ainfully heated by the
ardent rays that beat down upon them. Not a breath of air reached the
corner where such anxious guard was kept; and to add to the discomfort
of the watchers, a terrible thirst attacked them.

Bart's lips seemed cracking and his throat parched and burning, but this
was all borne in fortitude; and as he saw the Indians on either side of
him, bearing the inconveniences without a murmur, he forebore to
complain.

Towards mid-day, when the heat was tremendous, and Bart was wondering
why the chief or Dr Lascelles did not make some movement to see whether
the strange Indians had gone, and at the same time was ready to declare
to himself that the men sent out as scouts must have gone to sleep, he
felt a couple of hands placed upon his shoulders from behind, pressing
him down, and then a long brown sinewy arm was thrust forward, with the
hand pointing to the edge of the ridge a quarter of a mile away.

Dr Lascelles had not returned, and Joses had some time before crept
back to his own post, so that Bart was alone amongst their Indian
friends.

He knew at once whose was the pointing arm, and following the indicated
direction, he saw plainly enough first the head and shoulders of an
Indian come into sight, then there was apparently a scramble and a leap,
and he could see that the man was mounted. And then followed another
and another, till there was a group of half a dozen mounted men, who had
ridden up some ravine to the top from the plain beyond, and who were now
searching and scanning the valley where the Doctor's encampment lay.

Now was the crucial time. The neigh of a horse, the sight of an
uncautiously exposed head or hand, would have been sufficient to betray
their whereabouts, and sooner or later the attack would have come.

But now it was that the clever strategy of the chief was seen, for he
had chosen their retreat not merely for its strength, but for its
concealment.

Bart glanced back towards the waggon, and wondered how it was that this
prominent object had not been seen. Fortunately, however, its tilt was
of the colour of the surrounding rocks, and it was pretty well hidden
behind some projecting masses.

For quite a quarter of an hour this group of mounted Indians remained
full in view, and all the time Bart's sensations were that he must be
seen as plainly as he could see his foes; but at last he saw them slowly
disappear one by one over the other side of the ridge; and as soon