Indifferent to this
circumstance, which rather favoured than disconcerted his plans,
Mahtoree, who had again ridden in front, held on his course with the
accuracy of a hound of the truest scent, merely slackening his speed a
little, as the horses of his party were by this time thoroughly blown.
It was at this stage of the enterprise, that the old man rode up to
the side of Middleton, and addressed him as follows in English--
"Here is likely to be a thieving business, and one in which I must say
I have but little wish to be a partner."
"What would you do? It would be fatal to trust ourselves in the hands
of the miscreants in our rear."
"Tut, for miscreants, be they red or be they white. Look ahead, lad,
as if ye were talking of our medicines, or perhaps praising the Teton
beasts. For the knaves love to hear their horses commended, the same
as a foolish mother in the settlements is fond of hearing the praises
of her wilful child. So; pat the animal and lay your hand on the
gewgaws, with which the Red-skins have ornamented his mane, giving
your eye as it were to one thing, and your mind to another.
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