Page:Life among the Apaches.djvu/184

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178
LIFE AMONG THE APACHES.

ing with wealth and immense herds of cattle, horses and mules, were turned into waste places, and restored to their pristine solitudes. The name of Mangas Colorado was the tocsin of terror and dismay throughout a vast region of country, whose inhabitants existed by his sufferance under penalty of supplying him with the requisite arms and ammunition for his many and terrible raids. He combined many attributes of real greatness with the ferocity and brutality of the most savage savage. The names of his victims, by actual slaughter or by captivity, would fill a volume, and the relation of his deeds throughout a long and merciless life would put to shame the records of the "Newgate Calendar." I dismiss him with disgust and loathing, not unmingled with some degree of respect for his abilities.