"Talking of buffalo," Abe began, as the hunters were sitting round the fire on the evening of the hunt, "that reminds me that it wasn't so very far from this har spot that me and Rube was nearly wiped out by the Utes some ten years ago. Rube, he was a young chap then, and had not been long out on the plains. We war hunting with a party of Cheyennes, and had been with them well-nigh all the summer. One day we war in pursuit of buffalo—they were plentiful then; you think they are plentiful now, but you would see ten herds then for every one you see now. But they are going, and I expect in another twenty years that a man might ride across the plains and never catch sight of a hump. If the gold turns out to be as rich as they say, there will be hundreds of thousands of people cross these plains, and, like enough, settlements be formed right across the continent. However, there war plenty of herds ten years ago.

"We had come upon a big herd, and was chasing them. I had singled out an old bull, and had pushed right into the herd after him; Rube, he was pretty close to me. Well, I came up to the bull, and put a rifle-ball between his ribs. The herd had rather separated as we got amongst them, making way for us right and left as we rode after the bull. As he fell we reined in our horses, and looked round. Not a Cheyenne was to be seen: five minutes afore they had been hanging on the herd, sending their arrows in up to the feather among the buffalo; now not a soul was to be seen. You may guess this staggered me and I says to Rube, 'Look out, Rube, there's something up, as sure as fate.'

"Well, I had scarcely spoken afore I saw a big party of Injins come charging down across our rear. 'Utes,' says I, 'by thunder! They are after the Cheyennes! Fling yourself flat on your horse, Rube, and get into the herd.'

"The buffalo war only fifty yards away yet, and yer may be sure we spurred up pretty sharp till we got up to them. I seed at once it was our only chance. Our horses war blowed, for we had had a sharp chase afore we caught the herd, and there was no chance of our getting away from the Utes in the open plains. We soon caught up the herd, and charged in among them. The brutes were packed so close together that they could hardly make room for us; but we managed to wedge ourselves in. Those next to us snuffed and roared, but they war too pressed by those behind to do much; but by shouting and waving our hats we managed to keep a clear space three or four yards on either side of us. All this time we war lying down on our horses' necks, and there war no fear that any one would see us in the midst of that sea of tossing cattle; but I war afraid they would have caught sight of us afore we got among 'em. I cussed myself for having fired that last shot; they must have heard it, and would have known that some of us hadn't seen them coming, and must be somewhere among the herd.

"I raised my head a little at last, and took a look round. Sure enough, there was a dozen Utes coming up behind the herd. I puts spurs again into my horse, and, catching up an old bull in front of me, progged him with my bowie-knife, and Rube did the same to the beast next to him. They gave a roar and plunged on ahead through the mass, and we followed close to their heels. It was tight work, I can tell you, for the buffaloes on both sides war touching one another. We kept going about half a length behind the beasts next to us, so that the horses' shoulders war just behind the shoulders of the buffaloes; as you know, the buffaloes have got no necks to speak of, and so, although they gave savage thrusts with their horns, they couldn't get at the horses. Our beasts were frightened near out of their lives, but they war well broken, and we managed to keep 'em in hand.

"The thing I was most afraid of was that they would be knocked off their legs, and in that case we should be trampled to death in a minute. As I leaned forward I kept one hand fixed on the neck of the buffalo next me, and I shouted to Rube to do the same, so as we could make a shift to jump on to the buffalo's back if our horses fell; but, I tell you, I was beginning to fear that we shouldn't see any way out of it. What with us in the middle, and the Utes yelling behind them, the herd war fairly mad with fright; and there war no saying where they would go to, for, you know, a herd of buffaloes, when fairly stampeded, will go clean over a precipice a hundred yards high, and pile themselves up dead at the foot till there is not one left. It war a bad fix, you bet, for I war sure that the Utes war after us, and not after the buffaloes, for they kept on, though they could soon have killed as many of the herd as they wanted. It was may be four in the afternoon when the chase commenced, and so it went on till it was dark. The buffaloes war going nigh as fast as when we started, but the horses could scarce keep their legs; I was sure they couldn't run much longer, so I says to Rube, 'We must get out of this, or else we shall be done for.'

"So we sets to work a-probing the buffalo with our knives again. They started on ahead as hard as they could, bursting a way through the crowd. We followed close behind them, keeping up the scare until we finds ourselves in front of the herd; then we spurred our horses on, and dashed out in front. Done as the horses were, they knew they had got to go, for, with the herd coming like thunder upon their heels, it was death to stop. We swerved away to the right, but it took us half an hour afore we war clear of the front of the herd. We went a few hundred yards further, and then drew rein.

"Rube's horse fell dead as he stopped, and mine wasn't worth much more. For half an hour we could hear the herd rushing along, and then it had passed. We had got out of our biggest fix, but it warn't a pleasant position.

"There we war out on the plains, with only one horse between us, and he so done up that he couldn't put one foot afore the other.

"Where the Cheyennes war there was no saying; the band might have been wiped out by the Utes, or they might have got away. At any rate there was no counting on them. The Utes who had followed the herd would be sure to be on our trail in the morning; they would follow all night, or as long as the herd ran. When the buffalo war fairly tired out they would lay down, and the Utes would see then as we warn't there. Then they would set out upon the back-trail, skirting along each side of the line trampled by the herd until they came upon our trail; the dead horse was a sign as they could see a mile away, so it was clear that we must foot it as soon as we could. We gave the horse an hour's rest; and it did us as much good as him, for I can tell you we war pretty well used up. We drove him afore us until, after six hours' walking, we came to a stream. We went up this for an hour, then we both filled our hunting-shirts with stones and fastened them on the horse, and then drove him off."

"What did you put the stones on his back for?" Frank asked.

"To make the Utes think as he was carrying double. Each of the loads was about the weight of a man, and the horse was so tired that he staggered as he walked; so as they would see his tracks, and wouldn't see ours, they would naturally come to the conclusion as we war both on his back. It warn't likely as the critter would go far before he laid down, perhaps not more than half a mile; but that would do for us. We went back a few hundred yards in the stream, and then struck off across the prairie, the same side as we had come from, taking care to make as little sign as possible.

"The Utes would be riding along by the side of the stream and looking for a horse's print, and the chances war that they wouldn't see ours. When they came up to the horse and found out the trick, they would gallop back again; at least half of them would go up the stream and half would take the back-track; but, you see, as they went up they would have trampled across our track, and they would find it mighty hard work to pick it up again.

"We footed it all day, and the prospect warn't a pleasant one. The nearest settlement was nigh a thousand miles away, we had no horses, and we daren't fire a gun for fear of bringing Utes down upon us. We had made up our minds to strike for the Cheyennes' country, that being the nearest where we could expect to find friends. For two days we tramped on. The third day we war sitting by the side of a stream, eating a prairie-dog as we had trapped, when Rube stopped eating suddenly, and said, 'Listen!'

"I threw myself down and put my ear to the ground, and, sure enough, could hear the gallop of horses. 'Injins,' says I, and chucks a lot of wet sand and gravel over the fire, which was fortunately a small one. I knew, in course, if they came close that way, as they would see it; but if they passed at some distance they would not notice us. Then Rube and I bounded into the water, and laid down close under a high bank, where the grass grew long, and drooped over to the water so as to cover our heads.

"We heard the redskins coming nearer and nearer, and they stopped at the stream a quarter of a mile or so above us. We listened, I can tell you, for the sound of their going on again; but no such luck, and after a quarter of an hour we knew as they were going to camp there. I felt pretty thankful as it was late in the afternoon, for I guessed, in the first place, as they would light their fire and cook their food, so none of them war likely to be coming down our way until it was after dark.

"We waited and waited, till it got quite dark; then we followed the stream down for another four or five miles, and then took to the plains again. It was another three days afore we fell in with a party of Cheyennes. It seemed as how most of those we had been with had been killed by the Utes; the others had taken the news home, and the whole tribe had been turned out. We war pretty well done up, but the chief dismounted two of his men and put us on their horses, and we set off at once. We knew pretty well the line that the party as was following us had taken, and the next night we saw the fires of their camp, and you bet not one of them went home to tell the tale."

