The chief looked at the boys while they were talking, with a certain amount of suspicion, as though he thought they might be plotting something revolutionary, then he asked another question, of which Sidney caught the word for “horses.”
“He’s asking if we have no horses,” said Sidney, and he related how their horses had been taken, giving it all in English except the words “government,” “army,” and “horses,” of which he knew the Russian equivalents.
The chief appeared to grasp his meaning without any difficulty, and to be rather amused by it, for he made a remark to the surrounding men, who all laughed, and the talking began afresh.
“They think it’s a great joke,” growled Raymond, “that our horses were stolen. Maybe they’ll lose some if they don’t look out.”
“I expect they have lost some already,” said Sidney, “and that is the reason they are so interested.”
“Don’t you suppose, Sid, that we can buy horses here?”
“I doubt it, and I don’t believe we had better buy more horses even if we can get them, for we should probably lose them in the same way.”
“But I don’t see how we are going to cross that range on foot, Sid. If we only had a pack-mule now,—old Tuerto, for instance,—we should get along fine.”
“What seems the worst to me,” said Sidney, “is the time it will take.”
“Yes, that will be bad; but I must say I don’t hanker after climbing those mountains on foot, even if we had all the time there is.”