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Transcriber's note


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STARLIGHT RANCH

AND

OTHER STORIES OF ARMY
LIFE ON THE FRONTIER.

BY

CAPTAIN CHARLES KING, U.S.A.,

AUTHOR OF
"MARION'S FAITH," "THE COLONEL'S DAUGHTER," ETC.

PHILADELPHIA:
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY.
1891.




Copyright, 1890, by J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY.




CONTENTS.


                                                      PAGE
STARLIGHT RANCH                                          7

WELL WON; OR, FROM THE PLAINS TO "THE POINT"            40

FROM "THE POINT" TO THE PLAINS                         116

THE WORST MAN IN THE TROOP                             201

VAN                                                    234




STARLIGHT RANCH.


We were crouching round the bivouac fire, for the night was chill, and
we were yet high up along the summit of the great range. We had been
scouting through the mountains for ten days, steadily working southward,
and, though far from our own station, our supplies were abundant, and it
was our leader's purpose to make a clean sweep of the line from old
Sandy to the Salado, and fully settle the question as to whether the
renegade Apaches had betaken themselves, as was possible, to the heights
of the Matitzal, or had made a break for their old haunts in the Tonto
Basin or along the foot-hills of the Black Mesa to the east. Strong
scouting-parties had gone thitherward, too, for "the Chief" was bound to
bring these Tontos to terms; but our orders were explicit: "Thoroughly
scout the east face of the Matitzal." We had capital Indian allies with
us. Their eyes were