ut all right," remarked Jim. "We will have to be
mighty careful of our water supply. We can manage for food even if we
have to eat Coyote."

"Piute goes first," I retorted, "his name sounds more eatable anyway."

"Well, we won't quarrel about that now," replied Jim. "The next thing on
the program is supper."

We were quite comfortable in our dry shelter with the rain beating
outside and as an added luxury we were not even bothered with the smoke,
for there was a crevice in the rock at one side near the end, which made
a good chimney, and the smoke drew through that.

Even though we were comfortable we knew that our situation was desperate
and as we sat eating we canvassed our prospects thoroughly.

CHAPTER V

ON GUARD

"The first thing," said Jim, "is to find out how long a siege we can
stand."

"Why!" I exclaimed in alarm, "don't you think that the captain and Tom
will locate us soon and get us out of this?"

"Perhaps," replied Jim, "but they may have troubles of their own. Anyhow
there must be at least a hundred of these Apaches down below, and there
is no telling how many more there will be in another day. They will
probably have all their howling relatives here within the radius of two
hundred miles to join in the picnic."

"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