"That was a narrow escape indeed, Abe," Frank said.

"It war all that. It war lucky that it war late afore the hunt began; if it had been early in the day nothing could have saved us—onless, of course, our horses had been fresh, and faster than those of the Utes, and then we should have made straight away instead of getting into the herd."

"They don't seem to go as fast as a horse, Abe. I seemed to keep up quite easily with that bull I shot."

"Yes, for a burst a horse is faster than a buffalo, but when they once gets going on a downright stampede they will tire out any horse, and go well-nigh as fast too. I tell you you have to be pretty spry, even if you are well-mounted, when a downright big herd, well on the stampede, comes on you. It's a terrible sight, and it makes one tingle, I can tell you, especially as the horse is pretty nigh mad with fear."

"It must be as bad as a prairie fire."

"Worse, my lad; ever so much worse. You can see a prairie fire fifty miles away—more nor that at night, ever so much—and you have plenty of time to set the grass afire ahead of you, and clear the ground afore it comes up, though it does travel, when the wind is blowing, much faster than a horse can gallop. I have seen it go thirty miles an hour, the flames just leaping out ahead of it and setting grass alight a hundred yards before the main body of the fire came up. I tell you it is a terrible sight when the grass has just dried, and is breast-high; but, as I say, there ain't no cause to be afraid if you do but keep your head. You just pulls up a band of grass a couple of feet wide, and lights it ahead of you; the wind naturally takes it away from you, and you look sharp with blanket or leggings to beat it down, and prevent it working back agin the wind across the bit of ground you have stripped. As it goes it widens out right and left, and you have soon got a wide strip cleared in front of you. In course you don't go on to it as long as you can help it, not till you are drove by the other fire coming up; that gives it time to cool a bit. If you must go on soon, owing to being pressed, or from the fire you have lit working round agin the wind—as it will do if the grass is very dry—the best plan is to cut up your leggings, or any bit of hide you have got with you, the rawer the better, and wrap them round your horse's feet and legs; but it ain't often necessary to do that, as it don't take long for the ashes to cool enough so as to stand on."

Fortunately a bottom with good grass had been found close at hand to the place where they encamped, and when the caravan proceeded the draft oxen were all the better for their two days' rest.

"We shall have to begin to look out pretty sharp for Injin signs," Abe said, as they started early next morning. "Fresh meat is good, but we can do without it; there's enough pork and jerked meat in the waggons to last pretty nigh across the plains; but we are getting where we may expect Injins in earnest. We might, in course, have met 'em anywhere, but as they know the caravans have all got to come across their ground, it don't stand to reason as they would take the trouble to travel very far east to meet 'em. I don't say as we won't knock down a stag, now and agin, if we comes across 'em, but the less firing the better. We have been hunting up till now, but we must calculate that for the rest of the journey we are going to be hunted; and if we don't want our scalps taken, not to talk of all these women and children, we have got to look out pretty spry. I reckon we can beat them off in anything like a fair fight—that is, provided we have got time to get ready before they are on us, and it depends on us whether we do have time or not."



CHAPTER XI.

HOW DICK LOST HIS SCALP.

TWO or three days after they had moved from their last halting-place, when they were sitting at the fire one evening, and Abe had been telling a yarn of adventure, he said, when he had finished:—

"About the closest thing as I know was that adventure that Dick thar had. Dick, take off that thar wig of yourn."

The hunter put his hand to his head and lifted at once his cap, made of skin, and the hair beneath it, showing, to Frank's astonishment, a head without a vestige of hair, and presenting the appearance of a strange scar, mottled with a deep purple, as if it was the result of a terrible burn.

"You see I have been scalped," the hunter said. "I don't suppose you noticed it—few people do. You see, I never takes off my fur cap night or day, so that no one can see as I wears a wig."

"There's nought to be ashamed of in it," Abe said, "for it is as honourable a scalp as ever a man got. Do you tell the story, Dick."

"You know it as well as I do," the hunter replied, "and I ain't good at talking."

"Well, I will tell you it then," Abe said, "seeing that I knows almost as much about it as Dick does. The affair occurred the very year after what I have been telling you about. Dick was attached as hunter and scout to Fort Charles, which was, at that time, one of the furthest west of all our stations. There was fifty infantry and thirty cavalry there, and little enough too, for it war just on the edge of the Dacota country. The Dacotas are a powerful tribe, and are one of the most restless, troublesome lots I knows. Several strong parties of our troops have been surprised and cut to pieces by them; and as to settlements, no one but a born fool would dream of settling within reach of them.

"I never could quite make out why we wanted to put a fort down so close to them, seeing as there warn't a settlement to protect within a hundred and fifty miles; but I suppose the wiseacres at Washington had some sort of an idea that the redskins would be afraid to make excursions to the settlements with this fort in their rear, just as if they couldn't make a sweep of five hundred miles if they took it into their heads, and come back into their country on the other side.

"Just at that time there was no trouble with them; the hatchet was buried, and they used to come into the fort and sell skins and furs to the traders there for tobacco and beads. After that affair I was telling ye of, Rube and me, we went back for a spell to the settlement, and then took a fancy to hunt on another line, and, after knocking about for a time, found ourselves at Fort Charles. That was where we met Dick for the first time.

"The Commander of the fort was a chap named White, a captain; he had with him his wife and daughter. A worse kind of man for the commander of a frontier station you could hardly find. He was not a bad soldier, and was well liked by his men, and I have no doubt if he had been fighting agin other white men he would have done well enough; but he never seemed to have an idee what Injin nature was like, and weren't never likely to learn.

"First place, he despised them. Now, you know, the redskins ain't to be despised. You may hate them, you may say they are a cussed lot of rascals and thieves, but there ain't no despising them, and any one as does that is sure to have cause to repent it, sooner or later. There was the less reason with the Dacotas, for they had cut up stronger bodies of troops than there was at Fort Charles without letting a soul escape. Then, partly because the captain despised them, I suppose, he was always hurting their feelings.

"Now, a chief is a chief, and a man who can bring three hundred horsemen into the field, whether he is redskin or white, is a man to whom a certain respect should be paid. But Captain White never seemed to see that, but just treated one redskin like another, just as if they war dirt beneath his feet. Well, as I told you, he had with him his wife and daughter. His wife was too fine a lady for a frontier fort, still, she was not badly liked: but as to the daughter, there warn't a man in the fort but would have died for her. She war about fifteen year old, and as pretty as a flower. She war always bright and merry, with a kind word to the soldiers as she rode past them on her pretty white mustang.

"Dick, here, he worshipped her like the rest of us. If he got a particular good skin, or anything else, if he thought she would like it he would put it by for her, and she used, in her merry way, to call him her scout. Well, one day Black Dog, one of the most powerful chiefs of the Dacotas, rode into the fort with twenty of his braves. Just as he came in, Queen May, as we all called her, came galloping up on her mustang, and leapt like a bird from her saddle at the door of the commander's house, where her father was standing. I war standing next to him, and so I saw Black Dog's eye fall on her, and as long as she stood talking there to her father he never took it off; then he said something to the brave as was sitting on his horse next to him.

"'Cuss him!' Dick said to me, and I could see his hold on his rifle tighten, 'what does he look at Queen May like that for? You mark my words, Abe, trouble will come of this.'

"It was not long before trouble did come, for half an hour later the Dacota rode out of the fort with his men in great wrath, complaining that Captain White had not received him as a chief, and that his dignity was insulted. It war like enough that Captain White was not as ceremonious as he should have been to a great chief—for, as I told you, he war short in his ways with the redskins—but I question if harm would have come of it if it hadn't been that Black Dog's eye fell on that gal.

