an. But whether the rumors were groundless or not, Las
Palomas set her house in order. The worst thing we had to fear was the
loss of our saddle stock, as they were gentle and could be easily run
off and corralled on the range by stretching lariats. At this time
the ranch had some ten _remudas_ including nearly five hundred saddle
horses, some of them ranging ten or fifteen miles from the ranch, and on
receipt of the first rumor, every _remuda_ was brought in home and put
under a general herd, night and day.

"These Indian scares," said Uncle Lance, "are just about as regular as
drouths. When I first settled here, the Indians hunted up and down this
valley every few years, but they never molested anything. Why, I got
well acquainted with several bucks, and used to swap rawhide with them
for buckskin. Game was so abundant then that there was no temptation to
kill cattle or steal horses. But the rascals seem to be getting worse
ever since. The last scare was just ten years ago next month, and kept
us all guessing. The renegades were Kickapoos and came down the Frio
from out west. One Sunday morning they surprised two of Waugh's vaqueros
while the latter were dressing a wild hog which they had killed. The
Mexicans had only one horse and one gun between them. One of them took
the horse and the other took the carbine. Not daring to follow the
one with the gun for fear of ambuscade, the Indians gave chase to the
vaquero on horseback, whom they easily captured. After stripping him of
all his clothing, they tied his hands with thongs, and pinned the poor
devil to a tree with spear thrusts through the back.

"The other Mexican made his escape in the chaparral, and got back to the
ranch. As it happened, there was only a man or two at Waugh's place at
the time, and no attempt was made to follow the Indians, who, after
killing the vaquero, went on west to Altita Creek--the one which puts
into the Nueces from the north, just about twenty miles above the Ganso.
Waugh had a sheep camp on the head of Altito, and there the Kickapoos
killed two of his _pastors_ and robbed the camp. From that creek on
westward, their course was marked with murders and horse stealing, but
the country was so sparsely settled that little or no resistance could
be offered, and the redskins escaped without punishment. At that time
they were armed with bow and arrow and spears, but I have it on good
authority that all these western tribes now have firearms. The