“It must be safe enough, if it’s a custom,” Tom said, glancing at the ring of rough, coarse, dark faces studying them curiously.
“He’s supposed to hand them right back, Toosa said,” Bill answered, and accordingly he gave his rifle and one pistol to the Indian in whose hut they were quartered, while Tom handed over the other, given him by Bill. But the host did not hand them back.
No harm came to them during the night, however, although Bill was uneasy without his weapons.
Day after day, from then on, they went forward by increasingly difficult stages, first following the river, winding upward among the lower mountains, past dangerous rapids, over steep knolls, through rough canyons and up almost precipitous inclines, where ropes had to be used to hold any one who slipped from plunging to destruction.
Hard as was the way, and tiresome as was the furious pace set by the hardened mountain Indians, Bill and Tom kept up well, for Tom was of an athletic frame and always kept his body in perfect trim by lots of exercise, sports and fresh air, while Bill was of the lean, rangy type and never seemed to tire.
The attitude of their companions was a continual worry to Bill, however. Tom felt it also. Often he caught one or another of the three fierce-looking men watching him covertly in the camps, with speculative eyes roaming over his weapon, his clothing, his pack.
The Indians said little, but in their manner there seemed to be some expectancy, as if they either felt or knew that something was going to happen.
As the way grew more steep and difficult, the men seemed to be watching even more carefully, and Tom asked Bill what it meant. Bill, who understood their degraded Spanish words, used occasionally, but who pretended not to, replied that they were making some plan but he could not guess what it was.
They had reached a deep ravine, away high among the crags, and could look from it across a wide chasm, when a sudden storm caused them to make a hasty camp under a sheltering overhang of rock.
The men drew off and huddled together while Tom and Bill stuck close together under the rubber poncho which Bill carried. Presently one of the men approached.