to work and dragged up some small fallen trees from the slope below and with stones, large and small, built up a barricade.

It seemed to me that Jim exposed himself unnecessarily to the fire of the enemy. He seemed to be perfectly happy as the bullets hummed around him, as he put a rock in place on the parapet. In fact he seemed to mind them no more than the pouring rain.

It seemed like quite a little battle, with the rifle flashes from behind the brush or rocks and Jim's grey figure on the wall of the fort.

"That's all hunky dory," said Jim. "It beats old Fort Sumter."

"Get up Piute, Coyote," I urged. "They are safe here now as in the old cow pastures at home."

The ponies seemed to recognize that they were well protected, for they began to graze around as comfortably as you please in the little hollow with its surrounding rock, yanking at the bunches of tall grass and biting the leaves of the scrub bushes. Everything is fodder to a broncho.

"Let's get the saddles under shelter," said Jim.

So we dragged them down and put them in our camp under the big rock. Next we built a fire in the dry shelter and made coffee in a big tin cup we carried in our haversack.

Of course the grains were not as fine as though the original coffee had been run through a coffee mill, for we had pounded it up in a hollow cup-shaped rock with another stone for pestle.

"Hold on, Jo," exclaimed Jim. "Don't waste our canteen water on that coffee, we may need it."

"You are not going down to the creek," I cried, in alarm.

I knew only too well what lengths Jim's bravado would carry him. For I had not forgotten the time that he went down to the creek in our first canyon in Colorado, on a moonlight night when we knew that there were Indians lurking near. So I was prepared for the worst.

"No," he replied, to my intense relief, "I am going to look around here."

"You won't find any on top of a hill like this," I said, "the water all runs off."

"All right, my boy, but I'm going to look. You can stay in the kitchen and cook the venison."

Then Jim stooped out of the front door and disappeared. In a short time I heard his low, peculiar whistle and I ran out. I found Jim between two large rocks.

"Here you are," he said.

I hastened to satisfy my curiosity. I saw quite a little water in a pocket between the rocks.

"Quite a lake, isn't it?" asked Jim.

"Yes, it is a good deal when you don't expect anything," I replied.

"It will help us out all right," remarked Jim. "We will have to be mighty careful of our water supply. We can manage for food even if we have to eat Coyote."

"Piute goes first," I retorted, "his name sounds more eatable anyway."

"Well, we won't quarrel about that now," replied Jim. "The next thing on the program is supper."

We were quite comfortable in our dry shelter with the rain beating outside and as an added luxury we were not even bothered with the smoke, for there was a crevice in the rock at one side near the end, which made a good chimney, and the smoke drew through that.

Even though we were comfortable we knew that our situation was desperate and as we sat eating we canvassed our prospects thoroughly.

CHAPTER V

ON GUARD

"The first thing," said Jim, "is to find out how long a siege we can stand."

"Why!" I exclaimed in alarm, "don't you think that the captain and Tom will locate us soon and get us out of this?"

"Perhaps," replied Jim, "but they may have troubles of their own. Anyhow there must be at least a hundred of these Apaches down below, and there is no telling how many more there will be in another day. They will probably have all their howling relatives here within the radius of two hundred miles to join in the picnic."

"I believe the captain will find some way out if he can only locate us," I said.

"Odds are odds," replied Jim, doggedly. "I don't want him to run any desperate chance on my account."

"What are we to do?" I inquired anxiously. "Don't you suppose that we could get through their lines to-night, it is so dark and stormy?"

Jim shook his head.

"I thought of that. We would stand a chance to make our escape on foot, but not with the horses."

"Leave them," I cried desperately.

"You idiot," exclaimed Jim, "what would we do in this country without horses? We would never reach the Colorado River."

"I don't care if we don't," I said irritably.

"Well, I do," Jim replied. "There isn't going to be anything that will stop me from taking that trip. It will take a bigger bunch of Apaches than are down there to do it."

"Well," I said, returning to the original question. "How long will our supply of water last?"

"I have been figuring on that and I think it will keep us a going for a week, with what we can get from the water pocket. Of course if we have rain we can make out much longer."

"And the food?"

"Well, with Coyote to fall back on," laughed Jim, "we can hold out until Christmas. But without joking, we ought to be able to get along for a month. It was mighty lucky that we got those antelope."

"I suppose we will have to stand guard to-night," I said.

"Yes," replied Jim, "we don't dare to take a chance, even though Indians do not often make night attacks."

"I daresay that there is no danger of them crawling up the rocks. They are too steep, but we will have to watch the trail between the rocks," I remarked.

"How shall we divide the time?" Jim asked.

"It does not make much difference," I replied.

"Very well, then, you can take it up to midnight, and I will look after the balance."

So it was decided. It had now grown dark and we thought it best to look around together. As we came out of our rock shelter we saw our ponies standing with their backs to the storm and heads bent down, looking much dejected.

"They look like four-legged ghosts," I said.

"If it hadn't been for them we would have been ghosts by this time," remarked Jim pleasantly.

"What's the use of talking that way?" I said. "Perhaps we will be ghosts before we are through with this business."

"Don't you believe it," said Jim cheerily. "I don't know how we are going to get out of this scrape, but perhaps we will have some unusual luck."

"Here's wishing it," I replied.

It looked kind of cheery as we looked back and saw the warm glow from our fire in the rock room that was our temporary camp.

We made the rounds of our fort, but could see or hear nothing in the darkness below. No sound but the steady fall of the rain. The rock must have been seventy-five feet or more of sheer descent on all sides except by the narrow trail by which we had come up.

"It's time for you to go on guard now," said Jim.

"All right," I replied, "I'm ready."

"Be sure to keep awake," he cautioned.

We went back to the campfire and I made a careful examination of my rifle. It was all right, and with my faithful friend close at hand in my belt I was ready for what might come.

I crawled out in the darkness leaving Jim curled up cosily by the fire. I envied him because I did not have much heart to stand out there in the dark and in the rain alone, but there was nothing to do but to make the best of it.

I crawled down between the rocks at the upper end of the narrow trail with the rain beating down on me. I could see the horses back of me and their presence was a whole lot of company for me.

It is strange how much companionship there is in a horse or dog that you are fond of, especially if it has shared your trips and your dangers. I know that Coyote was glad to see me by the way he followed me with his head. The first part of my watch passed monotonously enough. Most of the time one would have thought there was nothing of danger or menace in the darkness below as far as sound went.

But I felt, though I could not