At this point it may be well to insert an outline of the story told by the Chiricahua captive who had been brought down from the San Carlos Agency to Willcox. He said that his name was Pa-nayo-tishn (the Coyote saw him); that he was not a Chiricahua, but a White Mountain Apache of the Dest-chin (or Red Clay) clan, married to two Chiricahua women, by whom he had had children, and with whose people he had lived for years. He had left the Chiricahua stronghold in the mountain called Pa-gotzin-kay some five days’ journey below Casas Grandes in Chihuahua. From that stronghold the Chiricahuas had been raiding with impunity upon the Mexicans. When pursued they would draw the Mexicans into the depths of the mountains, ambuscade them, and kill them by rolling down rocks from the heights. The Chiricahuas had plenty of horses and cattle, but little food of a vegetable character. They were finely provided with sixteen-shooting breech-loading rifles, but were getting short of ammunition, and had made their recent raid into Arizona, hoping to replenish their supply of cartridges. Dissensions had broken out among the chiefs, some of whom, he thought, would be glad to return to the reservation. In making raids they counted upon riding from sixty to seventy-five miles a day as they stole fresh horses all the time and killed those abandoned. It would be useless to pursue them, but he would lead General Crook back along the trail they had made coming up from Mexico, and he had no doubt the Chiricahuas could be taken by surprise. He had not gone with them of his own free will, but had been compelled to leave the reservation, and had been badly treated while with them. The Chiricahuas left the San Carlos because the agent had stolen their rations, beaten their women, and killed an old squaw. He asserted emphatically that no communication of any kind had been held with the Apaches at San Carlos, every attempt in that direction having been frustrated. [Illustration: APACHE WAR-DANCE.] The Chiricahuas, according to Pa-nayo-tishn, numbered seventy full-grown warriors and fifty big boys able to fight, with an unknown number of women and children. In their fights with the Mexicans about one hundred and fifty had been killed and captured, principally women and children. The stronghold in the Sierra Madre was described as a dangerous, rocky, almost inaccessible place, having plenty of wood, water, and grass, but no food except what was stolen from the Mexicans. Consequently the Chiricahuas might be starved out. General Crook ordered the irons to be struck from the prisoner; to which he demurred, saying he would prefer to wear shackles for the present, until his conduct should prove his sincerity. A half-dozen prominent scouts promised to guard him and watch him; so the fetters were removed, and Pa-nayo-tishn or “Peaches,” as the soldiers called him, was installed in the responsible office of guide of the contemplated expedition.