n that
valley.

Great hunters, brave warriors, well able to take care of themselves and
their families, but just now they were very much excited about
something--something on the ground.

The younger braves, to the number of more than a hundred, were standing
back respectfully, while the older and more experienced warriors
carefully examined a number of deep marks on the grass around a
bubbling spring.

There had been a camp there not long before, and the first discovery
made by the foremost Apache who had ridden up to that spring was that
it had not been a camp of his own people.

The prints of the hoofs of horses showed that they had been shod, and
there are neither horseshoes nor blacksmiths among the red men of the
South-west.

The tracks left by the feet of men were not such as can be made by
moccasins. There are no heels on moccasins, and no nails in the soles
of them.

Even if there had been Indian feet in the boots, the toes would not
have been turned out in walking. Only white men do that.

So much was plain at a mere glance; but there were a good many other
things to be studied and interpreted before Many Bears and his
followers could feel satisfied.

It was a good deal like reading a newspaper. Nobody tears one up till
it has been read through, and the Apaches did not trample the ground
around the spring till they had searched out all that the other
tramplings could tell them.

Then the dark-faced, ferocious looking warriors who had made the search
all gathered around their chief and, one after another, reported what
they had found.

There had been a strong party of white men at that spot three days
before; three wagons, drawn by mule teams; many spare mules;
twenty-five men who rode horses, besides the men who drove the wagons.

"Were they miners?"

Every warrior and chief was ready to say "No" at once.

"Traders?"

No, it could not have been a trading-party.

"All right," said Many Bears, with a solemn shake of his gray head.
"Blue-coats--cavalry. Come from Great Father at Washington--no stay in
Apache country--go right through--not come back--let them go."

Indian sagacity had hit the nail exactly on the head; for that had been
a camp of a United States military exploring expedition, looking for
passes and roads, and with instructions to be as friendly as possible
with any wandering red men they might meet.

Nothing could be gained by following such a party as that, and Many
Be