keep on trying," Lite commented drily, "they might make a
killing, soon as they learn how to shoot straight."

"'S jest like them dang Injuns!" Applehead grumbled, shooing the three
before him down the draw. "Four t' our one--it takes jest about that big
a majority 'fore they feel comftable about buildin' up a fight. Lead
yore bosses down till we're outa easy shootin' distance, boys, 'n' then
we'll head out fer where Luck ought t' be. If they fixed a trap fer us,
they've fixed another fer him, chances is, 'n! the sooner us fellers git
t'gether the better show we'll all of us have. You kin see, the way they
worked it to split the bunch, that they ain't so dang anxious t' tie
into us when we're t'gether--'n' that's why we can't git t' Luck a dang
bit too soon, now I'm tellin' yuh!"

Weary and Pink were finding things to say, also, but old Applehead went
on with his monologue just as though they were listening. Lite showed
a disposition to stop and take issue with the shooters who kept up a
spiteful firing from the ridge. But Applehead stopped him as he was
leveling his rifle.

"If yuh shoot," he pointed out, "they'll know jest where we air and how
fast we're gittin' outa here. If yuh don't, unless their lookout kin
see us movin' out, they got t' do a heap uh guessin' in the next few
minutes. They only got one chancet in three uh guessin' right, 'cause
we might be camped in one spot, 'n' then agin we might be crawlin' up
closer, fer all they kin tell."

If they were guessing, they must have guessed right; for presently the
four heard faint yells from behind them, and Applehead crawled up the
bank to where he could look out across the level. What he saw made him
slide hastily to the bottom again.

"They've clumb down and straddled their ponies," he announced grimly.
"An' about a dozen is comin' down this way, keepin' under cover all they
kin. I calc'late mebby we better crawl our bosses 'n' do some ridin'
ourselves, boys." And he added grimly, "They ain't in good shootin'
distance yit, 'n' they dassent show theirselves neither. We'll keep in
this draw long as we kin. They're bound t' come careful till they git us
located."

The footing was none the best, but the horses they rode had been running
over untracked mesa-land since they were bandy-legged colts. They loped
along easily, picking automatically the safest places whereon to set
their feet, and leaving their riders free to attend to other important
matters whic