“He must be near the bottom,” he concluded, when this paying-out process had continued some minutes longer, and he thought he saw very little of the lasso left.

Such was the fact.  Only a few seconds more passed, when there was a general loosening up on the part of the redskins, as in the case of men who have just finished a laborious job.  They looked into each others faces, and there were guttural exclamations, as if they were congratulating themselves upon what had been accomplished.

“And, now, what next?” asked the disgusted watcher.  “Good luck seems to go with everything they undertake, and I suppose they’ll bring Mickey up by the heels.”

But such was not the sequel, and probably not the expectation of the Apaches.  They had succeeded in planting a man in the breach, and their purpose was to follow him, as they speedily proved.  The behavior of the group around the opening showed that the Indians were holding communication with their ally below, probably by a system of signals with the lasso, such as the man in the diving-bell employs when below the surface.  These, too, must have been satisfactory, for, in a very brief time thereafter, the decisive operations were taken up and continued.

There was considerable of the lasso still left above ground—­more than Fred imagined—­and this was secured about a jutting point in a rock near at hand.  It was fixed so immovably that it could not fail.  “I wonder if they mean to roll that thing in upon Mickey’s head, or what is it?”

They speedily showed what their intentions were.  In less than a minute after the lasso was fastened, one of the Apaches caught hold of it and slid down through the opening so rapidly, that it looked as if he had lost his hold and dropped out of sight.  A second did precisely the same thing; then a third, fourth and fifth, until only one warrior was left above ground.

“Oh!  I hope he’ll go,” whispered Fred to himself; “and then I can do something big.”

But the Apaches had evidently concluded that it would be an imprudent arrangement not to leave any of their friends on guard—­not because they expected any interference from outside parties, but to provide against accident.  If the lasso should fail them at a critical moment, they would be in a bad predicament, cut off from all means of getting out, as the skylight was the only avenue known to them, while, if a comrade remained above, all such danger would be escaped.  Their purpose had been to send the five warriors down into the cave to attend to the case of the parties there.

The redskins were now down below and the whole thing was put in shape for operations to begin.  All that remained was to find their man, and Fred could not tell what the prospects of success were in that direction; but he was almost ready to believe that they were all that the Indians could ask.  The sixth Apache, who remained visible, took matters very comfortably.  He stretched himself flat upon the ground, with his head hanging almost in the opening, so that he could catch every sound that came up from below.  It was plain that he expected to be called upon to render important service, and he did not intend to let a signal escape him.