They stepped forward lightly, and with an easy carriage that showed no apprehension of danger lurked in their young hearts.
The watchers behind the breastwork had soon a startling evidence of the vigilance of Smoholler’s sentinels. Before the boys reached the mouth of the ravine, a light form sprung from between the rocks and bounded toward them—the form, apparently of an Indian boy, wearing an antelope’s head. Oneotah, thus attired, presented a grotesque appearance to the eyes of the beholders. It almost seemed to them as if the animal the head represented was advancing upon its hind-legs, in a series of graceful jumps, to greet the boys.
Oneotah was quickly followed by the tall form of the Prophet, in all his fanciful costume and hideous war-paint. Then, as if by magic, from behind rocks, and from the thickets that skirted the mouth of the ravine, sprung forth a score of Indian warriors, gorgeous in paint and feathers, and the glittering tinsel of their barbaric dress, and each one brandishing a rifle, whose bright barrel glittered in the sunlight.
“Great Jericho! there’s a slew of ’em!” cried Glyndon, as he beheld them. “Fifty of ’em, if there’s one. Ah! the Prophet’s playing a game of brag with us. Wants to show us that he has got enough braves, as he thinks, to wipe us out. He don’t know that Multuomah and his Nez Perces are here, that’s evident.”
Percy Cute was by no means intimidated by this display, for he immediately reversed his position by a hand-spring, and walking toward the Prophet on his hands, offered him one of his feet to shake hands with.
Instead of resenting this action, the Prophet entered into the spirit of it, for he caught Percy Cute by the foot, and with a vigorous motion, that showed his strength of arm, spun the boy up in the air, and Cute descended upon his feet, resuming his proper attitude, and making a bow, after the manner of a gymnast in a circus, as he did so.
During this, Oneotah gave her hand to Percy Vere, and they disappeared together through the mouth of the ravine. Smoholler and Cute followed them, and when the rocks hid them from view, not an Indian warrior was to be seen. They seemed to have melted away among the rocks and trees before which they had been standing, disappearing with a noiseless celerity.
As the tall form of the Prophet, rendered more conspicuous by his richly-bedizened cloak, was lost to view, the sun’s rays, which had illuminated this rocky gorge, were suddenly withdrawn, and a gloom, like a pall, settled over the little valley.
The change, though due to natural causes, came so suddenly as to appear peculiar; and the sudden disappearance of the Prophet and his warriors seemed almost supernatural. There is little doubt that the wily chieftain, knowing that the boys’ progress through the ravine would be watched by their friends, had artfully arranged the whole scene to make it as impressive as possible upon the minds of the beholders.
If this was indeed the case, the effect produced upon the inmates of the surveyors’ camp was all that he could have desired.