CHAPTER IX.
WAITING THE ONSLAUGHT.
The rain ceased as suddenly as it began, and the sun shone down on us as warm as on the day before. We worked rapidly till nightfall, and a few hours’ labor in the morning brought us to a stream swollen by the late rain, flowing beside a small open savanna, which was bordered on one hand by trees and shrubs. A wooded peninsula ran out into the water, and beside the stream rose a gentle elevation crowned by thick woods.
“This is the place Sam picked out,” said Stone, looking at it with an air of recognition. “There couldn’t be a better place for our purpose. The Kiowas are so hidden you might try hard and not find the least trace of them, yet I know they see us perfectly. The savanna is covered with a growth that makes it easy for the Apache spies to conceal themselves and follow us unseen. Then look at the open plain of grass leading here. A camp-fire burning on it will light all the savanna, and hide the Apaches, so they can easily come upon us.”
His lean, weather-beaten face gleamed with satisfaction, but the head engineer did not share the feeling. He shook his head, saying: “What is the matter with you? Do you mean to say you rejoice that we can be so easily overcome? I tell you it’s far from pleasant to me; I am paralyzed at the mere thought.”
“The surer to fall into the hands of the Apaches,” cried Stone. “Don’t let such feelings get hold of you, Mr. Bancroft. Of course I’m glad, for the easier the Apaches can overtake us, the easier we can capture them. Just look here. Over there on the heights are the Kiowas in the midst of the woods. Their spies sit in the highest trees, and have surely seen us coming, and in the same way they’ll see the Apaches, for they can look all across the savanna.”
“Well, what earthly good will it do us, if we’re overtaken, to have the Kiowas look across the savanna?”
“Don’t you see? They stay there only because here the Apaches would see them. As soon as their scouts have come and gone the Kiowas will come over to us, hide on the peninsula, and we’ll put our horses at its neck, for then the Apaches will keep off it, as the horses would neigh if they went near them, and give us warning. The Apaches will hide, and wait till we’re asleep—”
“Suppose they shouldn’t wait?” I interrupted.
“That wouldn’t be dangerous for us,” he replied. “The Kiowas would come to our assistance at once.”