ng beyond the further limit of the
Indians, no one supposed he had any other purpose in view than to obtain
a better place in which to help himself to water. The trees among which
he entered were almost without undergrowth, and, fortunately, were in
exactly the opposite direction from where the mustangs were grazing.
This left the way entirely open for him to do his utmost in the way of
his dash for freedom. It may seem to have been unfortunate in the one
thing, that it caused the lad to go away without his horse; but he would
have left the latter had he been given his chance, for he believed that
while the trail of the animal could be followed without trouble, and
might secure his being run to the ground in the end, yet he could
readily find the means of hiding his own footsteps from the most
skillful of the Apaches.

It is hardly necessary to say that the instant he found himself beyond
the immediate sight of his captors, his lameness disappeared as if by
magic, and he dashed down the stream with all the speed at his command.
After running nearly two hundred yards he suddenly paused and listened.
Nothing could be heard but his own hurried breathing and throbbing
heart.

"They haven't found out anything about me yet," was his hurried
exclamation, as he started off again, continually ejaculating a prayer
that he might succeed, for he needed no one to tell him that it was
really a matter of life and death; for, if Lone Wolf should place hands
upon him again, he would never forgive the attempt.

A hundred yards further in this headlong fashion, and all at once he
found himself at the termination of the wood, which had been such an
advantage to him thus far. On the right and left, over the high,
precipitous mountains back of him, was the small wood, on the other
border of which was the Apache camp. The gorge or valley, in the center
of which he found himself standing, wound in and out among the mountains
before him,--a Devil's Pass on a smaller scale,--so sinuous in its
course that he could trace it only a short distance ahead with the eye.
Directly at his side flowed a mountain stream, varying from a dozen to
twenty feet in width, so clear that in every place he could see
distinctly the bottom. The current was quite swift, and in some places
it dashed and foamed over the rocks almost like a cascade.

Ned dared not hesitate, but, pausing only an instant to catch breath, he
dashed away again until he reached the curve i