“Now look here; the Kiowas are two hundred strong. Do you mean to say you can stop their doing what they please?”
“I hope not to be obliged to do it alone; I count on you and Dick and Will, and I have full confidence you won’t forsake me, but will do your utmost to prevent such wholesale murder.”
“So you have confidence in us! I’m very grateful for it, for it’s no trifle to have the confidence of such a man as you.”
“Listen, Sam; I’m in earnest. The fate of so many men is not a subject for jesting.”
He gave me a whimsical glance out of his little eyes. “The dickens! So you’re in earnest! Then I must pull a long face. But do you consider the situation? We are only four against two hundred, for we can’t count on the others. Do you think we could possibly succeed, or do you mean to live up to your new name of Old Shatterhand, and knock down all the two hundred warriors with your fist?”
“Nonsense! I didn’t give myself that name, and I know well enough we can’t do anything against two hundred; but must it come to force? Cunning is often better.”
“Now I wonder if you read that in your books? You’ll become prudent if you don’t look out, and I’d like to see how you’d seem in that shape. I tell you there’s nothing to be done here with all your cunning. The Indians will do what they please, and not care a rap whether you like it or lump it.”
“All right; I see I can’t depend on you, and I’ll have to act alone.”
“For mercy’s sake, don’t do anything foolish. You won’t have to act alone, for, whatever you do, we’ll stand by you. But it’s not been my habit to run my head against thick walls, for I know the walls are harder than the head.”
“And I never said I’d do the impossible. But if there’s any way to save the Apaches, we must find it.”