last time during the advance, the right foot ascended from the ground, was
poised for a few seconds in the air, and then came down with the same care
as before. But it touched a loose pebble which turned with the lightest
imaginable noise.

As quick as a flash the Apache raised his head, looked in front, and then
darted his vision from left to right, when his keen eyes detected
something crouching behind him.

At the very instant of the discovery, Fred concentrated all his energies
in one effort, and bounded forward like a catapult. The distance was
precisely what it should have been, and, as he threw out his hands, he
struck the Indian squarely in the back with the whole momentum of the
body. In fact, the daring boy nearly overdid the matter. He not only came
near driving the Apache to the other side of the opening, but he came
equally near plunging himself down it. As it was, the victim, taken
completely off his guard, was thrown against the other side, where his
wonderful dexterity enabled him to throw out his hands and check his
downward descent.

Fred, after his narrow escape from going down into the cave, scrambled
back to his place, and saw the Indian struggling upon the opposite side,
with a good prospect of saving himself. "That won't do," was his thought,
as he ran round the opening so as to bring himself directly before him. "I
don't want you up here."

Thrusting his pistol almost against his painted forehead, he fairly
shouted:

"Get down--let go, or I'll shoot!"