ce of the rock; but this time
they had nothing of the kind to encounter. A magnificent deer, though,
sprang from a dense thicket, and Bart's rifle, like that of Joses, was
at his shoulder on the instant.

"No, no!" cried the Beaver, eagerly; and they lowered the pieces.

"Ah!" cried Bart, in a disappointed tone, "I had, just got a good sight
of him. I know I should not have missed."

"The Beaver's right, Master Bart," said Joses, quietly. "If we fired,
the sound might travel to the Apaches, and bring 'em down upon us. Best
not, my lad. We'll get the salmon without our guns."

They entered the "chimney," and, acquainted now with its peculiarities,
the party descended much more quickly than on the previous occasion.
The way was clearer, too, the vines and tangled growth having been
cleared at the first descent, when pieces of rock were removed, and
others placed in clefts and cracks to facilitate the walking, so that,
following the same plan again, there was a possibility of the slope
becoming in time quite an easy means of communication between the canyon
and the plain.

They reached the bottom in safety, and probably to make sure that there
should be no such accident as that to the Doctor occur unseen, the chief
took the precaution of planting the party on rocks out in the stream
well in view one of the other, and just where the fish would pass. He
then set a couple of his men to watch for danger, and the spearing
began.

"Now, Master Bart," said Joses, "sling your rifle as I do, and let's see
what you can do in spearing salmon."

"Hadn't we better leave our rifles ashore there, under the trees?"
replied Bart.

"Yes, my lad, if you want to be taken at a disadvantage. Why, Master
Bart, I should as soon think of leaving an arm or a leg ashore as my
rifle. No, my lad, there's no peace times out here; so no matter how
inconvenient it may be, sling your piece, and be always prepared for the
worst."

"Oh, all right, Joses," replied Bart, pettishly, and he slung his rifle.

"Oh, it's of no use for you to be huffy, my lad," growled Joses. "You
never know when danger's coming. I knowed a young fellow once up in the
great north plains. He'd been across the Alkali Desert in a bad time,
and had been choked with the heated dust and worried with the nasty
salty stuff that had filled his eyes and ears, so that when he got to a
branch of one of the rivers up there that was bubbling over rocks and
stones just as