. I knewed the Horned Lizard 'ud be after some
trick."

"What?" inquire several voices.

"Look whar that lot's stannin' out yonder. Can't ye guess what they're
at, Frank Hamersley?"

"No. I only see that they have bows in their hands."

"An' arrers, too. Don't you obsarve them wroppin' somethin' round the
heads o' the arrers--looks like bits o' rags? Aye, rags it air, sopped
in spittles and powder. They're agoin' to set the waggons afire! They
air, by God!"

CHAPTER SEVEN.

FIERY MESSENGERS.

The teamsters, each of whom is watching the post assigned to him,
despite the danger, already extreme, see fresh cause of alarm in
Wilder's words. Some slight hope had hitherto upheld them. Under the
protection of the waggons they might sustain a siege, so long as their
ammunition lasts; and before it gave out some chance, though they cannot
think what, might turn up in their favour. It was a mere reflection
founded on probabilities still unscrutinised--the last tenacious
struggle before hope gives way to utter and palpable despair.
Hamersley's words had for an instant cheered them; for the thought of
the Indians setting fire to the waggons had not occurred to any of the
party. It was a thing unknown to their experience; and, at such a
distance, might be supposed impossible.

But, as they now look around them, and note the canvas tilts, and light
timbers, dry as chips from long exposure to the hot prairie sun; the
piles of dry goods--woollen blankets, cotton, and silk stuffs--intended
for the stores of Chihuahua, some of which they have hastily pulled from
their places to form protecting barricades--when they see all this, and
then the preparations the Indians are engaged in making, no wonder that
they feel dismay on Walt Wilder shouting out, "They're agoin' to set the
waggons afire!"

The announcement, although carrying alarm, conveys no counsel. Even
their guide, with a life-long experience on the prairies, is at a loss
how they ought to act in this unexpected emergency. In the waggons
water there is none--at least not enough to drown out a conflagration
such as that threatened; and from the way the assailants are gesturing
the traders can predict that ere long, a shower of fiery shafts will be
sent into their midst. None of them but have knowledge sufficient to
admonish them of what is intended. Even if they had never set foot upon
a prairie, their school stories and legends of early life would tel