ur Indians expected to have an
addition made to their party, and they expected also that it would be
made just where it _was_ made. How do I know that? By the looks of
things. The ponies were all huddled together in one place, and they must
have stood there a good while, judging by the stamping they did. Their
riders must have dismounted there, for I saw the prints of their
moccasins in the sand. I noticed also that the side of the nearest
sandhill had been disturbed, and that told me that one of their number
had climbed up there to watch for the expected warrior."

"Perhaps he was watching for us," suggested Bob.

"If he was, he wouldn't have watched for us with his feet, would he?"
demanded George.

"'With his feet'?" echoed Bob.

"Yes. He would have been more likely to watch for us with his eyes."

"How do you know that he didn't?"

"Because he climbed up on our side of the hill, and that would have
exposed his whole body to our view if we had been anywhere within sight
of him. His eyes were turned the other way; that is, in Lieutenant
Earle's direction. He wasn't afraid of being seen by us, but he took all
due precautions to conceal himself from the gaze of any one who might
happen to come that way from Lieutenant Earle's command; for near the
place where the ponies were standing I saw the tufts of grass he had
pulled up to tie around his head."

"Well, I am beat!" exclaimed Bob.

"What beats you?"

"You do: I didn't see any of those things."

"Probably you didn't, for the reason that you didn't look for them. You
see, I have passed a good many years on the Plains, and I have learned
that eternal vigilance is the price of a cowboy's life and liberty. When
his scalp depends upon the correct reading of such signs as those which
I have just described to you, he is not often caught napping. My long
association with Zeke, whose eyes seemed to be everywhere, has got me
into the habit of keeping my own eyes open. Probably there were other
things there that would have been perfectly plain to Zeke or Mountain
Mose which I didn't see.

"Now, of course I don't _know_ that this new warrior brought Mr.
Wentworth's children with him when he came over to join our Indians, but
everything seems to point that way. One of the proofs--and the
strongest, in my humble opinion--is found in the fact that the Indians
allowed their captives to dismount on the banks of that stream the
courier told us of. I am inclined to believe