Slowly darkness fell and the campfires flung out flickering shadows on the sloping walls of tepees and over the figures of the warriors squatted around them.
“I make believe I one of them,” Toma whispered presently. “I go down—find out where Sandy is.”
“It’s an awful risk,” Dick tried to object, “and you aren’t dressed like they are.”
“I fix that. You wait here—no, you come down closer. Be ready to shoot, you hear trouble. Jump ’round when you shoot. Make um think you whole army. I ketch um Sandy.”
Though Dick feared Toma would come to grief, he could do nothing but let the courageous young guide take the chance, hoping, if worst came to worst, and Toma was discovered, that he might draw the attention of the Indians long enough for his red friend to escape.
Toma crawled off down the slope toward the camp, Dick followed him for a little way, until he reached a heavy copse of brush where he felt he was within good rifle range of the camp. Toma went on and disappeared, Dick’s whispered wish of “good luck” following him.
As Dick lay there waiting he could see on the side of the camp nearest him, the shadowy figure of a warrior sentinel, standing motionless by a tree, silhouetted by the light of one of the fires. Dick raised his rifle and drew bead on the guard. It was this warrior who would discover Toma, if any did, and Dick watched intently for a motion that would indicate the guard had seen something unusual.
He watched for possibly five minutes, when of a sudden another figure arose between him and the shadowy guard. There was a swift movement of the two shadows; they swayed violently, then the guard fell and the other stooped over him. Then both disappeared in the dark underbrush.
Dick held his breath. Toma had attacked the guard and knocked him down. In a flash Dick saw Toma’s plan—the young Indian would change clothes with the warrior and creep into the camp, casually joining the others.
Gripping his rifle, Dick awaited developments. What would happen in the next hour he did not know, but he hoped for the best.
Dick waited what seemed to him several hours, though it could not have been more than thirty minutes, before he saw a sign of Toma. Then, in almost the exact position the guard had held, he saw a figure rise up which he was almost certain was Toma, though the firelight revealed that the young guide now wore the clothes and head-dress of the sentinel.