"Not inside, they ain't. I'd rather be a Lipan!"
The two merry, laughing girls rode by, in happy ignorance of the danger that was lurking in the thicket, and Red Wolf galloped swiftly on to join them.
Then the three miners, with Bill at their head, sprung out of their cover.
"Look out, boys. Don't use your rifles. Thar must be plenty more within hearin'."
"We'll have to kill the brave."
"Of course. Git close to him, though. No noise. I'd like not to give him a chance to so much as whoop."
They never dreamed of looking behind to see if any one were following them out of the cover, but it would have been better for them to have done so.
"They've start enough now," growled Murray. "Come on, Steve. Step like a cat. We must take them unawares. Have your tie-up ready."
The buckskin thongs which hang from the belt or shoulder or knee of an Indian warrior are not all put there for ornament. They are for use in tying things, and they are terribly strong. No human hand can break one, and they are always there and ready, only needing to be cut off.
Steve's face was almost as pale as Murray's in his excitement. He had looked in the bright faces of the two "young squaws" as they rode by, and it seemed to him as if he could fight those three miners all alone.