ope."

Will was able to trace three or four warriors lying down among the short
cedars, apparently waiting with illimitable patience for any good idea
that might suggest itself. The others, though out of sight, were
certainly near and he was wondering what plan might occur to them.

"Do you think it likely that they know the pass?" he asked Boyd.

"Hardly," replied the hunter. "They are mountain Sioux, but on the whole
they prefer the plains."

"Maybe they think then that they can wait, or at least hold us until we
are overcome by thirst!"

"No, the little stream of water breaks a way down the slope somewhere,
and when they find it they'll know that it comes from the pass. I think
they'll attack, but just how and when is more'n I can say. Now, Will,
will you go back where the animals are and cook us a good supper,
including coffee? When you're besieged it's best to keep yourself well
fed and strong. I saw plenty of dead wood there, tumbled from the cliffs
above."

Young Clarke, knowing that he was not needed now at the mouth of the
pass, was more than glad to undertake the task, since waiting was hard
work.

He found the horses and mules lying down, and they regarded him with
large, contemplative eyes as he lighted the fire and began to cook
supper. The animals were on the best of terms, constituting a happy
family, and the eyes with which they regarded Will seemed to him to be
the eyes of wisdom.

"Shall we get safely out of this?" he asked, addressing himself to the
animal circle.

Either it was fact, or his imagination was uncommonly lively, as he saw
six large heads nod slowly and with dignity, but with emphasis.

"All of us?"

The six heads again moved slowly and with dignity.

"And with you, our faithful four-footed friends, and with the packs that
are so needful to us?"

The six heads nodded a little faster, but with the same dignity. Will
was just putting the coffee on to boil when he asked the last question
and received the last answer, and he stopped for a moment to stare at
the six animals, which were still regarding him with their large,
contemplative eyes. Could he refuse to believe what he thought he saw?
If fancy were not fact it often became fact a little later. Those were
certainly honest beasts and he knew by experience that they were
truthful, too, because he had never yet caught them in a lie. Animals
did not know how to lie, wherein they were different from human beings,
and while