Mickey promised not to be absent long, and then started in search of provender.  Game was abundant in that part of the world, and he was confident that much time would not be required to bring down some toothsome dainty.

“He has an uncomfortable way of running off and leaving a fellow alone,” muttered Fred, as he watched the vanishing figure of his friend.  “I haven’t anything but my revolver, and only two shots left in that, and it seems to me that this is about the worst place we could stop.”

The point where they camped was in the pass, which, at that point, widened considerably.  The right wall curved far inward in a semi-circular shape, the opposite remaining the same, the gorge looking as if an immense slice had been scooped out of its northern boundary.  The rocks on every hand ranged from a dozen to a hundred feet in height, with numerous openings, through which a horseman could easily pick his way.  The tops were covered with vegetation, the greater portion of which was vigorous and dense.

Fred found himself standing in an immense amphitheatre, as one can imagine how the gladiators of Rome stood in the Coliseum, when an audience of over a hundred thousand were seated and looking down upon them.  He could not but note the helpless situation a party of men would be in if caught where he was.

“If a company of United States Cavalry should camp here, and the Indians opened on them from the rocks above, they would have to stand and be shot down, one after another, or else run the gauntlet and be picked off in the same way.”

The appearance of the ground showed that the spot was a favorite camping-site of the Indians.  Fred, for a time, suspected that it was the place where Lone Wolf and his band had spent the first night out from New Boston; but an examination showed that it did not correspond in many points.  The remains of charred wood, of bleaching bones and ashes proved that many a camp-fire had been kindled.  And, in all probability, every one of them had warmed the shins and toasted the food of the red cut-throats of that section.

The two mustangs were tethered near one side of the space where there was grass and water, and the lad set about it to select a proper place in which to build their camp-fire.  There was no trouble in determining this; but, when he started to gather wood, he was surprised to discover that there was much less than he supposed.  The former tenants of the place had cleared it up pretty thoroughly.

“There is plenty of wood over yonder,” he said to himself, looking in the direction taken by Mickey O’Rooney; “and where there is so much growing there must be some upon the ground.  I’ll go over and gather some, and have the fire all ready when he comes back.”

It was quite a walk from where he stood to the side of the semicircular widening of the pass, and as he went over it he was surprised to find it greater than it appeared.  When he picked his way between the rocks, and began clambering among the trees and vegetation, he concluded that he was fully two hundred yards from where the mustangs were grazing.