“They have retreated toward the village,” said Buffalo Bill. “Their village lies farther down the stream, and they have gone in that direction. The girl was taken with them, evidently.”
Clayton wanted to hurry on and do something at once to rescue her, but the wary scouts were not sure this was wise. They feared ambushes, and knew, also, that they were not in force strong enough to take the girl from the village. Whatever they did they must do by craft.
Aside from this, Buffalo Bill was expecting soon the coming of old Nick Nomad, who had gone for assistance.
He now sent Pawnee Bill back to meet Nomad’s force and guide it on, and, with the anxious young lover, he began to follow the trail of the Blackfeet.
Avoiding all ambushes and pitfalls, but making slow progress, the scout and his young friend reached the vicinity of the Blackfoot village by the middle of the afternoon.
From a hillside some distance away the scout surveyed it with his glasses, and saw that the village was in a state of commotion.
“Impossible to do anything right now,” was his conclusion. “The warriors we’ve been following are there, and the village is aroused and is being put in readiness for a fight. It would be as much as our lives are worth if we should try to penetrate it now. We’ll have to await the coming of Nomad, and whatever help he has got together.”
“Perhaps I could go in after dark,” said young Clayton rashly.
“We’ll see,” was the answer. “Nomad may get here by, or before, that time.”
But Nomad did not come.