“Good for you, Toma,” Dick whispered. “Now if you can only get in among them without them recognizing that you’re not really a member of their band.”
Toma did not enter the camp from that side, however. Once more he disappeared.
A patch of brush to the left caught Dick’s roving eyes, and this he watched, believing Toma would take this means of getting into the camp without attracting attention, since the bushes led up to a point very near one of the tepees.
Dick was right. A few minutes later the bush tops waved a little at the passage of a creeping body. Presently in the shadow of the tepee nearest the bushes, Toma rose and walked slowly toward one of the campfires, where he joined a group. Dick feared Toma might see the scar faced Indian, and that the guide’s desire for revenge might cause him to destroy all his chances for the rescue of Sandy. But as time passed and all went well, Dick felt that Toma must be making good progress in the dangerous mission he had set out on.
A little later Dick saw a figure, which he took to be Toma, break away from a group of natives and saunter toward one of the tepees. Evidently the guide now was either looking for Sandy, or had learned the captive’s exact position from the conversation of the warriors.
Toma stooped into the opening of the tepee and disappeared. Holding his breath, Dick watched. Toma was gone some time, then in the flickering light he appeared again. Would Sandy follow? Dick’s heart beat painfully.
Then he could not suppress a low cry of exultation as Sandy’s bare head came out next and the two slipped into the deep shadows of another tepee. For minutes they did not move, then they suddenly dashed for the patch of brush that had covered Toma’s entrance into the camp. Dick’s finger tightened on the trigger.
There was a commotion among one of the groups about the campfires. A shout sounded, then a rifle shot. The Indians began to run; they had seen Toma and Sandy!
Dick took quick aim and fired. The crack of his rifle in the silent forest startled the camp. Dick shot again, hurrying to another position as Toma had advised. He could see that Toma and Sandy had reached cover, and that the guide was firing on his pursuers.