It was a toss-up between the two experienced cowboys as to which should take the first watch. Billie, quite satisfied to see them so eager to sit up, did all he knew how to settle the matter.

"Here, let me be the umpire, and hold these two straws in my hand," he remarked, complacently; "now, one of them is just a mite shorter than the other; and whoever gets the short one is to play sentry first watch, hear that. You draw, Donald!"

Thereupon the party indicated proceeded to do as he was directed, and with the utmost unconcern, as though it mattered not at all to him what his luck might be.

"And you're on deck the first thing!" announced Billie, exultantly, as he held up the remaining straw, so that they could all see it was longer than the one Donald had selected.

"Great luck, that!" the picked vidette remarked, laughingly; "for I was bound to take first choice anyhow, no matter what Ad said. But you closed him up by your little dodge, Billie, and for that thanks. Are you thinking of going inside, and getting your forty winks right now, fellows?"

They said they had intentions along those same lines, if he thought he could manage things without their help; at which Donald pretended to chase the pair to cover; and then remarked that he would find a good vantage place, where he might stand out his spell as guardian of the camp.

Perhaps Billie may not have been altogether free from anxieties as he composed himself under his blanket on that same night. The fact that hostile Indians were hovering around, with the intention of stealing their valuable mounts, caused him to feel a certain amount of nervousness. He feared that he would not be able to go to sleep as easily as was his custom; and that during the entire term of Donald's watch he must just lie there, thinking and listening.

Six minutes after crawling under the canvas Billie's regular breathing convinced Adrian that the fat boy was entirely oblivious to all his surroundings; and that whatever his mental troubles might be, they had for the time being vanished like the mist before the rising sun; for slumber deadens one to the cares of this world, better than anything else that is known.

Adrian himself also went to sleep, but it was in an entirely different way. He simply resolutely put all thoughts out of his mind, and in this way coaxed his senses to allow themselves to be lulled to rest. Habit can do much along these lines.

He may have been sleeping ten minutes, or perhaps it was a couple of hours; for Adrian could not even give a guess as to the truth when he was suddenly awakened by a shot outside.

Like a flash he was up on his hands and knees. s.n.a.t.c.hing his rifle from the ground he hastily crawled out of the tent; leaving Billie asking a dozen excited questions, as he too felt for his rifle, and started to follow in the wake of the more energetic chum.

When Adrian managed to gain his feet, he looked quickly around him, wondering how he could locate Donald; and if that had been the other's gun he heard.

"This way, Ad!" called a voice just then, and he caught sight of the other waving an arm toward him from a place near by.

So Adrian started toward that quarter; and Billie, coming rolling out from the exit of the tent just then, saw him going, so of course he hastened to "paddle" along after him-that was an expression often used to describe the fat boy's method of locomotion; and somehow it just seemed to hit the mark; since he had a peculiar sidling motion when making an advance, that reminded one of the fins of a big fish moving back and forth.

"What happened, Donald?" asked the other, as he came close up to his chum, whom he found crouched there, gun in hand, and evidently keenly on the watch for some object at which to fire.

"They were at it again, that's what!" replied the vidette, bitterly; and somehow Adrian could see that he looked peeved, as well as puzzled; as though there were certain features connected with the happening that did not altogether please him.

"The reds, you mean?" Adrian went on to ask.

"Sure thing, Ad."

"That looks like they meant to have our horses by fair means or foul; and I just reckon we'll have to sit up the rest of the night, so's to be ready to pick off the first brave who shows himself," Adrian ventured.

Billie managed to reach them just then, and of course he was br.i.m.m.i.n.g over with a desire to know all that had happened. But then any one would have felt that way, after being so rudely awakened from a most enjoyable sleep, and compelled to crawl out from under his warm blanket, to experience the chill of the night air.

"Is he dead?" he asked, solemnly.

"Meaning the Injun that gave that screech, I suppose you're asking about, Billie?" Donald went on to say, still gloomily, Adrian thought.

"Well make your mind easy, for he got away, all right; though he certainly did let out a yelp that told he'd been pinked by that lead pellet."

"You are sure of that, are you, Donald?" demanded Billie, giving an audible sigh of relief; for he had fully expected that he would be compelled to look upon the stiffening figure of a wretched Apache young brave who had been tempted to stray from the reservation, and try what it felt like to pick up the old pursuits of Geronimo, the fierce chief who gave the soldiers so much trouble years back.

