n will be to go straight back."

"You are right," Dick exclaimed, "that is the best thing we can do. We
won't follow the exact track, as a few of them may have kept our line,
but will bear a little distance off it, and hope they may pass us
unseen; the sun is setting already, half an hour and it will be dark."

Taking every precaution to conceal their trail, they rode back, keeping
a hundred yards or so to the right of the line by which they had come. A
quarter of an hour passed, and then Turk gave his growl of warning.

"Could not have been better," Dick exclaimed, "this brushwood is just
the place for us."

They threw themselves from their horses, and made the animals lie down
at full length in the low bushes, and laid themselves down beside them.

"Hush! Turk," Frank said to the dog, as he laid his hand upon it's head.
"You must lie quiet, sir, and not make the least noise."

The dog, who was quivering with excitement, lay down quietly, as if it
comprehended the need for silence.

"One, two, three, four, five, six," Dick counted, peering through the
bushes. "Six of them; we could fight that lot easy, but the sound of our
rifles would bring the whole gang down upon us."

The Indians were not riding at full speed, for their horses were tired,
having already made a long march before they saw the hunters following
the deer to the canon, and they did not expect to overtake those of whom
they were in pursuit, believing that when they reached the precipice
they would make along it to the right or left, and so fall into the
hands of one or other of the parties who had gone to intercept them.

No sooner were they fairly out of sight than the hunters rose, and,
remounting their horses, continued their way.

"It's well-nigh dark," Dick said, "and I doubt if they will be able to
make out our back-track when they get to the edge; at any rate they
cannot follow it."

They rode on until they found that their horses could no longer carry
them, then, dismounting, led them by the bridle. They had been steering
by the stars, and presently found themselves at the upper end of the
ravine.

"We won't enter this now," Dick said, "for some of them may take it into
their heads to gallop back, although that ain't very likely. Anyhow the
horses can't go any further, and if they could, we couldn't make our way
over these stones; it'll be as dark as pitch down there. So we will move
away two hundred yards, and let the horses feed wh