ffect. Instantly the redmen sprang to their
feet, seized their arms, and began saddling and bridling their ponies.

"Vic has betrayed us, sergeant," I said. "We must get out of here as
quickly as possible."

As we sprang into our saddles and regained the trail Vic came with a
bound before us, and I immediately gave her positive orders to keep
close at our heels. We rode as fast as it was possible to do without
making a noise, hoping that we might get a considerable distance away
before we were discovered. We had not proceeded far, however, when a
yell announced that we were seen.

As we galloped on we saw that it was impossible for the Indians to
cross to our side of the ravine. Every mile we passed the path rose
higher and the sides of the stream grew more precipitous. The Indians
were pursuing a path parallel to ours and about half a mile in our
rear. What was the nature of the country ahead we did not know. The
fact that they were pursuing, and with such eagerness, seemed to
indicate they knew of some advantage to be gained farther on.

On and on we rode, I in advance, the sergeant next, and Frank behind.
The trail wound through the trees and clumps of underbrush, with
occasional openings through which we could catch glimpses of our eager
pursuers. The prospect appeared exceedingly gloomy.

As we galloped on I noticed at last, through a rift in the wood a
considerable distance in advance, an eminence or butte which lifted
its summit nearly three hundred feet skyward, and which presented on
the side towards us an almost perpendicular wall. When we approached
it we saw a neat log-cabin nestling under its overarching brow. We
dismounted, led our panting and utterly exhausted animals into the
cabin, closed the doors, and went to the windows with our rifles.

The cabin was about thirty by twenty feet in area, and stood with its
northern end close against the perpendicular wall of the butte, with
an overhanging cliff a hundred feet above it. If a stone had been
dropped from the sheltering cliff it would have fallen several feet
away from the cabin's southern wall.

At the end of the cabin farthest from the butte the ground upon which
it stood broke off perpendicularly twenty feet downward, to a
spring--the source of the brook we had been following since we left
Jemez. The only way to cross from one trail to the other, except by
going several miles down the brook or to the north end of the butte,
was, therefore, thr