The terror and horror of that day with Black John at the cave was enough to bring a shudder to Lena. He was truculent and brutal. Having no longer necessity to make him pretend to be what he was not, he did not hesitate to frighten her, apparently for the mere pleasure it gave him.
One thing, however, held him somewhat in check; and that was her screams, when he became too violent and too brutal. Unless he tied and gagged her, the only way to keep her from screaming in terror when he spoke too roughly to her was to keep away from her, and permit her to have her own way. She could not escape, for he was out in front of the cave, was armed, and possessed such strength that she was helpless before him.
Black John’s desire for quiet in and about the cave was caused by his fear of Buffalo Bill and his pards.
Though he still maintained to the girl the fiction that he had fled with her from Indians, and was hiding from Indians, a thing on which she was now skeptical, he did not believe Indians were near, in spite of the surprising attack they had made.
His fears of Buffalo Bill mounted high. Hence, throughout nearly the whole of that long and wearing day he lay out on the slope before the cave, watching the surrounding hills, and the little pass from the gorge, by which he had reached this point.
He lay almost motionless, too, knowing that to move about was to risk being seen; while, when he remained still, his clothing blended in with the dark rock and protected him.
Nevertheless, he was seen, as night came on, not by Buffalo Bill and his friends, but by that sneaking coward, Toby Sam. Toby Sam knew of this cave, and had been in it more than once with Black John; and he, too, had fled toward it for safety after that Indian attack.
Toby Sam’s caution made him mount to an eminence and carefully inspect the surroundings of the cave before venturing near it.
Knowing just where to look, his keen eyes saw Black John sprawled at full length on the slope, and the little glint of sunshine which fell on Black John’s revolver.
“Ho, ho!” he said. “Wonder who else is there? I’ll jes’ see.”