Sundown scrambled for the circle of daylight above him.  “Gee Gosh!” he panted, as he got to his feet outside the cave.  “It was him!” He clambered over the circle of stones and backed away, eyeing the entrance as though he expected to see the Hopi emerge at any moment.  He crouched behind a boulder, his pulses racing.  He was keyed to a high tension of expectancy.  In fact, he was in a decidedly receptive mood for that which immediately happened.  He noticed that his horse, a hundred yards or so up the valley, was circling the cedar and pulling back on the reins.  He wondered what was the matter with him.  The horse was usually a well-behaved animal.  The explanation came rapidly.  Sundown saw the horse back and tear loose from the cedar; saw him whirl and charge down the valley snorting.  “Guess he seen one, too!” said Sundown making no effort to check the frightened animal.  Almost immediately came the long-drawn bell of a dog following a hot scent.  Sundown turned from watching his vanishing steed and saw a huge timber-wolf leap from a thicket.  Behind the wolf came Chance, neck outstretched, and flanks working at top speed.  The wolf dodged a boulder, flashing around it with no apparent loss of ground.  Chance rose over the boulder as though borne on the wind.  The wolf turned and snapped at him.  Sundown decided instantly that the sepulcher of the dead Hopi was preferable to the proximity of the live wolf, and he made for the cave.

The wolf circled the wall of stones and also made for the cave.  Sundown had arrived a little ahead of him.  The top of Sundown’s head appeared for an instant; then vanished.  The wolf backed snarling against the wall as Chance leaped in.  When Sundown’s head again appeared, the whirling mass of writhing fur and kicking legs had taken more definite shape.  Chance had fastened on the wolf’s shoulder.  The wolf was slashing effectively at the dog’s side.  Presently they lay down facing each other.  Chance licked a long gash in his foreleg.  The wolf snapped as he lay and a red slaver dripped from his fangs.  Not twelve feet away, Sundown gazed upon the scene with fear-wide eyes.  “Go to it, Chance!” he quavered, and his encouragement was all but the dog’s undoing, for he lost the wolf’s gaze for an instant, barely turning in time to meet the vicious charge.  Sundown groaned as the wolf, with a slashing stroke, ripped the dog’s neck from ear to shoulder.  The stones in the enclosure were spattered with red as they whirled, each trying to reach the throat of the other.  Suddenly Chance leaped up and over the wolf, lunging for his neck as he descended.  The wolf rolled from under and backed toward the cave.  “Hey!” yelled Sundown.  “You can’t come in here!”