he started downhill.

When he reached a pool of violet dusk at the bottom of the small ravine
Naginlta's eyes regarded him knowingly. Travis signaled with his hand
and thought out what would be the coyotes' part in this surprise attack.
The prick-eared silhouette vanished. Uphill the chitter of a fluff-fur
sounded twice--Tsoay was in position.

A howl ... wailing ... sobbing ... was heard, one of the keening songs
of the _mba'a_. Travis darted forward. He heard the nicker of a
frightened horse, a clicking which could have marked the pawing of hoof
on gravel, saw the brush hiding the stranger's hole tremble, a portion
of it fall away.

Travis sped on, his moccasins making no sound on the ground. One of the
coyotes gave tongue for the second time, the eerie wailing rising to a
yapping which echoed from the rocks about them. Travis poised for a
dive.

Another section of those artfully heaped branches had given way and a
horse reared, its upflung head plainly marked against the sky. A blurred
figure weaved back and forth before it, trying to control the mount. The
stranger had his hands full, certainly no weapon drawn--this was it!

Travis leaped. His hands found their mark, the shoulders of the
stranger. There was a shrill cry from the other as he tried to turn in
the Apache's hold, to face his attacker. But Travis bore them both on,
rolling almost under the feet of the horse, sliding downhill, the
unknown's writhing body pinned down by the Apache's weight and his
clasp, tight as an iron grip, about the other's chest and upper arms.

He felt his opponent go limp, but was suspicious enough not to release
that hold, for the heavy breathing of the stranger was not that of an
unconscious man. They lay so, the unknown still tight in Travis' hold
but no longer fighting. The Apache could hear Tsoay soothing the horse
with the purring words of a practiced horseman.

Still the stranger did not resume the struggle. They could not lie in
this position all night, Travis thought with a wry twist of amusement.
He shifted his hold, and got the lightning-quick response he had
expected. But it was not quite quick enough, for Travis had the other's
hands behind his back, cupping slender, almost delicate wrists together.

"Throw me a cord!" he called to Tsoay.

The younger man ran up with an extra bow cord, and in a moment they had
bonds on the struggling captive. Travis rolled their catch over,
reaching down for a fistful of hair