“I’ll try. I don’t know whether or not I can get it across to him.”
The Den Chief began very patiently, attempting to make Miquel understand that if he remained in the cave he might be in grave danger.
“White Nose and Eagle Feather are looking for you,” he tried to explain. “They’re hunting for the entrance to this cave right now. We came here to warn you.”
“That’s right,” chimed in Dan, trying to drive home the point. “We don’t know what you’ve done, but White Nose and Eagle Feather are out for revenge. Unless you want to get into trouble with them, you’d better move on to another hiding place.”
Old Miquel had listened attentively to the two Cubs. They were hopeful that he had understood at least part of what they had said. But when he spoke, they knew they had completely failed.
“Rabbit almost done now,” he said cheerfully. “We eat.”
Removing the meat from the spit, he divided it into four equal parts. Brad and Red refused a share. Old Miquel’s hurt was so apparent that Dan accepted his share. However, he only made a pretense of eating, as he watched the old Indian ravenously devour the remainder of the food.
“He’s half starved,” Brad observed in deep concern. “We’ve got to get him out of here.”
“How?” Dan asked. “He hasn’t seemed to understand anything we’ve said to him.”
Brad waited until Miquel had nearly finished eating. Then he touched him on the shoulder, saying in a friendly way: