by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER XII.
AN INDIAN RAID.
The cow-boys were all mounted on horses that had not been worked forsome days. Hugh was on Prince, and they got over the ground at greatspeed, arriving before sunset at the ruined village. There were threeor four men, seven or eight women, and as many children gathered whenthey rode in. The men had been absent when the attack took place, thewomen had escaped by seizing their children and rushing out at thebacks of the houses and hiding among the rocks and bushes, as soon asthe yells of the Indians and the explosion of the firearms burst upontheir ears.
"We heard you was coming," one of the men said; "but I fear it is toolate; they have got too far a start altogether."
"We didn't waste a minute," Broncho Harry said; "we wur in the saddlethree minutes after Tom brought us the news, and we have rode seventymiles since. Tom has done a hundred and forty since last night. Whereis Steve Rutherford? has he been wiped out?"
"No; he wur away after a bunch of horses that had strayed. He wurcamping out twenty mile away when he saw the light and guessed what itwur; he drove the horses in before him, feeling sure as he would be toolate to do any good, but reckoning that they might be useful."
"Good man," Broncho said; "but where is he?"
"He went on alone after them," the man said. "Some of us would havegone with him, but he reckoned he had best go alone; thar wurn't enoughof us to fight; he allowed that you boys would be here presently, forthe young un here told us as Tom had ridden off with the news. RubeGarston and Jim Gattling rid off an hour later, and I reckon they willbring a few more up before morning; may be sooner."
"How many horses are there?"
"Fifteen of the old man's, I reckon. They are in that corral behind hishouse, and I guess we have got as many more between us."
"Then there are enough to mount us ten and as many more," Broncho Harrysaid. "Ours ain't good for no more travel to-night. Waal, we will justeat a bit, and then we shall be ready to go on. How many air there ofyou?"
"Six here."
"Waal, that makes sixteen. I see three of you have got rifles, and fourof us have brought rifles along with us. The only question is, whichway have the red devils ridden? It air no use our following them if wehaven't a clue of some sort. I reckon Steve will be here before long;that is what he has gone for. He would know he couldn't do any goodhimself, and he would be pretty well sure as we couldn't gather here inany such force as could enter the Injun country afore this evening."
"He took a lantern with him," one of the boys said.
"Yes, that is it. I guess he followed on foot till daylight, then hemounted and went on their trail until he could give a pretty good guessas to where they was heading; then I allow he will come back to tellus; that is how I read it."
"I expect you are right, Broncho. He didn't say much when he started;but when we talked of going with him he said, 'Just you stop where youare, there ain't anything you can do; we can't fight them till we gethelp. You just wait right here, boys.' It wur rather rough on us, whenour gals are being carried off and our wives have been killed, and thehull place ruined; but we knew as Steve knew a sight more about Injunsthan we did, and had been many a time into the heart of the Injuncountry afore they broke out, so we waited. But I tell you, Harry, itwur hard work to sit quiet and know that them murdering villains wasgetting further away every hour."
"We will have them yet!" Harry said confidently. "If the old man don'tride up in another half-hour we will start. We will follow the trailas far as we can with lanterns. If we get to any place where the trailbranches, then there will be nothing to do but to wait for Steve. Haveyer eaten? because if not, yer had best fill up. It air no use startingon such a job as this fasting. We shall have need of all our strengthafore we have done, you can bet your boots!"
None of the men had, in fact, eaten anything since the preceding night,but they saw the justice of the advice.
"There is some sheep up behind my place," one of them said. "Likeenough they was up on the hills when the Injuns came, but I saw someof them go in there this morning. There ain't no time for cooking now,so we will share your grub, and I will shoot three or four of the sheepand cut them up. They will last us for two or three days."
"That is a good idee; and if there is any flour as hasn't been carriedoff, you had best make up a few lots of five or six pounds each and tiethem up in cloths. They will come in mighty handy. Hello! here are somemore of the boys!" A minute later eight more cow-boys rode up.
"Hello, Broncho! I thought we should find your crowd here. We haveridden all we knew to be here in time to go on with you--that is, ifyou are going on."
