She stopped, in hesitation; for the thought came to her that she might get on his horse and then make an attempt to leave him.
But he knew what was in her mind.
“You may ride,” he said, “and I’ll walk. We’ll not go near the Indians, if you say not to; though, since I know that young chief, you’re really safer there than any place else.”
“Who was it made that outcry?” she asked.
“No one knows. Some crazy herder likely. There are sheep herders down in this section, I’ve heard.”
“Then you don’t think that it could have been some one from the fort?”
“I don’t think it could have been,” he said.
She felt helpless and bewildered in the darkness; and she really feared the Indians. So, after some further hesitation and questions, with protestations of good intentions on his part, she mounted to the saddle he had vacated. But he took care that she should make no attempt to get away, for he led the horse by the bit, walking at its head.
He went in the direction of the Cheyennes, while protesting to her that he meant to do nothing of the kind, and that as soon as it was light enough to see he would start with her for the fort.
She did not believe him, but she felt so helpless she did not know what to do, and drifted on in this manner.