“One—two—yes, there are three shadows,” said Perry dubiously; “but it is something to do with the fire.”
“Absurd, my lad; there are three shadows cast by three men sitting there.”
“I know,” cried Perry excitedly; “that is what the Indian meant—that the third fellow would be here to-night to sleep, or while we slept.”
“To be sure,” cried the colonel, in a tone full of satisfaction. “I’m glad of it, not but what we could have got on without him, for the mules go well enough, but because it proves the guide to be trusty and a man of his word.”
Chapter Five.
Perry is Startled.
The guide came to the colonel smiling as soon as he saw him seated, and pointed to; the other side of the fire, as he spoke words which evidently announced the coming of the promised assistant.
The colonel replied in Spanish, and the Indian went back to his companions. Soon after, the smell from John Manning’s pipe rose on the cool night-air, and Perry sat talking to his father in a questioning mood.