“Hope I sees yer well, sah,” said this ebony-hued wonder.
“Oh, very well indeed,” laughed the man, eyeing him with amusement, while the rest of the men grinned pleasantly at the odd-appearing coon. “I need not ask you how you are, because I can see for myself.”
“Whoop!”
The Indians were pouring down upon the grove in the wake of the darkey.
The men sprang to their feet and held their rifles in readiness, using the trees for forts.
But the red-skins were far too wise and too well skilled in the business of war on the plains to rush recklessly down upon a dozen level rifles, peeping out from behind sheltering trees.
They pulled rein and came to a standstill just out of gunshot.
Here they caused their horses to lie down, and in less than five minutes they had erected eight or ten little tents before the eyes of the surprised men in the grove.
“Dat means biz,” said Pomp.
“It means a siege,” said the leader of the party; “and we are but poorly prepared for one.”