"We can make it in two or three days, I think," said Tom. "Some parts of the way, though, is rather rough, and it may take us longer."
"You don't expect to walk it, do you?"
They assured him that they had no intention of doing any such thing. Their horses were secreted in a gorge about three miles distant, and as soon as they could be reached they would mount them and speed away for Fort Havens.
"And we'll do it, too, at a gait that'll beat any mustang that Lone Wolf has ever straddled," added Dick, exultingly. "When a chap goes into the Injun country, he must fetch the best hoss flesh he can steal."
"But I haven't any horse," said Ned, with a laugh. "What's to become of me when you're riding?"
Tom explained that there could be no difficulty about that. Such a trifling additional weight would not be suspected by either of the animals.
"Where do you suppose Lone Wolf is?" asked the boy, looking furtively around, unable to free himself of the belief that they were not through with him yet.
"He's gone back to his party; they've split since you left 'em. About thirty started yesterday forenoon for the Apache villages to the south'ard, and the tother twenty are in camp off here a mile or so."
As Tom spoke, he pointed to the west, in among the mountains, and in a direction at right angles to what he was pursuing himself.
"Our road twists round a little," he added, "and when we get to where we left the animals, we'll be 'bout as far away from the Apaches as we are now. What's better, there's some mighty rough travelin' between us and them, such as no hosses can git over."