"You must carry plenty of cartridges where they can be gotten at quickly," he said, as they came up. "It is impossible to say what may happen, and no precaution should be neglected. The guns are in good order, and with them we may succeed in holding the enemy at such a distance that their arrows cannot be used."
"We have filled our pockets," Neal replied, and throwing himself upon the ground, he watched Cummings and Poyor at their work.
Ten minutes later the Indian came to the entrance and said as he began to crawl through the narrow passage:
"I will make one effort to find him who has caused us so much trouble."
"Don't spend any time on such a fool," Cummings cried fiercely. "He knew the danger, and if he chooses to run into it, jeopardizing our lives at the same moment, nothing too bad can happen to him."
"He may be near at hand. I will make a search," Poyor replied as he rose to his feet on the outside, and Neal whispered to Teddy:
"If Jake can be found matters won't seem quite so hard, for it will be terrible to think of him wandering around until captured, and we running away from him."
Teddy nodded his head; but did not dare trust himself to speak. He had been thinking of home until the tears were so very near his eyelids that he feared they would overflow.
During the next half hour not a word was spoken by either of the little party, and then Poyor returned alone.
There was no necessity of questioning him, and Neal covered his face with his hands to hide the distress he knew must be pictured there, for there was no longer any hope the engineer would accompany them on their rapid and most dangerous flight. By this time the meat was cooked, and the Indian brought a generous supply to the entrance; but no one had any particular desire for food.