the steep face of a valley, the opposite side of which was a
perpendicular cliff. They had nearly gained the top when the crack of a
rifle was heard from the opposite cliff, which was not more than two
hundred yards away, although the depth of the gorge was fully a thousand
feet. Looking across they saw that nearly opposite to them stood an
Indian village, and that a number of redskins were running toward the
edge.

"Hurry up, hurry up!" Dave shouted. "It is too far for them to shoot
straight, but a stray bullet might hit us. Push on, lads, with the
ponies. We will give them a shot or two. Our rifles will carry that
distance easy enough."

The lads pushed on while the three miners opened fire. There was but
another fifty yards to climb. They could hear the sharp ping of the
bullets round them. One of the ponies gave a sudden start, stumbled
forward, and then rolled over the edge. In another minute the rest
gained the plateau.

"Oh, Dick, it is one of the treasure ponies," Tom exclaimed.

"That is a bad job, Tom; which is it?"

"The gray."

"Better him than the others. It was one of his bags that we took the
gold out of to make us up twenty pounds each, so there aint above
seventy pounds lost. Come on, let us get beyond range. We don't want to
lose any more." When they got two or three hundred yards further the
three men ran up.