"Well, I can tell you this," replied the other; "as soon as the shot came he let out a whoop that had a lot of pain back of it. Then he limped across that little open piece yonder where the moonlight falls on the ground. I reckon his mate was waiting there in the shadows for him, with their own hosses; because I saw the one that was hurt climb on the back of a pony, whirl the animal around, and vanish in the shadows like a ghost. I lifted my gun to shoot, but thought it would be only throwing good lead away, so I held back, hang the luck!"

"I don't see why you should feel so bad about it," remarked Billie.

"Oh! don't you?" remarked Donald, who was unusually grumpy, Adrian realized.

"Why, no," the fat chum went on to say, "if you had one crack at him, and as you say, managed to give him some sort of a wound that he won't forget in a hurry; besides chasing the beggars away in the bargain. You hadn't ought to kick, Donald."

"Well, I wouldn't, if only I'd had as much fun as you mention," observed Donald, briskly; "but fact is, fellows, it wasn't me that fired that shot at all; but it seemed to come from away over yonder. I heard the crack, and looked out just in time to see that limping Injun pa.s.s over, and manage to get on his pony. Before I could remember that I held a gun he was gone. And what's bothering me is, who's our unknown friend, hiding in the rocks over there?"

"Let's give him a call, and ask him to join us," suggested Billie, heartily.

But although they shouted many times, only dense silence answered them; whoever it was fired that mysterious shot, he evidently did not mean to make himself known.

CHAPTER V.

RIVAL DEER HUNTERS.

"It don't seem to be any use," observed Broncho Billie, after they had called out invitingly several times, without getting any sign of a reply; nor seeing so much as the first indication that the unknown might be even then advancing in the direction of the spot where the tent stood.

"Looks like he didn't care to make our acquaintance very much," grunted Donald, still acting peevish, something out of the usual run with him.

"Oh! well, I reckon we can get along without knowing him," remarked Adrian. "And perhaps after all that shot wasn't meant to help us so much."

"Eh? What d'ye mean by saying that?" asked Billie.

"Why, the fellow who fired may have meant to send in a random bullet, just to help scare us; but by mistake, perhaps it went the wrong way, and wounded one of his friends," Adrian concluded; though from his manner it was apparent he himself had very little faith in this rather far-fetched theory.

Donald laughed.

"Oh! no, that don't go down worth a cent, Adrian," he went on to declare. "Why, I tell you there couldn't have been one chance of it in ten thousand. Whoever it was fired that shot, he was quick as a flash on the trigger; and he had a good eye in the bargain. Not many men could have nailed that Injun in the moonlight, and when he just exposed himself a little bit, while crawling along from rock to rock."

They decided that it was useless thinking of sleeping after such an experience. So they sat there in the shadows as time pa.s.sed on, now and then exchanging low remarks, but always keeping the horses under observation; and their fingers were in close contact with the triggers of their quick-firing guns, so as to be ready for any sort of emergency that might arise.

But that only applied to two of the boys. For poor Billie, in spite of all his good intentions, could not keep awake to save his life; and during the balance of the night he enjoyed quite a number of lengthy naps all to himself. But between these he let the others know that he was awake by asking numerous questions; and secretly he hoped that neither of them noticed his regular breathing whenever he fell into a doze.

There are lots of just such fellows in this queer world of ours, filled with good intentions, but singularly weak when it comes to trying to put them into practice. Billie always meant well, and did the best he knew how. With him it was indeed a case of the "spirit being willing, but the flesh weak."

There was no further alarm that night.

Why this should be so they could only hazard one of several guesses. The young adventure-loving bucks may have realized that they were up against a snag after having one of their number wounded in that strange way; and concluded that the possible reward was hardly worth the risk of their lives. Then again, since the shot came from a quarter behind them, they may have been seized with a sudden panic, to the effect that they were literally surrounded, and concluded that they had better make off while a chance remained.

Little the boys cared which reason it was that actuated the movements of the Apache braves who had threatened to give them all sorts of trouble.

"I'm going out there and take a little look around this morning, after the light gets better," announced Donald, as they resurrected the fire, and Billie generously offered to do the cooking for breakfast for the crowd.

"I'd like to go along," remarked Adrian.