hould be beaten, and the "one day's truce" ended.

The three captives were at once set at liberty, their arms restored to
them, and they were permitted to return to the camp and pick out,
saddle, and mount their own horses.

"The Captain's got us out of our scrape," said Bill. "I can't guess
how he did it."

"Must ha' been by shootin' first."

"And all the boys do shoot so awful straight!"

That had a great deal to do with it, but the immediate neighborhood of
the Apaches had a great deal more. To-la-go-to-de knew that Captain
Skinner was exactly right, and that the Lipans would be in no condition
for a battle with the band of Many Bears after one with so desperate a
lot of riflemen as those miners.

The next thing was to make the proposed "division" of the property in
and about the camp. The Lipan warriors withdrew from it, all but the
chief and six braves. Then Captain Skinner and six of his men rode in.

"This my wagon," said Two Knives, laying his hand upon the larger and
seemingly the better stored of the two.

"All right. We'll take the other. This is our team of mules."

So they went on from one article to another, and it would have taken a
keen judge of that kind of property to have told, when the division was
complete, which side had the best of it. The Lipans felt that they
were giving up a great deal, but only the miners knew how much was
being restored to them.

"It was worth a fight, boys," said Captain Skinner, when the saved
wagon was hauled out among them. "There's a little spring of water out
yonder beyond the bushes. Not as good as the other, but it'll serve
our turn."

There was little or no mourning over their two fallen companions. Each
man felt that his own life was worth a good deal less than he had
thought that morning, and there was no telling when his turn might come.

As for the Lipans, they were disposed to be sulky over the day's
operations, for they could not disguise the fact that they had been
pretty roughly handled by an inferior force. It was as sure as
anything could be that they would take the first opportunity which
might come to "square accounts" with the miners. Indeed, Captain
Skinner was not far from right when he said to his men,

"Boys, it'll be a bad thing for us if the Apaches don't show themselves
to-morrow. We can't put any trust in the Lipans."

"Better tell the chief about that old man and the boy," said one of the
men.

"I hadn't forgotten