Jethro dared not refuse to obey the terrible fellow, and kept at his heels until they reached the wagon, where Alden grinningly awaited them.
“Younker,” said the hunter in his rumbling voice; “being this the most dangerous p’int, I’m going to put two of ye here.”
“A good plan, Shagbark; I never knew a fellow with better eyesight and ears than Jeth; between him and me, the red man will find it hard to steal upon us unawares.”
“Whar—whar am I to stand?” faltered the negro.
“Ye will stay right whar I place ye,—alongside of the left hand wheel of the wagon; the younker will hold his position clus to the right wheel; ye two will then have only the breadth of the wagon between ye; neither of ye must stir from the spot till I come round to bring some one else to take yer place. Do ye understand?” he demanded of the terrified Jethro.
“Yas, sir; I’ll do de best I kin; nobody can’t do no better dan dat.”
“And nobody asks you to do any better; wal, I reckon I’ve said ’nough.”
And the guide moved away with his noiseless tread melting from sight in the gloom.
It must be said of Jethro that although scared almost out of his senses, he was resolved to do his duty so far as it lay within him to do it. Even in his panic, he saw an advantage over the other sentinels. A wagon guarded by two persons must be twice as well protected as one under the care of a single person. Alden was so watchful that he could be counted on to detect any approach of danger. Jethro was in the position of a man who had a reliable support in an enterprise involving great peril.
The two stood so near each other that it was easy to converse in under tones. Within the Conestoga, all was still. The mothers and their children were sleeping, feeling secure in the protection of heaven and the strong and brave hearts around them.