e better was Pike pleased with the situation,
and in five minutes he had made up his mind what to do. The little nook
in which the party had been hiding was all very well for the night and a
good refuge for the horses as well as the human beings, but in broad
daylight the Indians would have no difficulty in finding and surrounding
it, and there was hardly any space within its rocky walls which would be
safe from bullet or arrow when once the assailants got up the hillside.
Here, however, they could stand a siege with almost perfect safety. From
above or from the flanks the Indians could not reach them at all, and if
they attacked from the front--up hill--nothing but a simultaneous and
preconcerted rush of the whole band could succeed, and Pike knew the
Apache well enough to feel secure against that possibility.

Now it was possible to wait for the captain indefinitely. If he got back
in abundant time for them to load up and push out for the Colorado
Chiquito before the Indians reached the Pass--well and good. If he did
not--well, thought Pike, from here I can see the scoundrels when they
are still miles away, and all we've got to do is stock this cave with
blankets, provisions and ammunition, build our breastwork and let 'em
come. "With Kate and the kids out of harm's way, back in that hole, I
wouldn't ask anything better than to have those whelps of Tontos trail
us up here and then attempt to rout us out. We'd make some of 'em sick
Indians; wouldn't we, old girl?" wound up the ex-corporal apostrophizing
his Henry rifle.

Greatly elated over his discovery, Pike went scrambling down the rocky
hillside in the direction of camp. He no longer took any precautions
about concealing his "trail." He well knew that in the two or three
trips it would take to bring their stores and then Kate and the children
up to the cave, such "signs" would be left that the Apaches could follow
without the faintest hesitation.

Five minutes brought him into the midst of his charges, and here for a
moment the stout-hearted soldier was well nigh unmanned. Instantly he
was besieged with eager and anxious inquiry about papa, and poor little
Nellie, who had come running eagerly forward when she heard his cheery
voice, looked wistfully beyond him in search of her father, and seeing
at last that Pike had come alone, she clasped her little arms about his
knees and, looking imploringly up in his face, burst into tears and
begged him, amid her sobs, to