"

"If I send you, Bart, it must be to-night, with a letter for the
governor, one which, I am sure, he will respond to, when he hears from
you of the enormous wealth of the canyon and the mine. Now go and
consult with the Beaver as to the track you had better follow so as to
avoid the Indians. I must take a few precautions against attack, for
they seem to be coming straight on, and I sadly fear that they mean to
invest us now."

Bart found the Beaver, who was watching his natural foes, the Apaches,
along with Joses, as they talked together in a low tone.

"I am going to ride back to Lerisco for help," said Bart suddenly.

"You are, my lad?" cried Joses. "I shall go too."

"But you have no horse, Joses," said Bart smiling, and the rough fellow
smote himself heavily on the chest.

"It is good," said the Beaver in his calm way. "My young men would like
to ride with you, but it cannot be."

"Tell me, Beaver, how I had better go so as to escape the Apaches."

"The young chief must ride out as soon as it is dark, and go straight
for the lake, and round its end, then straight away. The Apache dogs
will not see him; if they do, they will not catch him in the dark.
Ugh!" he ejaculated with a look of contempt, "the Apache dogs are no
match for the young chief."

Bart could not help feeling very strangely excited as the evening
approached, the more especially that the Apaches had come close on
several hundred strong, and they could see them from the rock lead their
horses down into the lake for water, and then remount them again, while
a couple of small parties remained on foot, and it seemed possible that
they intended to make an attack upon the fortress, for they were all
well-armed.

"I shouldn't wonder if we have a bad storm to-night, Master Bart," said
Joses, as the sun set in a band of curious coppery-coloured clouds,
while others began to form rapidly all over the face of the heavens,
with a strangely weird effect. "You won't go if the weather's bad, I
s'pose, my lad?"

"Indeed but I shall," said Bart excitedly. "If I am to go, I shall go."

The Doctor came up then and seemed torn by two opinions, speaking out
frankly to the lad upon the point.

"I don't want to send you, Bart, and yet I do," he said, rather
excitedly. "It seems an act of cruelty to send you forth on such a
mission, but it is my only hope."

"I'll go, sir," cried Bart, earnestly. "I'll go for your sake and
Maude's."

"Thank you,