"We are going on as far as we can, Ike; we are just changing horses. Ithink there are about enough left to give you one each."
"Have you any news which way the Red-skins have gone?"
"Not yet. Old man Rutherford followed 'em up. I expect he will behere soon; if not, we shall meet him. They have got twenty hours'start--that is the worst of it. No, there ain't no chance of overtakingthem, that is sartin. What we have got to do is to wipe some of themout, and to give them a lesson, and get the girls back again if wecan; and we have got to do it quick, else we shall have the hull Injuncountry up agin us."
"I did not think that they would have done it," another man said. "Theold man wur always good friends with the Injuns, and made them welcomewhen they came along."
"It ain't no good being kind to Injuns," another put in. "There ain'tno gratitude in them."
"Injuns air pison!" Broncho said; and a general murmur of agreementexpressed that in the opinion of the cow-boys this summed up thecharacteristics of the Red-skins.
In a few minutes the new-comers were provided with fresh horses.A spare horse was taken on for Rutherford, and then, headed by thesurvivors of the raid, the party started three-and-twenty strong. Theytravelled fast; not that there was any occasion for speed, but becauseevery man was burning with the desire to get at the enemy. After ridingabout twenty miles they checked their horses, for a fire was seen ashort distance ahead.
"That's all right," one of the settlers said. "That will be Rutherford,sure enough. It is just there where the valley forks. He is waitingthere for us. He would know we shouldn't want a guide as far as this."
As they came up a tall figure rose from beside the fire.
"Well, Steve, have you tracked them?" Jim Gattling, the youngest of theparty from the village, asked eagerly.
"They have gone over the divide into the Springer Valley, have followedthat some way, and then through the little canyon, and up towards thehead-waters of the Pequinah Creek. I only went through the canyon to seewhich way they turned, and then made back here. I guessed some of youwould be coming along about this time."
"Was they riding fast?"
"No. They halted here for some hours. I reckon they had ridden a longway afore they attacked our place. I saw their fires some time afore Igot to them, or I might have walked into them, for I didn't think theywould have halted so soon. I tied the hoss up and scouted round 'em andwhen they started this morning before daylight took up the trail afterthem. They weren't travelling very fast. You see they had got abouta hundred head of cattle with them, and I reckon they have three orfour days' journey before them. As far as I could make out, from whatI seed of them, they don't belong to this part at all. Sartin they wasgoing easy, and didn't reckon on being followed. It ain't often theyget chased when they are once in the hills. Waal, boys, I am glad tosee you, and I thank ye all. It is what I expected from yer, for I feltsure that when you got the news you would muster up."
"We have brought a fresh horse for you, Steve," Jim Gattling said. "Wedruv in a herd this afternoon, and they all changed back there, so weare ready to ride at once."
"That's good, Jim! I was wondering over that, and thinking that ifyours had come in from the plains they wouldn't be fit for any moretravel to-night, for I knew they was a long way out. Where wur you,Broncho?"
"We wur on Little Cr
eek."
"Ah! that's about sixty miles away from our place. Waal, boys, we mayas well go on over the divide and down into the valley; there we hadbest camp. You will have done a hundred miles by then, and will wantsleep. Besides, we mustn't knock the hosses up; they have got theirwork before them, and maybe we shall have to ride on our way back."
"How many of the skunks are there?"
"Over forty."
"We sha'n't have much trouble with that lot," Broncho Harry said.
"Not if we catch them before they git to their village, Broncho. But Idoubt whether we shall do that."
"Waal, we will fight them, Steve, if there was four hundred of them!"Harry said. "We have come to get your Rosie and the others back, and weare going to do it, you bet."
Rutherford held out his hand and gripped that of the cow-boy; then,mounting the horse that had been brought for him, he took his place atthe head of the party and led the way.
It was a toilsome journey over the shoulder that divided the twovalleys. The pace was necessarily confined to a walk, and it was fivehours before they reached the stream upon which they were to camp. Herethe horses were turned loose to graze, and the men threw themselvesdown upon the ground and were soon asleep, for it was now pastmidnight. With the dawn of day they were on their feet again, a greatfire lighted, and some of the mutton cut up and cooked, and some cakesbaked. As soon as the meal was eaten they again started.
