“The captain may need us; he can’t be far off.”
Gun in hand, the couple walked hurriedly down the cañon, on the alert for Indians, for it seemed more likely that if any danger threatened, it was from them. To their relief, however, they soon found their alarm groundless. The captain was seen coming, apparently as well as ever.
“Nothing is wrong,” he explained when they were within speaking distance; “I saw an antelope among the rocks and took a shot at him.”
“How near did you come to hitting him?”
“He made only a single jump after he received my bullet; it’s a pity he didn’t make a couple of them.”
“Why?”
“It would have brought him over the outer rock and into the ravine; then we should have had something for supper. Haven’t you seen Adams yet?”
Instead of answering directly the three looked toward the fissure in the side of the cañon, and there, to their unspeakable relief, they saw the man who had been absent for so many hours. As is the rule at such times, their ill-humor deepened.
“Why didn’t you wait till morning?” was the question of the captain.