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It was owing to Apache depredations on the Papagos and Pimas that the latter were so willingly enlisted on the side of the White man in the latter's fight for civilization.
At first sight there was no evidence of men lying in wait, but from the heights over which the Pimas brought their charges, Drew caught glimpses of men crouched behind sheltering rocks. The bulk of the Range posse was gathered in a hollow on the south side of the pass and it was there that Greyfeather delivered his catch. Don Cazar surveyed them almost without interest.
It has always been a mystery to me why those young Pimas took such a deep interest in the white girl, for they were merely untutored Indians, having only a few years since seen the first white man, and had not seen many since then.
We thought that it would take us about all night to track them up by the light of the moon, find their camp and play them just one little tune of "How came you so?" About ten o'clock the moon arose, but we waited until it was two hours high, giving our horses a chance to fill up, after which we mounted and took the trail of the Pimas, which we had not great trouble in finding.
To the east rose Superstition Mountain, that huge buttress upon which, since the day that a war party of Pimas disappeared within the shadow of its pinnacles, hot upon the trail of the Apaches, and never returned again, the Indians of the valley have always looked with superstitious dread.
I concluded to make a scout up country and see what was going on among the Indians, and as there were no troops at my command I organized a company of Pimas and Maricopas as scouts. They had recently received arms and ammunition from the government, and I had uniforms and swords enough for the officers. They soon learned to drill, and already knew how to shoot.
At nightfall, vesper bells sent the laborer home with the blessing of the church. For the most part, the workers were Mexicans and Indians; and as far as can be gathered from the annals, voluntary workers. The Papagoes and Pimas at that time numbered 5,000, of whom 500 lived round the Missions, the rest spending the summers hunting in the mountains.
The protection of water rights, notably those of the Pimas in Arizona, a peaceful and industrious tribe who have suffered severely from the loss of their water at the hands of unprincipled white men, is of primary importance. Oil and gas, especially in Oklahoma, are proving enormously valuable, and are being mined under leases executed by the Bureau.
So firmly do the Pimas rely on this prophecy that they will not cross Superstition Mountains, for there sits Cherwit Make awaiting the culmination of their wickedness to let loose on the earth a mighty sea that lies dammed behind the range. Twenty miles from the capital of Arizona stands Mount Superstition the scene of many traditions, the object of many fears.
Was there a raid, th’ major, he took out th’ troops; and Don Cazar, he took out his riders an’ th’ Pimas. ’Tween ’em they give everybody wot wanted a spot of trouble all they could chew off an’ a lot more’n they could swallow. Kept things quiet even if a man hadda rest his hand on his rifle ’bout twenty-four hours outta every day.
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