In the first place, there was nothing to indicate which tent Clarke occupied; and it was highly undesirable that Harding should choose the wrong one and rouse an Indian from his slumbers.

Then, it was possible that the man shared a tepee with one of his hosts, in which case Harding would place himself at the Indian's mercy by entering it.

Clarke was a dangerous man, and his Stony friends were people with rudimentary ideas and barbarous habits.

Harding glanced at his guide, but the man stood very still, and he could judge nothing about his feelings from his attitude.
Fortune favored them, for as Harding made toward a tepee, without any particular reason for doing so, except that it stood a little apart from the others, he saw a faint streak of light shine out beneath the curtain.

This suggested that it was occupied by the white man; and it was now an important question whether he could reach it silently enough to surprise him.