"I believe that there and then he made up his mind to carry her off. We didn't see any redskins in camp for some time; and then rumours were brought in by the scouts that there war going to be trouble with them, that a council had been held, and that it war decided the hatchet should be dug up again. Captain White he made light of the affair; but he was a good soldier, and warn't to be caught napping, so extra sentries were put on.

"As Rube and me didn't belong to the fort, of course we war independent, and went away hunting, and would sometimes be away for weeks together. One day, when we war some forty miles from the fort, we came upon the trail of a large number of redskins going east. We guessed as there must be nigh two hundred of them. They might, in course, have been going hunting, but we didn't think as it were so; sartainly they had no women with them, and they had been travelling fast. We guessed the trail was three days old, and we thought we had best push on straight to the fort to let them know about it.

"When we got thar we found we were too late. On the morning of the day after we had started a scout had arrived with the news that a strong war-party of Dacotas were on their way to the settlements. Captain White at once mounted half his infantry on horses, and with them and the cavalry set out in pursuit, leaving the fort in charge of a young officer with twenty-four men. Just after nightfall there was a sound of horsemen approaching, and the officer, thinking it was the Captain returning, ordered the gate of the stockade to be left open. In a moment the place was full of redskins. The soldiers tried to fight, but it were no use; all war cut down, only one man making his escape in the darkness.

"At daybreak, the Captain, with his troops, rode into the fort. Dick, who had been with him, had, when the party was returning, gone out scouting on his own account, and had come across the back-track of the redskins. The moment he had brought in the news the horses were re-saddled again, and the party started back; but they had gone nearly sixty miles the day before, and it was not until morning that, utterly exhausted and weary, they got within sight of the fort. Then they saw as it war too late.

"Not a roof was to be seen above the stockade, and a light smoke rising everywhere showed as fire had done it. They rode into camp like madmen. There lay all their comrades, killed and scalped; there were the bodies of Mrs. White and her servants, and the nigger labourers, and the trader and his clerks, and of all who had been left behind in the camp, except the Captain's little daughter; of her there weren't no signs. Rube and me arrived half an hour later, just as the soldier who had escaped had come in and was telling how it all came about.

"It war a terrible scene, I can tell you; the Captain he were nigh mad with grief, and the men were boiling over with rage. If they could have got at the Dacotas then they would have fought if there had been twenty to one against them. Dick war nowhere to be seen; the man said that he had caught a fresh horse, which had broken its rope and stampeded through the gate while the massacre was going on, and that he had ridden away on it on the Indian trail.

"If the horses had been fresh the Captain would have started in pursuit at once, and every man was burning to go. But it was lucky as they couldn't, for if they had I have no doubt the whole lot would have been wiped out by the Dacotas. However, there was no possibility of moving for at least a couple of days, for the horses war altogether used up after the march. So they had time to get cool on it.

"That afternoon the Captain, who was in council with the two officers who remained, sent for Rube and me, and asked us our opinion as to what was best to be done. We says at once that there weren't nothing. 'You have lost nigh a third of your force,' says I, 'and have got little over forty left. If we were to go up into the Dacota country we should get ambushed to a certainty, and should have a thousand of them, perhaps two thousand, down on us, and the odds would be too great, Captain; it couldn't be done. Besides, even if you licked them—and I tell you as your chance of doing so would be mighty small—they would disperse in all directions, and then meet and fight you agin, and ye wouldn't be no nearer getting your daughter than you war before.

"'If you ask my advice, it would be that you should send back to the nearest fort for more men, and that you should at once get up the stockade where it has been burnt down, for there is no saying when you will be attacked again. I tell you, Captain, that to lead this party here into the Dacota country would mean sartin death for them.'

"Mad as the Captain was to go in search of his daughter, he saw that I was right, and indeed I concluded he had made up his mind he could do nothing before he sent for us, only he hoped, I suppose, as we might give some sort of hope. 'I am afraid what you say is true,' says he. 'At any rate we must wait till Dick, the scout, returns; he will tell us which way they have gone, and what is their strength.'

"By nightfall the soldiers had buried all the dead just outside the stockade, and had built a temporary wall—for there wasn't a stick of timber within miles—across the gaps in the fence.

"At nightfall Rube and me, whose horses war fresh, started for the nearest fort, and four days afterwards got back with forty more horse-soldiers. We found that Dick had not come back, and we made up our minds as he had gone under. When we were away we had heard that the redskins had attacked the settlements in a dozen different places, and that there was no doubt a general Injin war had broken out. The officer at the fort where I went to was a major; it was a bigger place than Fort Charles, which was a sort of outlying post. I had, in course, told him about the Captain's daughter being carried off.

"He sent up a letter with the soldiers to the Captain, saying how sorry he was to hear of his loss, and he sent up forty men; but he ordered that unless Captain White had received some intelligence which would, in his opinion, justify his undertaking an expedition into the Indian country with so small a force as he could command, he was at once to evacuate the place and fall back with his force on the settlement, as the position was quite untenable, and every man was needed for the defence of the settlers.

"When the Captain got the order he walked up and down by hisself for four or five minutes. Yer see it war a hard choice for him; as a father he was longing to go in search of his child, as a soldier he saw that he should be risking the whole force under his command if he did so, and that at a time when every man was needed at the settlements. At last the order was given that the troops should take the back-track to the settlements on the following evening.



"The Captain told the officers that he should wait till then to give the horses of the men who had arrived with us time to rest; but I know in his heart he wanted to wait in the hope of Dick arriving with news.

"The next day, at four in the afternoon, the men war beginning to saddle their horses, when the sentry suddenly gave the cry of 'Injins, Injins!'

"In a moment every man seized his carbine and sword, and shoved his bridle on his horse's head, buckled up, and jumped into the saddle. There was no occasion for any orders. I climbed up on to the stockade, for the country was pretty nigh a dead flat, and the lookout had been burnt with the huts.

"Sure enough, there in the distance war some horsemen coming across the plain; but they war straggling, and not many of them. I could not make head nor tail of it. They war Injins, sure enough, for even at that distance I could tell that by their figures. Then I saw as there was more of them coming behind them; the idea suddenly struck me: 'Ride, Captain!' I shouted; 'ride with your men for your life, they are chasing some one.'

"There warn't any necessity for Captain White to give any orders; there was a rush to the gate, and as fast as they could get through they started out at full gallop. Me and Rube dropped over the stockade, for our critters war picketed outside. We didn't wait to saddle them, you may guess, but pulled up the ropes, jumped on to their backs, and galloped on; and we war soon by the side of Captain White, who was riding as if he was mad. We could see them a little plainer now, and says I, suddenly, 'Captain, there is a white horse in front, by gum!'

"A sort of hoarse cry came from the Captain, and he spurred his horse agin, although the critter was going at its best speed. They war two miles from us yet, but I could soon make out as the white horse and another was a bit ahead, then came eight or ten Injins in a clump, and a hundred or more straggling out behind. It seemed to me as they war all going slow, as if the horses war dead-beat; but what scared me most was to see as the clump of Injins war gaining on the two ahead of them, one of whom I felt sure now was the Captain's daughter, and the other I guessed was Dick.

"The Captain saw it too, for he gave a strange sort of cry. 'My God!' he said, 'they will overtake her.' We war still a mile from them, when we saw suddenly the man in front—this chap Dick here—part sudden from the white horse, wheel straight round, and go right back at the Injins. They separated as he came to them. We saw two fall from their horses, and the wind presently brought the sound of the cracks of pistols. There war no 'Colts' in those days, but I knew that Dick carried a brace of double-barrelled pistols in his holsters. Then the others closed round him.

"There was a sort of confusion; we could see tomahawks waving, and blows given, and when it was over there war but four Injins out of the eight to be seen on their horses. But the white horse had gained a hundred yards while the fight was going on, and the Injins saw that we war a-coming on like a hurricane, so they turned their horses and galloped back again.