Hugh had not changed his horse at the village. Broncho Harry told himthat it was not likely they would travel for many hours that evening,and he knew that Prince, who had had an easy time of it lately, couldeasily do this, and he greatly preferred keeping him, for he felt thatupon such an expedition as this his speed might be of the greatestutility.
A rapid ride of ten miles up the valley took them to the mouth ofthe canyon, which came into the main valley at a sharp angle. It waswide at the entrance, but soon narrowed down into a gorge from ten totwenty feet wide, with rocks rising precipitously on both sides. It wasevident by the smoothly-worn face that in the wet season a tremendoustorrent rushed down, filling it thirty or forty feet deep; but it wasperfectly dry now, and for the most part they were able to ride at afair pace. Here and there, however, masses of rock had fallen down fromabove since the last rains, and here they had to dismount and allow thehorses to clamber over by themselves as best they could. At such spotsscratches upon the face of the stones showed where the party they werepursuing had passed on the previous day.
The canyon was upwards of a mile in length, and the valley into which itled was some hundreds of feet higher than that which they had left. Assoon as they emerged from the pass they put their horses into a gallop,the track of the party before them being plainly visible. As theygot deeper among the mountains the scenery became very wild. Forestsclothed the hills. Great masses of rock towered above the valley, andhuge blocks of stone encumbered the route they had to pursue. Sometimesthe track left the bottom and wound up the hillside, passing at timesalong the ledges, with precipices above and below. Anxious as theywere to press forward, much of the journey had to be performed at afoot-pace, for many of the horses having been brought up on the plainsall their lives were fidgety and nervous on such unaccustomed ground,and required coaxing and care to get them along the passes.
They travelled until late in the afternoon and then halted. The nextday's work was of the same character. They were now high up among thehills, and Steve told them that they were near the crest of the range.
"We had better stop here," Rutherford said about three o'clock in theafternoon, as they arrived at a little stream. "We mustn't knock thecritters up; they have done a good day's work already."
"We have gained upon them, Steve," Broncho Harry said. "The traces havebeen getting fresher."
"Yes, we have gained a bit, but not very much. Their horses would gofaster than ours, because they are accustomed to the mountains; but thecattle will have kept them back. Why I stop here is because there is asort of wall of rock with a passage up through it a mile or two ahead,and though I don't expect they have any idea they are followed, theyare like enough to have left a sentry on the top of that wall. It 'udnever do for them to attack us here; we should have no show at all. Iwant to get my girl back, but throwing away our lives ain't the way todo it. Be careful how you pick the wood for the fires, boys: we mustn'tlet any smoke go curling up. You have got to see that every bit you puton is as dry as a chip."
"How on earth do the Indians manage to live among these hills?" Hughasked, after the meal had been cooked and eaten.
"The country is different on the other side," Jim Gattling said. "Weare pretty nearly up to the top of the divide now, and on the otherside the slopes are much more gradual. They have plenty of ranges wherethey have got cattle and sheep. But I don't know nothing about thecountry here. Steve has been over, but there ain't many as has."
"Yes," Rutherford said, "it is as Jim says. There is a wide sort ofplateau, with big valleys down to the Canadian. We ain't very far nowfrom the frontier of New Mexico, and from the top of the hills here youcan see the Spanish peaks a hundred and fifty miles away. I reckon wemay have to go down that side. There are a heap of Injun villages uphere, and though we may thrash the lot ahead of us they would gatherpretty thick in a short time, and like enough cut us off going back,for they know the tracks better than we do, and their horses would goat a gallop along places where we should have to drag ours. Going downthe other way we can ride as fast as they can, and when we once getdown in the valley of the Canadian we shall get help at the ranchesthere."
"That will certainly be the best way, Steve," Broncho Harry said."We are all ready to fight any number of them on the plains, but itwouldn't be good to be hemmed up among these hills with no chance ofhelp. We could keep them off, I reckon, till we had eaten our boots,but they would make an end of us at last, sure. Have you often beenalong this line before, Steve?"
