"Oh, it'll keep, all right; but then I'll be going over to the fort again in a day or so, an' I guess I'd as well take two or three of the carcasses over there an' sell 'em to the officers' mess."
CHAPTER XVI
TOM LOCKS THE STABLE DOOR
This evening, just before dark, when we were bringing in the tools and making things secure for the night, I noticed that Tom had got out an old padlock that had long lain unused in the mess-chest, and then had found a piece of trace-chain, and with the two had securely locked the stable door—a precaution that we had never thought necessary before—and I asked him: "What are you doing that for, Tom? Seen any fresh signs about?"
"No," he answered, "but 'tain't much trouble an' it's always best to be on the safe side. We've been used to having Found to do guard-duty of nights, an' it may have got us in a fashion of sleeping sounder than we would if we'd had to look out for ourselves; now, while the dog is away, with the stable door unlocked it would be easy enough for an Injun to sneak our horses out an' get away with 'em."
I smiled at what seemed to me a useless precaution and it passed from my mind; but along in the night, after we had been some hours asleep, I was suddenly awakened by a slight noise like the rattling of a chain.
Instantly I was thoroughly aroused and remembered Tom's chain on the stable door. Had I been dreaming? I raised my head cautiously and listened intently. There it was again—unmistakably the chain on the stable door.
I determined to investigate before arousing my comrades, and slipping quietly out of my bed I tiptoed carefully to the door, pulled up one corner of the muslin cover to the lookout hole, and peeped out at the stable door. The moon was shining brightly, and there, to my astonishment, sat a man, crouched at the door of the stable intently working at the lock, either trying to pick it or pry it off. He was not an Indian, either. He had soldier clothes on, and beside him on the ground lay a small bundle.
I took in all this at a glance, and then quietly and quickly slipped back to Tom's bed, shook him gently, and whispered: