IN THE OLD WEST 153 



fallen greatness of his tribe. Rising, he slowly 

 drew his tattered blanket round his body, and pre- 

 pared to leave the spot, when the shadow of a mov- 

 ing figure, creeping past a gap in the ruined wall 

 through which the moonbeams played, suddenly 

 arrested his attention. Rigid as a statue, he 

 stood transfixed to the spot, thinking a former 

 inhabitant of the city was visiting, in a ghostly 

 form, the scenes his body once knew so well. The 

 bow in his right hand shook with fear as he saw 

 the shadow approach, but was as tightly and 

 steadily grasped when, on the figure emerging 

 from the shade of the wall, he distinguished the 

 form of a naked Apache, armed with bow and 

 arrow, crawling stealthily through the gloomy 

 ruins. 



Standing undiscovered within the shadow of 

 the wall, the Taos raised his bow, and drew an ar- 

 row to the head, until the other, who was bend- 

 ing low to keep under cover of the wall, and thus 

 approach the sentinel standing at a short dis- 

 tance, seeing suddenly the well-defined shadow on 

 the ground, rose upright on his legs, and, know- 

 ing escape was impossible, threw his arms down 

 his sides, and, drawing himself erect, exclaimed 

 in a suppressed tone, " Wa-g-h ! " 



66 Wagh ! " exclaimed the Taos likewise, but 

 quickly dropped his arrow point, and eased the 

 bow. 



" What does my brother want," he asked, " that 



