It was evident this was not the part the two wished to play.
“We stay wid brother—we help him fight.”
“No, you won’t; we don’t want you; you can do no good here; we have sent Mendez and Cemuri away; you must go, too.”
The officer was so peremptory that the Apaches did not question him further. They glanced at each other, then, without speaking, set off with their ponies on a walk toward the stream now in plain sight.
To the surprise of Decker and Freeman, they drove their horses into the water and rode directly to the other side. Near the middle the animals sank to their flanks, but at no point were they forced to swim. Emerging they continued straight away until they faded from view.
“I don’t know whether it was wise to send them off in that style,” remarked the lieutenant, “but I don’t wish their company, even if they do claim to be friends.”
CHAPTER IX.
MENDEZ, THE SCOUT.
When Mendez, the White Mountain Apache, left the company of Lieutenant Decker and Maurice Freeman he fully comprehended the perilous mission he had undertaken.