And in this he was successful. At first he overlooked it, believing it to be a tree. Then he saw it move slightly, and finally made out the body of a tall man standing beside a sapling, some distance up the hill. Eagerly the scout crawled up the slope, and finally gained a point above and beyond the stationary figure. Before he could accomplish more, however, the figure he had watched so carefully suddenly stepped away from the tree. He heard a guttural voice grunt the single syllable: “Ugh!” For an instant Cody feared his own presence had been discovered. Then he saw what had drawn the ejaculation from the redskin. A second figure had appeared on the hillside. Cody lay behind a boulder and watched the two men approach each other. There was a rapid interchange of guttural observations in the Sioux tongue. Two scouts were reporting to each other what they had discovered about the bivouac and the numbers of the pony soldiers there encamped. For all he knew there might be a big party of reds within call. He scarcely believed so, considering how the reds hate to travel by night; but the presence of these scouts suggested, at least, that Boyd Bennett had influence enough over the tribesmen to send these two back to do his dirty work. However, the scout was minded to make a bold play. He rose up softly from behind the boulder. The Indians’ backs were half-turned to him, and their heads were very close together while they whispered softly. Cody poised himself, and, judging his distance, began to circle his rope--which he had brought with him on the chance of tying up a prisoner--carefully. Swish! The serpentine loop hurtled over the heads of the redskins, and--dropped! There were two startled screams, both of which were choked off instantly. The scout flung himself backward and drew the horsehair noose taut. It had caught one Indian around the neck and over the shoulders, and the other had but one hand free. The first jerk yanked both off their feet and held them together with such firmness that they could not rise or stretch the loop. They were like one enraged animal, struggling and lashing out upon the ground! Buffalo Bill ran in, wound the slack of the line about their writhing bodies and about their legs. In a couple of minutes they were so mixed up with that rope that it was hard to tell which Indian was which! CHAPTER XXI. THE CAVE IN THE MOUNTAIN. Now, despite the excitement of the moment, Cody noticed one fact that delighted him. The two entangled Indians did not cry out. After the first involuntary grunt, neither uttered a yell of rage or despair, and this proved a point in the scout’s favor. There were no other redskins near at hand!