"Nothin' fur some time. 'Bout an hour ago I caught the shine o' a red blanket 'mong them trees over thar, four hundred yards or so from us an' too fur fur a shot." "Do you think they'll try to rush us?" Silent Tom shook his head. "Not 'less they're pushed," he replied. "'Pears to me they'll settle down to a long siege. They know we're after thar cannon an' they mean to see that we don't git near 'em. Ef they could keep us holed up here fur two or three weeks they'd willin' enough spare twenty warriors or so fur the job." "But why are such important men as Red Eagle and Blackstaffe left here?" "Mebbe, they thought they'd git at us an' finish us in a day or two. Look at that, Henry. What do you make it out to be?" "It's a spot of white in the foliage, and it's coming nearer. They want to talk with us. Somebody has hoisted a piece of old cloth on a gun barrel and is approaching. It's Braxton Wyatt." "Yes, I see him, an' he's within range now. May I send a bullet squar'ly through his head, Henry?" "No, no! You mustn't do that! We'll observe all the rules of war, whether they do or not. There's Blackstaffe behind Wyatt, and two more Indians. Let them come within a hundred yards, Tom, then hail 'em. Paul, you do the talking, but say I'm not here." The two renegades and the two Indians came on with confidence, until they were halted by Tom's loud command. The four stopped and Wyatt called out: "We want to talk with you and it's better for you to do it." "It may or may not be better for us," said Paul. "We're the best judges of that. But what do you want?" "You know me, Paul Cotter," said Wyatt, who recognized the voice, "and you know I keep my word. Now, we have you fellows shut up there. All we've got to do is to wait until your food gives out, which'll be very soon, and then you'll drop into our hands like an apple from a tree." "Oh, no," said Paul airily. "We've always had this place in mind for some such use as the present, and from time to time we've been stocking it up with food. We could live here a year in comfort. Long Jim is cooking deer steaks now, and the smoke is going out through a hole, which leads clear through the hill. If you'll go around to the other side, about a mile from here, you'll see the smoke." Paul merely followed the Indian fashion of taunting one's enemies. He believed that in the forest it was best to follow its ways. "Aren't you going, Braxton?" he called. "Long Jim is letting the fire die down and if you don't hurry around there you won't see the smoke." "You think you're smart, Paul Cotter," Braxton Wyatt called back in anger. "You've read too many books. Drop your high and mighty ways and come down to facts." "Well, what do you want? You're in our front yard and we have the right to shoot you, but we won't do it until you tell what you're doing there."