"The next morning," continued Duval, "we'll divide the stuff and separate. Grigg, here, will take you and the bulk of the cache up to Vincennes, where you can sell it and scatter—and do it fast!"
"How 'bout you?" queried one of the men. Duval leered knowingly.
"My wife and I go to Detroit, and from there over the border. This country is too hot to hold me, boys, but you aren't known yet."
"Well, what about these two fellers?" demanded Grigg heavily, with a black look down at Norton. "Why not shoot 'em and have done? I don't aim to leave no spies to tell on me——"
"We'll have better fun than that"—and Duval held up a lantern. "This fellow with the beard is Red Hugh, the Indian killer. Understand? After we've had our fun out of the Miamis, we'll give them back some of their weapons and turn 'em loose on these two. There'll be a show worth seeing, eh?"
A cold thrill ran over Norton, while the others broke into wild applause of Duval's ingenuity. The Louisianian knew well what was intended. Like other settlers along the border, this gang of Duval's was accustomed to a certain form of "sport" at the expense of their redskin neighbours.
This took the form of gathering the Indians, taking away their weapons, and then plying them with whisky. At the proper moment they would be set to fighting, and the resultant encounter would often last for hours, without great danger to the combatants, but with intense amusement to the watchers.
Now, however, Duval had injected another element into it. The name of Red Hugh seemed well known, and even Norton could guess what would happen when the drunken Miamis would be given their weapons and let loose upon their deadly enemy. It was a sure, amusing, and ingenious scheme to get rid of the two prisoners.
The two men went out, laughing, and Duval turned on Grigg.
"I have the papers made out for your signature, and we'll throw the fear of hell into that circuit-rider. You're sure Darby will get the right one—the loose-jawed, weak-mouthed one? If he got that blasted Quaker Dennis, we'd have a stiff time persuading him all was right. The girl will kick."