Cohoon seemed to take in all at a single glance, for he threw his pistols up for a deadly shot; but the chief interposed his body, and the assassin made good his escape down the corridor.
They did not know positively who he was, but Cohoon smiled when he looked at his companion and whispered, “Bob.”
The shots fired at the intrepid ranger as he sprung toward the river, quickly followed the assassin’s escape, and while yet the spies and Hooker Jim stood bewildered in the cave, Captain Jack and a dozen Indians appeared upon the scene.
The spies explained all, and Mouseh promised to bring the murderous Modocs to justice. The chief firmly believed in the representations of his guests, and he could conceive of no motive that would prompt their death.
Presently the Indians on the bank descended into the cave, and the fiery nature of the Modoc was fully aroused when he heard of McKay’s escape.
“What! in the black river and without a boat!” he cried, springing forward and replenishing the fire with his own hands. “He must be found for he can be found. The yellow-skinned chief shall not escape us now. Here are torches, plenty of them. Braves, snatch them from the fire! we will find the ranger before the sun sinks behind the hills above us.”
With cries of vengeance the warriors sprung forward and secured sage-brush torches.
The spies each selected one, and joined in the mad band that rushed up the acclivity and descended the opposite side, to the bank of the lone lost river. Captain Jack was foremost in the hunt for the ranger chief. McKay’s proximity seemed to infuse new life into the Modoc’s weary limbs; he was young again when on the trail of the army’s greatest ally, Gillem’s right-hand man.
Up and down the stream numerous torches flitted like baleful fires, but not a word was spoken. Jack swam to the opposite bank, and with renewed vigor and hope scoured its darkness for the bold man he hated. The Indians followed their own inclinations unquestioned, and finally the spies managed to separate themselves from the others and found themselves alone some distance up-stream.
Their seeming close hunting for McKay had elicited looks of approval from the Modocs, and their separation was covered by their zeal in the cause.