About this time rumors were rife that the Indians were contemplating a
raid on the mine, and operations were temporarily suspended. Meetings
were called, and a committee of defence organized, with a view to taking
such measures as would place the settlement in a position to
successfully resist all, or any attempts of the savages. Those who had
had any experience in Indian warfare were called to the council, and
consulted on the best means to avert the impending calamity. The panic
was more painfully apparent among those who had come upon the scene
hampered with goods and chattels of various kinds. These worthies were
brimful of wrath and whiskey, and gave free vent to the expression of
their opinions regarding the outside world generally, and Indians in
particular. They were fertile in suggestion; and the many schemes they
advanced for the total destruction of all who threatened their private
interests would have reflected credit, not to say renown, on a Don
Quixote.

The thought of my enslaved wife was never absent from my mind. Day and
night, sleeping and waking, her image haunted me. I fancied her
suffering every degree of misery; and the consciousness that I was
powerless to snatch her from the toils of relentless captors, caused me
the most poignant anguish. I had a vague, half formed notion of seeking
her unaided, and by once more assuming my Indian trappings and cognomen,
advance in to the Apache country, penetrate to their villages, and by a
bold dash, seize my wife and bear her defiantly off in the very teeth of
my adversaries. This would have been very spirited and chivalrous, no
doubt, but unfortunately, the obstacles that opposed themselves to this
plan were legion. No sooner did I convince myself of the
impracticability of such a mode of procedure, than other plans would
present themselves, which, in their turn would have to be relinquished
when submitted to the rigorous test of practicability. This constant
strain on my mind interposed stumbling blocks to my material prosperity,
as I had no heart for my work, and wandered about the diggings
aimlessly. I was rallied by my comrades on my morose temper, and
recommended to try work as an effectual antidote for the causes that
were preying on my health.

One balmy afternoon, as I sauntered among the working parties, gazing
abstractedly at their operations, my attention was attracted to a group,
who seemed to be very much excited by some event. A few had gather