There could be no doubt but what it came from white men, or at least men who were pale faces in looks but red devils by nature.
Goliath crept towards this lodge, and in another moment was beside it.
The boy moved around on the other side, and by dint of using the caution that seemed to be a part of his nature, managed to gain the dense shadow of the northern side without making an iota of noise.
Then the thought intruded itself, what if the giant should take a notion to make a circuit of the lodge?
He would certainly be found out, and Mason knew that discovery by this man meant death.
This action was promptly executed. The skins composing the lodge were loose at the bottom, and a pile of furs lay just within.
A glance at the two inmates showed that they were interested in the contents of a suspicious-looking keg, and paid no attention to anything else.
It took the boy but a moment to glide like an eel under the skin of the lodge, and hide among the furs.
From here he could watch the two men and hear all that was said without being in danger of discovery.
They were not a very nice-looking couple to gaze upon, not being overly well burdened with good looks, but the boy had seen one of them before, and it would be hard work to find any uglier man than Pedro Sanchez in this sphere of ours; so his companion might be said to possess some claims of beauty when compared with the noseless, one-eyed French creole, whose face bore the scars of some fearful combat.