s of eagle's feathers, and by the
brilliant red and yellow with which they were painted, it was easy to
recognise a party of Indians.

Ten of them--doubtless the chiefs--gravely seated round a fire which
produced more smoke than flame, were passing from hand to hand the
calumet or pipe of council. Their arms, consisting of leathern
bucklers--surrounded by a thick fringe of feathers--axes, and knives,
were laid by their side. At some little distance and out of hearing,
five warriors held a number of horses, strangely accoutred with wooden
saddles covered with skins. These horses belonged to the chiefs, and
seemed difficult to restrain.

As one of the chiefs passed the calumet to the others, he pointed to a
spot in the horizon. The eyes of a European would only have seen a
slight grey cloud against the blue sky, but the Indian recognised a
column of smoke--that rising from the camp of the whites.

At that moment an Indian messenger arrived with some news, and all the
party crowded round him.

Now between the two camps the eye of the eagle could discover another
rider, but alone and out of sight of both parties. It was doubtless he
who was being sought for by the messenger despatched from the camp of
the gold-seekers. This man rode a grey horse, and seemed to be seeking
a track; he was dressed as a European; and his complexion, though much
bronzed, denoted that he belonged to that race.

It was Cuchillo, who, resuming his course, caused his horse to mount one
of the hillocks, where he could perceive the columns of smoke arising
from the two camps. The Indians perceived him at the same time; for a
long howl, like that of a hundred panthers, arose, and the king of
birds, terrified by the tumult, soon became only a black speck in the
clouds. The outlaw fled rapidly in the opposite direction and the
Indians rushed after him.

Still further in the horizon, placed so as to form a triangle with the
other camps, was a third group of men scarcely visible to the eagle
himself. They were encamped upon a small islet in the midst of a river
fringed with trees, and over which rested a light fog. The desert of
Tubac ended at this river, which, flowing from east to west, divided, a
league below the island, into two branches, and formed a vast delta--
bounded by a chain of hills which were now shrouded by the fog.

In this delta, more than a league square, lay the Golden Valley.

All these different groups of people will