"
Half an hour's riding again brought them up to the Indians, who had
stopped within a mile of their former halting-place.
"The moon will be up by one o'clock, boys, and they mean to remain
where they are till then. Do you see that hollow that runs just
this side of where they are? No doubt there is a small stream
there."
This time the Indians made no move to retreat further. They knew
now that their assailants were only three in number. They were
armed, indeed, with weapons which, in their terrible rapidity of
fire, were altogether beyond anything they had hitherto seen; but
in the darkness these would be of no avail against a sudden rush.
But if the Indians did not run away neither did they, as before,
attack their assailants. Their horses had been placed in the middle
of the cattle, with a few Indians standing by them to keep them
quiet. The rest of the Indians were not to be seen, but Mr. Hardy
guessed that they were lying down in the long grass, or were
concealed among the animals.
"The rascals have got a clever chief among them, boys. Except those
half-dozen heads we see over the horses' backs, there is nothing to
see of them. They know that if we go close they can pick us off
with their guns and bows and arrows, without giving us a single
fair shot at them.
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