" grunted the Indian.

"I don't know exactly what that means," said Rosemary coolly, as she
held the gun with steady hand so that it "covered" Mike, "but my
brother and I are going to stay together. If you try to separate us
I'll shoot as many of you as I can, and I'm a pretty good shot," she
added grimly. "Then I'll shoot myself and him before I'll let you try
any of your tricks on us!"

She spoke with such fierce earnestness that, though all of her words
may not have been intelligible to her captors, they at least understood
her intent.

Paz gave a grunt, half of admiration and half of anger at this
unexpected change in his plans. Rosemary suddenly wheeled, facing him.
She swung her weapon to cover the evil rascal.

There was a spurt of flame, a puff of smoke and before the crack of the
report snapped out the dirty, greasy hat of Paz went spinning from his
head.

A cry of dismay arose from the followers of the Yaqui chief and mingled
with his own grunt of rage. With a yell Mike reached for his gun, but
with a gesture his chief stopped him, saying something in their own
tongue.

It was, undoubtedly, a command to refrain from shooting down the
captives, which was the evident intent of Mike. And of course that
could easily have been done, for the Yaquis were well armed with rifles
and revolvers they had stolen in their raid. They were not the best
shots in the world, but an infuriated band of them firing on a weary
boy and girl, would have made short work of their lives.

"That wasn't a miss!" said Rosemary with a laugh, as she still held her
gun to cover the leader. "I just wanted to shoot off your hat. I
could have aimed lower down if I had wanted to. That was just to show
you I know how to shoot!"

"Ugh!" grunted Paz, and there was open admiration on his rascally face.
He talked rapidly to Mike and some of the latter's companions who had
gathered around, and there was no further attempt to take Floyd away
from Rosemary.

The latter, however, was on her guard, for she feared they would rush
her, and try to take away her weapon, the unexpected display of which,
as much as her cleverness in shooting away the hat of Paz, had held the
Indians at bay for the necessary reaction to take place.

"Yo' all right!" grunted Paz with another grin, while one of his
followers picked up the hat, looking curiously at the bullet hole
through it: "Yo' smart gal!"

"Sure did have your nerve with you!" complimented