No guards were visible.
The flat about the encampment was covered with Spanish-bayonet,
soapweed, and cacti, with here and there a variety of palmetto, which
attains a height of about twenty-five feet, the trunks shaggy with a
fringe of dead spines left by each year's growth. Cooler suggested
that at a given signal the trunks of two of these trees should be set
on fire to light up the camp, and enable the soldiers to pick off the
Apaches as they left their shelter when our attack should begin. He
also proposed that we yell, saying: "If you out-yell 'em, lieutenant,
you can out-fight 'em."
Although I seriously doubted whether twenty-five white throats could
make as much noise as half a dozen red ones, I consented to the
proposition. I sent nine men to the flat upon which the ponies and
cattle were grazing, with orders to place themselves between the creek
and herd, and when the firing began drive the animals into the hills.
When these instructions had been given, Surgeon Coues asked me if the
firing would be directed into the tents.
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