“Nobody can’t hear us.”
“It distracts our attention from our work; better give your whole mind to the business we have in hand; if you see anything that doesn’t look right, let me know.”
“Berry well.”
Now, you do not need to be told that one of the hardest things to do, is to stand still for an hour or two at a stretch. Even though you shift the weight from one foot to the other, the strain soon becomes unbearable, whereas a rugged man can find pleasure in pacing regularly to and fro after the manner of sentinels.
“A feller mought as well be comfor’ble,” mused Jethro, leaning his rifle against the side of the wagon body, where he could snatch it up the instant needed. He next placed his elbow on the highest point of the broad tire of the large hind wheel, and rested his head upon his hand. His pose was made still easier by swinging one foot in front of the other ankle, and supporting it on the toe of his shoe.
This posture was so agreeable that he was sure he could hold it for several hours without fatigue; but it is such poses that irks one the soonest. He changed the position of the feet, but found that rather awkward, so long as his elbow remained on the tire. By turning his body round so that his back was toward the open plain, he could use his other elbow and the relief was pleasant.
“Big idee,” he muttered to himself; “bime by when I git tired, I’ll swing round agin.”
It certainly was a strange pose for a sentinel, deliberately to turn his back away from the field from which danger threatened. Yet that is precisely what Jethro Mix did and his self explanation was not without some force:
“If any ob de Injins try to sneak up, Al will be sure to see ’em; he’ll let me know in time to whirl ’bout and lambast ’em or—git out ob de way myself.”
The neglectful guard found some comfort in another fact: he was gifted with an unusually keen sense of hearing, and believed his ears would tell him as much as his eyes. In the circumstances, however, when it is remembered that absolute silence is one of the features of Indian subtlety, this was the gravest of mistakes.