“Why not?”
“It can do no good, and he would be displeased at the thoughtlessness I have evidenced. I do not think there are savages enough in the vicinity to render us fearful of our safety. The canoe, I am disposed to believe, belongs to some tribe quite distant from here.”
“But what are they here for?”
“I can only conjecture. Biddon has never seen savages in this particular section, and these may be returning from some journey to their tribe.”
“Perhaps so, and may be not. These plagued Injins sometimes live in one place and sometimes in another, you know, and it may be that a notion has just entered their heads to come and live in these parts.”
“There is reason in what you say, but, as I stated, if danger threatens, Biddon will undoubtedly detect its signs himself in time.”
“I think he will, though I shall feel a little flustered every time he goes out. You remember when he was after the antelope, he walked right among the Injins, without knowing it till it was too late to stop.”
“He did, it is true, but how nicely he walked out again. I tell you, Nat, that fellow has nerve equal to any emergency. What man, when conscious of an overwhelming foe being concealed within a few feet of him, could have repressed every sign of trepidation or fear, as he did, and bring the antelope through the same fearful ordeal, with the same coolness and deliberation?”
“That was a clever thing, I allow.”