lowly and carefully, and every answer was
thoughtfully considered before any comment was made upon it. At first
Murray merely listened as brave after brave replied to the mention of
his name. He saw that only the very gray-headed men had anything to
say in favor of peaceful action and a prompt "getting away." He was
even surprised at the warlike ardor with which many of the warriors
declared their eagerness for a blow at the Lipans, and the good reasons
they were able to give.

The presence of the band of Two Knives was a sort of invasion of the
Apache hunting-grounds. The Lipans had no business this side of the
mountains. They had come to strike the Apaches, and if they should be
allowed to get away unhurt they would surely come again. Send Warning
had already told how many there were of them. If there were no more
than that, none of them ought to be allowed to get away.

Murray could but think that a party of Apaches in the Lipan country
would probably be talked about and dealt with very much in the same
way; but it seemed to require a special effort for him to think at all.
His head had been in a sort of whirl for some minutes before the time
when Many Bears turned suddenly upon him with the question,

"What Send Warning say? His head is very white."

Murray was muttering to himself at the moment, while Dolores handed her
husband a stick with a piece of corn bread on the point of it, "She is
not an Apache; she is a full-blooded Mexican. Yes, I've seen that
woman before--" But the chief's inquiry startled him out of that train
of recollection. He could not have answered instantly to save his
life, but it was according to Indian notions that he should not speak
too quickly, so he had time to recover himself.

"More enemies besides Lipans," he said at length. "Apaches better not
forget pale-face miners."

"Ugh!"

The exclamation went all around the circle, for that was the very thing
none of them had mentioned.

"Pale-faces fight Lipans," remarked Many Bears.

"Is the great chief sure of that?" asked Murray. "Suppose they come
all together. Apaches need more braves then. Suppose they fight each
other first, then Apaches eat up all that are left. Great chief better
find out."

"Ugh!"

It was a very loud grunt indeed to come from the throat of Many Bears,
and the chiefs and braves looked at one another in a way that spoke a
good deal for the value they set on the advice of their white friend.