Then suddenly he swung over, leapt from his horse, and threw the reins over the mare's head, so that she would stand. Swiftly he went round to Maple Leaf's side.
"Here, jump down!" he commanded. "Quick!"
The girl looked at him amazed, but obediently slipped to the ground.
Sergeant Silk caught at her broncho's bridle, drew the bit down to within a span of the animal's hoofs, and secured both fetlocks together with the double loop. In the same way he shackled the feet of his own mare. Leaving the two horses hobbled, he strode a dozen quick paces away, with his carbine across the crook of his left arm. Maple Leaf followed him. He looked round at her.
"Sit down!" he commanded. "Lie low!"
Again she obeyed him unquestioningly, sharing his alarm. She had heard what he had heard and knew its meaning.
She watched him go forward and saw him stand upright with his hand raised above his head, palm outward, as a peace sign. Then she followed the direction in which he was looking and gave a little start as she saw a figure on horseback—an Indian wearing the large feathered war-bonnet of a chief—outlined against a grassy slope hardly more than half-a-mile away.
Silk slowly lowered his hand and strode back to where Maple Leaf was sitting.