"Three minutes later the Captain's daughter rode up. She war as white as death, and the Captain had just time to leap off and catch her as she fainted dead away. The rest of us didn't stop, you bet; we just gave a cheer and on we went, and the Dacotas got a lesson that day as they will remember as long as they are a tribe. Their horses were so dead-beat they had scarcely a gallop in them, while ours were fresh, and I don't think ten of the varmints got away.

"We didn't draw rein till it was dark, and next morning we counted two hundred and fifteen dead redskins on the plains. The first thing in the morning, Rube and me rode back to where the fight began, to give Dick a burial. We looked about, but couldn't find him. There was Black Dog, with one of his bullets through his forehead, two others shot through the body, and one with his skull stove in with a blow from Dick's rifle, which was lying there with the stock broken. So we supposed the Captain had had him carried to the fort, and we rode on there.

"When we got there we found as he was alive. It seems at the moment the Captain's daughter recovered from her faint she insisted on going back with the Captain to see if Dick was alive. They found him well-nigh dead. He had got an arrow through the body, and two desperate clips with tomahawks, and had been scalped, but he was still breathing. There war no one else nigh, for every man had ridden on in pursuit; but they managed, somehow, between them, to get him upon the Captain's horse. The Captain he rode in the saddle, and held him in his arms, while his daughter led her horse back to the fort. There they dressed his wounds, and put wet cloths to his head, and watched him all night.

"In the morning he was quite delirious. Fortunately the Captain considered that after the way they had licked the redskins the day before there was no absolute necessity for evacuating the Fort; so the troops cut turf and made huts, and parties were sent off to the nearest timber to bring in boughs for roofs, and there we stopped, and in six weeks Dick was about again with his wig on his head.

"You will wonder whar he got his wig from, seeing as that sort of thing ain't a product of the plains; but he is wearing his own hair. Among the fust of the Injins we overtook and killed was a chap with Dick's scalp hanging at his girdle, and when it was known as he was alive they searched and found it; and one of the soldiers who was fond of collecting bird-skins, and such like, just preserved it in the same way, and when Dick was able to go out again he presented him with his own scalp. So if any one says to Dick as he ain't wearing his own hair, Dick can tell him he is a liar.

"Lor', how grateful that gal was to Dick; he never was a particular good-looking young fellow, and he wasn't improved by the scrimmage, but I believe if he had axed her she would have given up everything and settled down as a hunter's wife."

Dick growled an angry denial.

"Well, mate, it may be not quite that, but it war very nigh it. It was downright pretty to see the way she hung about him, and looked after him, just for all the world as if she had been his mother, and he a sick child. The Captain, too, didn't know how to make enough of Dick; and as for the men, they would have done anything for him for having saved the life of Queen May. I heard, three or four years afterwards, as she married the young officer who was in command of the horse-soldiers at the next fort."

"But tell me," Frank said, "how did Dick manage to get her away from the Indians?"

"That," Abe said, "he'd better tell you himself, seeing as concerning that part of the business he knows more nor I do. Now, Dick, speak out."

"There ain't much to tell," Dick said gruffly, taking the pipe from his mouth. "Directly as we got back to camp, and I found she had gone, it seemed to me as I had got to follow her; and my eye lighting on the loose horse, I soon managed to catch the critter, and, shifting my saddle to it, I started. As you may guess, there war no difficulty in following the trail. They had ridden all night, though they knew there was no chance of their being pursued. But about fifty miles from the fort I came upon their first halting-place; they had lit fires and cooked food there, and had waited some hours.

"The ashes were still warm, and I guess they had left about four hours afore I arrived; so I went on more carefully, knowing that if I threw away my life there was no chance of recovering the gal. I guessed, by the direction which they were taking, they were going to Black Dog's village; and, after going a bit further on the trail to make sure, I turned off, and went round some miles, in case they should have left any one to see if they war followed. I knew where the village was, for I had been hunting near it.

"I camped out on the plains for the night, and next day rode to within five miles of the village, which was among the hills. I left my horse in a wood where there was water, and, taking my rifle and pistols, went forward on foot to the village and arrived there after dark. As I expected, I found the hull place astir. A big fire was blazing in the centre; on a pole near it hung the scalps they had taken, and they were a-dancing round it and howling and yelling. I didn't see any signs of the gal; but as there were two redskins with their rifles hanging about the door of a wigwam next to that of the chief, I had no doubt she was there.

"This wigwam was in the centre of the village, and there were lots of old squaws and gals about, so that I could not, for the life of me, see any way of stealing her out. Next night I went back to the camp and watched, but the more I thought on it, the more difficult it seemed. The second night I catched an Injin boy who was wandering outside the camp. I choked him, so that he couldn't hollo, and carried him off; and when I got far enough away I questioned him, and found that in two days there was to be a grand feast, and Black Dog was then going to take the white gal as his squaw. So I saw as there was no time to be lost. I strapped up the Indian boy and tied him to a tree, and then went back to the village.

"This time the gal was sitting at the door of the tent. I crept up behind, cut a slit in the skins, and got inside. As I expected, there was no one in there, the squaws as was watching her was outside; so I crept up close to the entrance, and I says to her, 'Hush! don't move, your scout Dick is here.' She gave a little tremble when I began, and then sat as still as a mouse.

"Says I, 'I don't see no plan for getting you away secret, you are watched altogether too close, the only plan is to make a race for it. There ain't many horses on the plain as can beat that mustang of yours, and I know you can ride him barebacked. Do you take a head of maize now and walk across to where he is picketed, and feed and pat him; then to-morrow morning early do the same. They won't be watching very closely, for they will think you are only going to do the same as to-night. I have put an open knife down behind you. You cut his rope, jump on his back, and ride straight; I will join you at the bottom of the valley. They may overtake us, but they won't hurt you; if they do catch you, they will just bring you back here again, and you will be no worse off than you are now. Will you try?' The gal nodded, and I crept away out of sight.

"A few minutes afterwards I saw her going along with some ears of maize to where the horses were tied up. Two Indians followed her at a little distance, but she walked across so natural that I don't think they had any suspicion; she fed the horse, and talked to it, and petted it, and then went back to the village. Next morning, before daylight, I mounted my horse and rode to the mouth of the valley, a quarter of a mile from the village.

"Half an hour after daylight I heard a yell, and almost directly afterwards the sounds of a horse's hoofs in full gallop. I rode out, and along she came as hard as the horse could go. Three or four mounted Indians war just coming into the other end of the valley four hundred yards away.

"'All right, Queen May, we have got a fine start,' says I, and then we galloped along together. 'Not too fast,' I told her, 'it ain't speed as will win the race. There is a long hundred miles between us and the fort. We must keep ahead of them varmint for a mile or two, and then they will settle down.'

"For the first five or six miles we had to ride fast, for the redskins tried the speed of their horses to the utmost; but none of them gained anything on us, indeed we widened the gap by a good bit. You see at first they only thought it was a wild scheme on the part of the gal, and the first as started jumped on the first horses that came to hand; it wasn't till they saw me that they found it was a got-up thing. One of the first lot galloped back with the news. But by the time the alarm was spread, and the chase really taken up in earnest, we was a good mile away, and a mile is a long start.

"Black Dog and some of his best-mounted braves rode too hard at first. Ef we had only had a short start they would have catched us, perhaps; but a mile's start was too much to be made up by a rush, and so Black Dog should have known; but I reckon he was too mad at first to calculate. By hard riding he and his best-mounted braves got within half a mile of us when we war about ten miles from the village. But by that time, as you may guess, the steam was out of their horses, while we had been riding at a steady gallop.

"The first party that had started had now tailed away, and was as far back as the chief. It was safe to be a long chase now, and I felt pretty sure as the gal would escape, for her mustang was a beautiful critter, and the Captain had given a long price for it; besides, it was carrying no weight to speak of. I didn't feel so sure about myself, for though my horse was a first-class one, and had over and over again, when out hunting, showed herself as fast as any out, there might be as good ones or better among the redskins, for anything I knew. When we were fairly out on the plains, I could see that pretty nigh the whole tribe of redskins had joined in the chase.

