The thought filled them with despair. For the moment their own peril was forgotten in their concern for the safety of Red Dog and his people. Having failed to find the Cheyenne hunters, the Sioux feared to think what might have happened to the little company in the distant village. The peril roused them.
"We have done a foolish thing," Sun Bird cried, hotly. "Now we must try to get away and do the thing we set out to do."
"I am thinking about it," White Otter told him.
"What do you propose to do?" inquired Sun Bird.
"When it grows dark we will try to get past the Pawnees," White Otter said, quietly.
CHAPTER XI
A NIGHT OF SURPRISES
Late in the day half of the Pawnees withdrew toward the east. The Sioux felt certain that they had gone to watch the buffaloes which they had killed. The rest of the company came nearer to the timber. Then they began to taunt and threaten the Sioux. The latter took no notice of them. They waited anxiously for the end of the day, hoping that darkness might make it possible to escape.