"Reckon we can beat off a few beggarly Apaches."
"Don't talk. Ride for your camp. If you get there before the Lipans do, take your wagons into the pass, and stay there till they get by. Don't strike a blow at them. They'd be too much for ye."
"Lipans? Going for our camp? Boys, 'bout face! Ride for your lives!"
For so small a man he had a great deal of voice, and his command was instantly obeyed, but he paused long enough to ask of Steve and Murray,
"What about you two?"
"Us? We'll stay and keep the Apaches from chasing you."
"Won't they scalp you?"
"Not a bit. But there's one thing you may do. If by any chance you have a talk with the Lipans, you tell them where you saw us last. Tell the chief from me that No Tongue and Yellow Head are all right, only their horses are tired following your trail and the Apaches."
"Hope I won't meet him. You're the queerest pair I ever saw; but I wish the boys had let me follow out the word you sent in by Bill."
"Too late now. Ride out of this the best gait your horse knows."