"When did you first see it?" asked Leroy, not waiting for Ned to
conduct the cross-examination.

The Indian talked with Mike for a moment.

The latter did not seem to understand all that was said to him, but
presently he turned to Ned.

"He says he saw it only a minute before he came here," he explained.
"He says a lot more that I can't understand. I've been here only a
month, and I'm not quick at learning new speech."

"Ask him if he knows whether she landed anywhere near the city," Ned
directed.

The Indian did not know. The airship was over the mountains when he
first saw it, and that was all he could say about it.

"Do you think we've been followed down here?" asked Jimmie.

"Of course!" Leroy broke in. "What else would an airship be here
for just at this time? And if she wasn't sneaking about after us,
what would she be hanging up there in the sky for? Why doesn't she
come down to town, like we did?"

"It may be that the arrival of this airship just at this time is a
coincidence," Ned said, "but it seems to me that there is something
significant about it. I have felt all along that we were not yet
rid of the rascals who tried to make us trouble at San Francisco."