I asked her how long since she was taken by the Indians.  She had to study some time before she could answer, but finally in broken English, intermingled with Spanish, she said she thought seven years.

I asked if she was taken alone.  She said, no, she had a little sister taken at the same time she was.  I asked her where the little sister was, and she replied that she had died, and she thought she had been dead about three years.

I asked her if the Indians had killed her father and mother.  She said:  “Yes, and my little brother, too; and burned our wagon and all that was in it.”

Then I said to her:  “I don’t see how you can love those Indians who had killed your father, mother and brother.”  She replied that she had no one else to love.

I then said to her, “You will soon be among friends, for I am taking you to a woman that will be as good to you as your own mother was,” and at that moment we hove in sight of the Fort.  I pointed to the Fort, and told her there was where the woman lived that I was taking her to.

We were now safe from an attack from the Apaches, and only a few minutes later I drew rein at Fort Yuma.

I first rode up to the guard, whose beat was in front of the Commander’s tent, and asked where Lieut.  Jackson’s quarters were.  He pointed to a tent not far from where we then were, saying:  “That is his tent, and his wife is there, too.”

As I rode to the Lieutenant’s quarters, all eyes were turned in our direction.  Mrs. Jackson came to the door of the tent and recognized me at once, and her first words were:  “Chief, in the name of common sense, where are you from, and who is this you have with you?”

I said:  “Mrs. Jackson, this is a girl I rescued from the Indians.  She has no parents and no relatives, that she knows of, and I have brought her to you, thinking you would be a friend to her.”

The reply of that noble woman was, “I will, with all my heart,” and at that she assisted the girl in getting off the horse and led her into her own tent.

By this time Lieut.  Jackson and all the officers of the Fort were there, and it seemed to me that the Lieutenant would never quit shaking my hand, and when he went to introduce me to the other officers who were present, laughingly said.

“What shall I call you?  I have known you as the ‘Boy Scout,’ also as the ‘Chief of Scouts.’  I have known you when you were giving lessons in hunting, and now you have come in from a hostile Indian country with a white girl riding behind you.  What shall I call you?”

I said:  “Lieutenant, call me Will Drannan, the trapper, for I am now engaged in that business.”

“Yes, I see you are,” responded the Lieutenant with a hearty laugh, “and I see you have had splendid success in your new enterprise.”  He then asked me if I had trapped the girl.

I told him that I did not trap her, but that I got her away just the same.