"He would trouble yo' un if yo' un had had the experience I have," retorted Hicks. "I tell you I don't like it. Them Yanks seem too blame careless. It ain't like them. An' that dawg—didn't he make no fuss when yo' un crept up?"
"Not a bit. If thar was any dawg, he must have been asleep, too."
"I tell yo' un I don't like it. Thar is something wrong. That dawg——"
"Shut up," commanded Duncan. "Josh, if you are afraid of a dawg, stay with the hosses. Some of the boys will have to stay, and there is not one, unless it is you, but wants a hand in this job."
"Yes, stay, Josh, stay!" jeered the men. "Josh is getting skeery. He is afraid of a dawg."
"Stay nothin'!" snorted Josh, mad as a hornet. "An' if any of yo' uns insinuates I am afraid, yo' uns will have to settle with Josh Hicks, an' that mighty quick."
"No quarrelling, boys," commanded Duncan. "Josh is all right. Don't want to stay with the hosses, Josh?"
"Not by a thundering sight."
"All right, Josh, we will give you the first crack at that boy, the owner of the dawg, to settle old scores."
They were to creep up on the scouts and kill them as they slept. If an alarm was given, they were to rush on them and make quick work of it.