Away off to the northeast they heard the thin, vague clamor of a band of sheep and the staccato barking of a dog.
Luck rode for some distance, his uneasiness growing as the shadows deepened with the setting of the sun.

They had gone too far to hear any whistled signal, but it seemed to him reasonable to suppose that Applehead would return to their starting point, whether he found the trail or not; or at least send a man back.

Luck began to think more seriously of Applehead's numerous warnings about the Indians--and yet, there had been no sound of shooting, which is the first sign of trouble in this country.

Rifle shots can be heard a long way in this clear air; so Luck presently dismissed that worry and gave his mind to the very real one which assailed them all; which was water for their horses.
The boys were riding along in silence, sitting over to one side with a foot dangling free of its stirrup; except Andy, who had hooked one leg over the saddle-horn and was riding sidewise, smoking a meditative cigarette and staring out between the ears of his horse.

They were tired; horses and men, they were tired to the middle of their bones.
But they went ahead without making any complaints whatever or rasping oneanother's tempers with ill-chosen remarks; and for that Luck's eyes brightened with appreciation.
Presently, when they had ridden at least a mile down the arroyo, a gray hat-crown came bobbing into sight over a low tongue of rocky ground that cut the channel almost in two.