nature of their hiding-place kept them close together. Ladd's muttering grew into a growl, then lapsed into the silence that marked his companions. From time to time the rangers looked inquiringly at Gale. The field glass, however, like the naked sight, could not catch the slightest moving object out there upon the lava. A long hour of slow, mounting suspense wore on.
'Shore it's all goin' to be as queer as the Yaqui,' said Ladd.
Indeed, the strange mien, the silent action, the somber character of the Indian had not been without effect upon the minds of the men. Then the weird, desolate, tragic scene added to the vague sense of mystery. And now the disappearance of Rojas's band, the long wait in the silence, the boding certainty of invisible foes crawling, circling closer and closer, lent to the situation a final touch that made it unreal.
'I'm reckonin' there's a mind behind them Greasers,' replied Jim. 'Or mebbe we ain't done Rojas credit...If somethin' would only come off!'
That Lash, the coolest, most provokingly nonchalant of men in times of peril, should begin to show a nervous strain was all the more indicative of a suble pervading unreality.
'Boys, look sharp!' suddenly called Lash. 'Low down to the left –mebbe three hundred yards. See, along by them seams of lava –behind the choyas. First off I thought it was a sheep. But it's the Yaqui!...Crawlin' swift as a lizard! Can't you see him?'
It was a full moment before Jim's companions could locate the Indian. Flat as a snake Yaqui wound himself along with incredible rapidity. His advance was all the more remarkable for the fact that he appeared to pass directly under the dreaded choyas. Sometimes he paused to lift his head and look. He was directly in line with a huge whorl of lava that rose higher than any point on the slope. This spur was a quarter of a mile from the position of the rangers.
'Shore he's headin' for that high place,' said Ladd. 'He's goin' slow now. There, he's stopped behind some choyas. He's gettin' up–no, he's kneelin'....Now what the hell!'
'Laddy, take a peek at the side of that lava ridge,' sharply called Jim. 'I guess mebbe somethin' ain't comin' off. See! There's Rojas an' his outfit climbin'. Don't make out no hosses....Dick, use your glass an' tell us what's doin'. I'll watch Yaqui an' tell you what his move means.'
Clearly and distinctly, almost as if he could have touched them, Gale had Rojas and his followers in sight. They were toiling up the rough lava on foot. They were heavily armed. Spurs, chaps, jackets, scarfs were not in evidence. Gale saw the lean, swarthy faces, the black, straggly hair, the ragged, soiled garments which had once been white.
'They're almost up now,' Gale was saying. 'There! They halt on top. I see Rojas. He looks wild. By––! fellows, an Indian! ...It's a Papago. Belding's old herder!...The Indian points– this way–then down. He's showing Rojas the lay of the trail.'
'Boys, Yaqui's in range of that bunch,' said Jim, swiftly. 'He's raisin' his rifle slow–Lord, how slow he is!...He's covered some one. Which one I can't say. But I think he'll pick Rojas.'
'The Yaqui can shoot. He'll pick Rojas,' added Gale, grimly.
'Rojas–yes–yes!' cried Thorne, in passion of suspense.
'Not on your life!' Ladd's voice cut in with scorn. 'Gentlemen, you can gamble Yaqui 'll kill the Papago. That traitor Indian knows these sheep haunts. He's tellin' Rojas–'
A sharp rifle shot rang out.
'Laddy's right,' called Gale. 'The Papago's hit–his arm falls–There, he tumbles!'
More shots rang out. Yaqui was seen standing erect firing rapidly at the darting Mexicans. For all Gale could make out no second bullet took effect. Rojas and his men vanished behind the bulge of lava. Then Yaqui deliberately backed away from his postion. He made no effort to run or hide. Evidently he watched cautiously for signs of pursuers in the ruts and behind the choyas. Presently he turned and came straight toward the position of the rangers, sheered off perhaps a hundred paces below it, and disappeared in a crevice. Plainly his intention was to draw pursuers within rifle shot.
'Shore, Jim, you had your wish. Somethin' come off,' said Ladd. 'An' I'm sayin' thank God for the Yaqui! That Papago 'd have ruined us. Even so, mebbe he's told Rojas more'n enough to make us sweat blood.'
'He had a chance to kill Rojas,' cried out the drawn-faced, passionate Thorne. 'He didn't take it!...He didn't take it!'
Only Ladd appeared to be able to answer the cavalryman's poignant cry.
'Listen, son,' he said, and his voice rang. 'We-all know how you feel. An' if I'd had that one shot never in the world could I have picked the Papago guide. I'd have had to kill Rojas. That's the white man of it. But Yaqui was right. Only an Indian could have done it. You can gamble the Papago alive meant slim chance for us. Because he'd led straight to where Mercedes is hidden, an' then we'd have left cover to fight it out...When you come to think of the Yaqui's hate for Greasers, when you just seen him pass up a shot at one–well, I don't know how to say what I mean, but damn me, my som-brer-ro is off to the Indian!'
'I reckon so, an' I reckon the ball's opened,' rejoined Lash, and now that former nervous impatience so unnatural to him was as if it had never been. He was smilingly cool, and his voice had almost a caressing note. He tapped the breech of his Winchester with a sinewy brown hand, and he did not appear to be addressing any one in particular. 'Yaqui's opened the ball. Look up your pardners there, gents, an' get ready to dance.'
Another wait set in them, and judging by the more direct rays of the sun and a receding of the little shadows cast by the choyas, Gale was of the opinion that it was a long wait. But it seemed short. The four men were lying under the bank of a half circular hole in the lava. It was notched and cracked, and its rim was fringed by choyas. It sloped down and opened to an unobstructed view of the crater. Gale had the upper position, fartherest to the right, and therefore was best shielded from possible fire from the higher ridges of the rim, some three hundred yards distant. Jim came next, well hidden in a crack. The positions of Thorne and Ladd were most exposed. They kept sharp lookout over the uneven rampart of their hiding-place.
The sun passed the zenith, began to slope westward, and to grow hotter as it sloped. The men waited and waited. Gale saw no impatience even in Thorne. The sultry air seemed to be laden with some burden or quality that was at once composed of heat, menace, color, and silence. Even the light glancing up from the lava seemed red and the silence had substance. Sometimes Gale felt that it was unbearable. Yet he made no effort to break it.
