"But he will come back, Si-wash!" she cried haltingly. "Say he will. You know him. You understand him. He must come back. Say he must. He can never travel this country on foot, without food or shelter. Oh, say he must come back!"
But Si-wash was not to be cajoled from his conviction. He saw the woman's misery, but it meant nothing to his unsentimental nature. Leo had gone. Well, why should she worry? There were other men in the world. This is what he felt, but he would not have expressed it so. Instead of that he merely shook his head, and spoke between the puffs of his reeking pipe.
"Leo no come. But the other, him come. Tug, him come quick. Maybe him speak of Leo."
In a flash the girl's beautiful eyes shot a gleaming inquiry into the man's coppery face.
"Tug? Tug coming here? It's—it's you who're crazy. Tug is miles away. He must be getting near the coast by now. He must be safe by now, safe with his precious gold."
"Maybe him not safe. Maybe him lose him gold, too."
"You mean——?"
Audie caught her breath as she left her inquiry unfinished.
"Nothing. All same Tug him come here. I see him. Hark? Sho! That him—he mak noise."
The Indian turned slowly round and stared out into the twilit woods. Audie followed the direction of his gaze and sat spellbound, listening to the sound of hurrying feet as they crushed the brittle underlay of the woods. The Indian's dogs, too, had become alert. They were on their toes, with bristling manes and deep-throated grumbling at the intrusion.