Madera Union High School - Blue and White Yearbook (Madera, CA)

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the only girl within forty miles, and the darling of the post, where she spent many happy days as the guest of the Commandant’s wife. Picking up the Indians’ trail as they entered the foothills the men followed it diligently until the setting sun forced them to make camp. Laughlin, chaf- ing at the delay, paced up and down before the fire. “Milt, for Heaven’s sake, sit down! We’re nearly crazy now, and you’re making us worse. Sit down, I say!” Laughlin snarled something about “idiotic unfeeling fools,” but neverthe- less sat down. For some minutes he sat brooding, his eyes staring unseeingly at the dancing flames. Suddenly he raised his head. “Lieutenant Kenny,” he said sharply. “How did those cursed Indians happen to get Miss Carter? You haven’t told us exactly.” Kenny, after a moment’s hesitation, began to talk slowly. “It was just at ten o’clock this morning,” he said. Meredith—Miss Carter—had been rid- ing on the east range of the ranch. As nearly as we can judge she must have dismounted and left her horse at the ford of the creek—we found him there later. A little farther on in a grove of scrub oak we found signs of a scuffle, and many moccasin tracks. The trail led off from there deeper into the hills. The Indians were gone and they had taken a large herd of cattle and Miss Carter with them. This offence is too much. When they only stole cattle we could stand it—but now that it’s girls—” Kenny broke off. A silence held the men around the camp fire. Abruptly Laughlin rose and strode viciously off among the trees. The next morning the men were mounted and on the trail at the first light of dawn. Thus far the trailing had been easy but now as they progressed far- ther into the mountains the trail grew fainter and Milt knew from former ex- perience that it would soon be lost completely. Always before, after Indian raids upon the cattle ranges, they had follewed them into a narrow rocky pass and there lost them. This time they must not lose them! An hour later the soldiers rode into the treacherous ravine. Five minutes riding and the trail had disappeared. Dispirited, they stopped and gathered about Laughlin who sat his horse with a determined look on his face. “They’ve done it again, confound them! How can they always disappear in this pass? There must be some way out that we haven’t found yet. Spread out over the territory and look for a way out. Fire when vou find one.” Laugh- lin spoke rapidly and at his last words the men wheeled their horses and the search began. Three hours flew by while the men searched feverishly. It seemed that they had gone over every inch of the ravine and still the way out had not been found. Laughlin rode dejectedly along the eastern wall. He had been over the territory before but some faint hope urged him to retrace his steps. Sud- denly he stopped. His dejection left him. Jumping off his horse he stared hard at the ground. There, barely perceptible on the hard earth was the faint track of a moccasined foot. Laughlin raised his eyes. The path, almost in- visible, led up the all but vertical cliff side. Here at last was the solution of the mystery. Here the Indians had left the ravine. MHastily Laughlin fired his rifle. The chase no longer seemed hopeless. That baffling, lost, Indian trail was before him and Meredith would soon be safe. From that point on the trailing was comparatively easy. The path led up the cliff side and came out upon a narrow, grassy plateau. Crossing that it dropped abruptly. The horses plunged down with forehoofs in the air. They 29

