Down the slope toward the water hole galloped four riders. Their naked bodies gleamed copper-red in the new sunlight as they bent low over the necks of their lean ponies. With squeals of fright the band whirled and charged down the canyon. A cloud of yellow dust billowed at their heels. The chestnut stallion crashed down on their flanks with bared teeth and pounding hoofs. When a mare lagged he drove her squealing into the band. The mad charge carried the wild horses away from the four pursuing Navajos, but the trailers did not give up the chase. Back of the dust cloud Yellow Man rode beside his three sons. Their faces were expressionless; only their black eyes showed the eager excitement that filled them. They did not try to make their gaunt ponies overtake the thundering band but were content to keep a steady pace. The trail left by the wild horses was broad and easy to follow. Lady Ebony ran ahead of the band, keeping well out in front without effort. She was not badly frightened and the wild panic of the other horses had not gripped her. But she raced along just the same, enjoying the surging flight which gave full play to her powerful muscles. The big chestnut charged in and turned the band up the ridge. As they swept over the top of the rocky hill they saw the Indians galloping along the canyon bed below. Yellow Man shifted his seat on the bare back of his pinto. His black eyes were following the flight of the black mare, and there was a fierce eagerness in them. The chestnut leader was doing just what he wanted him to do. The big fellow was swinging his band into a wide circle, a curve which would carry them back into the country they had just left. The band thundered down off the ridge and headed up a sand wash. The drag of the sand and the uphill going slowed them but they kept pounding along, the stallion saw to that. He stayed behind and used his teeth savagely on the rumps of the laggards. Yellow Man and his sons galloped up the ridge and dropped into the sand wash. A thin smile parted the lips of the tall hunter as he noticed how fagged his horse was. They were chasing no ordinary wild scrub ponies. The chestnut stallion had trained his band well and kept them in fine condition. They had run the legs right out from under the Navajo ponies. He urged his pinto up the sand wash as fast as the little beast could travel. The chestnut saw the riders coming and noticed that they were working their way to the side as though aiming to come up alongside. He suspected a trick though he was disdainful of the slow-running ponies coming up from below. He changed his course a little to the north. Now the pursuers would have to travel much farther than his band to overtake them. The Navajo riders swung north too, and kept following close to the dust cloud.