"At first I couldn't make out why; for although they are all wonderful for bottom, some of the redskins' horses ain't much for speed, and many of them could never have hoped to have come up with us. But when I thought it over, I reckoned that seeing I had joined the gal, they might have thought that I had brought her news that the Captain, with all the soldiers from the fort, was coming up behind, and I expect that's why the chief and his braves rode so fast at first.

"I don't know as I ever passed a longer day than that. We went at a steady gallop, always keeping just about half a mile ahead of the redskins. Sometimes I jumped off my horse and ran alongside of him with my hand on the saddle for half a mile, to ease him a bit. The gal rode splendidly; the mustang had a beautiful easy pace, and she set him as if she was in a chair. For the first fifty miles I don't think the redskins gained a yard on us; they warn't pressing their horses more than we were, for it was a question only of last now. Then little by little I could see that a small party was leaving the rest and gaining slowly upon us; I darn't press my horse further, but I began to give the gal instructions as to the course she should keep.

"'What does it matter, Dick,' she asked, 'when you are here to guide me?' 'But I mayn't be with you all the time,' says I; 'it air quite possible that them redskins will overtake me twenty miles afore I get to the fort, but your critter can keep ahead of them easy, he is going nigh as light now as when he started; when they get a bit closer to us you must go on alone.' 'I shan't leave you,' she says. 'Dick, you got into this scrape to save me, and I am not going to run away and leave you to be killed; if you are taken, I will be taken too.'

"'That would be a foolish thing,' says I, 'and a cruel one, ef you like to put it so. I have risked my life to save you, just as I have risked it a score of times before on the plains; ef my time has come, it will be a comfort to me to know as I have saved you, but ef you were taken too I should feel that I had just chucked my life away. Besides, you have got to think of the Captain; now that your mother has gone you have got to be a comfort to him. So you see, Miss, ef you was to get taken wilful you would be doing a bad turn to yerself, and to me, and to yer father.'

"It was a long time before she spoke again, and then she didn't say anything about what we had been talking of, but began to ask whether I thought we were sure to find the soldiers still at the fort. In course I couldn't say for sartin, but, to cheer her up, I talked hopeful about it, though I thought it was likely enough they had fallen back on the settlements. I did some long spells of running now, and got more hopeful, for the Injins didn't gain anything to speak of.

"We war all going very slow now, for the horses were pretty nigh beat. We had crossed two or three streams by the way, and at each they had had a few mouthfuls of water. It wasn't till we were within ten miles of the fort that the Injins really began to gain. They must have felt that there was a good chance of our slipping through their fingers, and they determined to catch us if they killed every horse in the tribe.

"I tried to urge my critter forward, but he hadn't got it in him; and what frightened me more was that the mustang didn't seem much faster; he had trod in a dog-hole when we war about half-way across the plains, and must have twisted his foot. I could see now he was going a little lame with it. The redskins gained on us bit by bit, and were pressing us hard when first we caught sight of the fort about four miles away.

"I had begun to despair, for they warn't more than two hundred yards behind now. The gal had held on bravely, but she was nigh done. Good rider as she was, it was a terrible ride for a young gal, and it was only the excitement which kept her going; but she was nigh reeling on the horse now. Sudden I says to her, 'Thank God! Miss, there are the soldiers; keep up your heart, your father's coming to save you.'

"The Injins saw him too, for I heard the war-whoop behind, and the sound of the horses came nearer and nearer. I spurred my horse, and it was the first time I had touched him since we started, but it wasn't no good. 'Ride, Queen May, ride for your life!' I cried out; but I don't think she heard me. She was looking straight forward now at the sojers; her face was like death, and with a hard set look on it, and I expected every moment to see her drop from her horse.

"I saw as it was all up; the redskins war but fifty yards behind, and were gainin' fast upon us. So I says, 'Thar's your father, Miss, ride on for his sake,' then I turns my horse, and, with a pistol in each hand, I rides back at the redskins. The gal told me afterwards that she did not hear me speak, that she didn't know I had turned, and that all that time after she had first caught sight of the sojers seemed a dream to her.

"I don't remember much of the scrimmage. Black Dog was the first redskin I met, and I hit him fair between the eyes; arter that it was all confusion, I threw away my pistols, and went at them with my rifle. I felt as if a hot iron went through my body, then there was a crash on my head, and I remember nothing more until I found myself lying, as weak as a baby, in the hut in the fort, with Queen May a-sitting working beside the bed. So, as you see, it ain't much of a story."

"I call it a great deal of a story," Frank said; "I would give a great deal to have done such a thing."

"Well, shut up, and don't say no more about it," Dick growled, "ef you want us to keep friends. Abe's always a-lugging that old story out, and he knows as I hates it like pizen. We have had more than one quarrel about it, and this is the last time, by gosh, as ever I opens my lips about it. Pass over the liquor, I am dry."



CHAPTER XII.

THE ATTACK ON THE CARAVAN.

ALTHOUGH great uneasiness had been caused by the reports as to the Indians, the members of the caravan were in good spirits. So far the journey had been a success. The difficulties met with in crossing streams and bad bits of ground had been considerable, but were no greater than they had looked for. The animals had preserved their health and condition. The supply of fresh meat had been regular, and all were in excellent health. The rise of ground had been so gradual that it had scarcely been felt; but they were now at a considerable height above the sea, and the brisk clear air braced their nerves, and enabled even the feeblest to stand the fatigue without inconvenience.

One day when Frank was out alone with Dick on the north of the line of march, they came within sight of some buffalo grazing, and Frank was about to set spurs to his horse when his companion suddenly checked him.

"What is it?" Frank said in surprise. "They don't see us, and if we follow that hollow we shall be able to get close to them before they can catch sight of us."

"That's so," Dick said, "but just at present it air a question of something more serious than bufflars, it air a question of Injins."

"Indians!" Frank exclaimed, gazing round in every direction. "Where, Dick? I see no signs of them."

"No, and if you were to look round all day you wouldn't see 'em; they are at your feet."

Frank looked down in surprise.

"I can see nothing," he said, after a minute examination of the ground.

"It's thar, though," Dick said, throwing himself off his horse. "Look at this soft piece of ground; that is a hoof-print, and there is another and another."

Frank also dismounted and examined the ground.

"Yes," he said, "I can see a number of hoof-prints now you point them out. But how do you know that they are Indian prints?"

"Because they are unshod; besides, you see, instead of coming along in a crowd, as a drove of turned loose horses would do, the marks are all together, one after the other, as they came along in single file. There is no doubt they are a party of Indians."

"They are ahead of us," Frank said.

"They were," Dick said, "but thar ain't no saying where they are now; may be watching us."

The thought was not a comfortable one, and Frank grasped his rifle tightly as he looked round.

"Just stay where you are," Dick said; "we are in a hollow, and I will have a look round."

Dick made his way upon his hands and knees to the top of the brow, choosing a spot where the shrubs grew thickest, and making his way with such caution that Frank could scarcely keep him in sight. When he reached the brow he raised his head and looked round in all directions and then went on. It was nearly half an hour before he rejoined his companion.

"They have gone straight ahead," he said. "I went over the brow, and down the next hollow, and found their trail strong there, for the ground is swampy; they had certainly passed within an hour of the time I got there."

"How did you know that?" Frank asked.

"Because the water was still muddy where they had passed; it would have settled again in an hour after being disturbed, so they could not have been more than that time ahead. They were keeping just parallel with the line of march of the caravan."

"How many of them do you think there were?"

"Between fifty and sixty," Dick said confidently.

"Perhaps they were merely journeying quietly along," Frank suggested.

"Not likely," Dick replied; "they must have seen these bufflars, and would have been after them, almost to a sartinty, had they not had other business on hand. No, I expect they were watching the caravan, and had made up their minds to wait till nightfall, or perhaps till it came to some place where they can get up close without being seen, and fall upon it by surprise. We will ride back at once with the news, and put them on their guard."

