When they had ended their meal Belhumeur filled his pipe, and put out his hand to take up a coal.
"Wait," the chief said sharply.
This was the first word the Indian uttered; up to that moment the three men had not interchanged a syllable. Belhumeur looked at him.
"H'm!" he said, "What is the matter now?"
"I do not know yet," the chief answered. "I have heard a suspicious rustling in the bushes; and at a great distance off, to leeward of us, several buffaloes peacefully grazing took to flight without any apparent cause."
"Hum!" the Canadian went on, "That is growing serious. What do you think, Louis?"
"In the desert," the latter replied slowly, "everything has a cause—nothing happens by accident. I believe we had better be on our guard. Stay!" he added, as he raised his head, and pointed out to his friends several birds that passed rapidly away over them. "Have you often seen at this hour a flight of condors soaring in the sky?"
The chief shook his head.
"There is something the matter," he muttered: "the dogs of Apaches are hunting."
"'Tis possible," Belhumeur said.