f column, yet declared that the enemy could not be
hereabouts. At two in the morning Mr. Billings found himself well
through a pass in the mountains, high peaks rising to his right and
left, and a broad valley in front. Here he gave the order to unsaddle
and camp for the night.

At daybreak all were again on the alert: the search for the trail was
resumed. Again the Indians refused to go out without the troops; but the
men themselves found the tracks of Tonto moccasins along the bed of a
little stream purling through the canyon, and presently indications that
they had made the ascent of the mountain to the south. Leaving a guard
with his horses and pack-mules, the lieutenant ordered up his men, and
soon the little command was silently picking its way through rock and
boulder, scrub-oak and tangled juniper and pine. Rougher and steeper
grew the ascent; more and more the Indians cowered, huddling together in
rear of the soldiers. Twice Mr. Billings signalled a halt, and, with his
sergeants, fairly drove the scouts up to the front and ordered them to
hunt for signs. In vain they protested, "No sign,--no Tonto here," their
very looks belied them, and the young commander ordered the search to be
continued. In their eagerness the men soon leaped ahead of the wretched
allies, and the latter fell back in the same huddled group as before.

After half an hour of this sort of work, the party came suddenly upon a
point whence it was possible to see much of the face of the mountain
they were scaling. Cautioning his men to keep within the concealment
afforded by the thick timber, Mr. Billings and his comrade-lieutenant
crept forward and made a brief reconnoissance. It was evident at a
glance that the farther they went the steeper grew the ascent and the
more tangled the low shrubbery, for it was little better, until, near
the summit, trees and underbrush, and herbage of every description,
seemed to cease entirely, and a vertical cliff of jagged rocks stood
sentinel at the crest, and stretched east and west the entire length of
the face of the mountain.

"By Jove, Billings! if they are on top of that it will be a nasty place
to rout them out of," observed the junior.

"I'm going to find out where they are, anyhow," replied the other. "Now
those infernal Yumas have _got_ to scout, whether they want to or not.
You stay here with the men, ready to come the instant I send or signal."

In vain the junior officer protested against being