"Your father and I were different," he answered. "Somehow, the farm life there did not appeal to us. We made a break for the West. Your father, poor fellow, never got beyond St. Louis. If he had only come on with me! How he would have enjoyed this life!"
"You know well why he didn't come," I said.
"Of course. It was your mother, dear soul! He promised her that he would never engage in the Far West trade, and he was a man of his word."
During the afternoon we brought the walls of the building up to a height of five logs,—about the height of my shoulder,—and as we knocked off work my uncle said, "Two more rounds of logs, well chinked, and we'll have a pretty respectable defense against the enemy."
Returning to the barricade, we found that three of the Mandans had come back, unnoticed by us. They reported that they had been some distance up the Musselshell Valley and had seen no signs of enemies. Later, while we were eating supper, old Lame Wolf and his companion came in, and the moment they passed through the doorway I knew from the expression of their faces that they had something important to tell. They hurriedly took seats upon my couch, and Lame Wolf signed to my uncle: "Far Thunder, chief, enemies are here! We climbed to the top of the point between the two valleys, the point there across from the grove, and upon the very top of it found where enemies have been lying, looking down and watching us!"
"Probably a small war party, too small to attack us and gone upon their way," my uncle answered.
"Not so! Decidedly not so!" the old man signed on. "They have watched there for several days—at least five men. They sneaked away when they saw us coming. Why did they do that when they could easily have surprised and killed us? Because they are the scouts of a multitude coming to attack us, and are to tell the chiefs just how to do it."
"I believe that the old man is right!" Abbott exclaimed.
"He may be, but I doubt it," said my uncle. "Up there is the lookout place for all the war parties passing along this great trail. I doubt not that one was recently there. I can't believe, however, that five or six enemies withdrew from the point upon the approach of these two old men. Had they been there at that time, they would certainly never have overlooked such an easy opportunity to count two coups."
"Well, whether you believe they are right or not, I advise you to keep a good guard round the barricade to-night and to keep the horses in, too," said Abbott.