“Remember that those people have wonderfully keen eyes, and they may be able to distinguish us when we cannot see them. It is better for both to withdraw.”
“I will soon follow you if there’s anything suspicious.”
Freeman walked his horse a hundred feet from the stream, holding the bridle of the other animal as he did so. The lieutenant remained by the water’s edge, where, instead of keeping his standing posture, he knelt down on one knee, a position which lessened his chance of being observed by any foe on the other side.
Peering intently in the darkness, he was able to make out the shadowy figure of two and possibly three men standing motionless in the gloom, the view being so faint that at first he doubted whether he saw anything at all.
For the first time Decker made a cautious response to the signal, the same that had been employed by him and the White Mountain scout in previous instances of peril. Again it came across the water to him, and, but for the suspicious circumstances, he would have staked everything on its being emitted by the dusky lips of his friend.
“If it be an enemy,” he reflected, “I would give much to know where he got the call, but Mendez had no companions when he left us, and certainly there is more than one man standing on the other shore.”
Nature now came to the help of the lieutenant. The full moon was near the horizon, almost directly behind the opposite bank, and the slight illumination it flung into the sky revealed the forms of three persons so clearly that there could be no mistake.
“It’s a cunning trick, but it will not work this time, my good friends.”
Kneeling on one knee, the lieutenant took the best aim he could at the group and let fly with one charge from his Winchester.
This time the bullet sped true. One of the dusky forms leaped into the air with a screech and fell prostrate on his face, where he remained without rising.