For Cayuse to take Navi up the slope might mean discovery, and yet the boy knew that he himself must climb to the top of the wall if he was to learn what work the three men were to do.
Hitching Navi in a convenient thicket, at the foot of the wall, Cayuse took his small repeating rifle and started on foot up the ascent.
He climbed the steep slope swiftly and so carefully that he did not displace a single stone. Where he gained the cañon’s rim there was a fringe of hazels, and he was able to crawl over into the bushes and peer through them, thus keeping out of sight.
In front of him was a lake, its surface almost level with the top of the cañon wall, and a comparatively thin barrier of stone keeping its waters out of the cañon.
The three white men had taken their horses well around the edge of the lake, and were dismounting. There was little talk among them. Clancy and Coomby had thrown off their coats and Tex was holding the three horses.
Presently Clancy and Coomby returned around the edge of the lake and halted for a space at the cañon’s rim. Cayuse, scarcely breathing, crouched lower among the hazels and watched with staring eyes.
“Thar’ll be a reg’lar tidal wave goin’ along ther cañon in a couple o’ shakes,” said Clancy, with an evil laugh.
“It’ll rush down on ther mine,” said Coomby, “purvidin’ the cap’n is right in his calkerlations.”
“He’s gin’rally right.”
“Seems ter me, though, the water’ll flow directly away from the mine.”