"And how are you, Sergeant?" he asked. "Looking like a young stallion, as usual. I'm not going to ask what brings you here, because that's none of my business."
Hector took him aside, nevertheless, and explained.
"I see," the Colonel commented. "Well, it's too late to catch him tonight, Adair. He'd surely get away in the dark. Besides, there's a storm coming up. It will be a wet night—no night for lying in the open. Catch 'em at dawn—that's sound tactics. They won't be stirring then, especially with the rain coming down, and you can take the whole camp by surprise. Come along—supper now, stay here tonight and you'll be fit for anything in the morning."
It was raining, as the Colonel had prophesied, when they turned out, a thin, penetrating, all-day drizzle, and the sky, just lightening, was heavy with an unbroken pall of dense grey cloud. Such weather, all in all, was admirable for their purpose. Half an hour's careful scouting brought them within sight of the teepees they sought—a ghostly group in the wet desolation. The question was—in which lodge was Wild Horse?
At this moment, they found an Indian boy, who willingly pointed out the teepee occupied by The Gopher, headman of the band. In order to comply with the custom of the Police it was necessary that Hector should inform The Gopher of his intentions.
The Gopher was instantly at the door when Hector sent the small boy into the teepee to awaken him. Speaking the Indian's own tongue, Hector rapidly explained his mission and was relieved to find that the Gopher, far from offering any objection, took the matter philosophically and himself pointed out the lodge in which Wild Horse was hiding.
"Keep everyone in their teepees," Hector went on, "until we go. Then there will be small likelihood of trouble."
The Gopher agreed. Hector ordered the constable with the horses up to a position close to Wild Horse's lodge. The others he placed one on each side, ready to seize the murderer should he attempt escape by crawling under the flap. For the last time, obedient to one of the greatest principles of the Mounted Police, he cautioned the men on no account to draw their revolvers. Then, removing his great-coat, he boldly entered the teepee alone.
For a moment unable to see anything, he shortly became aware of the presence of at least a dozen Indians, who sat up in their blankets and stared at him anxiously.
"What do you want?" one of them asked, bristling defiance.