"It looks so."
"Let us die here in the open," proposed Kachina fearlessly.
"Nein," spoke up Peter. "If we fight here, we die, Dot's sure. If we go with dem, we die—maype. Berhaps not. Not sure, eh? We petter go, andt wait andt see. Ja!"
The Dutchman was right. We dropped our weapons, and the ring of Comanches swirled in upon itself. We were suddenly in the midst of a sweating mob of men and horses, scowling faces bent over us, rough hands snatching at our possessions; rawhide thongs were lashed about our waists, and the cavalcade dashed away between the swells, each of us running fast to keep up with the horseman who had us in tow, plenty of careless hoofs ready to beat our brains out if we stumbled. But after the first mile they lessened the pace, and toward evening we rode into a circle of teepees pitched on the bank of a tiny river.
On one side was a grove of trees, reaching to the high-water mark. Opposite, the pony herd grazed in a natural meadow. We were bound hand and foot and suffered to lie on the grass betwixt the easternmost of the teepees and the horse herd, the adolescents of the herd-guard being summoned to watch us. The chief and his warriors, after exhibiting us to a group of several hundred people, including women and children, shooed them all away and left us, evidently to decide how to treat us—which, apparently, meant how to end us.
The shadows lengthened steadily, but nobody brought us food. Now and then a man lounged over to test our bindings or look at us. Women and children who sought to stare at us further were importantly warned off by the adolescents of the herd-guard. The light was failing, too—so much so that I was surprised at feeling a cold muzzle thrust against my cheek. A delighted whinny greeted me.
I twisted my head around, and looked up into the quivering nostrils of a mottled stallion. He nuzzled me again, whinnying with every appearance of recognition, his white mane ruffling in pleasure. I spoke to him softly, and he buried his muzzle in my neck, pawing with his forehoof as though inviting me to rise and mount him. Yes, there was no doubt of it. He was Sunkawakan-kedeshka, the spotted horse, that I had tamed at Nadoweiswe's Teton village in the North before we first crossed the Sky Mountains.
CHAPTER XXI
THE STAMPEDE
"What is this, brother?" whispered Tawannears beside me.