“What is it, Bry?” I asked, in a whisper.
“Look!” he answered, and swung me around in front of him. Then, as I peered into the darkness, a faint ray of light became visible. In a moment I perceived that it was growing bigger and brighter, and then I knew what it meant.
“They’ve gone into camp, and lit a fire!” said I, pleased to have overtaken them.
“Dey do’n’ know we’s coming,” chuckled Nux, from behind.
But Bry stood like a statue, holding fast to my shoulders and peering over my head at the enemy. We could now see that the forest was much thinner here than at the point we had entered, and just beyond, in a little hollow where Larkin and his men were encamped, the trees grew quite scattered.
“Our best plan,” said I, after a moment’s thought, “will be to creep up to them and make a sudden attack.”
“One, two, free, fou’,” counted Bry, in his deep voice. “No use to ’tack, Mars Sam. Dey got guns, an’ kill us all quick.”
“We have our revolvers,” I suggested, rather disappointed at his prediction.
“Nux an’ I might hit somefin’, an’ we might not,” said Bry. “If we hit somefin’ it might be a man, an’ it might not.”
This was discouraging, and it called to mind the fact that I was not much used to fire-arms myself.