The American meant what he said, and he hurriedly put a few things together and made them into a pack.

Then he turned to Harding with a gesture of ironical resignation.
"I'm ready." The Indian laid a firm hand on his arm, and Harding took out his pistol and extinguished the lamp.
"Your interest in keeping quiet is as strong as mine," he sternly reminded Clarke.
He set his teeth as they passed a tepee at a few yards' distance.

He could see the dark gap of the doorway, and had a nervous fancy that eyes were following his movements; for now that he had succeeded in the more difficult part of his errand, he was conscious of strain.

Indeed, he feared that he might grow limp with the reaction; and the danger was not yet over.

Unless they reached camp in the next few days, he thought Blake would die, and the journey was a long and arduous one.
Still, he was determined that if disaster overtook him, the plotter who had betrayed them should not escape.