"Then I reckon they will be up in our watch," Ben said. "Well, we shall be ready for them."
"Perhaps come, perhaps not come; perhaps scout up valley first see if some of us there, and look for horses. Perhaps some come up path; but crawl up slow, not know whether look-out there."
"Well, I don't envy them if they have got much crawling to do to-night; it is cold enough to freeze one's breath."
"'Rappahoe not like cold," the chief said, "but wants scalp bad; that makes his blood warm."
"I will let some of it out," Jerry said wrathfully, "if I get a chance to lay a bead on one of them. Don't you be afeard, chief; we will look out sharp enough, you bet. Waal, I reckon it is about our time to turn out, Ben."
"Jerry tells me that you have heard noises below, chief," Harry said when he came in. "We heard nothing, but it ain't easy to hear well with these hoods over one's head."
"Hoods bad for hear," the chief assented. "Leaping Horse heard plain, Indians down below."
"Well, it is only what we expected, chief. Anyhow, we are ready for them when they come."
Tom lay down now, and knew nothing more till Hunting Dog touched him.
"Time to go and watch," he said.