“We have heard nothing of the enemy,” he said.
“No, sir. I’ve listened till it has given me a feeling like toothache.”
“Do you think they are on our trail?”
“Ah, there I can’t say anything, sir, only that they may be. But if they are, they’re coming on at a regular crawl; I am sure of that.”
“How can you be sure?” said the doctor wonderingly.
“Because they’ll be, as Indians mostly are when they can’t see their quarry, horribly suspicious of being led into an ambush.”
“They did not seem so when they followed you.”
“No; they could see me, and they forgot to be in doubt in the heat of the pursuit. But on a night like this, and after the way in which we have shot them down, they are bound to feel their way step by step if they follow at all. Most likely they’ll wait till morning, when they’ll pick up our trail.”
“And then?”
“Come on as fast as they can run, sir. They won’t ride.”