"Now, I s'pose you understand how it all is? They've been keeping along with us all day, a little ahead, and all the time closing in a little. They've got things down to a dot, and mean bus'ness, you can bet." "But are we anywhere near Hurricane Hill?" "Yonder it is." Several miles in advance, a dark, mound-like obstruction appeared against the sky. It was so far away that it was seen only indistinctly, but its character was evidently such as described by the hunter. "Are you going for it?" "We are." And, suiting action to his words, they immediately broke into a gallop which was more rapid than before. The situation, especially to the boy, became painful in its thrilling intensity. He required no telling to know that the dreaded programme described by his friends was being carried out to the letter. The Apaches were steadily closing in upon them, and it was evident that, if they chose to do so, they could effectually shut them out from reaching their vantage ground. Young Chadmund dreaded such a course upon their part. Somehow or other he had grown to look upon Hurricane Hill as their haven of safety. The few words of recommendation that Tom Hardynge had given it caused this belief upon his part. He did not pause to ask himself what was to be done after reaching it. Suppose it could be gained in perfect safety, what then? If they should prove themselves fully able to keep a whole host of Apaches at bay, how was the siege to end? If the Indians should content themselves with merely waiting until hunger and thirst could do their work, what more? These questions naturally occurred to the men themselves, but it came back to Hobson's choice after all. And so they dashed ahead, gradually increasing their speed, while the Apaches, with the regularity of machine work, as gradually drew in upon them. "Will they cut us off?" inquired Ned, when the chase had continued for some time. "Guess not," replied Dick; "but it don't make much difference." "Why not?" "'Cause it begins to look as if they had a dead sure thing of it," said the scout, sententiously. "I hope not--I hope not," said the trembling lad, who could only pray that Heaven would not desert them in the peril which was encompassing them on every hand. CHAPTER XXXIV. HURRICANE HILL. While yet at a considerable distance, the full force of the Indians became developed. They were divided almost equally, fifty being on either hand, and their speed still remained such that the main portion kept ahead of the fugitives, with about half a mile intervening between them and their pursuers. It may have been fancy, but Tom Hardynge maintained that he was able to recognize Lone Wolf among the redskins on the right, and when a short time afterward Dick Morris emphatically asserted the same thing, it began to look as if the belief were well founded.