But it was impossible wholly to lose his good spirits.
"Whew! but that puts me in a fine condition to hunt grizzly bears and meet bad Indians; I'm not so anxious to see Motoza as I was." His teeth were chattering, and to start his blood in circulation he began climbing the sloping bank, at the top of which, as will be remembered, he had remained hidden with Fred Greenwood when looking down upon the three Indians.
It was a laborious task, and he was panting when he reached the summit, where he paused for a few minutes' rest.

The prudent course was to return as speedily as he could to the cavern by the plateau and start a fire.

His blanket had been left there, and would be of great use in his present condition.
"I wonder, now, if somebody has been there and stolen them ?" he muttered, resuming his homeward tramp; "this thing ought not to stop, and it seems to me Hank takes big chances in leaving the blankets and ponies where some of these Indians can steal them." Jack had still to leap the canyon in order to reach his destination, but the task had become an easy one and caused him no anxiety.

All was going well, when his first shock of alarm came with the discovery that a wild animal was following him.

His first thought was that it was one of the Indians, but a glimpse, on the edge of a slight clearing, showed that it was a quadruped.
Jack paused and looked intently at the creature.