"Just keep yer tongue in yer head and yer eyes and ears open, and we may find out," grunted Jennings.
This reply had the intended result of effectually silencing the recruit, and, with every sense alert, the three men awaited some sound that would explain the mysterious signal.
Unlike most details of mounted scouts that patrolled together, there was no affection, bred by perils and dangers shared, between the men. Indeed, there was not even good feeling. The veterans, Jennings and Shaw, had long been rivals for the honor of being the best shot at the Fort, and both resented being sent out with a "rookie."
The personnel of the patrol, however, had been arranged by Colonel Edwards, commandant of the Fort, with a purpose.
So many had become the raids and robberies that the officers began to suspect connivance between the outlaws and some of the scouts, and the names of Jennings and Shaw had been linked with these rumors.
Knowing the rivalry existing between them, the colonel had decided to send them out together, confident that each would be only too willing to report any suspicious actions of the other, and, to prevent such an anomaly as an alliance in wrong doing, he had added the recruit, instructing each to report in detail all that his companions did.
The surprise of being awakened from his sleep had driven the memory of these orders from the youngster's mind. But as the monotony of the watch grew, they recurred to him.
"I'll bet that was a signal for either Jennings or Shaw," he said to himself, "and whichever it is, is afraid to answer because I'm here. I'll have to keep my head about me all right, all right."
But the recruit's suspicions did his fellow members of the Mounted Scouts injustice—as he was soon to learn.
With a suddenness almost as startling as the mysterious signal, came the thumpety-thump of a stone as, dislodged from its resting place, it bounded down the mountainside.