All started and grasped their weapons, instinctively, for the trusty rifles were close at hand.
“An attack?” cried Gardiner.
“No—a message. See, there’s a scroll upon the arrow,” answered Gummery. “Read it.”
He threw some brush upon the coals which speedily burst into a flame. Lieutenant Gardiner undid the scroll of bark from the arrow, and spread it open. It contained characters which he had no difficulty in deciphering, for they were written in English.
“White men, begone! If you advance further into the land of the Yakimas, certain destruction awaits you.
“Smoholler, the Prophet.”
CHAPTER III.
SMOHOLLER’S FIEND.
“What does this mean?” added Lieutenant Gardiner, having read this singular scroll aloud.
“A game of bluff!” answered the irrepressible Percy Cute. “Let’s see him, and go two better!”
“It’ll be more than a bluff game,” rejoined Gummery Glyndon, shaking his head gravely. “This means business. It’s a notice to quit, and if we don’t take it, these Injuns will do their best to put us out.”
“Rub us out entirely, I guess you mean,” cried Surveyor Robbins, laughingly. “But we won’t take the back track on such a notice as that. Who is this Smoholler?”