ey?" said the captain. "I'll strike them
among the foothills of the ranges within three days."

All that exciting chase was as yet hidden from the red and white men in
the upper valley, and it was quite possible that they would never know
anything about it. That depended, in fact, upon whether the Apaches
should turn to the left or the right when they reached the "forks" of
the little river.

It was pretty late when Two Arrows again caught up with his pale-face
friends, and his pony showed signs of very hard riding. If he had been a
grown-up brave he could not possibly have had so warm a reception,
except from Na-tee-kah and Ha-ha-pah-no. These two considered him the
tallest kind of a young chief already, but all the rest regarded him
very much as Yellow Pine did, as "the likeliest young redskin he'd ever
come across."

"I believe he is," said Judge Parks, and Sile had added,

"Father, what wouldn't he know pretty soon if he could learn to read and
write? He understands everything he sees right away."

"I'd like to try the experiment, Sile, but I don't believe he would ever
take kindly to books. I'll talk about it some other time. There is
something else on my mind just now."

There was a good deal upon everybody's mind, and even Sile ceased to
admire Long Bear's present when Yellow Pine rose in his stirrups and
pointed forward, shouting.

"There she is, jedge--right back in that there notch!"

Away to the right of them the craggy mountain arose against the sky,
facing the valley with an uncommonly precipitous wall. In this grim face
of granite could be seen what looked like a mere indentation. When they
came to it, however, they discovered that Yellow Pine's "notch" was much
narrower at its mouth than beyond it, owing to some ancient overturn and
"landslide" of great rocks and small, which almost shut it in. Beyond
this barrier, the opening through which was a mere roadway, there were
several acres of good grass and trees. There were springs of water also,
and the whole place was a good one to camp in, so long as no more
bowlders should break loose from the slopes above and come crashing down
into it. It was plain that none had done so for a long time past, and
the wagons were hauled fearlessly in. There was nobody with them but
their drivers, for every other human being had galloped on after Yellow
Pine and Judge Parks until the old miner drew rein in front of a great
mass of shattered, ragged, dirty looking