e 'spicioned that one of the chaps in that
'ere canoe which passed before 'em is myself, and they're goin' for me
like lightnin'. They've mounted their horses, and kept it up till they
knowed they'd struck a p'int below me, and there they've signaled to
each other that I'm still above 'em on the river, and still to be
ketched."

The scout was certain that his theory was correct, and that, distasteful
and dangerous as it might be, the time had come for him to leave the
river. To continue further would be to precipitate a collision in which
there was no possibility of the good fortune that had followed him in
the first place. Besides this the night was so far advanced and the moon
so high up in the sky, that the shadow had narrowed to a band which was
practically useless.

"No use makin' faces when you've got a dose of medicine to take," he
added, as he ran the canoe close to the shore.

There he found that by standing upon his feet he could easily reach the
edge of the bluff above and thus draw himself up when he chose. This he
proceeded to do, but he was too skillful a hunter to leave behind him
such tell-tale evidence as the canoe itself would have proven. Were he
to leave that as it was, it would be sure to catch the eye of the
Apaches within a quarter of an hour and tell them precisely what had
been done. And so, as the hunter hung thus by his hands, with his long
rifle secured at his back, he caught the toe of his moccasin in the
craft in such a way that it dipped and took water. He held it thus until
it could contain no more; but its composition was such that even then it
would not sink. There were loose boulders in the bank, and the hunter
proceeded to drop these carefully into the boat below. It required
several for ballast, when it quietly went to the bottom, where it was
certain to stay. This done he addressed himself to the task before him.

As he straightened up and looked off in the moonlight, a very
discouraging, although familiar sight, met his eye. The moonlight was
quite strong, and he was enabled to see objects indistinctly for a
considerable distance. It was everywhere the same. A level, treeless
prairie, where for miles there was not a drop of water to be obtained,
and over which, as has been already shown, in case he attempted to make
his way, he would be placed at the greatest disadvantage possible,
especially as his own mustang was still a good hundred miles to the
southwest, if he had succeede