"No catchee dis chile do so much like foolee," said Wah Shin, with a shudder at the thought.
"Hist! Keep still and stop the dog's growling," said Sam sternly, as from his perch, higher up, he tried to make out what the Indians were doing down by the fire, and if possible to discover Ulna.
Meantime Ulna, moving as silently as the shadows that came and went about the fire near the spring, made his way toward the enemy.
He walked so erect and quickly that it would seem as if it were his purpose to go directly to the fire, but he took care to keep a rock between him and the enemy.
When within fifty yards of the spring he dropped on his hands and knees, and without stopping, crept quickly forward.
When he got so close to the fire that he could distinctly hear what the Apaches were talking about, he came to a stop, and lying close to the ground, he bent eagerly forward to listen.
The leader of this band was a man named Blanco, which is the Spanish word for white, though in this case it seemed to be misapplied.
Blanco's repulsive appearance was increased by the fact that he had only one eye—like Badger.
The chief and his companions had already discovered that the spring had been recently visited, and they very naturally inferred from the tracks of shoes that they had been made by white men.
Nor did the impress of the moccasins escape their keen eyes.