The others sought to obey, but, encumbered as they were by their burdens, could not do it so quickly as to avoid detection.
That they had been seen was plain from the actions of the riders, who pulled their mounts to a sudden halt, and two or three of whom, who appeared to be the leaders, gathered in excited discussion.
Then, the conference at an end, the newcomers rode on slowly and came to a pause at the foot of the slope where the explorers had chosen their position behind the rocks, not more than two hundred feet away.
In the front, like birds of ill omen, rode Tezra and Nepahak.
CHAPTER XXV
Victory against Odds
Don was sheltered by a rock immediately adjoining the one behind which his Uncle Frank was lying, and he could hear the latter grit his teeth as he caught sight of the two rascals.
“The spawn!” the captain muttered. “I’ll have a crack at each of them before the day is over.”
Tezra detached himself from the fierce-eyed, hawk-nosed tribesmen that formed his lawless following, and, waving a white cloth, advanced toward the foot of the slope.
“I’d like to shoot it out of his hand,” growled the captain.
But an envoy’s flag, even when held by a scoundrel, is sacred, and the captain reluctantly rose to his feet.