An hour's riding brought them to the caravan, where their news created a great sensation. Hitherto the danger from Indians had appeared a remote trouble, which might not, after all, befall them. The news that fifty or sixty of these dreaded foes were marching along, almost within sight, and might at any moment attack them, brought the danger close indeed. The waggons were driven in even closer order; the women and children were told to keep between the lines; the men distributed themselves among the teams, ready to unyoke the oxen at the shortest notice, and to form the waggons in order of defence. Abe and his companions had not yet returned; but a quarter of an hour later they were seen galloping towards the camp.

"You must keep close together and look spry," Abe shouted as he approached; "we have come upon signs of a large body of Indians, a hundred and fifty or two hundred strong, I reckon, out there on the plains. They have passed along this morning, and ain't up to no good, I expect."

"We have found signs of a smaller party, Abe, some fifty or sixty, on our left; these were marching straight along, pretty well in the line we are going."

"Then," Abe said, "ye had best look to yer guns, for they mean mischief; they must have been watching us this morning when we started, but concluded that the ground was too level, and that we should have time to get into position before they could get up to us, besides we had all the advantage in the stockades at the station. There ain't no station this evening."

"Do you think they will attack us on the road?" Frank asked.

"That will depend on whether they think they can take us unawares. Get on yer horses again. Dick, do you ride half a mile ahead of the caravan, don't keep in the hollows, but follow the line of the brow on the right. Young Frank and I will scout half a mile out on the right of the caravan; Rube and Jim, you go the same distance on the left; that way we can see them coming, and the teamsters will have plenty of time to form up the waggons. But I don't reckon as they will attack; when they sees as we are on the lookout they will guess we have come across their tracks, and will see that their chances of a surprise are gone for the day."

"Do you think they will attack us to-night?" Frank asked his companions.

"They may, and they may not. As a general thing these Plain Injins are not fond of night attacks; it's part superstition, no doubt, and part because they are much more at home on horseback than on foot. Still there's never no saying with an Injin; but I should say, lad, that they ain't likely to do that yet. They will try other ways fust. They knows as how they have got plenty of time, and can choose their opportunity, if it's a month hence. They are wonderful patient, are the redskins, and time air of no account to them; but at present I think the most dangerous times will be after we have camped and before night comes on, and at daybreak before we makes our start."

Two more days passed quietly, and a feeling of hope pervaded the caravan that the Indians had ridden on and sought for other prey. But Abe assured them that they must not relax their precautions, and that the failure of the Indians to attack was no proof whatever that they had abandoned their intention to do so.

"An Injin is always most dangerous just when you ain't thinking of him. You may be sure we have been watched, although we haven't seen no one, and that seeing as we are on guard they are waiting for us to become careless again; or it may be they have fixed upon their place of attack, and if so, you may bet yer life it is a good one. Above all things you men impress upon the women and children that in case of a sudden attack they shall each take refuge at once in the waggons, in the places allotted to them, and that they shall do it with out any squealing or yelling; there's nothing bothers men and flurries them, just as they have got need to be cool and steady, as the yelping of a pack of women. Just impress on them as it does no good, and adds to the chances of their getting their throats cut and their har raised."

The hunter's orders were very strongly impressed upon the women and children, and even the latter were made to feel thoroughly the importance of silence in case of an attack.

Upon the following day they came upon a spot where the trail crossed a deep hollow; the sides were extremely steep, the bottom flat and swampy. Rough attempts had been made by preceding travellers to reduce the steepness of the bank, but it was in no way improved thereby; the upper edge was indeed more gradual, but the soil cut away there, and shovelled down, had been softened by subsequent rains, while the torn surface of the bottom, and the deep tracks left by the wheels, showed how the teams had struggled through it. They explored for some little distance up and down to see if an easier point for crossing could be discovered, but came to the conclusion that the spot at which the tracks crossed it was the easiest, as in most places the bank had been eaten away by winter rains and was almost perpendicular. They had reached this spot late in the evening, and prepared to cross soon after daybreak "You will have to fix up three teams to each waggon," Abe had said, "and take one over at a time. We will be out early scouting—for, mind you, this is a likely place to be attacked by the redskins; they will know there is a bad spot here, and will guess as you will be in confusion and divided, some on one side of the gulch, some on the other. Give particular charge to the men to have their rifles handy, and to prepare to defend the waggons to the last, and pass round word among the women and children not to be scared in case of an attack, as we shall drive the Injins off handsomely if they come."

At daybreak, Abe, Dick, and Frank crossed the gulch, the other two hunters remaining behind.

"We must not go far from the crossing," Abe said. "We don't know which way the tarnal critters may come, and in case of attack, all our guns will be wanted. They will guess as we shall begin to cross the first thing in the morning, and that it will take three or four hours to get over. So, if they are coming, it will be in a couple of hours, so as to catch us divided."

They took their station on a rise a few hundred yards from the crossing, one of them riding back from time to time to see how the operation of crossing was going on. It was one of immense difficulty. The oxen were mired almost up to their chests, and the waggons sunk axle-deep. The waggons stuck fast in spite of the efforts of all the men in the party. Frank looked on for some time, and then a thought struck him.

"Look here, you will never get the waggons on in that way, the oxen cannot pull an ounce. The best way will be to unyoke them, take them across, and get them up on the level ground on the top; then fasten your ropes together and hitch them to the waggon. The bullocks, on firm ground, can easily pull it across."

The suggestion was at once acted upon. The bottom was some fifty yards wide, and there were plenty of ropes in the waggons which had been brought for lowering them down difficult places, and for replacing any of the long rope traces which might be broken and worn out. Two of these were attached to the waggon, and the oxen were taken over and up the further side. A team was attached to each rope, and as the whip cracked the ponderous waggon was at once set in motion, and was soon dragged through the mud and up the incline.

"That's a capital plan of yourn, young fellow," John Little said. "I don't know how we ever should have got across the other way, and I had just made up my mind to give it up and move down this hollow till we came to firmer ground."

Five more waggons were got across in the same manner. Suddenly Abe discharged his rifle.

"What's the matter?" Frank exclaimed.

"Injins," Abe said briefly. "Them's the heads of the tarnal cusses just coming over the line of that rise."

The spot to where he pointed was about half a mile distant, and soon Frank perceived a number of dark objects rising above it. Almost at the same instant the sound of a gun was heard on the other side of the gulch.

"They are going to attack both sides at once," Abe said, as they galloped back towards the crossing; "that shows they are strong. If they had any doubts about licking us they would have thrown thar whole strength on one party or the other."

On reaching the waggons they found the men there working with all their might to get the six waggons in position, side by side across the top of the ascent. The oxen had already been taken down into the hollow.

"That's right," Abe shouted, as they leapt from their horses and aided in the movement. "It couldn't be better. Well and steady. You have three or four minutes yet."

The waggons were drawn up in two lines with their wheels touching, the inner line being on the very edge of the descent. The women and children were placed in the inner waggons, while the eight men who had come across with them, and the three hunters, took their places in the outside waggons.

Almost all the men had been across with the teams when the guns were fired, but the remainder had run back to aid in the defence of the waggons on the other side. These were already in a position of defence, having been so arranged before the crossing began. So well had Abe's orders been carried out, that no confusion whatever had occurred. At the sound of the guns the women had climbed, and helped the children, into the waggons allotted to them, and the men, on arriving, quietly took up their positions.

The Indians were not visible until they reached a spot about three hundred yards from the waggons. As they dashed up the rise they checked their horses. Instead of seeing, as they had expected, everything in confusion and dismay, not a soul was visible, and the clumps of waggons stood, one on either side, ranged as for defence. However, after waiting for three days for their prey, they were not to be balked. Their wild war-cry rose in the air, and the two bodies of horsemen charged down on the travellers.

