"I was approaching a high hill that rose in the center of the valley, and was making my way down a narrow hunting trail through some brush, when I became aware that there was someone coming down the trail behind me.

"I pressed close into some bushes and waited perfectly silent, as though turned to stone. In a minute I saw a dark figure coming down the trail.

It was a gigantic brave and he pa.s.sed so close to me that he almost stepped on my feet.

"It was fortunate he did not, for I must acknowledge a corn on one of my toes. It would have been as much as his life was worth for him to have trod on it.

"After he had gone I took up the trail again, but more cautiously. In a short time I had approached within a few hundred yards of the big hill and found myself in a regular nest of Indians. They seemed to spring up all around me. All that I could do was to lie still between two rocks.

"At any moment I might be stepped on and discovered. I could see the hill rising above me in the darkness, with its great crown of white rock. It was very quiet up there, but once I thought I heard a horse whinny.

"I was not sure that the boys were the ones that the Apaches had surrounded, as some soldiers or hunters might be the unfortunate object of all this attention from the Apaches.

"I was beginning to wonder how I was to get out of my predicament, when there seemed to be something preparing on the east side of the hill. I could see dark figures creeping up that side, keeping under the cover of the rocks as much as they could.

"I wanted to give the defenders of the fort some signal of warning, but I was perfectly helpless, but I soon found that whoever was on guard was not to be caught napping.

"For a succession of shots came from the top of the rock fort.

"'No, you don't,' I heard a familiar voice. 'You boys can go right home and go to sleep.' It was Jim and it was all that I could do to keep from giving him a cheer.

"But if I was going to be of any help to them, I must get out of the situation with a whole scalp. So I took advantage of this diversion to get out of the vicinity of the Apaches.

"In a few minutes I was free of their lines and was making my way back through the valley, and crossing over the bridge, I approached the place where I had left Tom.

"My mind was so engrossed with my plans for the morrow that I did not realize that I was so close to the camp until I heard, 'Halt, who's that?' From the tone I judged Tom was alarmed.

"'It's the captain,' I replied promptly.

"'I thought it was you, but I wasn't sure,' said Tom. 'I'm mighty glad to see you back again.'

"'It's a privilege to be here safely,' I admitted. 'I have discovered where Jim and Jo are.'

"'Where?' exclaimed Tom.

"'They are on a high hill in the middle of the valley on the other side of the ridge, surrounded by Apaches.'

"'Can they hold out?' inquired Tom anxiously.

"'As far as I can judge they can stand them off as long as the water and food hold out. I guess they haven't lost their s.p.u.n.k either. I heard Jim yell for them to go home and go to sleep after they had made a demonstration on one side and he had given them a salute of three shots, driving them to cover.'

"'That's just like Jim,' exclaimed Tom in admiration. 'He's the lad with the nerve all right. But what are you going to do to rescue them, captain?'

"'We will have to study the situation by daylight to-morrow, and then we will know better what to do.'

"'How many Apaches were they, captain?' asked Tom.

"'There was enough to go round, but don't you worry, Tom. Get a good night's sleep and then you will be ready for whatever comes.'

"I guess Tom took my advice to heart, for in a few minutes I heard a heavy breathing from his roll of blankets. It was very comfortable in our sheltered camp with the big granite boulders back of us and the screen of trees and bushes in front.

"There is something mysterious and wonderful about night in the mountains and though I have lived for years in their presence, this has never become common to me. There is the dim bulk of the mountains all around, the moaning and moving of the mysterious winds through pines and aspens, and overhead the wondrous clearness of the innumerable stars.

"I did not pretend to sleep as I lay there in my blankets, but kept turning over in my mind different plans for the morrow. It would do no good to try and join forces, for if by a determined rush we could break through their lines and get into the fort, there would be just two more to feed.

"Was there any way in which I could get food and water to them? This was the first idea that I wrestled with. Perhaps with my craft I might be able to get through on an overcast night with provisions and water.

"Another idea came to me. I might get the help of the U. S. soldiers from the nearest fort in New Mexico, but that was one hundred and fifty miles distant and time was precious. There was no a.s.surance that the boys could hold out until a.s.sistance should come. Finally, about midnight, I, too, fell asleep, but not soundly, as the situation was always half consciously before me.

"I woke up in the early dawn, and it did not take Tom and me long to get through our breakfast. After we had watered our horses at a stream in the bottom of a ravine, about a half mile distant, we proceeded to reconnoiter the situation.

"I felt that something must be done this day and it was certainly a perplexing condition of affairs, and in many ways it was desperate. The responsibility for the two beleaguered boys weighed on me.

"One thing gave me a.s.surance and that was Jim Darlington's resource and pluck. At least he and Jo knew enough not to be taken alive by those fiendish Apaches. However, it must not come to that.

"We went along below the south side of the ridge until opposite the hill fort, but I was not able to take any observation on account of the thick covering of trees, so I left Tom there and worked my way down the valley slope of the mountain until I was within a half mile of the hill.

"Then I came to a great pine that towered like a commanding general above the rank and file of common trees. I drove my knife deep into its trunk, and this gave me a foothold from which I was able to reach a lower branch.

"Quickly I clambered up until I was high enough to look over the surrounding trees. Cautiously I gazed down from behind the trunk.

Everything was spread out before me. I could see the two ponies standing on the top of the hill.

"Jo and Jim were moving about inside their defences, apparently indifferent. I could see how cleverly they had built up their fort. If there was only some way in which I could let them know that I was near.

"But what appalled me was the number of the Apaches. I could see that there were hundreds of them moving like stealthy, cruel snakes through the undergrowth.

"My jaw gripped itself and my resolution hardened. Something must be done. I descended swiftly from the tree, and as I went back up the slope, my mind was working at high tension. Then, when I reached the top of the ridge my plan came to me. And I struck my leg with my clenched hand. 'I have it! I have it!' I exclaimed.

"It was a broad, desperate scheme, but it would work, it must work. I took careful note of the weather, not a cloud was to be seen anywhere.

'That's good,' I said, 'no rainstorms to-day. Now for a good wind and from the looks of things it's going to come,' and it did.

"Later it came on to blow, as it only can in the high alt.i.tudes.

"It was a wind from the New Mexican Desert, blowing through the canyons and roaring over the summits of the range. The fierce wind that blows from stark, clear horizons."

CHAPTER IX

A MOUNTAIN FIRE

It was the afternoon of the third day of our imprisonment that Jim and I had first discovered the forest fire.

"I suppose we will be like two beautiful browned potatoes with the jackets on," laughed Jim, who could not be disconcerted by any crisis.

"Don't you worry, Jo, we will be pretty safe here I'm thinking."

We watched the rolling clouds of smoke with decided interest. The whole of the south side of the range seemed involved and no line of battle ever sent up more dense volumes of smoke.