"Chut, man! yur tongue wags like a beaver"s tail in flood-time."
"Can you suggest any way in which it can be done, Rube? I confess I see none."
As Seguin made this appeal, all eyes were turned upon the trapper.
"Why, cap, I kin surgest my own notion o" the thing. It may be right, an" it mayn"t be right; but if it wur follered out, there"ll be neither "Pash nor Navagh that"ll smell where we go for a week. If they diz, "ee may cut my ears off."
This was a favourite joke with Rube, and the hunters only laughed.
Seguin himself could not restrain a smile, as he requested the speaker to proceed.
"Fust an" fo"most, then," said Rube, "thur not a-gwine to come arter that n.i.g.g.e.r in less than two days."
"How can you tell that?"
"This way: "Ee see he"s only second chief, an" they kin go on well enough "ithout him. But that ain"t it. The Injun forgot his bow; white at that. Now "ee all knows as well as this child, that that"s a big disgrace in the eyes o" Injuns."
"You"re right about that, hoss," remarked one.
"Wal, so the ole "c.o.o.n thinks. Now, "ee see, it"s as plain as Pike"s Peak that he kim away back "ithout tellin" any o" the rest a syllabub about it. He"d not let "em know if he kud help it."
"That is not improbable," said Seguin. "Proceed, Rube!"
"More"n that," continued the trapper, "I"ll stake high thet he ordered them not to foller him, afeerd thet some on "em mout see what he kim for. If he"d a-thought they knew or suspected, he"d "a sent some other, an" not k.u.m himself; that"s what he"d "a done."
This was all probable enough; and with the knowledge which the scalp-hunters possessed of the Navajo character, they one and all believed it to be so.
"I"m sartin they"ll k.u.m back," continued Rube; "that ur, his half o" the tribe, anyways; but it"ll be three days clur, an" well up till another, afore they drinks Peenyun water."
"But they would strike our trail the day after."
"If we were green fools enough to let "em, they wud."
"How can we prevent that?" asked Seguin.
"Easy as fallin" off a log."
"How? how?" inquired several at once.
"By puttin" them on another scent, do "ee see?"
"Yes! but in what way can we effect that?" inquired Seguin.
"Why, cap, yur tumble has surely dumfoundered ye. I wud think less o"
these other dummies not seein" at a glimp how we kin do it."
"I confess, Rube," replied Seguin, with a smile, "I do not perceive how we can mislead them."
"Wal, then," continued the trapper, with a chuckle of satisfaction at his own superior prairie-craft, "this child"s a-gwyne to tell "ee how "ee kin put them on a different track."
"Hooraw for you, old hoss!"
""Ee see a quiver on that Injun"s back?"
"Ay, ay!" cried several voices.
"It"s full o" arrows, or pretty near it, I reckin."
"It is. Well?"
"Wal, then, let some o" us ride the Injun"s mustang: any other critter thet"s got the same track "ll do; away down the "Pash trail, an" stick them things pointin" south"art; an" if the Navagh don"t travel that a way till they comes up with the "Pashes, "ee may have this child"s har for a plug o" the wust Kaintucky terbaccer."
"Viva!"
"He"s right, he"s right!"
"Hooraw for old Rube!" and various exclamations, were uttered by the hunters.
""Tain"t needcessary for them to know why he shud "a tuk that track.
They"ll know his arrows; that"s enuf. By the time they gits back, with their fingers in thur meat-traps, we"ll hev start enough to carry us to Hackensack."
"Ay, that we will, by gollies!"
"The band," continued Rube, "needn"t come to the Peenyun spring no howsomever. They kin cross the war-trail higher up to to"rst the Heely, an" meet us on t"other side o" the mountain, whur thur"s a grist o"
game, both cattle an" buffler. A plenty o" both on the ole mission lands, I"ll be boun". We"d hev to go thur anyways. Thur"s no hopes o"
meetin" the buffler this side, arter the splurry them Injuns has gin them."
"That is true enough," said Seguin. "We must go round the mountain before we can expect to fall in with the buffalo. The Indian hunt has chased them clean off from the Llanos. Come, then! Let us set about our work at once. We have yet two hours before sunset. What would you do first, Rube? You have given the plan: I will trust to you for the details."
"Why, in my opeenyun, cap, the fust thing to be did are to send a man as straight as he can gallip to whur the band"s cached. Let him fotch them acrost the trail."
"Where should they cross, do you think?"
"About twenty mile north o" hyur thur"s a dry ridge, an" a good grist o"
loose donicks. If they cross as they oughter, they needn"t make much sign. I kud take a train o" Bent"s waggons over, that "ud puzzle deaf Smith to foller "em. I kud."
"I will send a man off instantly. Here, Sanchez! you have a good horse, and know the ground. It is not over twenty miles to where they are cached. Bring them along the ridge, and with caution, as you have heard. You will find us around the north point of the mountain. You can travel all night, and be up with us early in the morning. Away!"
The torero, without making any answer, drew his horse from the picket, leaped into the saddle, and rode off at a gallop towards the north-west.
"It is fortunate," said Seguin, looking after him for some moments, "that they have trampled the ground about here, else the tracks made in our last encounter would certainly have told tales upon us."
"Thur"s no danger about that," rejoined Rube; "but when we rides from hyur, cap"n, we mustn"t foller their trail. They"d soon sight our back tracks. We had best keep up yander among the loose donicks." Rube pointed to the shingle that stretched north and south along the foot of the mountain.
"Yes, that shall be our course. We can leave this without leaving any tracks. What next?"
"The next idee ur, to get rid o" yon piece o" machin"ry," and the trapper, as he spoke, nodded in the direction of the skeleton.
"True! I had forgotten it. What shall we do with it?"