CHAPTER XXI.
A GAME OF HIDE AND SEEK.
Lieutenant Decker pressed his ear against the side of the rock and listened, hoping that his enemy would betray himself by coming in contact with the solid substance, but he was too cunning. He knew better than to act in that amateurish fashion.
It was the result of guesswork, rather than of reason, that the young man came to the belief that the warrior would steal around three-fourths of the boulder and come upon him from the rear. Accordingly he faced that way, revolver in hand, and ready for the emergency when it presented itself.
Reaching the corner, Decker paused, but with the uncomfortable feeling that, after all, he had committed a blunder and the Apache, divining his reasoning, would make his next essay from the front; but, since the whole business, for a time at least, must be conducted upon conjecture, he grimly held his ground.
During these critical moments, he did not forget the peril from above. He continually held his ear against the rock, believing that if the buck attempted to steal upon him from that direction, he must inevitably betray himself by sound, which passes readily through a solid substance, and, hearing nothing of the kind, he concluded the essay was not yet made.
Now, nothing was clearer than that so long as matters remained thus, the peril was not only unchanged but impended as before. Who was to make the first advance, as may be said, into the enemy’s territory?
The lieutenant might have been more patient, but for several contingencies which threatened to complicate the situation. Freeman was still at the spring; and although the understanding was that he was to remain there until signaled to come, it was probable that he would accept the long silence of his companion as proof that everything was right, and seek to rejoin him. Could he but know how matters stood, he would give the very help needed, but, not knowing it, was likely to run into a peril which would prove fatal to himself before his young friend could warn him or interfere in his behalf.
The other contingency was that the Apache might have one companion or more in the vicinity who would come to his assistance. Such a reinforcement would decide the singular contest at once and against the young man. The lesson of all this was that matters must be forced to an issue with the least possible delay.