"Once. I came across here with a party of Red-skins just after the lastpeace wur made with them, when it was sure that they wouldn't break outagain until they had got their presents. I had got a stock of beads,and looking-glasses and cottons, and such like, and went up with acouple of mules and traded among them for skins, and worked robes andmoccasins and Indian trumpery. I sent them back east, and did a prettygood trade with them. But I know the other side well. I was ranchingtwo years down on the Canadian, and we had two or three fights with theRed-skins, who was pretty troublesome about that time. There weren'tmany ranches down there then, and we had to look pretty spry to keepthe har on our heads."
"And how do you propose to work it now, Steve?"
"Well, I reckon that if they have got a sentry on them rocks I spokeof he won't stay there after dark, and that the danger will be at theother end of the pass. Like enough, there will be one or two of themthere. I reckon the best plan will be for me and Jim Gattling and akipple of others to go on ahead quiet. If we find any of the skunksthere, in course we shall wipe them out. When we have done that therest can come up the pass. It ain't no place for anyone as doesn'tknow every foot of the way to come up in the dark; and you must maketorches, ready to light up, when one of us goes back with the news thatthe pass is clear. As soon as we have done with the Red-skins, Jim andI will go off scouting. You see we don't know yet what band this is,or how far their village is away. We will follow on the trail, and whenthe rest get up through the pass they must just wait till we bring themword. I reckon, from their coming by this road, as their place is aboutfifteen mile from the top of the pass. There is a big village there,and I expect they belong to it. I reckon they are just getting therenow, and they will be feasting pretty considerable to-night. It air apity we ain't handy. However, it cannot be helped. We should risk itall if we was to try to push on afore it got dark."
"Your plan seems to pan out all right, Steve. Who will you take withyou?"
"Waal, you and Long Tom may as well come, Broncho, though, I reckon, itdon't make much difference, for you all means fighting."
&n
bsp; As soon as it became dusk the party again moved forward.
"That's the rock," Rutherford said, pointing to a long dark line thatrose up before them. "They can't see us here, and I reckon if there wura scout there he has moved off before this. Now, do you other fellowstake our critters and just move on slowly. You see that point stickingup above the line. Waal, that is on one side of the pass; so you justmake for that, and stop when you get there till one of us comes back."
The torches had been prepared during the halt, two or three youngpitch-pines having been cut down and split up for the purpose. Thefour scouts moved off at a quick walk, and the rest of the partypicked their way along slowly and cautiously towards the point Stevehad indicated. They had some little trouble in finding the entrance tothe pass, but when they discovered it they threw the bridles on theirhorses' necks and dismounted. The time went slowly, but it was notmore than two hours before they heard a slight noise up the pass, anda minute or two later a footfall.
"Is that you, Broncho?" Hugh asked.
"No, it air me; but it is all the same thing, I reckon. Jehoshaphat!but I have knocked myself pretty nigh to pieces among them blessedrocks. It air just as dark as a cave; there ain't no seeing your hand."
"Well, is it all right, Tom?"
"No, it ain't gone off right. When we got to the top of the passthere wur two Red-skins sitting at a fire. We come along as quiet aswe could, but just as we got in sight of them I suppose they heardsomething, for they both jumped on to their feet and wur out of sightlike a streak of lightning. We waited without moving for half an hour,and then they came back again. We could have shot, but Steve reckonedit was too great a risk; so he and Jim undertook to crawl forward whileBroncho and me wur to keep ready to shoot if the Redskins made a bolt.It wur a long time, or at least seemed so. The Red-skins was restless,and we could see they was on the listen. Waal, at last up they bothjumped; but it wur too late. Steve and Jim fired and down they bothwent, and we came on. The wust of the business wur, that one of theirhosses broke loose and bolted. Steve fired after him. He may have hithim, or he may not; anyhow he went off. So now you have got to hurry upall you know."
