“Somewhere in the west perhaps?” Dan prompted. “You didn’t bring it with you when you came to Webster City?”
“The turquoise—it was hidden in a safe place. No, that is not right. It was given to the white trader at the reservation store. Now it comes back to me. I feared the toad might be stolen. I gave it to the trader to keep in his store safe until the tribe ceremonial.”
“This must have been before your hard fall from the horse,” Dan deducted. “But how did you get to Webster City?”
Miquel could not answer. His only recollection other than the fall in the desert, had been a vague memory of having been on a freight train.
Exhausted from the effort required to talk, Old Miquel cringed down into his blanket again. Though he did not lapse into a stupor, he seemed to lose all further interest in his surroundings.
“He doesn’t know White Nose and Eagle Feather came here to punish him for stealing the turquoise,” Dan thought. “The old fellow’s in a bad way. Gosh, what can be keeping Brad and Dan?”
He arose and went to peer down the dark tunnel. Not a sign of any help coming! And yet Brad and Red surely had had more than ample time to get to the Cub camp and return with a stretcher.
Old Miquel apparently had regained his lost memory, but nevertheless, he was in a serious condition physically. He needed medical attention and he needed it right away.
Dan was quite sure he had figured out the real story behind the old Indian. Undoubtedly, Old Miquel had told the truth about placing the turquoise toad in the trader’s safe. When the old medicine man was better, he should be able to furnish clues which would result in recovery of the tribal treasure.
“He must have wandered off the reservation, not even knowing who he was,” Dan reasoned. “The tribe members couldn’t understand his strange disappearance. Naturally, they figured he’d made off with the turquoise. So White Nose and Eagle Feather were sent to trail him.”