nd into
the valley.

If they had done so they might have discovered two very important
facts. The first was that the Apache hunting village had left it, bag
and baggage, no one could guess whither. The second, and quite as
important a discovery, would have been that the camping-ground
abandoned by the Apaches had been promptly occupied by a strong party
of pale-faces.

All the scouts could really do was to bring back word that the pass was
clear of enemies to the border of the valley.

That was an anxious night, therefore, for To-la-go-to-de, and it would
hardly have been less so if he had known all about the doings of No
Tongue and Yellow Head during the day--about their capture and release
of the three miners, and their return to their mine.

The morning would bring news, at all events, for To-la-go-to-de
determined to dash on with all his warriors and find it for himself.

"No Tongue is wise. He is a great warrior. Sometimes wise old warrior
gets knocked on the head. Then he not come back at all."

There was a possibility, as he well knew, that the Apaches themselves
had something to do with the silence of his two pale-face friends; but
the Lipan chief was not the man to lie awake over any such thing as
that; he was not even anxious enough to dream about them after he got
asleep.

Another head had been quite as busy and troubled as that of
To-la-go-to-de all that day, and Captain Skinner also would have given
something for a few minutes' conversation with "them two mining
fellers."

He felt sure they could have given him both information and advice; but
he said to himself, "Of course they won't come nigh our outfit. They
know we've jumped their claim. Still, they did the friendly thing with
Bill and the boys, and they sent word they didn't bear us any ill-will.
That's 'cause they feel sure of their own ground. They're on good
terms with the redskins. I wish I could say we were."

Well he might, considering how many of them there were in that country,
and how near to him some of them were coming.

All the way down the pass the ragged little "Captain" had ridden in
advance of his men, carefully scanning every rock, and bush, and tree.
At last he paused at the very spot where Bill and his companions had
had their little difficulty. He seemed to see some signs that needed
studying, and he stooped down and picked up something--only a pair of
strong thongs of buckskin, that looked as if they had been