head bent on the neck of his animal, the
latter upon a dead run, until they had gone a considerable distance
further. Then believing all peril past, he drew him down somewhat, for
the gait was more trying to him than to the steed himself, and it was
simply prudent to husband his strength, when there was no necessity of
putting it forth.

For the first time since starting, Ned turned and surveyed the ground
over which he had passed. The view was not a reassuring one by any
means. Instead of seeing the Apaches standing in mute despair upon the
margin of the grove, and staring in wonder at his flight, he saw instead
the whole party mounted and in full pursuit. They were adopting what
seemed to him a strange course. Instead of charging along in a body,
they were separating and spreading out like a fan.

"I wonder what it is for," said the fugitive to himself, as he urged his
horse to a renewal of the arrowy speed he had shown at the beginning.

When he came to reflect upon it more fully, he divined the cause. The
Apaches had recognized in him a prize worth striving for, and had set
about it in their usual cunning fashion. By separating in this manner,
they could close in again whenever they chose, and at a time, too, when
it might be out of the power of the fugitive to escape by means of the
superior speed of his horse. If he should turn to the right or left, or
to the rear, he would come in collision with some of them, whereas, if
they remained in a compact body, and he should find his way shut in
front, he might elude them by turning to either side.

Such was young Chadmund's solution of their actions, and such,
undoubtedly, was the true one. He looked ahead; but all remained open
and clear. Only far away in the very horizon could be seen that blue,
misty outline of some mountain chain, seemingly hundreds of miles in
advance.

"It can't be that _that_ is the place," he mused, as he looked ahead;
"that is too far to be reached before to-morrow, and between now and
then I shall have plenty of chances to give them the slip."

But the mountains were to be crossed at some time or other, and those
Apaches were likely to follow him with the persistency of bloodhounds.
The mere fact that he had distanced them at the beginning, and obtained
such a favorable start, was no evidence that he was to be relieved from
further danger, even after the night should have come and gone. But Ned
enjoyed to the full the thrilling pleasure