An Indian yell was heard some distance away.
“Some Injun is lost, er has found somethin’ int’restin’, and is callin’ ter ther rest of ’em,” said Nomad. “Buffler, I reely think we’d better be movin’.”
Buffalo Bill was of the same opinion; so they hastened down from the hill, and then shaped their way as well as they could in the direction of Latimer’s, which was now a long distance off.
CHAPTER XIV.
STRANGE HAPPENINGS.
Before they had gone far they were given evidence that the Redskin Rovers had awakened to the fact that they had been tricked; an awakening due doubtless to the superior intelligence of their white leader, who, as his talk with Buffalo Bill had showed, was not an ignorant man.
Now and again a distant yell was heard—a signal call; and signal fires flashed forth on some of the hills. It became evident, too, that the redskins suspected that the escaped prisoners would hurry toward Latimer’s, because these yells and signal fires advanced in that direction.
The utmost caution was required to keep now from running into some trap. Hence, progress, though steady, was slow, and but little talking was done. Buffalo Bill led the way, striding on before, and Nomad brought up the rear on Nebuchadnezzar.
Nomad took care to conceal any chance sight of the fiery lines on his body; and as for old Nebuchadnezzar, the silent manner in which he plodded on suggested that he understood the peril of his human companions quite as well as they did themselves.
In the border of the hills, shortly before daybreak, the little company of fugitives halted and went into camp. But they built no fires, and they maintained a good degree of quiet.
As they camped down, Buffalo Bill found opportunity to ask old Nomad what it was he had on several occasions tried to communicate to him.