It looked as if they had been commanded to cross the river and join the main force on the western bank in some important enterprise.
This left precisely eleven Indians, so far as could be seen, with Jake Golcher to carry out his designs. When Fred Godfrey realized the size of the force, he said in an undertone to his father:
"If we only had our guns now, we could make a good fight against them."
"But we haven't—so what's the use of talking of an impossibility?"
It was apparent to the fugitives, who were watching everything, that Golcher himself was a little uneasy over the shape matters had taken. Instead of going to where the captives were sitting on the fallen tree, he stood apart with two of the warriors, discussing something with as much earnestness as he had talked to Gray Panther.
The meaning of this was soon made plain, when he came over, and, addressing Habakkuk McEwen, said loud enough for all ears:
"We've concluded to move camp."
"What's that for?" asked the New Englander.
"None of your business," was the reply, given with equal promptness.
The anxiety of McEwen to gain the good-will of his master, however, would not permit him to hold his peace, and he hastened to interject several questions.