The torches were at once lit, and leading their horses the party madetheir way up the gorge. It was steep and narrow, and encumbered withboulders; but in half an hour they reached the other end. Broncho Harrywas awaiting them.
"We have got to move away to the right for about half a mile and stopthere. There is a clump of trees, and that is where we are to wait. Itair a 'tarnal bad business that air hoss getting away. He is prettysure to bring the Injuns down on us. Steve ain't going very far. Hesez there is another village about three miles from the one he thinksmost likely; and when he gets about four miles away from here he willbe able to see which way the tracks go, and then he will come straightback to the trees."
"Do you think you hit the horse, Harry?" Hugh asked as they made theirway to the clump of trees.
"You don't suppose I could miss a horse if I tried, Hugh. I hit himsure enough, worse luck. If I had missed him it wouldn't have matteredso much. If he came galloping in by himself they might have thoughthe had got scared at something--by a bar, perhaps--and had just madetracks for the camp. Like enough they would have sent off four men tosee if it wur all right; but when the blessed thing turns up with abullet in his hide, they will know there has been a fight."
"What do you think they will do then, Harry? Are they likely to rideout in force to the gap?"
"They may, and they may not. I should say they won't. I should guessthey'll just throw out scouts all round their village and wait tillmorning. They won't know how strong our party is, and wouldn't take therisk of being ambushed in the dark."
"Perhaps when the horse goes in they won't notice it, especially asthey will be feasting and dancing."
"I don't reckon that worth a cent, Hugh. There are safe to be oneor two of their boys out looking after the horses; besides, thosevarmints' ears are always open. They would hear a horse coming at agallop across the plain half a mile away, aye, and more than that.Directly the boy sees the horse is saddled he will run in and tellthem, then they will take it in by the fire and look at it. When theysee the mark I have made on it there will be a nice rumpus, you bet.They will know what it means just as if it wur all writ down for them."
Two hours passed, and then the sound of an approaching horse was heard.
"Well, Steve, what news?"
"The horse has gone on straight for the village--the one wethought--and all the other tracks go in that direction. There ain't nochance of taking them by surprise now."
"What do you think they will do, Steve?"
"They will just watch all night, that is sartin, and in the morning twoor three will be sent out to scout. There ain't many trees about here,and they will reckon that they can see us as soon as we see them; andthose they send out are safe to be on the best horses they have got. Incourse we could lie down there by the gap and shoot them when they comeup; but I don't see as that would do us any good. When they didn't getback it would only put the others more on their guard than ever. If wedon't shoot them they will find our tracks here, and take back news howmany we are. I tell you, lads, look at it as I will, I don't see no wayout of it; and what makes it wuss is, when they take back news that thescouts they left here have both been shot, it will go mighty hard withthe captives in the village. I can't see no way out of the kink anyhow.I am ready to give my life cheerful for Rosie, but I ain't going toask you to give your lives when I don't see as there is any chance ofgetting her. Do you see any way out of the job, Broncho?"
"I don't, Steve. As you say, there was about forty or fifty of thesevarmint in the expedition, and we may reckon there will be as many moreable to draw a trigger in the village. That makes eighty. Four to oneis pretty long odds. If they was out in the plain we might be a matchfor them, but to attack an Injun camp that's waiting and ready ain'tthe same thing as fighting in the plains. Half of us would go downbefore we got in, and there would not be no more chance of the rest ofus getting the captives away than there would if they was in the moon.If it hadn't been for this affair of the hoss we might have carriedout your plans, and you might have made your way into the village; andthere wur just the chance that yer might have got them out and broughtthem along to some likely place where we was handy; but there ain't noneed to talk about that now. They will be guarded that strict that abird couldn't get to them with a message. That ain't to be thought of.Can any of you boys think of anything?"
No one spoke. Then Hugh said: "I am only a young hand yet, and I don'tknow that my ideas are worth anything, but I will tell you what theyare, and then you can improve upon them perhaps. It seems to me that,in the first place, we ought to leave say four men at the gap. If fourIndian scouts come out they ought to shoot or rope three of them, andlet the fourth escape. If there were only two of them I would let oneget away."
"What should they do that for, Hugh?" Broncho Harry asked in surprise.
"I will tell you directly, Broncho. All the rest of us except the fourwho are left on watch should start at once and make a big circuit, andcome round to the other side of the village, and stop a mile or so awayin hiding; at any rate, as near as we can get. Why I propose lettingone go is this. Suppose three or four scouts go out and none return,the Indians will be sure that they have fallen in a trap somewhere.They won't know how strong we are, or whether we think of making anattack on their village, and they will stop there expecting us for daysperhaps, and then send out scouts again. Now, if one gets back withthe news that they saw no signs of us until they got close to the gap,and then three or four shots were fired and his comrades were killed,but he got off without being pursued, it seems to me that they wouldnaturally imagine that there was only a small party at the gap--perhapsthree or four men from the village they attacked, who had come out torevenge themselves--and would send out a strong party of their bravesat once to attack them. Of course the four men left at the gap would,directly they had done their work, and
the Indian was out of sight,mount their horses and make the same circuit as we had done, and joinus as quickly as they could. We should be keeping watch, and afterseeing the war party ride off we could dash straight down into thevillage. Half, and perhaps more than half, of their fighting men willhave gone, and the others, making sure that we were still at the gap,and that there was no fear of attack, will be careless, and we shouldbe pretty well into the village before a shot was fired."
"Shake, young fellow!" Steve Rutherford said, holding out his hand toHugh. "That air a judgematical plan, and if it don't succeed it oughtter."
There was a general chorus of assent.
"It beats me altogether," Steve went on, "how yer should have hit ona plan like that when I, who have been fighting Injuns off and on forthe last twenty years, couldn't see my way no more than if I had beena mole. You may be young on the plains, Lightning, fur so I have heardthem call yer, but yer couldn't have reasoned it out better if yer hadbeen at it fifty years. I tell you, young fellow, if I get my Rosieback agin it will be thanks to you, and if the time comes as yer wanta man to stand by yer to the death yer can count Steve Rutherford in."
"And Jim Gattling," the young settler said. "Rosie and me wur going toget hitched next month, and it don't need no talk to tell yer what Ifeels about it."
"Which of us shall stay, and which of us shall go?" Broncho Harrysaid. "You are the only man as knows the country, Steve; so you mustgo sartin. Long Tom and me will stay here if you like. You can give methe general direction of the village, and I expect I can make shift tocome round and join you. Besides, there will be your trail to follow.I don't reckon they will send out those scouts till daylight. Anyhow,we won't start before that, and we are safe to be able to follow yourtrail then. Who will stop with us? Will you stay, Hugh?"
"No!" Hugh said decidedly; "I will go with Steve. I am not a very sureshot with the rifle."
"You can shoot straight enough," Broncho Harry said.
"Well, perhaps it isn't that, Harry; but so far I have had no Indianfighting, and though I am quite ready to go in and do my share ina fight, I tell you fairly that I couldn't shoot men down, howeverhostile, in cold blood."
"All right, Hugh. You sha'n't stay with us. When you know the Injuns aswell as we do, and know that mercy ain't a thing as ever enters theirminds, and that they murders women and children in cold blood, and thatif they do take a prisoner it is just to torture him until he dies, youwon't feel that way."
"I will stay with you, Broncho," Jim Gattling said. "I have just seenmy house burnt and the best part of my stock carried away, and a dozenor more of my friends killed or scalped, and you bet I would kill aRed-skin at sight just as I would put my heel on a rattlesnake."
Another of the party also volunteered to stay at the gap.
No further words were necessary. The party mounted.
"That is where the village lies, Broncho; just about under that star.It is about fifteen mile, as I told you, on a straight line. We shallkeep over there to the right, and in a couple of miles we shall get towhere the ground falls, and will travel along there. You can't be wrongif you keep down on the slope. There air no chance then of your beingseen. I don't know just where we shall turn off. There are several dipsrun down from above, and we shall follow one of them up when I reckonwe have got a mile or two beyond the village. So keep a sharp look-outfor our trail there. You needn't bother much about it before, becauseyou can't miss the way; but look sharp at the turnings. I would dropsomething to show you where we turn off, but if any Injun happenedto come along he would be safe to notice it. When you guess you haveridden far enough keep a sharp look-out for the place when we turn off,and then follow the trail careful. It is rolling ground, that side ofthe village, and I reckon we kin get within half a mile of it. Thereain't much fear of their wandering about, and any scouts they have outwon't be on that side. So long!"
