"Fine!" cried Jerry delightedly. "Sure we want 'em."
"We won't really need them, I s'pose?" asked Fred.
"You may," returned the captain. "Especially if you're going up against that sheep-destroyer of Phipps'. Looks to me like it was some cattle men from the ranges over beyond the Circle B. P. If it is you'll have to pass it up. If it's some animal or other, go to it!"
Herb and Gray arrived before the sunrise gun boomed next morning, and after a hasty breakfast the party rode to the northwest. They soon found themselves among the hills that bordered the river, and about ten o'clock Carlito halted them.
"See that cliff yonder?" Jerry pointed to a steep ascent that rose above the low water across the river. Halfway up could be seen a crumbling ruin from which rose a trail of smoke. "There's a cliff dwellin', Windy. Looks like old Tommy's home too."
"Tommy's the only Mojave there who can talk any English," explained Dunk as they splashed through the river. "We'll leave the horses down here an' hike up."
Leaving the ponies to graze along the river bank the boys began the ascent of a well-worn path. It had been hollowed out in places and made easier for visitors, so that they had no difficulty in reaching the cliff dwellings on the ledge. As they did so, Fred, who had followed Carlito closely, saw two wrinkled and blanket-clad Indians with a couple of fat squaws, seated over a small fire. One of the chiefs was hideously tattooed on the forehead and chin, and the women were heavily ornamented with strings of many-colored beads and gaudy pendants. Two of them wore large brass earrings. All had a miscellaneous supply of brass buttons distributed over their blankets.
"Hello, Tommy!" called Jerry cheerfully as he gained the ledge. "Better bring over some more stuff! We've got some new people at the post. Sell some baskets easy."
The eldest Mojave shook his head without looking up. "No tadavia," he returned. "No got. Nex' week, mebbe. All gone."
"You fellows show Windy over the place," said Carl. "I'm going to talk to Tommy." Squatting down beside the other Indians, he broke into a flood of Mexican.
"Come on, Windy," laughed Dunk. "Carl ain't got no use for us now."
At first Fred was somewhat disappointed in the cliff dwellings, or what was left of them. Only part of the walls were standing in many cases, the roofs having caved in, the remainder of the buildings being surrounded by fallen rocks and mortar.