In an instant a deadly fire broke out, the men kneeling in the bottom of the waggons and resting their rifles on the rail, the tilt being raised a few inches to enable them to see under it. Every shot told among the mass of horsemen. The emigrants were all new to Indian warfare, but most of them were farmers accustomed from boyhood to the use of the rifle, and the coolness of the hunters, and their preparation for attack, steadied them, and gave them confidence. Several of the Indians fell at the first discharge, but the advance was not checked, and at full speed they came on.

"Steady, lads; don't throw away a shot," Abe shouted, as the men loaded and discharged their rifles as quickly as possible; "see that every bullet tells."

Already the Indians were checking the speed of their horses, for the position was a most difficult one to attack. It could not be surrounded, and, indeed, could only be attacked on the face of the outside waggons, from which a stream of fire was pouring. As the leaders came on Frank and the two hunters, who both, like himself, carried revolvers, laid aside their rifles and brought these deadly weapons into action, resting them on the rail to secure an accurate fire. The quick, sharp cracks of these, followed in almost every case by the fall of one of the horsemen in front, completed the dismay of the Indians. Quick as thought, those who had fallen were lifted across the horses of their comrades, and the whole band, turning, galloped away at full speed, pursued, as long as they were in sight, by the rifle-balls of the defenders of the waggons.

"So much for them," Abe said, as he leapt to the ground. "Now let us give a hand to our comrades."

The fight was still raging on the other side. The number of waggons was larger, and the facilities for defence less. The waggons were surrounded by a throng of Indians, who were cutting at them with their tomahawks, discharging their rifles into the tilts, and some, having thrown themselves from their horses, were endeavouring to climb up. The defenders were still fighting desperately. They had no longer time to load, but with hatchets and clubbed rifles beat down the Indians who tried to climb the waggons. A few minutes, however, would have ended the resistance had not help been at hand.

From the opposite side of the gulch eleven men poured the contents of their rifles among the Indians. One of the leading chiefs and four of his followers fell dead, and almost before the Indians had recovered from their surprise a dropping fire was opened, almost every shot taking effect. A cheer broke from the defenders of the waggons, and they fought with renewed hope, while the Indians, startled by this unlooked-for attack, and by the repulse of their comrades, began to lose heart.

Only for a few minutes longer did they continue the attack. The deadly flank fire proved too much for their courage, and soon they too were in full flight, carrying off with them their killed and wounded. A shout of triumph rose from the two parties of whites, and a scene of wild delight took place; the women, now that the excitement was over, cried and laughed alternately in hysterical joy; the children shouted, while the men grasped each other's hands in fervent congratulation.

"We all owe our lives to you and your comrades," John Little said to Abe. "If it had not been for you we should all have gone under; and, I tell you, if ever we get across these plains we will find some way to show our gratitude. As long as John Little has a crust in the world he will share it with you."

When the excitement had somewhat abated, the work of crossing was recommenced, and in two hours all were over and the journey was continued.

"Do you think the Indians will attack us again?" John Little asked Abe, when the caravan was set in motion.

"They will, if they see a chance," Abe replied. "They have lost a lot of men, and will get vengeance if they can. It depends partly whether thar big chief was killed or not; if he war they may give it up now; they sees as we are strong and well-armed. If not, thar chief will do all he can to wipe us out, for he will be held responsible for the affair, and such a defeat would lower his influence in the tribe."

Five days later they saw some waggons in the distance. Since the attack the hunters had not left the caravan, as the emigrants all declared that they would far rather go without fresh meat than have the hunters absent from the camp. A few deer only, which had been seen from the line of march, had been stalked and shot.

"There is a caravan halting ahead," Frank said. "We heard at the last station that one passed ten days back. I wonder what they are halting for. The next water, according to the distances the station-keeper gave us, must be ten miles away."

"I don't like the look of it," Abe replied. "Travelling at about the same rate as we do, they should still be about ten days ahead. I am very much afraid that something has happened; those varmint we thrashed, or some other, may have attacked them."

For another mile not a word was spoken; then they reached a spot from which the waggons and the ground around them was clearly visible.

"I see no sign of movement," Abe said to John Little, "and thar seems to be a lot of dark objects lying about I will ride forward with my mates. If, as I calculate, there has been a massacre, you had better take the waggons a detour a mile round, so that the women and children may be spared the sight of it. It would be enough to make them skeery for the rest of the journey."

Abe and his comrades galloped forward.

"Have your rifles ready," the former said; "there may be some of the varmint hiding about still, though I don't think it likely. I expect the attack took place some days back."

On nearing the waggons their apprehensions were verified. Around lay the carcasses of the oxen with bales and boxes broken open and rifled of their contents. In and near the waggons were the bodies of their defenders, mingled with those of the women and children. All had been scalped, and the bodies were mutilated with gashes of the tomahawks. No attempt had been made to put the waggons into any position of defence; they still stood in a long line, as they had been travelling when the Indians fell upon them. There were twelve waggons, and they counted eighty bodies lying around them.

"It has been a regular surprise," Abe said, "and I expect there war very little fighting. The Injins burst out on them, there war a wild panic, a few shots war fired, and it war all over; that's how I read it. Hillo! what's that?"

A deep growl was heard, and turning they saw under a bush a mastiff, standing over the body of a child. The animal could with difficulty keep its legs; it had been pierced by a lance, and had received a blow with a tomahawk on the head which had nearly cut off one of its ears. It had doubtless been left for dead, but had recovered itself, and crawled to the side of one of the children of the family to which it belonged. Its head was covered with matted blood, and its tongue hung out, black and parched with thirst; but it growled savagely, its hair bristled on its back, and it prepared to defend to the last the body of its young master.

"Poor fellow!" Frank said, dismounting. "Poor old boy, we are friends."

At the kind tones of the voice the dog relaxed the fierceness of its aspect, it gave a faint whine, and lay down by the child's body. Frank took off his thick felt hat, filled it with water from the skin hanging from his saddle, and carried it to the dog. The animal raised itself again with an effort, and drank eagerly; when it had finished, it thrust its great nose into Frank's hand and wagged its tail, then it returned to the body and gave a piteous howl. The tears stood in Frank's eyes.

"Lend a hand with your knives," he said to his comrades, who were looking on; "let us dig a grave for the child, then the dog will perhaps follow us; it is a grand dog, and I should like to have it."

The others dismounted, and with their knives and hands they soon scraped a hole in the earth capable of containing the body. The mastiff stood by watching their operations. Frank doubted whether it would allow him to touch the body of the child; but the animal seemed to comprehend his intentions, and suffered him to raise the child and lay it in the ground. No sooner was the grave filled up than the mastiff laid himself down beside it. Frank now offered the animal some meat from his wallet, and after this was eaten, bathed its head with water and brought the edges of the wound together, and bandaged it with a strip torn from his hunting-shirt.

"Come along, old fellow; come along with us, you can do no good here."

He mounted his horse, and the mastiff rose to its feet and stood irresolute, and gave another piteous howl.

"Will you ride back to the caravan, Abe, and tell them there is no danger? I will move slowly with the dog, and join them when they get abreast of us."

The four men started at a gallop. Frank dismounted again and patted the mastiff; then tying his handkerchief to its collar, he walked slowly away, leading his horse. The mastiff followed at once, walking with difficulty, for its hind-legs were almost paralysed from the spear-wound, which had passed through its body just under the spine, behind the ribs. It seemed, however, to feel that Frank was its master now, and laid its great head in his hand as he walked beside it.

As Frank saw the line on which the caravan was now moving, he walked slowly across to it and halted until the waggons came up. The mastiff was lifted into one of them, and laid on some empty flour-sacks. Some more water was given it, and the caravan proceeded on its way.

The terrible fate which had befallen their predecessors cast a deep gloom over the party, who shuddered to think how narrowly they had escaped such a fate; there was no need now to impress upon any the necessity of avoiding straggling, and redoubled vigilance was observed during the march.

