The Navajo shook his head, however, and said, “They go first.”

“What are we to do now?” demanded George as he joined his companions.

“The first thing we want is some breakfast and then we’ll decide what next to do,” said Grant, who in spite of Fred’s greater readiness to talk, now naturally assumed the place of the leader of the three Go Ahead Boys.

At that moment, however, the Navajo again turned to the young campers and said, “I’ll go to find out where Zeke and the two men went.  If I go you three boys must stay here until I come back.”

“But suppose you don’t come back?” suggested Fred.

“I shall come,” said the Navajo confidently.

“But suppose you don’t?” said Fred again.

“If I do not come by to-morrow morning,” explained Thomas Jefferson, “then you will know that something has happened to me and you will go back if you can find your way.”

“Not much!” declared Fred.  “If you don’t come we shall try to find out what has happened to you.”

“No.  No,” said Thomas Jefferson abruptly.  “But I shall come back.”

“You’re not going until after breakfast,” suggested Grant quickly as the Indian apparently was about to depart.

“I will get breakfast when I come back,” said Thomas Jefferson laconically.

Without any further conversation he at once departed, closely following the footprints of the three whom he believed had gone before him.

“Well, what’s to be done now?” inquired George after the three Go Ahead Boys had remained silent while they watched the departing Navajo as long as he remained within sight.

“We’ll get breakfast,” replied Grant.

For a time conversation ceased while the boys were busily engaged in the preparation of their morning meal.  In spite of the mystery surrounding them and the anxiety that more or less every one felt, they were all hungry.  As a consequence the simple breakfast speedily was prepared and it was not until it had been eaten that the boys once more turned to the problem which now confronted them.

“I’m telling you,” said Grant positively, “that Thomas Jefferson is all right.  The only thing for us to do is to stay right here where we are until he comes back or John and Pete are brought here by Kitoni.”

“I’m afraid something has happened to String,” said Fred slowly.

“So you have said before,” remarked Grant dryly.  “Now the thing for you and for us all to do is just to hang on to ourselves and wait.  We mustn’t let this get on our nerves.  If we do no one knows what we shall be up against.”

Grant’s companions did their utmost to carry out his suggestion, but there was little activity in which they could indulge and the time dragged heavily on their hands.

“How far do you think we’ve come into Thorn’s Gulch?” asked Fred when several hours had elapsed.

“Six or eight miles,” replied Grant promptly.