Steve Rutherford led the way. "There ain't no need to hurry," hesaid. "We have got plenty of time, and I reckon that when we get a bitfurther we will dismount and lead the horses. They have had pretty hardwork coming up the hills, and I tell you they are likely to want alltheir speed to-morrow, and some of them will have to carry double if wecan't manage to get hold of a few of the Injun ponies."
Accordingly, after riding for half an hour, the party dismounted, andled their horses for a long distance. This was a novel exercise to thecow-boys, for it is rare for one of them to walk a hundred yards. Ahorse stands ever ready at hand, and if it be only to go down to thestream hard by to fetch a bucket of water the cow-boy will always throwhis leg over his horse. But all felt the justice of Steve's remarks.They knew that they had at least a hundred-mile ride before theycould hope to meet friends, and that the pursuit would be hot. It wastherefore of vital importance that the horses should start as fresh aspossible. After three hours' walking they mounted again, and continuedtheir way until Steve Rutherford said that he thought they had gonefar enough now. The moon had risen at two o'clock, and its light hadenabled them to travel fast since they had remounted. Turning up ahollow they followed it for about two miles, and then found they wereentering a hilly and rugged country.
"Here we are," Steve said. "The village lies at the foot of theserocks. I don't know how far along it may be, but I am right sure thatwe have got beyond it. Now, boys, you can sleep till daylight. I willkeep watch, and see that none of the horses stray."
In a very few minutes all was quiet in the little valley, save for thesound of the horses cropping the short grass. At the first gleam ofdaylight Rutherford stirred up one of the sleepers.
"I am going to scout," he said. "When the others wake tell them to besure not to stir out of this dip, and to mind that the horses don'tshow on the sky-line. The Injuns will be keeping their eyes open thismorning, and if they caught sight of one of them critters it would justspoil the hull plan."
Rutherford was gone two hours. Long before his return all the men wereup and about. Bill Royce had gone a little farther up the valley, whichnarrowed to a ravine, and, climbing the rocks cautiously, had taken asurvey of the country.
"No signs of the village," he said when he returned, "and no signsof Injuns as far as I can see. So I think, if we go up to the head ofthis gulch, it'll be safe to make a fire and cook the rest of our meat.There ain't more than enough for one more feed. After that I reckon weshall have to take to horse-flesh. Now, half of us will go up and cook,and the other half keep watch here. We may have Steve coming back withtwenty Red-skins on his track."
Just as they had fried their meat Steve returned.
"We are about three miles from the village," he said, "but keepingalong at the foot of the hills we can get to within half a mile of itsafe. Beyond that it is a chance. What are you doing?"
"Cooking."
"Well, one must eat, but the sooner we get on the better. We want towatch how things go."
As soon as the meal was finished the party mounted, and, keeping closeto the foot of the hill, rode on till Steve said, "We cannot go beyondthat next bluff; so turn up this gulch. I looked in, and there is goodfeed for the horses there. You had better look round when you get in tosee as there ain't no bar or nothing to scare the horses, and two ofyer had best stay on guard here at the mouth. Ef one of them critterswur to get loose and to scoot out below there our lives wouldn't beworth a red cent. Now, Stumpy, you and Owen and me will go up overthere. From among them bushes just at the foot of the rock we can seethe camp, and we will take it by turns to keep watch. If you otherswill take my advice you will all get as much sleep as you can till wecome for you, but mind, keep two on guard here."
"Can I come with you, Steve?" Hugh asked. "I don't feel like sleep atall."
"You can take my place, Lightning," Royce said. "I ain't in no hurry tolook at the Injuns. I expect I shall see plenty of them afore we havedone."