"Oh, laws a massy!" cried Ike, and with one hand he held the dog, while with the other he pressed his lips, "to keep from hollerin' right out," as he afterward expressed it.
Sam was not mistaken as to the movements of the Apaches. A number of them, led by their chief, had left Ulna in charge of the others and advanced boldly to the head of the ravine.
As a proof that they had no fear of the party they were in search of, one of the braves carried a torch, which he brandished above his head till he seemed to walk amid a fountain of sparks.
Taking a position where he could see without being seen, Sam, with an anxiously beating heart, watched the oncoming braves.
They approached to within about fifty yards of the rocks in which the little band had sought refuge, and came to a sudden halt.
Sam was wondering what would happen next, when, to his great surprise, the chief called out:
"Hello, white mans! Hello!"
The Indian spoke broken English in a way that no combination of letters could give a correct idea of, so for our own convenience, as well as for the reader's clearer understanding, we shall report what he said in the ordinary way, though Indians never use the elegant language some writers put into their mouths.
"What do you want?" was Sam's response to the Indian's outcry.
"Who you are?" asked the Indian.