Three times the guard placed between the camp and stream was on the point of firing his gun, but checked himself until his suspicion should become certainty. A faint ripple of water drew his attention to the creek, and he dimly saw a small dark object floating on the water. At first it appeared to be drifting with the current, but he fancied it was gradually working to the shore nearer to him.
“I believe it is the head of one of them,” was his thought; “as soon as he comes nigh enough I’ll let drive.”
But after floating down stream a considerable way, it disappeared. The sentinel was an intelligent and alert fellow, who did not allow his scrutiny to be diverted more than a moment from any point of the compass within his field of vision. He knew that one of the favorite tricks of the Apaches was to draw the attention of their enemies to some point while the real danger approached from the other.
A half hour later the soldier on duty saw precisely the same thing repeated. A small round object drifted with the current, but, so far as he could determine, it was working toward the further bank; but, as in the former case, it remained in the water until it passed from sight.
“I think I could hit it from here,” reflected the sentinel, “but it may be a piece of wood or something like that, and the boys need their rest so much that it’s a pity to wake them without good cause—well, I’ll be hanged!”
It was not in the water this time, but close to it that the suspicious object now showed itself. It looked as if the first one having effected a landing at a point down stream was stealing up again, with a view of approaching camp. To do this, it kept on the very margin of the current, where the slight depression of the sandy bank afforded a trifling protection, though not enough wholly to conceal it.
“It’s one of them, dead sure,” muttered the trooper, making ready to give him a proper reception; “he can’t do any mischief until he comes nearer, and if I don’t let the moonlight shine through his noddle it will be because I’ve forgotten how to fire a gun.”
But after all the chance for a test of his marksmanship was denied the man who was so anxious to pick off the miscreant. While carefully watching and waiting until he could make his aim sure, the object, whatever it was, vanished, nor did it appear again.
The soldier could not know of a certainty the explanation of this curious occurrence and asked the opinion of Mendez the following morning. That sagacious scout listened attentively to the story and said in his abrupt way: