"These men," said Sam, pointing in the direction of the enemy, "knew we were out here before they left Hurley's Gulch."
"It do seem bery much dat way," said Ike, with a sad shake of the head. Then he added: "But I don't see how dey could hab knowed."
"Can't you think of one way, Ike?"
"No, Mistah Sam; foh de life ob me I can't."
"Have you forgotten Ulna?"
"Ulna!" exclaimed Ike.
"Yes; there is no doubt in my mind as to his safety. He has reached Hurley's Gulch, and those men, my father's enemies, have come out, on the strength of Ulna's information, to stop us."
"But why don't some ob our friends show up? Dat's w'at gits me," said Ike, and he rubbed his head vigorously with both hands, as if he might in this way excite his brain into better action.
The question asked by Ike had presented itself to Sam before, but as he could not answer it he did not let it annoy him. Speculation and action do not work in harmony.
While it was yet sufficiently light, Sam Willett, like a careful soldier examining the field on which a life and death struggle is about to take place, looked over the rock on which they had found refuge and saw its weak points as well as its advantages.