He was ready for it, of course; but he reined in his mustang in front of his father long enough to tell him the cause of the delay.
"Bring them back. They are as wild as rabbits. They will lose their scalps some day."
The chief did not smile when he said that. He was beginning to feel uneasy about the position of his affairs, and he could hardly have told why. He said to himself, "Bad medicine. Can't see him. Great chief smell him."
And then he gave sharp orders to his young braves to have all the ponies caught and brought in from the pastures below, and the squaws to have all their packs ready and their lodges taken down.
"Big talk come," he said again to himself. "Maybe big fight. Don't know. Must be ready. Somebody catch the great chief asleep if he doesn't look out."
Nobody had ever done that yet, for Many Bears had even a greater name for his cunning than for his fighting.
Red Wolf was well mounted, and he darted away at full speed. His father was not a man to forgive a slow messenger any more than a slow cook.
"I understand," he muttered. "Squaws not stay in valley. Go among trees and rocks. Bears catch 'em some day. Eat 'em all up. Not afraid of anything."
So he was really anxious about them, and afraid they would run into danger?
Certainly.