Horn lifted his arms high. The other men uttered exclamations of
amaze and dread. The women were silent.

"Did you see them?" asked Horn.

"Yes, from a ridge back hyar ten miles. I saw them sneakin' along
the trail an' I knowed they meant mischief. I rode along the ridges
or I'd been hyar sooner."

"How many Injuns?"

"I counted fifteen. They were goin' along slow. Like as not they've
sent word fer more. There's a big Sioux camp over hyar in another
valley."

"Are these Sioux on the war-path?"

"I saw dead an' scalped white men a few days back," replied
Slingerland.

Horn grew as black as a thundercloud, and he cursed the group of
pale-faced men who had elected to journey eastward with him.

"You'll hev to fight," he ended, brutally, "an' thet'll be some
satisfaction to me."

"Horn, there's soldiers over hyar in camp," went on Slingerland. "Do
you want me to ride after them?"