“Heap good that do!” he snorted. “Paleface see Louie go South, mebbe. Good. But while they eating grub, thinking catch um in the morning, Louie him sneak back and go North.”
“There won’t be any danger of his doing that, now you’re with us,” shrewdly interposed Deadshot. “The very fact that they can tell you in which direction Scalping Louie went will save you just so much time in getting on his trail because you won’t be obliged to go searching round for it at random.”
Though he gave no indication either by sign or speech that this statement was correct and appealed to him, the aged scout, however, became less taciturn as they rode Northward.
“What makes you go up instead of to the East or South?” asked Ki Yi. “You don’t think the rest of our bunch are fools enough to try to flee from a fire by riding in front of it, when they could turn to one side or back and get away, do you?”
“No. We go up because we find paleface waiting near trail for us.”
“What, do you think they’ll sit quietly down and give Scalping Louie the chance to get away when they can follow him?”
“Paleface no follow Louie,” returned the aged scout.
“What makes you think that?”
“Wait for us. Bowser, um want wait for Nig. Nig know. Hawk, um heap talk. No got good think cap. Bowser, um think we come back same trail we went in, so um wait near there.”
That this opinion of the clever old half-breed not alone showed his marvelous ability to read human nature, but was in accordance with the facts, the reader already knows—and it was not long before the cowboys were made aware of it also.