“No see. What do now?”
“Do you mean what I am going to do?” inquired Reuben. “Well, I wish some one would answer that question for me.”
“Breaker of Arrows go home. Black Night come, too. White boy want to go with us?”
“No,” answered Reuben, “I must stay here. I must find my friend.”
Apparently his explanation satisfied his companions, for in a brief time they mounted their ponies and prepared to leave Reuben alone in the little valley or defile where the buffalo meat had been roasted.
It was impossible for Reuben to resume his search for Jean. In the place where he then was he was protected from sudden attacks and he decided to remain there and await the coming of the morning.
The night passed without any adventures, but when morning came the light revealed to Reuben a sight even more startling than that of the preceding evening, when the three Cheyennes had discovered him alone on the plains.
[CHAPTER IV—RAT TRUE]
In the light of the early morning Reuben saw a man on horseback approaching the place where he was standing. Behind him were two pack-horses, each heavily laden.
Convinced that the man was a stranger and that as yet he had not discovered the presence of any one besides himself in the defile, the first impulse that seized upon the young trapper was to seek some place of safety.