“Never mind,” the Indian said briefly. “I bet you never guessed that Joe has been using you all this time.”
“Using us!”
“Sure. He had to find some way of getting to Mormon Crossing. You made it easy for him.”
Sandy and Mike digested this piece of news in silence. Joe didn’t seem like the kind who would deliberately “use” somebody and then disappear without a word. But there was no effective reply to what they had heard.
“It’s too bad you had to poke your noses into this,” the Indian went on. “But now that you’re here, you can be useful.”
“We wouldn’t lift a finger to help you!” Mike declared hotly.
The Indian threw him a disdainful look. “You won’t have anything to say about it.” He reached down and drew a long rope from his pack. He tossed it to one of the Indians with a rifle. “Tie them up,” he ordered. “The dark one first.” Mike struggled to his feet and the second Indian moved around to a point directly behind Sandy. “I wouldn’t try that,” the leader advised Mike sharply. “Unless you want to see your friend shot. I wouldn’t kill him—just a bullet in his leg, maybe. But I don’t think he’d like it much.”
Mike stiffened, his mouth a grim line of anger, but he allowed the Indian to pin his arms behind his back. The Crow worked quickly and efficiently. In a moment Mike was helpless.
“Now the other one,” the Indian said. Sandy felt strong hands grab his arms and twist a length of rope tightly around his wrists. He gasped involuntarily as the rope bit deep into his skin. A second rope was coiled around his ankles. Rough hands threw him heavily on the ground, ran a line through his wrist bindings and joined the other end to the rope that held his ankles. When this was drawn tight, Sandy’s legs were jerked back, forcing his spine into an awkward arc. The halter knotted between the two bindings made it impossible for him to move. If he tried to work his fingers free, the pressure drew his legs further up behind him. Any motion from his feet pulled his arms painfully out of joint.
When the job was done, the lead Indians seemed satisfied. “Good,” he grunted. “That’ll keep you from wandering off.” He glanced speculatively up at the sky. “Couple more hours of daylight,” he said. “Time enough to try to find Joe and have a talk with him.”