ion! We are
on a somewhat delicate business. A mistake might bring disaster. I am in
command of this party and I must have absolute and prompt obedience. Mr.
Cadwaller, it will be at your peril that you make any such move again.
Let no man draw a gun until ordered by me! Now, then, cut out those
horses and bunch them together!"

"Jeerupiter! He's a hull brigade himself," said Mr. Cadwaller in an
undertone, dropping back beside Mr. Sligh. "Waal, here goes for the
bunch."

But though both Mr. Cadwaller and Mr. Raimes, as well as Sergeant Crisp
and the Inspector, were expert cattle men, it took some little time and
very considerable manoeuvering to get the stolen horses bunched together
and separated from the rest of the animals grazing in the valley, and by
the time this was accomplished Indian riders had appeared on every side,
gradually closing in upon the party. It was clearly impossible to drive
off the bunch through that gradually narrowing cordon of mounted Indians
without trouble.

"Now, what's to be done?" said Mr. Cadwaller, nervously addressing the
Inspector.

"Forward!" cried the Inspector in a loud voice. "Towards the corral
ahead there!"

This movement nonplussed the Indians and in silence they fell in behind
the party who, going before, finally succeeded in driving the bunch of
horses into the corral.

"Sergeant Crisp, you and Constable Cameron remain here on guard. I shall
go and find the Chief. Here," he continued, addressing a young Indian
brave who had ridden up quite close to the gate of the corral, "lead me
to your Chief, Red Crow!"

The absence alike of all hesitation or fear, and of all bluster in his
tone and bearing, apparently impressed the young brave, for he wheeled
his pony and set off immediately at a gallop, followed by the Inspector
at a more moderate pace.

Quickly the Indians gathered about the corral and the group at its gate.
With every passing minute their numbers increased, and as their numbers
increased so did the violence of their demonstration The three Americans
were placed next the corral, Sergeant Crisp and Cameron being between
them and the excited Indians. Cameron had seen Indians before about the
trading posts. A shy, suspicious, and subdued lot of creatures they had
seemed to him. But these were men of another breed, with their lean,
lithe, muscular figures, their clean, copper skins, their wild fierce
eyes, their haughty bearing. Those others were poor beggars see