A PERILOUS ADVENTURE
EACH moment seemed an age to the anxious lad watching on the crest of the ridge. The night hush had fallen upon the plain, and the very stillness oppressed him. His mind became a prey to all sorts of gloomy forebodings. He began to give way to his imagination. He feared that he was surrounded by prowling, sharp-eared scouts from the Ute camp, and that some of them had concealed themselves on the ridge to wait for the Sioux war party. The thought startled him. Every few moments he held his breath to listen. The slightest rustling of the sage set his heart beating wildly, but his fear was not for himself. He had already been exposed to sufficient peril to make him indifferent. However, this was the first time he had gone out as a war leader, and he knew that his reputation would suffer severely if disaster befell the little company who had enlisted under him. He raised his face toward the vast starry heavens, and asked aid from the Great Mystery.
A few moments later the sharp, snappy bark of the little gray fox sounded through the night. Sun Bird fairly trembled with delight. He felt sure that it was Sitting Eagle, but he determined to take every precaution. He waited, therefore, until the signal had been repeated twice more, and then he knew it was genuine. Fearing to reply from his hiding place, the wily lad crawled stealthily from concealment, and wriggled cautiously down the ridge. Then as he heard nothing to rouse his suspicions he glided away in the direction of the sound. When he had gone an arrow-flight he stopped, and barked twice, very softly. Then he listened for an answer. It came out of the darkness directly ahead of him, and he fitted an arrow to his bow and advanced as noiselessly as a shadow. When he finally heard the soft, guarded tread of a led pony he stopped and uttered a low-voiced challenge.
"If you are a Dacotah you will tell me about something," he said.
"It is good; what your eyes do not see, your ears must tell you," replied the familiar voice of Sitting Eagle.
A few moments afterward they met. Sitting Eagle said that the war party was waiting some distance back on the plain. When Sun Bird told about the two Ute scouts the older warrior assured him that the Sioux had seen nothing of them. He declared that they had kept a sharp watch, and that it would have been impossible for the Utes to have discovered them without being seen.
"Then I do not know about this thing," acknowledged the perplexed young Sioux.
"Come, I will go up on this ridge and look around," proposed Sitting Eagle.
Then Sitting Eagle surrendered his pony to Sun Bird, and said that he would climb the ridge alone. When Sun Bird objected the older warrior reminded him that one must remain with the pony.
"My brother, you have seen this thing. Now I must see it. Then we can talk about it. Yes, I will ask you to wait here until I come back," said Sitting Eagle.