“Quite, sir. The attack, if it comes, will be from below, as it was made once before.”
Chris and Ned exchanged glances as they recalled all that they had seen and the result to the defenders, and a blank look of despair settled in their countenances.
As it happened the doctor was watching them keenly at the time, his breast full of anxiety for the lads about to be brought face to face with such grave peril, and he spoke out cheerfully as if in answer to the thoughts he had just read in their faces.
“Yes,” he said, “but you forget. Those people had to defend themselves with stones. We have the best of modern firearms, and can deal out death and destruction to our enemies from a distance while we are sheltered and quite beyond their reach. Well, Wilton, what do you make out?”
“They are all gathered closely together, pretty well a hundred strong,” was the reply, “and one man—the chief, I suppose—is haranguing the rest. He keeps on gesticulating and pointing down at the mules, and then waving his hands in different directions as if to show which way they ought to go.”
“Well,” said the doctor, “we must not stir until they move off. They evidently have not seen us, and they may after all believe the animals to be wild.”
“Yes, sir; and it’s no use to show ourselves till we are obliged. We’ll drive the beasts right up the valley here as soon as the coast’s clear, and then keep in hiding and try what a shot or two from where they don’t show will act. If we bring down a man and a horse or two they may turn back in a state of superstitious panic. It’s a good deal to hope for, but it might turn out so.”
“At any rate it’s the best plan,” said the doctor. “So be ready to act as soon as the enemy disappears, and then we must pray for time.”
Indian palavers are long and tedious, and the chief addressing the tribe talked for long enough, and was succeeded, so Wilton reported, by others, during all which time the watchers kept carefully out of sight and waited in a state of suspense that was almost unbearable.
“At last!” cried the doctor, as the body of horsemen began to move off. “Watch them carefully, Wilton, and see if you can make out how they are armed.”