“Confound it!” he exclaimed with a shake of his head, “they’re not there!”
“Then they have gone on up the trail,” said the captain inquiringly.
“No; they haven’t been there; it isn’t their camp.”
“Whose is it?”
“Injins; there are five of ’em; they’ve just had their breakfast and are gettin’ ready to make a start.”
“Didn’t they see you?”
“That isn’t the way I do bus’ness,” replied Vose rather loftily; “it’s more’n likely, howsumever, they seen us all awhile ago when we was further down the trail. They’re traveling eastward.”
“How can you know that?” asked the parson.
“The Injin that took his dive off the trail ’bout the time the captain fired off his revolver, was going that way. He b’longed to the party and was sorter leading ’em; he was a chief or something of the kind.”