The shallow gully up which they were travelling now narrowed rapidly, and soon they were deep in the looming shadow of the pass, which seemed to end blindly farther on. But for the present it was a Heaven-sent refuge. At one point, where it widened somewhat, the horses and mules could stand, and there was even a little grass for them. A rill of water from the high rocks was a protection against what they had to fear most of all, thirst, and the three human beings in turn drank freely from it, letting the animals follow.
Boyd deftly tethered the horses and mules to bushes that grew at the foot of the cliff in the wide space, and then he joined the other two, who, lying almost flat, were watching at the entrance to the pass. The rocks there also gave them fine protection, and they felt they had reached a fort which would test all the ingenuity, patience and courage of the Sioux.
Will drew back behind a stony upthrust, sat up and used his glasses, searching everywhere among the rocks and bushes down the pass.
"What do you see, Young William?" asked the Little Giant.
"Nothing yet, Tom, except the bushes, the stones and the slopes of the mountains far across the valley."
"Nor you won't see nothin' fur some time. Took to cover, they hev. An' I don't blame 'em, either. We wouldn't be anxious ourselves to walk up ag'inst the mouths o' rifles that don't miss, an' Indians, bein' smart people, don't risk their lives when thar's nothin' to be gained."
"Then how are they going to get at us?"
"Not straight-away, but by means o' tricks."
"What tricks?"
"I don't know. Ef they wuz so plain ez all that they wouldn't be tricks. We'll hev to be patient."