BETWEEN TWO FIRES.
Mickey had scarcely given utterance to this hopeful remark when he drew up
his mustang with a spasmodic jerk and exclaimed, in a startled in a
startled voice:
"Do you see _that_?"
As he spoke, he pointed some distance ahead, where a faint, thin column of
smoke was seen rising from the top of the rocks on the opposite side of
the canon or pass.
It will be remembered that the pass of which our two friends availed
themselves is the only one leading through the section of the mountains
which lies to the eastward of the Rio Pecos. That part over which Fred and
Mickey were riding showed numerous winding trails, made by the hoofs of
the horses, as they passed back and forth, bearing Apaches, Comanches,
Kiowas, and, very rarely, white men. At no very distant intervals were
observed human skeletons and bones, while they were scarcely ever out of
sight of the remains of horses or wild animals; all of which told their
tale of the scenes of violence that had taken place in that highway of the
mountains.
Sometimes war-parties of the tribes mentioned encountered each other in
the gorge, and passed each other in sullen silence, or, perchance, they
dashed together like so many wild beasts, fighting with the fury of a
thousand Kilkenny cats. It was as the whim happened to rule the leaders.
The rocks rose perpendicularly on both sides to the height of fifty and a
hundred feet, the upper contour being irregular, and varying in every
manner imaginable. Along the upper edge of the pass grew vegetation, while
here and there, along the side, some tree managed to obtain a precarious
foothold, and sprouted forth toward the sun. The floor of the canon was of
a varied nature--rocks, boulders, grass, streams of water, gravel, sand,
and barren soil, alternating with each other and preventing anything like
an accurate description of any particular section. A survey of this
curious specimen of nature's highway suggested the idea that the solid
mountain had been rent for many leagues by an earthquake, which, having
opened this great seam or rent, had left it gradually to adjust itself to
the changed order of things, and to be availed of by those who were
seeking a safe and speedy transit through the almost impassable mountains.
Mickey and Fred checked their mustangs and carefully scrutinized the line
of smoke. It was several hundred yards in advance, on their left, while
they were following a trail that led close to the right of the canon. They
could distinguish nothing at all that could give any additional
information.
The fire which gave rise to the vapor had been kindled just far enough
back to cause the edge of the gorge to protrude itself in such a way as to
shut it off from the eyes of those below. Indeed, it was not to be
supposed that those who had the matter in charge would commit any
oversight which would reveal themselves or their purpose to those from
whom they desired to keep them.
"That is the same as the camp-fire which troubled the three Apaches so
much, and which was the means of my giving them the slip."
"It must have been started by some other war-party, so that their
ca'c'lations were upsit, and you had a chance to get away during the muss.
It was a sort of free fight, you see, in which, instead of staying and
getting your head cracked, you stepped down and lift."
Unable to make anything of this particular signal-fire, the two friends
carefully searched for more. Had they been able to discover one in the
rear, they would have been assured that signaling was going on, and they
would not have dared to venture forward. Here and there along the sides of
the canon were openings or crevices, generally filled with some sort of a
vegetable growth, and into most of which quite a number of men could have
taken refuge, but which, of course, were inaccessible to their horses.
"I can't find anything that resimbles the same," said Mickey, alluding to
the camp-fire, "though there may be some one that is seen by the gintlemen
who are cooking their shins by yon one."
"Will it do to go on?"
"It won't do to do anything else. Like enough the spalpeen yonder has
obsarved us coming, and he knows that there's a party behind us, and,
being unable to do anything himsilf, he starts up the fire so as to scare
us, and turn us back into the hands of the spalpeens coming in our rear.
Mind, I say that such may be the case, but I ain't sure that it is."
"I shouldn't wonder a bit, now, if that isn't it exactly," said Fred, who
was quite taken with the ingenious theory of his friend. "It seems to me
that the best thing that we can do is to ride on as fast as we can."
"We've got to run the risk of it being all wrong, and fetching up in the
bosom of the spalpeens; but it's moighty sure we don't make anything by
standing here."
The Irishman turned his horse as near the middle of the canon as possible.
Fred kept close to his side, his mustang behaving so splendidly that he
gave him his unreserved confidence. The average width of the pass was
about a hundred yards, so it will be understood that if a detachment of
men were caught within it they would be compelled to fight at a fearful
disadvantage.
The plan of Mickey and Fred, as they discussed it while riding along, was
to keep up the moderate gallop until close upon the fire. They would then
put their animals to the highest speed and pass the dangerous point as
speedily as possible. They felt no little misgiving as they drew near the
dangerous place, and they continually glanced upward at the rocks
overhead, expecting that a party of Indians would suddenly make their
appearance and open fire.
The first plan was, as they drew near, to run in as close as possible
beneath the rocks on the left, in the belief that, as they overhung so
much, the Indians above could not reach them with a shot. But before the
time came to make the attempt, it was seen that it would not do.
Accordingly, Mickey, who had maintained a line as close as possible to the
centre of the canon, suddenly sheered his mustang to the right, until he
nearly grazed the wall there. Then he put him on a dead run, Fred Munson
doing the same, with very little space between the two steeds. A few
plunges brought them directly opposite the signal-fire, and every nerve
was strained.
Both beasts were capable of magnificent speed and the still air became
like a hurricane as the horsemen cut their way through it. Fred glanced
upward at the crest of the rocks on the left and fancied that he saw
figures standing there, preparing to fire. He hammered his heels against
the ribs of his mustang and leaned forward upon his neck, in the hope of
making the aim as difficult as possible.
Still no reports of guns were heard; and, after continuing the terrific
gait for a quarter of a mile, they gradually decreased it until it became
a moderate walk, and the riders again found themselves side by side. Both
had looked behind them a dozen times since passing the dangerous point,
but had not obtained a glimpse of an Indian.
"I thought I saw a number just as we were opposite," said Fred; "but, if
so, what has become of them?"
"Ye didn't obsarve any at all, for I kipt raising me eye that way, and
they weren't there. The whole thing is a moighty _puzzle_, as our tacher
used to remark when the sum in addition became so big that he had to set
down one number and carry anither. The spalpeens must have manufactured
that fire for our benefit, and where's the good that it has done them?"
"Can't it be that it was for something else? Can't it be that they took us
for Indians, or perhaps they haven't seen us at all, and don't know that
we've passed?"
"It does seem as if something of the kind might be, and yet that don't
sthrike me as the Injin style of doing business."
They continued their moderate pace for quite a distance further,
continually looking back toward the camp-fire, the smoke from which
continued to ascend with the same distinct regularity as before, but
nothing resembling a warrior was detected. Finally a curve in the gorge
shut out the troublesome signal, and they were left to continue their way
and conjecture as much as they chose as to the explanation of what had
taken place.
A little later, and when the afternoon was about half gone, they reached a
portion of the pass which was remarkably straight, so that the eye took in
a half mile of it, from the beginning to the point where another turn
intervened. The two friends were galloping over this exact section and
speculating as to how soon they would strike the open prairie, when all
their calculations were knocked topsy-turvy. A party of horsemen charged
around the bend in front, all riding at a sweeping gallop directly toward
the alarmed Mickey and Fred, who instantly halted and surveyed them. A
second glance showed them to be Indians, undoubtedly Apaches, and very
probably Lone Wolf himself and some of his warriors.
"We must turn back," said the Irishman, wheeling his horse about and
striking him into a rapid gait. "We've got to have a dead run for it, and
I think we can win. Holy saints presarve us!"
This ejaculation was caused by seeing, at that moment, another party of
horsemen appear directly in their front, as they turned on the back trail.
Thus they were shut in on both sides, and fairly caught between two fires.