCGILL CO.

[Illustration: THE WARRIOR HAD NOT TIME TO RECOVER WHEN TOM GRASPED HIM BY THE THROAT.]

CONTENTS.

I Moonlight on the Rio Gila

II Tom Hardynge's Ruse

III Pursued by the Apaches

IV Outwitted

V An Alarming Message

VI The Two Scouts

VII The Cavalry Escort

VIII In Devil's Pass

IX Among the Apaches

X Lone Wolf

XI Surrounded by Danger

XII "The Hour has Come"

XIII The Flight

XIV Pursued

XV In the Solitude

XVI Among the Mountains

XVII A Mysterious Camp Fire

XVIII The Indian Fight

XIX A Terrible Meeting

XX White vs. Red

XXI Friends Together

XXII Anxious Waiting

XXIII The Death Shot

XXIV The Buffaloes

XXV Alone Again

XXVI Capturing a Mustang

XXVII A Run for Life

XXVIII A Great Misfortune

XXIX The Lone Camp Fire

XXX Fighting a Grizzly

XXXI Sleep

XXXII Reunited

XXXIII Closing in

XXXIV Hurricane Hill

XXXV The Sentinel

XXXVI A Desperate Scheme

XXXVII The Two Defenders

XXXVIII Hand to Hand

XXXIX Conclusion

THROUGH APACHE LAND.

CHAPTER I.

MOONLIGHT ON THE RIO GILA.

Along the eastern bank a small Indian canoe, containing a single individual, was stealing its way "hugging" the shore so as to take advantage of the narrow band of shadow that followed the winding of the stream. There were no trees on either side of the river, but this portion was walled in by bluffs, rising from three or four to fully twenty feet in height. The current was sluggish and not a breath of air wrinkled the surface on this mild summer night.

It was in the wildest part of the Indian country, and Tom Hardynge, the hunter, runner and bearer of all dispatches between the frontier posts in the extreme southwest, knew very well that for three days past it had been his proverbial good fortune, or rather a special Providence, that had kept his scalp from ornamenting the lodge of some marauding Comanche or Apache. Tom was one of the bravest and most skillful of borderers in those days, and had been up in the Indian country to learn the truth of numerous rumors which had come to the stations, reports of a general uprising among the redskins, with whom the peace commissioners had succeeded in negotiating treaties after months of diplomacy. After spending more than a week in dodging back and forth, in the disguise of an Indian he had learned enough to feel that there was good foundation for these rumors, and that the exposed stations and settlements were in imminent peril. As soon as he was assured of this fact he started on his return to Fort Havens, which still lay a good three days' travel to the southwest. It was Tom's purpose to continue his descent until the following night, when, if nothing unexpected should intervene, he hoped to reach the point where he had left his mustang, and thence it would be plain sailing for the rest of the way. He knew the country thoroughly, and was confident that it was safer to perform a part of the journey by water than by land, which explains how it was that he was still in the paint and garb of an Indian, and still stealing his way down toward the Gulf of California.