Tonio, Son of the Sierras

Tonio, Son of the Sierras, by
Charles King

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Title: Tonio, Son of the Sierras A Story of the Apache War
Author: Charles King
Illustrator: Charles J. Post
Release Date: November 15, 2007 [EBook #23487]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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SON OF THE SIERRAS ***

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[Illustration: Tonio, Son of the Sierras, erect and slender. Frontispiece]

TONIO
SON OF THE SIERRAS
A Story of the Apache War

By
GENERAL CHARLES KING
AUTHOR OF
"NORMAN HOLT," "THE IRON BRIGADE," "THE COLONEL'S
DAUGHTER," "A DAUGHTER OF THE SIOUX," ETC.
Illustrations by
CHARLES J. POST
G. W. DILLINGHAM COMPANY PUBLISHERS NEW YORK
Copyright, 1906, by
G. W. DILLINGHAM COMPANY
Entered at Stationers' Hall, London All rights reserved
Issued June, 1906.

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE
Tonio, Son of the Sierras, erect and slender Frontispiece 8
Scrambling down the adjacent slope every man for himself 81
"Keep watch now all around, especially east and southeast" 175
"They've opened on Case and Clancy" 188

TONIO
SON OF THE SIERRAS
CHAPTER I.
"Does it never rain here?" asked the Latest Arrival, with sudden shift of
the matter under discussion.
"How is that, Bentley?" said the officer addressed to the senior present,
the surgeon. "You've been here longest."
"Don't know, I'm sure," was the languid answer. "I've only been here
three years. Try 'Tonio there. He was born hereabouts."
So the eyes of the six men turned to the indicated authority, an Apache
of uncertain age. He looked to be forty and might be nearer sixty. He
stood five feet ten in his tiptoed moccasins, and weighed less than little
Harris, who could not touch the beam at five feet five. Harris was the
light weight of the --th Cavalry, in physique, at least, and by no means
proud of the distinction. To offset the handicap of lack of stature and
weight, and of almost cat-like elasticity of frame and movement, he
saw fit to cultivate a deliberation and dignity of manner that in his
cadet days had started the sobriquet of "Heavy," later altered to "Hefty";
and Hefty Harris he was to the very hour this story opens--a junior first
lieutenant with four years' record of stirring service in the far West, in
days when the telegraph had not yet strung the Arizona deserts, and the

railway was undreamed of. He had only just returned to the post from a
ten days' scout, 'Tonio, the Apache, being his chief trailer and chosen
companion on this as on many a previous trip. The two made an odd
combination, having little in common beyond that imperturbable
self-poise and dignity. The two elsewhere had met with marked success
in "locating" rancherias of the hostile bands, and in following and
finding marauding parties. The two were looked upon in southern
Arizona as "the best in the business," and now, because other leaders
had tried much and accomplished little, it had pleased the general
commanding the Division of the Pacific to say to his subordinate, the
general commanding the Department of Arizona, that as the "Tonto"
Apaches and their fellows of the Sierra Blanca seemed too wily for his
scouting parties sent out from Whipple Barracks, and the valley
garrisons of McDowell and Verde, it might be well to detach
Lieutenant Harris from his troop at old Camp Bowie and send him,
with 'Tonio, to report to the commanding officer at Camp Almy.
Now the commanding general of Arizona had thought of that project
himself, and rejected it for two reasons: first, that the officers and men
on duty at Almy would possibly take it as a reflection; second, that
'Tonio would probably take it as an affront to himself. 'Tonio, be it
understood, was of the Apache Mohave tribe, whose hunting grounds
had long been the upper Verde and adjacent mountains. 'Tonio had no
scruples as to scouting and shooting Chiricahuas and Sierra Blancas or
the roving bands of Yaquis that sometimes ventured across the
"Gadsden Purchase" from Mexico. 'Tonio had done vengeful work
among these fellows. But now he was brought face to face with a far
different proposition. The renegades of northern Arizona in the earliest
of the seventies were mainly Tontos,