"They never did you any hurt."
"I should say they did. It's hurt enough to stay among them for three long years."
"Think of what you've learned by it, my boy. And now you've found a gold-mine."
"And it isn't worth ten cents to me. Nobody'd give me a new hat for it."
"You will need one by the time you get to the settlements. We must try and look out for that. The main thing for us to-night is to see that we don't get into bad company."
"Either Lipans or miners. I believe one is about as bad as the other."
They had plenty to talk about but some parts of the pass they were following were densely dark, and they had to feel their way a foot at a time like a pair of blind men. It was slower work than riding over the same ground by day, and Murray turned out nearly right in his calculation of the time they would reach the valley. It was just as the light of the rising sun grew strong and bright that he and Steve stood on the slope at the lower edge of the forest, taking turns at looking through the spy-glass at the white tilts of the two wagons of the miners.
"They've roused up early for something," said Murray.
"Looks as if they were setting out on a hunt or a scout."
"So it does. There they go. Steve, we must ride after those fellows."