“Heh?”
“No use in rousing out the other men in a way to show the outlaws you are expecting them.”
“Oh, shucks! are they watching us already?”
“They sure are. All I feared in making my way to your tent was their sharp eyes. I knew what your guards would be.”
“You don’t have a very high opinion of us mule-skinners, then?” said the captain, rather sharply.
“I have a very poor opinion indeed of men who will be careless on this trail,” said Buffalo Bill sternly. “Recklessness is never bravery.”
“Huh!” grunted the other.
“Cook, you creep out at the rear and speak to the sentinel at the back of the camp. Keep close to the ground and tell him to have a care. Let him step across and speak to the guard by the river—casually, remember.”
“All right, sir,” said the cook, recognizing the tone of authority.
“Then you creep over to the farther tent and awaken the boys carefully. The captain here had better attend to the other two. Go on your hands and knees, boys! And don’t startle anybody. Have they got arms with ’em, or are they in the wagons?”