"I believe the captain will find some way out if he can only locate us,"
I said.
"Odds are odds," replied Jim, doggedly. "I don't want him to run any desperate chance on my account."
"What are we to do?" I inquired anxiously. "Don't you suppose that we could get through their lines to-night, it is so dark and stormy?"
Jim shook his head.
"I thought of that. We would stand a chance to make our escape on foot, but not with the horses."
"Leave them," I cried desperately.
"You idiot," exclaimed Jim, "what would we do in this country without horses? We would never reach the Colorado River."
"I don't care if we don't," I said irritably.
"Well, I do," Jim replied. "There isn't going to be anything that will stop me from taking that trip. It will take a bigger bunch of Apaches than are down there to do it."
"Well," I said, returning to the original question. "How long will our supply of water last?"
"I have been figuring on that and I think it will keep us a going for a week, with what we can get from the water pocket. Of course if we have rain we can make out much longer."
"And the food?"
"Well, with Coyote to fall back on," laughed Jim, "we can hold out until Christmas. But without joking, we ought to be able to get along for a month. It was mighty lucky that we got those antelope."
"I suppose we will have to stand guard to-night," I said.
"Yes," replied Jim, "we don't dare to take a chance, even though Indians do not often make night attacks."
"I daresay that there is no danger of them crawling up the rocks. They are too steep, but we will have to watch the trail between the rocks," I remarked.
"How shall we divide the time?" Jim asked.
"It does not make much difference," I replied.
"Very well, then, you can take it up to midnight, and I will look after the balance."
So it was decided. It had now grown dark and we thought it best to look around together. As we came out of our rock shelter we saw our ponies standing with their backs to the storm and heads bent down, looking much dejected.
"They look like four-legged ghosts," I said.
"If it hadn't been for them we would have been ghosts by this time,"
remarked Jim pleasantly.
"What's the use of talking that way?" I said. "Perhaps we will be ghosts before we are through with this business."
"Don't you believe it," said Jim cheerily. "I don't know how we are going to get out of this scrape, but perhaps we will have some unusual luck."
"Here's wishing it," I replied.
It looked kind of cheery as we looked back and saw the warm glow from our fire in the rock room that was our temporary camp.
We made the rounds of our fort, but could see or hear nothing in the darkness below. No sound but the steady fall of the rain. The rock must have been seventy-five feet or more of sheer descent on all sides except by the narrow trail by which we had come up.
"It's time for you to go on guard now," said Jim.
"All right," I replied, "I'm ready."
"Be sure to keep awake," he cautioned.
We went back to the campfire and I made a careful examination of my rifle. It was all right, and with my faithful friend close at hand in my belt I was ready for what might come.
I crawled out in the darkness leaving Jim curled up cosily by the fire.
I envied him because I did not have much heart to stand out there in the dark and in the rain alone, but there was nothing to do but to make the best of it.
I crawled down between the rocks at the upper end of the narrow trail with the rain beating down on me. I could see the horses back of me and their presence was a whole lot of company for me.
It is strange how much companionship there is in a horse or dog that you are fond of, especially if it has shared your trips and your dangers. I know that Coyote was glad to see me by the way he followed me with his head. The first part of my watch passed monotonously enough.
Most of the time one would have thought there was nothing of danger or menace in the darkness below as far as sound went.
But I felt, though I could not see, the cruel presence of our enemies.
Once I caught the light of a fire down the valley a ways, in a sheltered place and I could see occasionally the movement of a shadowy form. I brought my rifle up, intending to fire. Then thought better of it.
What was the use? I had better have my ammunition, and then it would simply arouse Jim up to no purpose. Sometime later I heard the guttural sounds of the Indians as they talked.
I imagined that it came from the slope just below, so I went cautiously down between the rocks. When I reached the lower end of the trail that ended abruptly with a step off of several feet, I stopped, listening intently, stooping down and peering into the rainy darkness of the slope below.
I could make out a few boulders and further down the dark mass of pines.
As my eyes became accustomed to the contour of things, I was sure that I saw a dark, crouching form moving over and among the rocks stealthily as a snake.
It was not more than twenty-five yards off. I reached around among the rocks at my feet until I found a stone about the size of the baseball that I used to pitch in my old days at school.
As the object stopped and raised up in sudden suspicion I poised myself and fired it with all my strength. My old accuracy had not deserted me.
I heard the thud distinctly and the Indian dropped like one dead, a mere black outline on the rock.
Then I saw him being drawn backward almost as it were by invisible hands. I decided not to fire, but crouched low in the rock trail. I did not want to waste a shot, and then I thought the very quietness and mystery of the fellow's injury might impress the superstitious minds of the Apaches and I believe that it did, for I heard no further sound or stir from them.
After a while I decided to go back to the head of the trail and I proceeded cautiously upwards. Just before I reached the top I became conscious that there was something waiting for me. Looking down I recognized the long, familiar face of Coyote.
"Hey, old chap," I said, giving him a hearty slap on the shoulder, "so you thought you would start down to see what kept your old boss so long.
Well, you can go back and go to sleep. It's all over."
This may have been reassuring to Coyote, but it was not the exact truth, but I could not foresee that. I took my post again at the top of the trail and waited for further developments. I began to think that it was about time for Jim to come forward. At least I knew that I would not have many more hours to wait.
The rain was now coming down less rapidly and there was promise of the storm lifting. If I had not been so wet I might have dropped off to sleep, but if I had done so I would have had a sudden awakening.
No sound came from the Indians below and I had relaxed my keen attention, when I heard a noise that aroused me again. Something was coming up the rock trail. It did not seem to be an Indian but some animal.