“The only Indians in this country hate the white man,” he said. “They have had some cause, goodness knows. But the point is, they hate us.” Turning abruptly to Frank, he said:
“Do they know where we are? Were you seen?”
“I was approaching our camp from this side,” said Frank, who had recovered his speech. “I was in search of a handkerchief, for I’ve got a little cold, and found I did not have one with me. Anyway, my feet made no sound on the pine needles, and I was screened from the camp by the trees. Suddenly, as I neared the last fringe, I saw a dozen Indians or more steal out of the trees on the other side of the clearing. They fell upon our belongings and started going through them. I hurried away to warn you.”
“Quick,” said Farnum, “there is no time to lose. We are seven and all armed. They saw us depart and probably thought this was a grand chance to rifle our camp. Waited a while to see if we were coming back at once. I imagine they are just thieves. Well, we’ll give them a lesson. Come on.”
Mr. Hampton laid a detaining hand on Farnum’s arm.
“Even if they are thieves,” he said. “We want no bloodshed. Shoot over their heads, if shooting is necessary.”
Farnum’s face fell.
“All right, sir,” he said. “Just as you say. But we’ll have to hurry, or they’ll get away with everything and escape in our canoes. Then we would be out of luck, indeed.”
With beating hearts, the party stole back through the trees, spread out with intervals of several yards between each. Dick and Art, who never stirred anywhere without their rifles with them, being old-timers who knew what it meant to be separated from their weapons in this wild land, were on the ends of the line. The boys had left their rifles behind, as had Mr. Hampton. Farnum, however, had brought his, and held the middle position. The other four were armed with their revolvers.
As they neared the fringe of trees forming the last rampart between them and camp, crouching behind tree trunks as they stole forward, they could see a group of Indians still busy over their disordered luggage, which had been opened and tossed about near the fire. Another group was at the water’s edge, loading the canoes which had been drawn up on the sand.