The Quest of the Four: A Story of the Comanches and Buena VistaAltsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander)
General
The Quest of the Four: A Story of the Comanches and Buena Vista
Altsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander)
Comanche Indians -- Fiction; Western stories
Hans Arenberg yet felt the great uplift of the spirit. The premonition
of success, of a triumphant end to his quest was very strong within him.
He kissed the little package and replaced it within the inside of his
waistcoat. Then he looked again at his comrades. They were still in
Valhalla.
The German was very kindly and very pitiful. He had noticed the wasted
frame of John Bedford, and he knew how much he needed sleep. Bill
Breakstone, too, had gone through a tremendous ordeal, and Phil Bedford
was but a boy, who had waited, tense and strained, all through the
night.
"Let them sleep," murmured Hans Arenberg. "I will still watch."
He left the window open a little so that the fresh air might come in,
and resumed his seat. The other three slept on soundly. An hour or two
later he opened the door softly and went out into the cove, which he
scouted carefully. It was as silent and desolate as if man had never
been there. At forty yards the cabin itself was invisible in the
foliage and against the dark, volcanic cliff. The German was quite sure
that no one would come, but, for precaution, he examined every bush and
projection of rock. Then he climbed one of the cliffs, and, sheltering
himself well, looked down the valley. There, far below, was the huge,
honey-colored Castle of Montevideo, seeming singularly vivid and near in
the intense sunlight. Arenberg thought that he could make out a figure
or two on its walls, but he was not sure. He also examined the slopes,
but he could not detect human life. Then he returned to the cabin and
found his comrades still sound asleep. Arenberg smiled.
"Let them sleep on," he murmured, "until the sleep that is in them is
exhausted." He opened the door a little in order that he might let in
more fresh air, and also because it gave him a complete view down the
valley. No one could approach the cabin without being seen by Hans
Arenberg, who had uncommonly good eyes.
The German sat there all the morning and listened to the hours as they
ticked themselves away. He listened literally, and he heard the ticking
literally, because he carried a large silver watch in his waistcoat
pocket, and in the dead silence, he could hear it very well. His
comrades slept on, each on his couch. Once Arenberg rose and looked at
John Bedford.
"A fine young man," he murmured. "He iss worthy of his brother."
It was fully an hour after noon when Bill Breakstone began to squirm
about on his couch and yawn mightily.
Then he opened his eyes, sat up, and stared at Hans Arenberg, who sat
placidly by the fireplace, looking down the valley.
"Hans!" said Bill Breakstone.
Arenberg looked at him and smiled.
"I’m thinking," said Bill Breakstone, "that we’ve overslept ourselves a
bit. I guess from the looks of the light there at the door that the sun
must be up at least an hour."
"It has been up seven hours," replied Arenberg.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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