"Cadette at once attacked the creature so vigorously with his spear, that
he soon succeeded in killing him; and, although suffering great pain,
managed to remove the skin from both animals; and, taking them upon his
back, bore them in triumph to the _rancheria_, more than twenty
miles distant, as trophies of his prowess in the chase."
After thanking Mr. Mastin for a very pleasant evening, we all retired,
and were soon asleep, nor did we awake the next morning until the sun was
far up in the heavens.
Breakfast over, we bid our guest a hearty farewell; and, with good wishes
for our safe arrival upon the Pacific Coast, he left us to pursue our
journey still further into the Apache country.
It was after we were comfortably seated about our camp-fire, in the
evening, that I bethought myself that we had not as yet, heard Hal's
story of his capture and adventures with the Apaches. So I called him,
with the request he would narrate what had befallen him, from the time he
left our camp at Dead-Man's Hole until his release by us in the
Sacramento Mountains.
Hal, who had evidently been expecting the invitation for some time, at
once seated himself, and, with Jerry, Ned and myself as listeners,
commenced as follows:--
"When Anastacio and I started for Fort Davis, we hadn't been on the road
fifteen minutes, before five Indians set upon us, from a thicket by the
road side.
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