He took Tom’s last blanket from his shoulders while the latter was asleep, and left him without a stick of wood with which to replenish the fire when he awoke.
He went into camp that night on the side of the valley directly opposite to the thicket in which Oscar’s cabin stood; and, at an early hour the next morning, he had that cabin under surveillance. He saw Big Thompson and his young companion when they started for the gorge—this was the morning on which the guide began his second journey to the fort—and, as soon as they were out of sight, he ran across the valley from the willows and plunged into the woods behind the cabin.
The impulse to look into it, and see if there was anything there worth stealing, was very strong; but the fear that Big Thompson might come back and find him there was stronger, and he did not yield to that impulse.
He followed about half a mile in the rear of the two hunters, keeping them always in sight; and, when he saw them shake hands and separate at the mouth of the gorge, one going on toward the prairie, while the other—after loitering about for a while—came back into the valley, his delight knew no bounds.
He knew as well as Oscar did that Big Thompson was about to make an effort to reach the fort; and his first care must be to watch him, and see if he succeeded in getting through the gorge. If he did, so much the better for himself, for he would have a clear field for his operations.
Leaving Oscar to go where he pleased, until it suited his convenience to look after him, the wolfer ran along in the edge of the woods until he reached the gorge. A high hill arose on one side of it, and this the wolfer scaled, after considerable trouble, and sat down on the top of it to watch Big Thompson’s progress.
From his lofty perch he kept the guide in sight for more than an hour; and the ease with which the latter passed over the drifts would have satisfied a less crafty and suspicious person that there was no danger to be apprehended from his unexpected return.
But Lish was so very much afraid of Big Thompson that he dared not take any risks. He kept his position on the top of the hill until it was almost dark, and then scrambled down and ran back to his camp.