"It shorely does look," said the Little Giant, "ez ef my luck wuz goin' to hev a turn. At any rate, I'll be with you boys, in the best company I've had fur years." "You and the mules rest a day," said Boyd, "and then we'll be off. We'll keep to the mountains for a while, and then we'll curve back to the plains, where we'll take up the line laid down on the map, and where the going is easier. Maybe we can dodge the Sioux." The Little Giant made his bed under one of the trees, and he slept very soundly that night, eating prodigiously in the morning. The three were discussing the advisability of leaving at once or of waiting until the dusk for departure, when Will, happening to look toward the east, saw what he took at first to be a tiny cloud in the clear blue sky. He carried his glasses over his shoulders, and he raised them at once. The hunter and the Little Giant had noticed his act. "What is it, Will?" asked Boyd anxiously. "Smoke! A big puff of it!" "And it came from the top of that mountain to the east of the valley." "It rose straight and fast, as if it had been sent up by some human agency." "And so it was. It's a signal!" "Indians!" "Yes, Will." "What does it mean?" "It means 'Attention, watch!' They've got a code almost as complete as that of our armies when they use the signal flags. Look at that other crest off to the north. Maybe an answer will come from it." "There _is_ an answer. I can see it rising now from the very place you indicate, Jim. What does the answer signify?" "I can see it now with the naked eye. It merely says to the first, 'I've seen you, I'm waiting. Go ahead.' Look back to the other crest." "Two smokes are now going up there." "They say 'Come.' It's two bands wanting to meet. Now, the other place." "Three smokes there." "Three means, 'We come.'" "Now back to the other." "Four smokes." "Which says in good, plain English, 'We are following the enemy.' That settles it. They've found out, some way or other, that we're here, and the two bands mean to meet and capture or destroy us. They never suspected that we could read their writing against the sky. We don't wait until tonight. We leave as soon as we can get our packs on our horses and mules." "I'd like to make a suggestion first," said the Little Giant with some diffidence. "What is it?" asked Boyd. "Suppose we stay an' have a crack at 'em before we go, jest kinder to temper their zeal a little. I'd like to show young William that I kin really shoot, an' sorter live up to the braggin' you've been doin'." "No, you ferocious little man-killer. We can't think of it. We'd have a hundred Sioux warriors on our heels in no time. Now hustle, you two! Pack faster than you ever packed before, and we'll start inside of two hours. Do you see any more smokes, Will?" "No, the sky is now without a blemish."