It was evident, therefore, that the discovery of this camp-fire had produced the excitement among the Apaches.
And why should such be the case?
The fact of it was, that the three Apaches were upon territory which could by no means be considered the exclusive tramping-ground of their tribe.

Immediately to the eastward roamed the Kiowas and Comanches, and it was no more than natural that their warriors should come into occasional collision, especially when none of them were disposed to recognize any of the presumed rights of the other.
The dispute, therefore, was regarding the campfire, which had suddenly appeared to plague them.

Did it belong to their friends or enemies?
Lone Wolf, in sending his three warriors homeward with the captive, dispatched them by a round-about method through the mountains, for the reason that it would be more difficult to trail them.

The advantage which they had gained in the start, he was confident, placed it out of the power of Sut Simpson, or any of his friends, to do them injury.
But here, while carrying out the directions of their chief, they found themselves confronted by an unexpected danger.
If the Kiowas or Comanches, as the case might be, discerned the little company, they would not fail to observe that they had a prize in their possession, and they very probably would show a disposition to interfere.

The wrangle was as to whether it was best to go directly ahead upon the route they were pursuing, trusting not only to the possibility that the strangers there were friends, but to the prospect of their getting by without detection, or whether they should go to the trouble of a flank movement.
Waukko was inclined to go directly ahead, while the others were opposed, and, as is frequently the case with such people, the dispute was excited and hot for awhile; but the hideous Apache triumphed by virtue of his official position.