His face was burning hot while he spoke, and his eyes were flashing with sudden and fierce excitement. Could it be possible that he was so terribly fond of money?
Steve wondered and stared, but the Apache young men were crowding around them now, and Murray nodded to him to fall back.
"Mount at once, Steve. Don't seem to claim anything or to interfere. Let them sift the ashes if they want to."
"Seems to me we must have the best part of it."
"That's likely. I think we have as much as we shall need. No. I don't know how much I may need before I get through. Money is a good thing to have sometimes."
Murray was hardly himself that morning, and yet he met the Apache leader coolly enough.
"What do now? Send Warning advise friend."
"Ride back to village. Not lose time. Young men finish plunder. Old men not stay. Great chief want to see us."
That last word was enough and the warrior wheeled his horse westward. His parting orders were few, but they would bring back every Apache from that "war-path" as soon as the search for plunder should be completed.
"It's all right, Steve," said Murray, as they rode along side by side. "If we had stayed there too long some of them might have been curious how much we had picked up. They won't say a word after we are in camp. If an Indian once gets his plunder safe into his own lodge nobody questions his title to it. That is, if it has been taken from an enemy."