e was
seeking. With this extension of his field of vision he discovered more
than one evidence that he was not in a solitude. In the first place, by
looking to the southward, a mass of dust and vapor was visible,
indicating the presence and progress of some sort of herd, perhaps a
drove of sheep from New Mexico, under the convoy of Indians who had shot
the rightful owners and stampeded their property. Looking westward,
another clump of trees was discerned, from the center of which came just
enough smoke to show that there must be a camp fire beneath.

"I'll bet they are there!" exclaimed Ned, to himself, "and it may be
they have started the fire on purpose to guide me to them."

The point to which his attention was thus directed was no more than a
mile distant, and he wondered that he had not noted it before. It
resembled in many respects the one in which he passed the night, and he
saw from the course of the stream which ran through the latter, that it
most probably watered the former where he believed the hunters were in
camp.

Turning his eyes in another direction, the young wanderer was greeted by
a sight which agitated him scarcely less. There, no more than a quarter
of a mile distant, quietly grazing beside the winding stream which
flowed at the base of the tree, was the very mustang which had been
captured by the hunters and from whose back he had been thrown when in
pursuit of the buffalo. He instantly lost all interest in the smoke of
the camp fire in the greater interest he felt in the question of
securing possession of the steed. Could he but remount him he would not
care particularly whether he met the hunters or not, for, once upon the
back of such a steed, he would consider himself competent to make the
rest of the journey alone.

"What's to hinder?" he asked himself, as he fixed his eyes longingly
upon the steed. "Dick says none of the Apaches have any animal that can
overtake him, and all I have to do is to keep his head turned toward the
southwest. There is a trail through the mountains yonder, and Corporal
Hugg told me that there is a trail all the way. But can I catch him?"

He enjoyed in anticipation the pleasure he would feel when, possessing
rifle, ammunition and horse he should resume his journey westward and
the delight and joy of his father when he should clasp him in his arms
again. He could have spent several hours building his air-castles in
this manner, had he not checked himself and re