Physically, he was not injured. His chief hurt was to his pride.
What would Pa-e-has-ka say when he learned what had happened?
Jerking Cayuse to his feet, two of the bucks caught his bound hands and pulled him farther along the defile to a place where it ran into a blind wall, rising high into the air.
At this place the white man was waiting.
Who the white man was, Cayuse did not know; but he began to understand, dimly, that the white man had helped the Apaches entrap him.
The white man, stepping angrily up to the boy, drew back the flat of his hand and struck him in the face.
Cayuse reeled with the blow, but not a sound came from his lips.
“You’re Little Cayuse, huh?” demanded the man fiercely.
“Wuh!” answered the boy, his black eyes darting lightning.