taken this little business in hand seemed to have cleared away the
treacherous ground surrounding the opening, so that it was not likely to
give way beneath their weight, even when they advanced close to the edge.
The single redskin who remained seemed to have shifted his position more
for the purpose of relieving himself from his cramped posture than
anything else.

He was standing erect, about a foot away from the edge, with the lasso in
both hands, looking down into the cavern of gloom below, listening and
watching, with the sense of touch also on the alert. His blanket and rifle
lay at one side, out of the way, but where they could be reached at a
single leap, if necessary. The end of the lasso was still fastened to the
rock, but the savage held it loosely, so that the slightest twitch upon it
would become known to him on the instant.

It is not often that an Indian can be taken off the guard. Years of danger
have made the senses of the savages preternaturally acute, and they are as
distant as the timid antelope of the plains. But, for all that, there was
a boy within a dozen yards of a swarthy warrior whose senses were on the
alert, and yet had failed to detect his proximity.

Fred gazed upon him with the fixed intensity of the jungle tiger stealing
upon his prey. With his right hand resting upon the hilt of his revolver,
he never removed his eyes from the muscular figure of the Apache, bending
over the entrance to the cavern.

"Shall I shoot, or push him over?"

[Illustration: "SHALL I SHOOT OR PUSH HIM OVER?"]