"What shall I do?" asked the youth, turning to the chief.
"Go—up up," he replied, pointing up the steps; "watch out. Red Feather—he watch out here."
"Do you want Dot to stay with you?" asked Melville, pausing on his way to the steps.
"Leave wid Red Feather—he take heap care ob pappoose."
"There can be no doubt of that," remarked the brother, as he bounded up the stairs, resuming his former station near the window.
Looking out with the same care he had shown from the first, he found the Sioux had grown tired of galloping round the house and buildings, or they were plotting some other kind of mischief, for only one of them was in sight.
He was seated on his pony on the crest of the hill from which the signals were made to the Muddy Creek warriors. A moment's study of the red men showed that his attention was directed not toward the west but the north, in the direction of the settlement.
"He is now looking for enemies instead of friends," was the conclusion of Melville.
The truth was, the youth was beginning to wonder why the settlers did not come. If no accident had befallen his parents, they ought to have reached Barwell several hours before, and a gallop of ten miles was only a moderate ride for a party of horsemen eager to strike the marauders a blow.
But the fact that they were not yet in sight set the youth speculating as to what the result was likely to be if they did not come at all, or rather, if their coming should be delayed until nightfall, for it was not to be supposed that relief would not be sent sooner or later.