He could have
been overpowered without difficulty, weakened by illness and carrying
no arms.
They spent the morning in a fruitless search and in the afternoon
Courant insisted on the train moving on. They cached provisions by the
spring and scratched an arrow on the rock pointing their way, and
underneath it the first letters of their names. It was useless, the
leader said, to leave anything in the form of a letter. As soon as
their dust was moving on the trail the Diggers would sweep down on the
camp and carry away every scrap of rag and bone that was there. This
was why he overrode Susan's plea to leave David's horse. Why present
to the Indians a horse when they had only sufficient for themselves?
She wrung her hands at the grewsome picture of David escaping and
stealing back to find a deserted camp. But Courant was inexorable and
the catching-up went forward with grim speed.
She and the old man were dumb with depression as the train rolled out.
To them the desertion seemed an act of appalling heartlessness. But
the mountain man had overcome Daddy John's scruples by a picture of
their own fate if they delayed and were caught in the early snows of
the Sierras.
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