After the meal he wandered out of the lodge; but there was little for him to see except the dark shapes of the wigwams and here and there a group of silent Indians seated round their camp fire; and so he returned and took comfortable refuge between the blankets and buffalo robes provided for him by one of Simon Sprott's attendant braves.
Before he fell asleep, however, he listened to the conversation between Kiddie and their host.
"He's got spies everywhere," Simon was saying. "Yes, even among the trappers, even working among the cowboys on the ranches. Many of the cowboys themselves are in his pay, stealing horses for him from the outlying corrals, or smuggling firearms into his reservation. For, as a rule, he gets others to do his dirty work for him. Naturally, we've got scouts as well as he, and we're not ignorant of his strength or his intentions."
Rube knew by now that it was of Broken Feather that they were speaking.
"If all I've heard of him is true," said Kiddie, "he has as strong a following as any chief within a week's ride. As for his intentions, I don't pretend to have any special knowledge, excepting that he's a man who thinks a tremendous lot of himself and has the ambition to be a great military genius like Sitting Bull or Red Cloud."
"That's just the point," resumed Simon Sprott. "And to achieve his ambition, he's aiming at conquering the smaller tribes, one by one--Crows, Blackfeet, Arapahoes, Pawnees. But the Crows first of all. Any day he may lead his army on the war trail against us, here in the Falling Water Reserve."
"If you're certain of that, why not be the first to attack?" suggested Kiddie. "You could take him by surprise."
Short Nose grunted deep in his throat and shook his head.
"Unfortunately," he answered, "the Crows have no warrior capable of planning and carrying out such an enterprise. It'll be as much as we can do to defend our village when we ourselves are attacked. Now, if Buckskin Jack were here----!"
There was a long spell of silence in the lodge, broken only by the crackling of the fire. Rube had closed his heavy eyes when he again heard Kiddie's voice.
"Tell me this, Simon," said Kiddie, seeming to change the subject from warfare to hunting. "Exactly how did you learn of that herd of buffalo, back of Washakee Peak?"