When the two Indians boys made their approach, whether accompanied by one of the guides or not, it must have represented to the pious General Howard a sure sign of peace.  Cochise would never had sent innocent Apache boys to be the first contacts if he had in mind to do the party harm.  Sladen, and even Jeffords, seemed less certain, although we can assume without much risk of being wrong that Jeffords had little to fear as far as his own safety was concerned -- unless, of course, Cochise happened to take this unannounced intrusion as a sign of contempt.  We have to keep in mind that Cochise was utterly distrustful of Americans with the sole exception of his friend Jeffords, and that it might have occurred to him that Jeffords was being forced to lead them in. 

     After a small lunch drawn from the scant rations remaining in the group's saddlebags, the boys mounted the single scrawny pony they had rode in on and motioned the party forward.  In Howard's article, he says, " . . . with the boys as guides, [we] passed through narrow canons [canyons] for perhaps seven miles . . ."  This agrees with Sladen's account in that the boys are depicted as having actually led the party forward.  However, Howard, in a small article written in 1894 for a publication called "The Voice", made it clear that the boys took a rear position, motioning the group to ride in front.  This may have been a sign of distrust, but was more likely done out of respect for their guests.
 

     The ride from the streamside camp was apparently slow, rough and accomplished in fading light. 
 
 

     The exact route taken is not today known for certainty.  In fact, the location of this park-like area high in the Dragoons can only be theorized.  John Rockfellow made a comment in one of his several articles about the peace mission that this Apache encampment was in an area known at the time as Horstman Basin.  Nothing of that name shows up on modern maps, and attempts to trace the name (which was apparently derived from an old Zinc mine by the same name) have proved futile.  However, both Howard's and Sladen's writings give us valuable clues as to where this scenic area might have been . . .