Chapter 15

As planed, we set out for the cave early the next morning. Delacha had sent out scouts about an hour earlier to make sure we had no surprises on the trail. With our large party, and all the animals we had with us, there would be no way to hide our presence, so he wanted to ensure that we would have advanced warning of any hostiles. That was an attitude that I heartily agreed with. The more that I was around him; the more I thought that Delacha would have been a great platoon leader. As a matter of fact, leader of a war band, platoon leader, pretty much the same thing.

Two days later we arrived at the cave. Delacha and some of his men followed me into the cave and set about verifying that what I had promised was there. Nothing had been disturbed; everything was as I had left it.

“All is as you said it would be,” he said. “You have kept your word and I will keep mine. Let us load the horses and mules then get all of this back to your camp.”

We proceeded to do just that, and within two hours we were on the trail heading back to our wagons. It took us longer, three days as a matter of fact, to make the return trip, as the animals were carrying heavy loads, but we made it back without mishap. As we arrived at the wagons, about two in the afternoon on the third day, Tara and Rory came to me with troubled looks on their faces.

“We’re glad you’re back,” Rory said. “We have a couple of problems; first we’ve used up all the fodder in this area and need to move out of the mountains and give the animals a few days of rest and good grazing, also the Yavapai scouts have seen signs that the Apache have been scouting us. They think that they have sent for reinforcements and are planning on attacking us.”

“I’m glad you’re back safe and sound Jim,” said Tara, “but, like Rory said, we need to get out of here. It would be too easy to be pinned down here by shooters in the hills around us.”

Delacha interrupted us. “My men tell me that they followed the Apache scouts as they left. They tell me that it would take the Apaches three days to gather the warriors needed to attack us, maybe even four or five days. It would be better if you moved as your woman said.”

“Sounds like a good idea to me,’ I said. “We’ll rest the animals tonight, and give them what grain we have left. That will also empty the wagons some and make room for the stuff from the cave, and then, after dawn tomorrow, we hit the trail northwest towards Fort Mc Dowell. Delacha, could your warriors keep an eye out for the Apache as we move?”

“Yes,” he replied, “they will probably be able to gather about fifty warriors to attack us. That many will be easy to keep track of, and they will be rushing to catch us before we can get away. If you follow the trail that I suggest, we will be able to ambush them easily.”

“Good, let’s talk about that when we eat tonight,” I said.

That evening Delacha outlined his plan, and what a plan it was. The trail that he suggested we take eventually went through a gorge as it exited the mountains onto the flatlands. The gorge was wide enough for our wagons and was the only trail for many miles that was usable by horses. If we went through it, the Apache would have to follow, or give up the chase, and he had a plan to avoid that eventuality. With no dissent, the group decided to institute Delacha’s plan.

The next day, we moved out at dawn, and with a few breaks, we traveled until about four. We set up camp and as a meal was being prepared, Rory, Cal, Tye, and I gave the Yavapai several hours of training in the use and care of flintlock muskets. Surprisingly, the hardest part was convincing them that they needed to clean firearms after each use. Within a couple of hours, most of them were adequate shots at the range we would need. I also took a page out of the colonial militia’s handbook for Indian fighting, and set them up as pairs. One of each pair would reload as the other fired, thus keeping up a decent rate of fire.

As everyone settled down for the night, I worked on a project of my own. In a small dish I placed a handful of gunpowder then urinated in it and mixed it into a paste. Taking some strips of thin cotton cloth, I rolled them in the paste until they were saturated. I then rolled the strips and tied them until they were the fuses I wanted. I rolled them one more time in the paste then set them aside to dry, well away from the fire. I next got four of our larger empty canteens, put a handful of musket balls in each and topped them off with gunpowder. Then I settled down for the night.

The next day we were up and on the trail at dawn. I had tied my fuses to the top of a wagon to dry out. By the end of the day they would be perfect. We made decent time and our scouts reported no sign as yet of the Apaches. That afternoon, we stopped early and spent more time training our musketeers. They were getting better at shot placement, and were more confident in themselves and their weapons. I also took the opportunity to use a couple of fuses in order to check the timing.

The next day as we neared the gorge, we slowed down, as we wanted our foes to catch up to us while we were in the vicinity of the gorge. Finally our scouts reported that the war party, which numbered between fifty and sixty, had camped some miles away and would be in striking distance around noon tomorrow. I just love it when a plan comes together.

The next morning over a leisurely breakfast we finalized our plan. We went over it several times to make sure that everyone knew their part, we wanted no mistakes this day. About a dozen teenage Yavapai boys, led by a couple of mature warriors left camp early. Their job was to be seen at a distance by the Apaches, fire a few arrows, then run away, keeping just out of arrow range. They would run right through the gorge with the Apaches hot on their trail, right into our ambush. As the wagons, driven by the women, exited the gorge, we tied brush behind them in order to create a dust cloud to spur the Apaches pursuit of their fleeing prey. In the meantime, my people and the Yavapai warriors split half and half, and went into the rocks above, and to both sides of the gorge. We were as ready as we could be.