"'No,' I said, 'they won't be staked out if the captain is active enough
to get around this section of the country.'

"I did not like the canyon, where we had made our camp previously, as it
seemed to be a thorough-fare for the Apaches, so I decided to make a
move even if it was now growing dusk.

"'We will make a start this evening, Tom,' I said, 'this is a pretty
situation, but there are some things I don't like about it.'

"'All right, captain,' he replied, 'whatever you say.'

"So we started driving our pack horses before us."

CHAPTER VIII

THE CAPTAIN'S SCHEME

"Dusk had fallen as we made our way out of the canyon, and we proceeded
slowly along a rather bare and rounding ridge, under the light of the
stars.

"From this ridge ran several canyons downwards towards the plains. We
passed the heads of two of them, and at the third I stopped. This was
the one which I had seen the Indians entering from the plain.

"'Can you make out anything down there in the darkness, Tom?' I asked.

"Tom peered keenly into the gloom below us.

"'I believe I can catch a glimpse of a fire down there,' he answered.

"But I did not have to depend on Tom's eye-sight altogether, for my
hearing was acute, even if my sight had become somewhat defective and I
was positive that I heard the Apache war cry.

"I determined, however, to make a closer investigation to see exactly
how the land lay. There was a possibility that I might be able to reach
the boys in the darkness, if they were besieged in the canyon below, as
I now felt positive they were.

"The first thing, however, was to find some suitable place for a camp,
where I could leave Tom with the horses, while I made my reconnaissance.

"It was somewhat difficult to do in the darkness, but at last I located
a camp on the south side of the south ridge of the canyon. There were
some great boulders with a semi-circle of trees or brush shutting in one
side of the rocks.

"When I had Tom safely ensconced in our new camp, I gave him his orders
and started to see what I could discover. I was armed with my revolver
and a knife in my belt, as I wanted to be free to move quickly, and to
fire instantly.

"I made no noise as I slipped over the ground in my moccasined feet. I
could, from long experience, make myself as stealthy and invisible as
any Indian and I moved noiselessly down the side of a broad valley, for
such it was, rather than a canyon.

"I was approaching a h