"Shall we go in now, Dave?" Dick asked excitedly, for they were still
standing among the rocks, which broke off abruptly opposite the mouth of
the Canyon, those in front of it evidently having been swept away by the
torrents flowing down it.

"No, don't go a step forward, Dick. Don't let us risk nothing by showing
ourselves now. We will make our way back as we came to Boston, and bring
up the horses after dark. We have not got a chance to throw away, I can
tell you."

At night they returned with the horses; two blankets had been cut up,
and the feet of the animals muffled.

"If one of them redskins was to come upon our track and saw the print of
a horseshoe, it would be all up with us," Zeke said; "we had best do the
same ourselves; the heel of boot would be as ugly a mark as a horseshoe.
We must keep well along at the edge of these fallen rocks. Like enough
they come down here to fetch water up to their village, and the further
we keep away from the stream the better."

The moon was half full, which was fortunate, as they would otherwise
have had great difficulty in finding the narrow gap in the cliff. Its
light, too, enabled them to avoid rocks that had rolled out farther than
the rest; once inside the gorge it was pitch-dark, and they had to feel
their way along.

In about a hundred yards it began to widen, and they soon found
themselves in a narrow valley with perpendicular sides, which seemed to
widen farther up. The horses, were at once unloaded.