Two soldiers crawled their way

 Page 16.

Two soldiers crawled their way toward Mrs. Thompson hoping to reach her unharmed but just as they rounded the boulder where she had taken cover she emerged from behind two large rocks holding a lit stick of dynamite. We watched from above as Mrs. Thompson leaned back and hurled the stick in the direction of the Mescalero's followed by a loud boom. The force of the explosion send rocks and pieces of sand stone everywhere including Captain Thompsons hat that spun like a top high in the dust filled air. I can't say if the blast killed any Mescalero's but the one's it didn't whistled and laughed with some firing and hitting the Captains airborne hat. This wasn't a laughing matter as Captain Thompson yelled out words in anger that even my deceased father won't have said at least in public but after all we were fighting for our lives. Before Mrs. Thompson had a chance to throw another two soldiers at the orders of the Captain relieved her of the box of explosives which angered her to no end. Captain Thompson could see his troops were at a tactical disadvantage but if he could get some of that dynamite into our hands things might change over to our side real quick.

Captain Thompson ordered two men to stay with Mrs. Thompson but did allow her to keep a rifle as long as he was behind her and directed three other men to get some of that dynamite to us. It didn't take long for the Mescalero's to take notice and opened fire on us as well as the approaching soldiers. Bacho had seen enough and told us to stay put and after looking at me square in the eyes, patting Willow on the head he stopped and gave Star Raven a long loving look of farewell. No words were spoken as he ran toward the ledge and vanished only to be followed by several more shots at our position forcing us further back for protection. Only moments had passed when from below four sticks of dynamite wrapped in twine landed near us but dangerously close to the ledge. But before I could react Willow ran toward it grabbing the sticks and dragging them away from the ledge just enough for me to safely reach it. Willow was just learning to fetch but not like this, however; if there ever was a time it was now as I swiftly pulled her and the dynamite back out of harms way. Tightly wrapped inside the bundle I discovered a soldiers handkerchief containing a candle and some wooden matches with a note that read, “William, give them hell”, Adeline!

There wasn't a second to spare as a small wave of Mescalero's attempted to circle our soldiers below and they may have succeeded if it weren't for Bacho who ran toward them holding two sticks of dynamite in each hand. A tremendous explosion followed sending pieces of Mescalero's everywhere but where was Bacho and did he sacrifice himself to save us and his granddaughter. Star Raven saw his heroic action unfold and sensing the worst buried her face in my shoulder and cried. It was a powerful emotion that jolted me back to the past and it was something I hadn't felt since the passing of my loving mother. But just as the dust settled and the ringing in my ears subsided there was Adeline helping Bacho back to the safety to our troops still firing all the while in volleys. We had no time to lose if we were to survive so I quickly tied two sticks of dynamite together with twine and handed one to Star Raven and lit them both. I quickly tossed mine just over the ledge thinking Star Raven had done the same but instead her back was toward me as the fuse sparked, sizzled and spit like a snake.