"Ah! You there?" said Wilton sharply. "You had better come and have a look through this gla.s.s; you may be able to tell what race they are."

"Perhaps," said Griggs shortly; "but what is it they can see?"

"The ponies and mules."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes; there was one of the men, a chief apparently, pointing down at them. I could see it plainly through the gla.s.s."

"Indians, Ned," whispered Chris. "They must have been following us all this time, and we're in for it now."

CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT.

BESIEGED.

Not a word was said then for some minutes, during which the gla.s.s was pa.s.sed from one to the other, and long, excited looks taken at the strong body of bronze, half-nude warriors seated upon their ponies close to the edge of the flat-topped range of cliffs, some four or five hundred feet above the bottom of the depression.

The Indians were evidently looking down at something in front of the ranges of openings which formed the old-world city, and it took no thinking, after the party were once confident that they were not seen, to decide what it was that took the attention of the roving tribe.

It was Chris who repeated Wilton's words.

"They're watching the mules and ponies," he said. "I saw one fellow point at them when I had the gla.s.s to my eyes."

"And that is as good as saying that they are watching us," said Ned sadly.

"Oh no," cried the doctor. "They can see some beasts grazing in this verdant bottom; they can't tell at this distance that they are not wild."

"Why, father," said Chris, "they have been hunting us for long enough."

"My dear boy, do you suppose that there is only one roving band of Indians in all these thousands of square miles of wild country?"

"I--I--don't know, father," was the reply.

"Then you may take it as highly probable that these are not the Indians we saw before."

"But they know that the mules and ponies are tame."

"How, when they are nearly half-a-mile away? There is neither bridle nor saddle to be seen."

"Oh no, of course not," said Chris, brightening up. "Then, after having a good look at them, the band will ride right away."

"That is doubtful," said the doctor gravely.

"Why, they can't get down there."

"No, but they can make a long _detour_ and get down to the gulch, and then make their way into the depression and capture us all, men and boys, ponies and mules."

"Oh!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Chris. Then quickly, "How long will it take them to get round?"

"I wish I knew, my boy," said the doctor sadly. "We ought to have explored the gulch and seen how it was connected with the tableland yonder. But there, it is of no use to regret the past; we must think about the present."

"Yes," grunted Griggs, and his voice roused the doctor into action.

"What do you say, Griggs?" he cried. "My idea is to wait till the enemy--I suppose we must look upon them as the enemy--have gone out of sight, and that we then load up and retreat as fast as we can."

"Too late," said Griggs gruffly; "we may come right upon them."

"Yes, if they make their way to the mouth of the gulch. They may be content with seeing that there is a herd of strange animals here, and then ride away."

"Some folk might," said Griggs quietly, "but not Indians."

"Then what do you think will be best?"

"Drive the animals up to the other end of the place, and then take possession of a couple of the rooms here in the face of the rocks, stop up the shaft, and keep the enemy at bay with our rifles."

The doctor frowned.

"It may be a false alarm," he said.

"Yes, may be," said Griggs; "but I don't believe it is, sir. Don't you go and think that I want to fight. Nothing of the kind, but I'm afraid we shall have to. Why, we could keep all that lot at bay for any length of time."

"But it would be desperate work."

"Yes, sir, they'd make us desperate; but it would be their own doing.

We could bring up our provisions into the chamber nearest the water, and command it with our rifles so that they couldn't get to it. They've only got to leave us alone and there'd be no desperate work."

"But they may be friendly Indians."

"I never heard of any out in these wilds, sir," said Griggs grimly.

"But they might be friendly," said Bourne eagerly.

"So much the better, sir. Then there'd be no harm done. I'd trust the Indians up north so long as they were not on the warpath, but I shouldn't like to trust any of these."

"Then you'd prepare for the worst?"

"That's the only way to deal with these people, sir," said the American sternly. "If they see that we're weak they'll take our mules and ponies, and perhaps our lives--at once. If they take our animals and leave us alone they've taken our lives all the same, for we could never reach civilisation again without our beasts."

"No," said the doctor firmly. "I should have liked to retreat if we could."

"We couldn't do it," said Wilton sharply, as he took his eyes from the gla.s.s. "There would not be time, and if we could get away they'd follow our trail and take us at a disadvantage, for certain."

"Yes," said the doctor; "there is no other chance. As you suggest, Griggs, if they find us strong they will fear us. We must decide at once which of the cells we will hold, and get our stores there as quickly as possible."

"That is already settled, sir," said the American coolly. "We must hold the place where we can reach the water, and the lowest floor here is the one."

"You are confident, then, that they couldn't get at us from above?"