Under these conditions Teddy considered it the part of wisdom to crouch down in the shadows and wait for some little time, until they could be positive the men had returned to their ambush.
They could hear Amos and Sallie talking, as though they had become great friends in the short time they had known each other; though Teddy guessed that the magic fiddle had drawn them both together, more than anything else.
He had swept his eyes around the interior of the cabin when first peering in through the little window, and beyond a few rusty traps, some furs used for sleeping purposes, a few moth-eaten blankets and several cooking utensils, it did not seem to contain much else, yet things were as clean as Sallie could make them, and even a broom fashioned from twigs showed that the child swept the old floor regularly.
When Teddy had waited a certain length of time, he whispered some words to his companion, and immediately departed.
Undoubtedly his intention was to scout around a bit, in order to make sure that the coast was clear before they proceeded to attempt getting Amos to leave the cabin.
Undoubtedly the two men had secured the door on the outside when they departed, so that the boy could not leave the place. The window was merely a slit in the log walls, and too small to admit the passage of one the size of Amos, so that it would seem as though they felt reasonably secure about leaving him.
The minutes glided past, and all he could hear was the murmur of voices just beyond the slit in the wall; which, being continuous, seemed as though Amos and the girl might be having a heart to heart conversation discussing their various troubles.
Finally Dolph could not stand it any longer.
With Amos so close by, it seemed to him the height of foolishness to delay longer, when the two plotters might give up their watching and waiting in disgust at any minute, and return to the cabin.
So Dolph once more raised his head until he could just manage to peep over the lower edge of the narrow opening, and look into the room.
It was a candle that was burning, a homemade affair, possibly fashioned out of bear’s fat or tallow by the trapper; and of course, the fire having died down meanwhile, it did not illuminate the whole floor of the cabin any too well.