where he had been talking with
Captain Marshall. "Real Indians this time?"

"Nothing to worry about," answered the commander of the troopers with a
smile. "That's one of my scouts, and he's evidently found something."

"Found something?" questioned the veteran cowboy.

"Indian sign, most likely. I sent several men out, just before we
sighted your party and took you for the Yaquis. I told my men, if they
discovered anything, to get within sight of us and fire one shot. Then
they were to stay on the spot until we came to investigate, and that's
what we'll do now."

"Do you think it's the trail of the Yaquis he has discovered?" asked
Nort, waving his hand toward the solitary horseman.

"It may be--I rather hope so, for we haven't had any luck thus far in
locating the beggars. When we sighted you we thought we were in for a
fight, but it didn't happen," the captain added, his voice quite rueful.

"I notice you came along all primed for business!" chuckled Yellin' Kid.

"But we were ready for you--in case you had turned out to be those
Mexican imps!" added Rolling Stone.

"Yes, you seemed to have picked out a good spot," complimented the
cavalry captain. "We were just talking among ourselves that we were
going to have trouble in getting you out, when we saw one of you wave a
hat and then we knew it was all right. In a way we were glad, for this
fighting is nasty business at best, though we don't pass any of it up
when it comes our way," he added with an air of pride in his troop.

"You weren't any gladder to find out there was a mistake than we were,"
said Dick. "You soldiers looked like a lot of Indians with lances and
scalps dangling from them." Indeed the lances of the troopers were
decorated with wisps from the tails of horses, and, at a distance,
might have resembled grewsome human scalps.

"There are few Indians, now-a-days who use lances," said Captain
Marshall. "They went out of date about the time Fenimore Cooper wrote
about Leather Stocking. The Indians didn't keep to their bows and
arrows, or lances, once they could get guns and powder. I don't know
much about the Yaquis, but I fancy they did the same--discarded their
lances, if they ever used any, and their bows, for guns."

"Another thing," added Lieutenant Snow, who was next in command to his
captain, "scalps were too precious a trophy to dangle from the point of
a lance. Some Indians may have tied strands of human hair on their
lance