ould not follow. Hardie fooled Victoria, however.
Texas rangers had met the Apache chief in an engagement on the banks of
the Rio Grande. Only eight Americans returned from the encounter.
Hardie took up his pursuit, and followed Victoria across the river.
The Indians had relaxed their vigilance, not expecting pursuit and
despising the Mexican Rurales. Troop F caught them off guard in the
mountains. The fight was one to extermination. Victoria and his
entire band were slain.

This was the troop which was awaiting orders to go after the Apaches.

Colonel Hardie told Slim that the Indians were bound to head for the
Lava Beds. If the men for whom he was looking were in the desert, the
troops would find them more quickly than Slim and his posse.

Slim waited at Fort Grant for orders, writing back to Sage-brush,
telling him of his plans.

Fort Grant followed the usual plan of all frontier posts. A row of
officers' houses faced the parade-grounds. Directly opposite were the
cavalry barracks fort. On one side of the quadrangle were the stables,
and the fourth line consisted of the quartermaster's buildings and the
post-trader's store. Small ranchmen had gathered near the fort for
protection, and because of the desire of the white man for company. In
days of peace garrison life was monotonous. But the Apaches needed
constant watching.

As a soldier, the Apache was cruel and cowardly. He always fought
dismounted, never making an attack unless at his own advantage. As
infantryman he was unequalled. Veteran army officers adopted the
Apache tactics, and installed in the army the plan of mounted infantry;
soldiers who move on horseback but fight on foot detailing one man of
every four to guard the horses. Methods similar to those used by the
Apaches were put into use by the Boers in the South African War.

Indeed, the scouting of these Dutch farmers possessed many of the
characteristics of the Apaches. So, too, the Japanese soldiers hid
from the Russians with the aid of artificial foliage in the same way
that an Indian would creep up on his victim by tying a bush to the
upper part of his body and crawling toward him on his knees and elbows.

Mounted on wiry ponies inured to hardships, to picking up a living on
the scanty herbage of the plains, riding without saddles, and carrying
no equipment, the Indians had little trouble in avoiding the soldiers.
Leaving the reservation, the Apaches would commit some outrage