The
trapper endured their sullen scrutiny with the steadiness of one as
practised as themselves, and with the entire composure of innocence.
Content with the momentary examination he had made, the eldest of the
group, who was in truth the delinquent sentinel by whose remissness
the wily Mahtoree had so well profited, turned towards his father and
said bluntly--
"If this man is all that is left of the party I saw on the upland,
yonder, we haven't altogether thrown away our ammunition."
"Asa, you are right," said the father, turning suddenly on the
trapper, a lost idea being recalled by the hint of his son. "How is
it, stranger; there were three of you, just now, or there is no virtue
in moonlight?"
"If you had seen the Tetons racing across the prairies, like so many
black-looking evil ones, on the heels of your cattle, my friend, it
would have been an easy matter to have fancied them a thousand."
"Ay, for a town bred boy, or a skeary woman; though for that matter,
there is old Esther; she has no more fear of a red-skin than of a
suckling cub, or of a wolf pup.
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