the higher slope and turned off at the edge of
the timber out of rifle-range. Here they got off their mustangs and
apparently held a council. Neale plainly saw a befeathered chieftain
point with long arm. Then the band moved, disintegrated, and presently
seemed to have melted into the ground.

"Men, we're in for a siege!" yelled old Baxter.

At this juncture the women came running out, badly frightened.

"The Indians! The Indians!" cried Mrs. Dillon. "We saw them--behind the
cabin--creeping down through the rocks."

"Get inside--stay in the cabin!" ordered Baxter.

Allie was the last one crowded in. Neale, as he half forced her inside,
was struck with a sudden wild change in her expression.

"There! There!" she whispered, trying to point.

Just then rifle-shots and the spattering of bullets made quick work
urgent.

"Go--get inside the log walls," said Neale, as he shoved Allie in.

Excitement prevailed among the graders. They began to run under cover of
the inclosure and some began to shoot aimlessly.

"Anderson, take some men! Go to the back of the cabin!" shouted Baxter.

The scout called for men to follow him and ran out. So many of the
graders essayed to follow that they blocked the narrow opening between
the inclosure and house. Suddenly one of them in the rear sheered round
so that he looked at Neale. It was but a momentary glance, but Neale
sensed recognition there. Then the man was gone and Neale sustained a
strange surprise. That face had been familiar, but he could not recall
where he had ever seen it. The red, leering, evil visage, with its
prominent, hard features, grew more vivid in memory, as Neale's mind
revolved closer to discovery.

"Inside with you, Neale," yelled Baxter.

Baxter and Neale, with the four young engineers, took to the several
rooms of the log cabin, where each selected an aperture between the
logs or a window through which to fire upon the Indians. But Neale soon
ascertained that there was nothing to shoot at, outside of some
white puffs of smoke rising from behind rocks on the slope. There was
absolutely not a sign of an Indian. The graders were firing, but Neale
believed they would have done better to save their powder. Bullets
pattered against the logs; now and then a leaden pellet sang through a
window, to thud into the wall. Neale shut the heavy door leading from
the cabin into the engineers' quarters, for bullets were ripped through
from one side to the other of this