"Before all," the Frenchman observed, "let us put out the fire; its gleam, slight as it is, might betray us."
His companions followed his advice, and the fire was extinguished in a second.
"My brother, the paleface, is prudent," the chief said courteously. "He knows the desert. I am happy to see him by my side."
"And now," Belhumeur went on, "we are almost invisible--no visible danger threatens us; so let us hold a council. The chief had the first scent of peril: it is, therefore, his place to tell us what he observed."
The Indian wrapped him up in his fresada; the three men drew closer, so as to be able to speak in a whisper, and the council commenced.
"Since sunrise this morning," Eagle-head said, "I have been marching in the desert. I was anxious to reach the place of meeting, and proceeded in a straight line to arrive sooner. All along the road I found evident signs of the passage of a numerous band; the tracks were wide and full, like those made by a party of warriors so large they care not for discovery. These trails continued for a long distance, then suddenly disappeared: it was impossible for me to find them again."
"Deuce, deuce!" the Canadian muttered, "That is awkward."
"At first I did not pay much attention to trail, but presently I began to feel restless, and that is the reason I have mentioned it to you."
"I believe that the expedition whose passage I discovered is directed against the great cabin of the palefaces at Guetzalli."
"What makes you suppose so?" Louis asked.
"This. At the hour the alligator leaves the mud of the bank to plunge again into the Gila, the sound of horses a short distance off compelled me, lest I should be discovered, to bury myself in a thicket of mangroves and floripondios. When sheltered from a surprise I looked out. A band of palefaces passed within bow-shot of me, in the direction of Guetzalli."
"I know who they were," Belhumeur remarked. "What next?"
"I recognised, in spite of the care he had taken to render himself unrecognisable, the man who served as guide to the party; then I guessed the infernal scheme formed by the Apache dogs."
"A man my brother knows. It is Wah-sho-che-gorah, the Black Bear, the principal chief of the White Crow tribe."