One Eye did not answer; then he must be dead. Nothing could be heard of his slayer or slayers. Therefore they could not have fled, or the sound of their footsteps would have been heard. And would they have remained here, unless in strong force, sufficient to successfully resist the braves of the dead half-breed?
But then the more impatient of the Sioux, excited by the slight taste of blood they had in the death of the two fugitives, gave a cry and sprung forward. The rest followed, in a compact mass; a fatal move upon their part.
The three men standing beside the fallen tree could now faintly distinguish the enemy, as they surmounted a slight knoll. Knowing the advantage of a first blow, Castor leveled his rifle, the action being closely imitated by his comrades, and then fired.
The three reports sounded almost as one, and carried death and dismay into the ranks of the Sioux. The horrible death-yells and groans of agony told how fatal had been the discharge, and, as with one impulse, the survivors broke and fled, without firing one shot.
But this panic was only momentary. Then they rallied, and proceeded to concert some plan for the revenge the blood of their fallen comrades demanded at their hands.
The three borderers dropped to the ground, as agreed upon, but this precaution was needless, as we have already seen. Then they began hurriedly re-charging their weapons, full well knowing there would be further need of them, ere the affair was over.
"They are driven back—why not take the women and slip away?" whispered Wilson, cautiously, he being nearest to Tobe.
"Don't be a fool, Ed—don't, fer marcy's sake. They'd hear us, an' then we'd be in a nice fix—I guess not. Thet's jest what they want the most. They don't know how we're fixed now, and 'll fight shy fer a time. No, we must stick it out here—fer a time, anyhow."
Their weapons recharged, the three men crouched down in anxious waiting. Especially was John Stevens troubled.
He feared the worst. He had found Jennie, his sister, fleeing from a spot where had been going on a desperate fight for life. But where were the others? his father and mother? Were they dead, or also fugitives in the forest?