As they came to the border of the stream and were about to ride in, Jack said to Joe, “Do you know any of those men, Joe?”
“Yes,” said Joe, “two of them I know, that white man and the half-breed down by the water. The white man is John Williamson and the half-breed is Louis Legros. I don’t know that other big man.”
When they unsaddled, Jack noticed that Hugh, who had come out of the tent, looked rather grave, and after the horses had been turned loose, he said to the boys in a low voice, “Those fellows down below here look to me like whiskey traders. There has been a bunch of Bloods up here to-day, and when they went away some of them were drunk, I think. These men have been singing and making plenty of noise this afternoon, and they may give us a little trouble. I want you boys to be careful and not have any words with them, no matter what they do. If there’s going to be any rowing or jawing let me do the talking.”
While supper was cooking, the neighboring tent grew more and more noisy. The men there were singing and shouting and sometimes giving Indian warwhoops, and once or twice the big man came out of the tent and, calling out, invited the three travelers to come over and have a drink with them, but they returned no answer to the invitation.
The sun was still an hour or two high, and Hugh, Jack and Joe were eating their supper, when suddenly a shot sounded from the neighboring tent and at the same time a chip flew from the front tent pole, showing that the ball must have passed three or four feet over their heads.
Hugh called out, “Be careful with your shooting irons over there. You came pretty near hitting one of us,” but the only reply was a volley of angry curses from the adjoining tent.
A few minutes later the big man came out and stood not far from his own tent and raising a revolver which he held in his right hand, fired two shots in quick succession over the heads of the three who were still eating. The boys did not know what to do, but Hugh slowly rose to his feet, and saying to the boys, “Keep quiet now and don’t mix up in this unless you are told to,” walked over to the big man.
As Hugh walked up close, the big man began to abuse him violently and once or twice half raised his hand to point the revolver at him, but evidently thought better of it.
Meanwhile, the man’s two companions had come out of the tent, the white man laughing in a silly fashion and the half-breed more or less frightened and earnestly imploring his companion, whom he addressed as Tony, to come away.
The latter, however, seemed fascinated by Hugh, and no longer moved nor spoke, while Hugh took hold of his wrist, wrenched the revolver away from him and threw it on the ground, where Jack picked it up. Then turning Tony about, so that he faced his friends, Hugh said: “Now you three men break camp quick and get out of here. I won’t have you round any longer.”