The Apaches, however, were not quarreling. They were engaged in a
dispute, or rather argument, which concerned them all, and about which
it was all-important that no blunder should be made.
Fred Munson, the instant he found himself upon the ground, moved timidly
back, so as to be out of the way when the expected clash of arms would
come, and he watched the three men with an intensity of interest which
can scarcely be imagined. He now noticed, for the first time, that as
the disputants talked, they all three pointed and looked, at intervals,
up the mountain, showing that the all-absorbing topic was located there.
Following the direction indicated, the boy noticed the smoke of a
camp-fire rising from the side of the mountain, about a quarter of a
mile in advance. It could be seen plainly and distinctly, although the
fire itself from which the smoke came was imperceptible. It was evident,
therefore, that the discovery of this camp-fire had produced the
excitement among the Apaches.
And why should such be the case?
The fact of it was, that the three Apaches were upon territory which
could by no means be considered the exclusive tramping-ground of their
tribe. Immediately to the eastward roamed the Kiowas and Comanches,
and it was no more than natural that their warriors should come into
occasional collision, especially when none of them were disposed to
recognize any of the presumed rights of the other.
The dispute, therefore, was regarding the campfire, which had suddenly
appeared to plague them. Did it belong to their friends or enemies?
Lone Wolf, in sending his three warriors homeward with the captive,
dispatched them by a round-about method through the mountains, for the
reason that it would be more difficult to trail them. The advantage
which they had gained in the start, he was confident, placed it out of
the power of Sut Simpson, or any of his friends, to do them injury.
But here, while carrying out the directions of their chief, they found
themselves confronted by an unexpected danger.
If the Kiowas or Comanches, as the case might be, discerned the little
company, they would not fail to observe that they had a prize in
their possession, and they very probably would show a disposition to
interfere. The wrangle was as to whether it was best to go directly
ahead upon the route they were pursuing, trusting not only to the
possibility that the strangers there were friends, but to the prospect
of their getting by without detection, or whether they should go to the
trouble of a flank movement.
Waukko was inclined to go directly ahead, while the others were opposed,
and, as is frequently the case with such people, the dispute was excited
and hot for awhile; but the hideous Apache triumphed by virtue of his
official position. Lone Wolf had placed the lad in his charge, and he
was bent upon managing the business in his own fashion.
It was agreed, therefore, that they should continue on up the ravine, as
this offered so much the better chance for their mustangs to make good
progress. Waukko took the lead, his horse walking at a steady gait,
while he scrutinized the camp-fire as closely and searchingly as if his
life depended on the result.
The flame seemed to have been started directly behind a mass of rocks,
large and compact enough to shelter a dozen men, if they wished to
conceal themselves. The smoke showed that it was burning so vigorously
that fuel must have been placed upon it but a short time before.
It would seem that, if set going by hostile hands, the owners were
short-sighted in thus exposing their location; but the mischief of such
a thing is that the smoke of a camp-fire in an Indian country may have
one or more of a dozen dangerous meanings.
In the West and Southwest the Indians have a system of telegraphy,
conducted entirely by means of signal fires from mountain top to
mountain top. Treaties signed in Washington in one day have been known
hundreds of miles away at night, by the redskins chiefly concerned, who
had no means of gaining the news except by some system of telegraphy,
understood only by themselves. The most cunning and effective war
movements, where the success depends upon the cooperation of widely
separated parties, have been managed and conducted by the smoke curling
upward from hills and mountain peaks. Still further, a camp-fire is
frequently used as a way of confusing an approaching enemy, for by what
means could the latter judge whether the parties who had kindled it were
in the immediate neighborhood?
Was there not, in this instance, one stealthy Kiowa carefully keeping up
the blaze, while his companions had stolen around and across the chasm,
where they were ambushed and awaiting the coming of their victims? Were
not the sly dogs successful in hiding their positions by the very means
which would generally be supposed to betray it?
At any rate, Waukko was not yet abreast of the dangerous point when
he again checked his mustang, and the three Apaches consulted in a low
voice and with every appearance of suppressed excitement. There
was something in the wind which made all three feel anything but
comfortable.
The consultation was brief and decisive. Waukko and one of his warriors
dismounted, leaving Fred and his guardian upon the remaining horse.
Waukko moved off to the right, as though he meant to reconnoiter the
camp-fire, while the other savage stole off to the left. Very evidently
there was something which needed looking after, and it may have been that
Waukko was in quest of information for his leader, Lone Wolf.
Be that as it may, before Fred Munson fairly suspected it he found
himself alone with another mounted Apache, both the others having
vanished as effectually as if the ground had opened and swallowed them
up.
“Now is my chance, if I could only get an opening,” was the truthful
conclusion of the lad, whose heart suddenly beat with an awakened hope.
“If I can manage to get this old fellow off, or if I could steal a
little march on him, so as to gain a chance, I could escape. Anyhow,
I'm going to try it,” he added, and his boyish heart was fired with a
renewed determination to make a desperate leap for liberty.
One Apache, however, if he attended to his business, could guard him as
effectually as a dozen, and it all depended upon the disposition this
warrior should manifest. Just now his great and all absorbing interest
was in the efforts of his comrades to detect the meaning of the signal
fire.
Fred sat behind him upon the horse, and he stealthily looked to the
right and left, in the hope of detecting some place which offered an
opportunity for concealment, for he felt that there would be but the
single chance offered him. If he should fail in that, the savages would
guard him too closely to permit a second effort.
The ravine at this place was about a hundred feet in width. The sides
sloped abruptly downward, growing nearly perpendicular further ahead, so
that the Apaches, if caught in any trap at all, would be caught in the
worst possible manner. Hence the extreme caution they displayed before
committing themselves.
There were rocks and stones on the right and left, and here and there
some stunted vegetation. A few minutes start would give any one a chance
to hide, but just there was the whole difficulty. How was the start to
be obtained? It seemed, at this juncture, as if the fates were unusually
propitious. Everything conspired to invite the attempt which the boy was
so anxious to make.
Waukko and his companion had not been gone more than ten minutes when
one of them signaled to the Indian left behind. It came in the shape
of a soft low whistle, which could easily be mistaken for the call of
a bird. The horseman started and turned his head sidewise to listen the
instant it fell upon his ear, and this caused Fred to notice it. The
Indian held his head a moment in the attitude of deep attention, and
then he replied in precisely the same manner without turning his head.
A full minute passed. Then a second call was heard, emitted in precisely
the same manner as before. This was the one which did the business.
The trained ear of the veteran scout could have detected no difference
that had been made, but there was, for all that, and a very wide one, so
far as meaning was concerned. The red-skin had no sooner caught it than
he dismounted and moved carefully forward, his mustang quietly following
him, bearing the lad upon his back.
The warrior glanced backward only once, to satisfy himself that
his steed was there, and understood what was required of it. In the
meantime, the heart of Fred was throbbing painfully with hope. He felt
as if Providence was interfering directly in his behalf.
“Now is my time,” he added, a moment later.