ound in our cavalry, which, in
the old Arizona days, meant not a little. Turned believed that 'Tonio
had dared to venture close to the sentry line, had lured his enemy to
the fords, and there, aided by one or two of his band, had done him
near to death, then fled for the fastnesses of the mountains. Turner
believed that 'Tonio, or one of his people, was wounded and could be
overtaken. The trail was easy as much as a mile down stream, and then
became difficult. Turner had accepted the proffered aid of Munoz and
certain of their set. They were all up, it seems, by the time he
reached the ranch, having been routed out earlier by the first
explorers from the post, Sergeant Connelly and party, who stated that
they found the "hull outfit asleep," this in spite of the fact that a
game seemed to have been going on earlier in the night, for the
paraphernalia were in evidence, also a moderate supply of liquid
mescal.

Now mescal in those days was not distilled north of the Gila--was
brought by devious route, when brought at all, from Mexico, and
"Greaser" packers, who were models of temperance when only Gringo
whiskey or German beer could be had, would sometimes stampede at the
mere whisper of mescal. Yet here was mescal, and here were some, at
least, of the Sanchez "outfit," sober and fit for business. Then it
must be that the three who lay stupefied had had money to invest at
monte, and had been plied with mescal until both cash and consciousness
had left them, and all this would account for the sudden hegira from
the store the evening preceding the shooting.

But in spite of their vehement assertions that 'Tonio had been
signalling that very day--that they could point to the tracks of
himself and his fellows in several places along the stream--these
energetic and swarthy sons of the Incas could by no means find 'Tonio,
or one of his tribe, when given the chance to lead and the backing of
armed troopers. 'Tonio, well or wounded, was far too wary for them and,
after hours of brag and bluster, not a vestige of him did they discover
beyond a few scattered footprints and that one revolver, concerning
which, it seems, Munoz told sensational tales. He declared he had found
it glinting in the moonlight just at the foot and to the right of the
trail leading from the low ground to the summit of Squadron Peak. His
story, indeed, was so positive and plausible that valuable time had
been lost while some of Turner's most active troopers s