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First came Jil-Lee, Buck, Nolan, Tsoay, Lupe those who had been with him on the northern scout. Then the others, the warriors first, the women making a half circle behind, leaving a free space in which Deklay walked. "I am the Fox," Travis stated. "And this one has named me witch and natdahe, outlaw of the mountains. Therefore do I come to name names in my turn.
Then he turned to the Tatars. "Buck, Deklay, Nolan, Manulito, Tsoay," he named them all, "these stand to listen, and to speak for the Apaches." But sometime later when the two parties sat facing each other, he wondered whether a common decision could come from the clansmen on his side of that irregular circle.
No, but neither did he want growing whispers working about him to cut him off from his people. To every Apache severance from the clan was a little death. He must have those who would back him if Deklay, or those who thought like Deklay, turned grumbling into open hostility. "Tsoay is one quick to learn," Travis agreed. "We go at dawn " "Along the mountain range?" Buck inquired.
"Arms from a tomb. Yes, this is truly dead men's magic. I shall say so to my people. When do we move out?" "When we know whether or not the trap to the south is sprung," Buck answered. The report came an hour after sunrise the next morning when Tsoay, Nolan, and Deklay padded into camp. The war chief made a slight gesture with one hand. "It is done?" Travis wanted confirmation in words.
With an upraised hand he beckoned Travis to the fire again, indicating a pot set on the coals. "Rest ... eat!" he bade abruptly. Night was gathering in. Travis tried to calculate how far Tsoay must have backtracked to the rancheria. He thought that he could have already made the pass and be within a day and a half from the Apache camp if he pushed on, as he would.
But it was not quite quick enough, for Travis had the other's hands behind his back, cupping slender, almost delicate wrists together. "Throw me a cord!" he called to Tsoay. The younger man ran up with an extra bow cord, and in a moment they had bonds on the struggling captive. Travis rolled their catch over, reaching down for a fistful of hair to pull the head into a patch of clearer light.
So Tsoay had come to that conclusion too? Travis tried to gauge the nearness of twilight. There was a period after the passing of Topaz' sun when the dusky light played odd tricks with shadows. That would be the first time for their move. He said as much, and Tsoay nodded eagerly. They sat with their backs to a boulder, the tree trunk serving as a screen, and chewed methodically on ration tablets.
"This woman is also of our world." Tsoay spoke in Apache, looking over their prisoner with frank interest. "Only she is not of the People." Sons of the Blue Wolf? Travis thought again of the embroidery designs on the jacket. Who had called themselves by that picturesque title where and when in time? "What do you fear, Daughter of the Blue Wolf?" he asked.
But to use the nature of the country against the enemy, that was the oldest Apache trick of all and one they would have to be forced to employ. Nolan had already nodded in assent, and Tsoay and Jil-Lee started off. Even if the Red did possess a protective wall device, could it operate in full against a landslide? They all doubted that.
And I have seen it on two other of their worlds." "A man?" Tsoay surveyed the body critically. "It wears no clothes, has no weapons, but it walks erect. It looks like an ape, a very big ape. It is not a good thing, I think." "If it runs with a pack as they do elsewhere this could be a very bad thing."
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