“Yees jist go wid me to-morrer, and saa fur yersilf.”
“That’s what I will do, ef the infarnal red-skins don’t get too thick.”
“Or the beast,” suggested old Stebbins.
“Be jabers! but we saad nothing of him,” said Teddy, who had scarcely thought of the strange animal up to this moment.
“I don’t think he’ll bother us, ef we look out fur him; but what were them consarned Blackfeet doin’ in thar?”
It was all-important that they should not overlook the personal danger involved in this matter. The encounter of Teddy O’Doherty with the Indians proved beyond all doubt that such a peril existed.
Much speculation and conjecture now followed. It was probable that the Indians had known of the existence of this gold mine for some time, and no doubt they had turned it to good account.
One of those nuggets, flecked and imbedded through and through with the pure gold, would purchase many necessaries and luxuries for whatever red-skin chose to carry it to a trading or frontier post. It could be easily manufactured into the rude trinkets so prized by all native Americans.
Such being the case, it might be considered certain that the property would be disputed. Had old Stebbins been given the opportunity to finish, not one, but both the Blackfeet, their disappearance undoubtedly would be laid to the terrible “ringed and streaked” creature that was dreaded by white and red-men alike.