Now they lay within a few paces of the post toward which they had been creeping. The sentry was coming toward them. There was no moon, and it was very dark. There were bushes upon either side of him, low sage and greasewood. That there were four more now upon his left than there had been before he did not note, and anyway in ten minutes he was to be relieved. It was this of which he was thinking—not bushes. He passed. Four shadowy patches moved slowly across his post. A moment later he turned to retrace his monotonous beat. This time the four bushes which should now have been upon his right were again upon his left. His horse pricked up his ears and looked in the direction of the camp. The horse had become accustomed to the scent of Indians coming from the captives within the camp, but he knew that they were closer now. However, he was not startled, as he would have been had the scent come from a new direction. The man looked casually where the horse looked—that is second nature to a horseman—then he rode on; and the four bushes merged with the shadows among the tents. The American woman, the wife of the freighter, had been given a tent to herself. She was sleeping soundly, secure in the knowledge of absolute safety, for the first time in many weeks. As she had dozed off to sleep the night before she had hoped that her husband was as comfortable as she; but, knowing him as she had, her mind had been assailed by doubts. He had been killed by Apaches a week previously. She was awakened by a gentle shaking. When she opened her eyes she saw nothing as it was dark in the tent; but she felt a hand upon her arm, and when she started to speak a palm was slapped across her mouth. “Make noise, gettum killed,” whispered a deep voice. “Shut up, no gettum killed.” The hand was removed. “What do you want?” whispered the woman. “I’ll keep shet up.” “Where is the wife of Geronimo?” pursued the questioner. “I dunno,” replied the woman, sullenly. “Who are you—one o’ them Injun Scouts? Why don’t you go ask some other Injun? I dunno.” “May-be-so you find out pronto. Me Apache Devil. She my mother. You tellum damn pronto or Apache Devil cut your damn fool throat. Sabe?” The woman felt the edge of a knife against the flesh at her throat. “She’s in the next tent,” she whispered hastily. “You lie me come back and kill,” he said, then he bound her hands and feet and tied a gag in her mouth, using strips torn from her own clothing for these purposes. In the next tent they found Sons-ee-ah-ray, and a few minutes later five bushes crossed the post that four had previously crossed. In the new camp south of Casa Grande the renegades found peace but for a few days, and then came Mexican troops one morning and attacked them. The skirmishing lasted all day. A few Mexican soldiers were killed; and at night the Apaches, having sustained no loss, moved eastward into the foothills of the Sierra Madres.