As soon as the interpreter had moved up to him Satank spoke a few words to Mexican Joe, who asked in broken English:
"Where your pardners? Other mans? Where wagon?"
"He say, 'Maybe so you lie,'" said Joe, making the sign of the forked tongue; then continued, "Any mans in casa--house?" nodding toward the dugout.
Apparently wishing to see the inside of our house--or to get the drop on me in some way--after a few more words between them, Joe said:
"He say: 'White man come to Kiowa's camp Kiowa feed him. Satank he hungry. Want to go in casa, eat with white man--be good amigos.'"
"Food all gone. Pardners gone with wagon to bring some buffalo meat. Tell him to come again when pardners get back. I'll give him plenty to eat."
Of course, Satank did not believe this, and I did not care. I wished to stand him off, for I was determined that he should get no closer inspection of our situation than he already had. I felt sure that he had a party of his warriors close about--probably in hiding in the timber--and that he had come on a spying tour.
Satank evidently recognized me as one of the actors in an episode that took place at Fort Wise when I was in the service, and asked a number of questions about it. To all these I replied by denying any knowledge of the event. The interpreter said, however:
"He say: 'You can't fool him. He know you.'"
I was in dread all the time that they might lift their eyes to the upland prairie in the direction of Fort Larned, where our white-covered wagon was still in plain view; but a little swell of the prairie hid it from them.
After exchanging a few more words in their own language, Joe turned to me and said:
Backing away a few steps, they turned off around the butt of our haystack, and made for the crossing of the ravine just above our dugouts. Here they examined the ground closely, evidently looking for fresh tracks of our wagon and mules to see which way they had gone.
As soon as they crossed the ravine I returned to my station on the dirt roof of our dugout where I could watch their movements. When they reached the higher ground and our Fort Larned trail the fresh tracks of the team gave them their clew. Pointing to the fresh signs, Satank's eyes followed the course of the trail until he caught sight of the wagon in the distance, just as it seemed to reach the crest of the high prairie about three miles away. With an excited exclamation he pointed out his discovery to his companion, and then mounting rode off at a lively gait.