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The Indian Trail ENID FREEMAN, ’20 There were no signs of life at the army post. The year 18— had been a dry one and the noon sun beat down relentlessly. At this hour discipline was relaxed and the post dozed quietly. On all sides the level floor of the San Joaquin Valley stretched way yellow and dry to the encirling mountains. ‘T’o the east rose the mighty Sierras, to the west the lower Coast Range. The road, a white parched ribbon of dust, wound through the fields and came to an end in the equally dusty parade ground of the post. ‘ Breaking incongruently into the motionless scene appeared a gradually in- creasing cloud in the eastern distance. As the cloud drew nearer a horse and rider took shape out of it, speeding at a killing pace through the burning heat. The rider dashed through the gates of the post and stumbled exhausted up the steps of the Commandant’s office. Opening the door, he saluted mechanically and, leaning limply against the door post, began to speak rapidly before the Commandant had hardly time to acknowledge his presence. “Sir,” he said, “I am Lieutenant Kenny and I come from the station in the hills. I bring word from there that the Indians have made another raid on the Carter ranch and this time they have carried off old Carter’s daughter.” A young man who had been seated talking to the Commandant when the messenger entered now sprang to his feet and savagely seized him by the arm. “My God!” he shouted, “not Carter’s daughter—not Meredith !” Kenny stared at him for a moment and then shortly reiterated his state- ment. The Commandant rose and placed his hand on the excited young man’s shoulder. “Calm down, Laughlin,’ he said. “Your getting wild won’t save her. What she needs is clear thinking friends who can trail those Indians into the hills. Brace up, old man; we'll get her.” Laughlin loosed his hold on Kenny and faced his commander. “I’m sorry, sir,” he managed to say. “But, if you could realize how much she means to me.” He stopped and turned away. “T know, Milt, I know. I was engaged myself once, you know. But we are losing time. Get a company together at once and lead them yourself. Don’t return until you have the girl!” Shortly afterward a company of grimly determined men galloped out of the no longer drowsing army post. They all knew and loved Meredith Carter, 28

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slid and broke away down the steep, soft banks, through the thick brush and clusters of saplings, sending loose rocks and earth in avalanches ahead of them. Laughlin’s horse fell over one bank but a thicket of aspens upheld him so that he rebounded and gained his footing. Down, down they went onto a small meadow through which the trail of the Indians was distinctly visible. Crossing this at a pell mell gallop the men reached the foot of a towering pine- covered mountain which rose up and up into the blue of the heavens. a seem- ingly insurmountable barrier. But the Indian trail mounted it and after al- lowing the horses a few moments’ breathing space the soldiers went up with Laughlin in the lead. It was noon when they reached the summit and emerged from the pines at the edge of a cliff which dropped sheer away for five hundred feet. The soldiers stopped amazed. Below them stretched a long, narrow, winding val- ley, enclosed by straight rock walls, some of them almost a mile in height. In the center of the picture was set a jewel of a waterfall—a white, misty thing, like a bride’s veil, that floated down from the top of the cliff. Immediately across from where the men stood rose an immense mountain of granite, re- sembling a huge, crouching lion guarding the entrance of this hidden valley. Speech deserted the men for a few moments and then quite suddenly re- turned, along with the desire to be off down the cliff side onto the floor of the valley. ‘The Indian trail led along the edge of the cliff for a few hundred yards and then went down, perilously narrow and at a very steep angle. The swift sure-footed horses scrambled and slid down but managed to avoid plunging over the edge into oblivion. After a descent of three miles the men breathed freely once more as they found themselves on a level meadow through which flowed a quiet, but rocky stream. Rounding the jutting head of the “huge lion fresh wonders burst upon them. There plunging in two magnificent leaps from the top of the rock wall into the heart of the valley was a splendid falls whose waters swept on rapidly and joined the calm waters of the stream the men had been following. The path of the Indians led the soldiers the entire seven mile length of the valley, past tumbling falls and haughty crags, past domes among the clouds and a placid, mirror-like lake reflecting the beauty surrounding it. At the end of the valley a camp fire burned before a natural cave. At the entrance sat a mo- tionless Indian, staring sleepily at the fire, resting secure in the assurance that no white man could find the valley. No other Indians were in sight nor were their horses visible. Realizing the situation the soldiers spurred their horses rapidly ahead and soon surrounded the lone Indian. He gazed up at them with- out surprise and slowly spoke. “You come for girl?” Laughlin stared at him and then replied, “Yes. Where is she?” “Tn there,” he said shortly. Laughlin bounded off his horse and into the dark interior of the cave. There against the inner wall he found her, bound hand and foot and almost un- conscious. He seized his canteen and poured the life giving water down her throat. Meredith opened her eyes and gazed at him. “Milt!” she sighed content- edly and let her head drop weakly against his shoulder. Then began the trip home. Meredith and Laughlin with Meredith’s In- dian guard and two other soldiers started immediately. The rest of the com- pany stayed in the valley to capture the remaining Indians. On the road down 30