they were taken off.

"They'll do. I'll give 'em an hour to cool, and then we must be off.
I'll pack the rest of the meat raw, but we haven't left much of it."

To much to throw away for men who were not sure of their regular meals,
and were very sure of getting hungry.

The hour went by, and then Steve felt himself rudely shaken by the
shoulder.

"You can't have it," grumbled Steve. "That gold's ours. I killed it
myself, and we're roasting it now."

"Dreaming, are you? Wake up, Steve; it's time we were moving. We've a
long night ride before us."

"How late is it?"

"No watch. Can't say exactly; but I reckon we can reach the valley by
sunrise, and not overwork our horses. They're both in good condition."

The great heavy carriage and road horses used in the "settlements"
would not have been in anything like as good condition as were those
two wiry, tough, swift-footed mustangs, after all they had been
through. They were ready now for another long pull; but they were
likely to stand it better in the cool night hours than under the hot
sun.

In a few minutes more the two friends were in the saddle. There was no
more that they could do just then for the safety of the Buckhorn Mine;
but they had not ridden far before Murray suddenly exclaimed,

"I'm going to do a queer thing, Steve Harrison!"

"You won't go back to the Lipans?"

"Queerer than that. I'm going to ride straight in among that band of
Apaches!"

"What for?"

"I can't exactly say as yet. Will you go with me?"

"Anywhere. I'll feel safer about not getting into the hands of the
Lipans again."

"They never did you any hurt."

"I should say they did. It's hurt enough to stay among them for three
long years."

"Think of what you've learned by it, my boy. And now you've found a
gold-mine."

"And it isn't worth ten cents to me. Nobody'd give me a new hat for
it."

"You will need one by the time you get to the settlements. We must try
and look out for that. The main thing for us to-night is to see that
we don't get into bad company."

"Either Lipans or miners. I believe one is about as bad as the other."

They had plenty to talk about but some parts of the pass they were
following were densely dark, and they had to feel their way a foot at a
time like a pair of blind men. It was slower work than riding over the
same ground by day, and Murray turned out nearly right in his
calculation of the time they would reach the valle