Then came a sort of muster or examination of their little force, which, to Bart’s agony, resulted in the discovery that while all the Indians were present, and Harry was by their side, Joses, Sam, and Juan were away.
In his excitement, Bart did not realise why this was. Now he recalled that when he lay down to sleep the two offenders had been snoring stertorously, and it was evident that they were helplessly stupefied when the Indians came, and were taken.
But Joses?
Of course he was at his post, and the question now was, would he remain undiscovered, or would the Indians find the hiding-place of the horses, and after killing Joses sweep them all away?
It was a terrible thought, for to be left alone in that vast plain without horses seemed too hard to be borne. At the first blush it made Bart shudder, and it was quite in despair that with cocked rifle he waited for morning light, which seemed as if it would never come.
Bart’s thoughts were many, and frequent were the whispered conversations with the Doctor, as to whether the Indians would not find the cache of the horses as soon as it was daylight by their trail, though to this he had answered that the ground all around was so marked by horses’ hoofs that it was not likely that any definite track would be made out.
Then moment by moment they expected their own hiding-place to be known, and that they would be engaged fighting for their lives with their relentless foes; but the hours wore on, and though they could hear the buzz of many voices, and sometimes dark shadowy forms could be made out away on the plain, the fugitives were in dense shadow, and remained unmolested till the break of day.
By this time Bart had given Maude such comforting intelligence as he could, bidding her be hopeful, for that these Indians must be strangers to the place, or they would have known of the way up the mountain, and searched it at once.
“But if they found it in the morning, Bart,” she said, “what then?”
“What then?” said Bart, with a coolness he did not feel. “Why, then we shall have to kill all the poor wretches—that’s all.”