an go sixty
miles without a gulp of water and come out fresh as a daisy at the
end." 'Tonio's eminently fit condition had been something Harris ever
held in envy and emulation, yet on this recent scout even 'Tonio had
failed him. 'Tonio had complained. To look at him as he stood there
now, erect, slender, with deep chest and long, lank arms and legs,
trammelled only by the white cotton breechclout that looped over the
waist belt and trailed, fore and aft, below the bony knee, his back and
shoulders covered by white _camisa_ unfastened at the throat and
chest, his feet cased in deerskin moccasins, the long leggings of which
hung in folds at the ankles, one could liken him only to the
coyote--the half-famished wolf of the sage plain and barren, for even
the greyhound knew thirst and fatigue,--knew how to stretch at full
length and luxury in the shade, whereas 'Tonio, by day at least, stood
or squatted. Never in all their long prowlings, by day or night, among
the arid deserts or desolate ranges along the border, had Harris known
his chief trailer and scout to hint at such a thing as weariness. Yet,
within the week gone by, thrice had he declared himself unable to go
farther. Did it mean that at last 'Tonio would purposely fail him, now
that there were some of his own people among the renegades?

'Tonio had stoutly denied such a weakness. The few young men with the
hostiles, said he, were more Tonto than Mohave--fools who had offended
their brothers and dishonored their tribe. Chiefs, medicine men, even
the women, he said, disowned them. The braves would kill, and the women
spurn, them on sight. 'Tonio pointed to the "hound" scouts with the
Verde company--Hualpais, some of them--splendid specimens from the
mountains; Apache Yumas, some of them, not quite the peer of the
Hualpais; but many of them--most of them, in fact--Apache Mohaves,
fiercest, surest trailers of the wild Red Rock country, familiar with
every canon and crag in all the rude range from Snow Lake to the Sierra
Blanca. "All brothers," protested 'Tonio. "All soldiers. All braves,
unafraid of a thousand Tontos, eager only to meet and punish their
traitor fellows who had taken the White Chief's pay and bread, pledged
their best services and then gone renegading to the fastnesses of the
Mogollon," adding with scorn unspeakable, "taking _other_ women with
them."

And still Harris was not content. Harris had sent a runner back when
the scout was but half finished