“Come!” solemnly repeated the Indian.
Motioning to Dick, the four struck off sharply to the right. They passed a few tepees, the last at that end of the village, and plunged straight on through a thicket of saskatoon, very much to Dick’s bewilderment. At the opposite side of the thicket a path, evidently used as a pack-trail, threaded its way through a dense growth of underbrush. Where were they taking him? A few hundred yards farther on, Dick stopped short, resolved not to take another step until he had satisfied himself that the party was not leading him astray.
“Where are we going?” he demanded of the Indian who had spoken the one word of English.
There ensued an interval of silence, in which the four Indians stared at Dick in mild disapproval. Then a wild chattering broke forth. They surrounded their dazed and discomfited protege, gesticulating almost savagely. Before their well-intended onslaught Dick shrank back in dismay.
Perceiving the uselessness of such tactics, the chief’s son approached the now thoroughly alarmed young man, smiling affably. He patted Dick’s arm reassuringly and pointed to the trail ahead.
“Come!” he said in a soothing voice, imitating the Indian who spoke English so fluently.
“Good! You come!” cried the fluent one, his face distorted in what probably was intended for a smile.
“All right,” grinned Dick. “I come.”
In high spirits they set out again. In less than twenty minutes they came upon a wide natural clearing, dotted here and there with the tepees of another Indian encampment. A few minutes later, Dick’s heart pounding in his throat, they entered the narrow opening of one of the tepees.
“Dick!” immediately shrieked a voice. “You! You! You!——”