Frank attended assiduously to the mastiff, to whom he gave the name of Turk. The spear-wound was kept poulticed, and that in the head was plastered. Had the dog received such wounds at any other time they would have probably proved fatal; but on the plains wounds heal rapidly, and the brisk air and the life of activity and exercise render man and beast alike able to sustain serious injuries without succumbing.

In a week Turk was able to walk with the caravan; a fortnight later it could gallop by Frank's side. They were now entering the Alkali Plains, a wide and desolate region, where water is extremely scarce, and, when found, brackish and bitter to the taste, and where the very shrubs are impregnated with salt, and uneatable by most animals. In anticipation of the hardships to be endured in crossing this region, the bullocks had been allowed for some time a daily ration of grain in addition to the grass they could pick up during the halt, and were therefore in good condition.

A halt was made for three days before entering this district, and the teams were fresh and full of work when they started. The marches across the salt plain were long and painful to man and beast; the dust, which rose in clouds, was so impregnated with salt that it caused an intense irritation to the lips and nostrils.

Everything was done as far as possible to alleviate the sufferings of the animals. Casks were filled with water at each halting-place, and each time the oxen halted for rest their mouths and nostrils were sponged, and a small allowance given them to drink. As they progressed they had reason to congratulate themselves on the precautions they had taken, for scarce a mile was passed without their coming across signs of the misfortunes which had befallen those who had gone before, in the shape of abandoned waggons, stores cast out to lighten the loads, and skeletons of oxen and horses. But, on the other hand, there was now comparatively slight danger of an Indian attack, for even the horses of the redskins, hardy as they are, could not support the hardships of a prolonged stay on the Alkali Plains.



CHAPTER XIII.

AT THE GOLD-FIELDS.

IT was with intense delight that all in the caravan noticed the gradual change of herbage which showed that they were approaching the confines of this terrible region; and when, at their first halt after leaving it, they came upon flowing streams, a general bath was indulged in by man and beast, the oxen lying down in the water, and being with great difficulty induced to emerge from it. The hunters now recommenced their excursions in search of game, for all were suffering from the want of fresh meat, the children especially feeling the privation.

Turk accompanied the party. The dog was now completely restored, and nothing could induce it to leave Frank's side. It was quite young, and Frank soon taught it to remain by his horse while he dismounted to stalk game; while in pursuit on horseback, Turk often pursued and pulled down deer who would otherwise have escaped.

One day Dick and Frank had gone out alone, and had been led a long distance from the line of march in pursuit of a herd of deer. These had finally gone up a narrow canon in the mountains. The hunters pursued them for some distance, and then, despairing of overtaking them, turned their horses, and began to retrace their steps. Suddenly Turk, who was in advance, stopped, uttered a deep growl, and its hair bristled from its head to its tail.

"What is it, Turk?" Frank asked.

The animal replied with another low, deep growl.

"It must be some savage beast," Frank said.

"That ain't likely," Dick said; "any beast in this canon would have moved away when we passed before. I think the dog must scent Injins. A party may have seen us entering the gap, and may be in pursuit."

He threw himself off his horse, and listened, with his ear to the ground.

"It's Injins, sure enough!" he exclaimed; "I can hear the clattering of horses' hoofs on the hard rock. There's nothing for it but for us to make our way up the canon."

They turned their horses, and galloped forward, Turk, after one more growl in the direction of the Indians, following. Presently the defile divided.

"Shall we take the main branch, or the one to the right?" Frank asked.

"Better keep straight on," Dick said; "the other may lead into some valley from which there could be no getting out, and we should be caught in a trap. See!" he said, as he halted, "the deer have gone that way. Do you see some of the pebbles have been thrown out of that little stream?

"Jump off your horse, and cut some bits off your blankets and tie them round your horse's feet. If the Indians see no marks going forward, they will naturally suppose we have turned off here in pursuit of the deer."

Frank did what his comrade suggested; but quickly as the work was performed, they heard the sound of the horsemen in pursuit, loud and distinct, before they again set forward. Then, springing on their horses, they rode up the canon. After a while they halted; the sounds of pursuit had ceased, and they had no doubt the Indians had turned off into the other ravine.

"It all depends how far that runs," Dick said, "how soon they will be in pursuit again. If it comes soon to an end it will not be long before we have them after us; if it goes on for some miles we are safe."

Winding between perpendicular cliffs of great height, they rode forward, mounting steadily. It was impossible to make rapid progress, for although in some places the bottom of the ravine was bare, smooth rock, at others it was piled with boulders.

It was three hours before they emerged from it, and upon doing so found they were upon an elevated plateau. Before they moved forward, Frank said, "Turk, do you hear them?" The dog stood with ears erect and quivering nostrils, looking down the ravine which they had just left. Presently he gave a low, deep growl.

"They are coming," Frank said; "but they must be a good way off, for Turk did not hear them at first. Which way shall we go, Dick?"

"We had better turn to the left," Dick said, "for our natural line leads to the right. However, it does not make much difference, for they will be able to track us; still, it may puzzle them. It will be dark in a couple of hours, and if we can keep ahead till then we are safe."

They started at a gallop, and for an hour rode at full speed in the direction which would take them down to the plain at or near the spot where they had halted the night before.



"Look out, Frank! rein up!" Dick suddenly shouted. Frank pulled his horse back on its haunches, and but just in time, for at the brow of the swell up which they had been galloping, the ground fell suddenly away in a precipice two hundred feet deep, and the horse was barely a length from it when he brought it to a standstill.

"We are in a mess," Dick said. "The Injins behind us will know of this, and instead of following will scatter to the right and left, as they will know that we must turn one way or the other."

"In that case," Frank said, "our best plan will be to go straight back."

"You are right," Dick exclaimed, "that is the best thing we can do. We won't follow the exact track, as a few of them may have kept our line, but will bear a little distance off it, and hope they may pass us unseen; the sun is setting already, half an hour and it will be dark."

Taking every precaution to conceal their trail, they rode back, keeping a hundred yards or so to the right of the line by which they had come. A quarter of an hour passed, and then Turk gave his growl of warning.

"Could not have been better," Dick exclaimed, "this brushwood is just the place for us."

They threw themselves from their horses, and made the animals lie down at full length in the low bushes, and laid themselves down beside them.

"Hush! Turk," Frank said to the dog, as he laid his hand upon it's head. "You must lie quiet, sir, and not make the least noise."

The dog, who was quivering with excitement, lay down quietly, as if it comprehended the need for silence.

"One, two, three, four, five, six," Dick counted, peering through the bushes. "Six of them; we could fight that lot easy, but the sound of our rifles would bring the whole gang down upon us."

The Indians were not riding at full speed, for their horses were tired, having already made a long march before they saw the hunters following the deer to the canon, and they did not expect to overtake those of whom they were in pursuit, believing that when they reached the precipice they would make along it to the right or left, and so fall into the hands of one or other of the parties who had gone to intercept them.

No sooner were they fairly out of sight than the hunters rose, and, remounting their horses, continued their way.

"It's well-nigh dark," Dick said, "and I doubt if they will be able to make out our back-track when they get to the edge; at any rate they cannot follow it."

They rode on until they found that their horses could no longer carry them, then, dismounting, led them by the bridle. They had been steering by the stars, and presently found themselves at the upper end of the ravine.

"We won't enter this now," Dick said, "for some of them may take it into their heads to gallop back, although that ain't very likely. Anyhow the horses can't go any further, and if they could, we couldn't make our way over these stones; it'll be as dark as pitch down there. So we will move away two hundred yards, and let the horses feed while we get a few hours' sleep. That dog of yourn will give us notice if any of the varmint are coming this way."

The night passed without alarm, and at the first dawn of light they were upon their feet again. The horses were given a mouthful of water from the skins, and then the hunters mounted and rode down the canon. There would be pursuit, they knew well; but the Indians would not be able to take up the trail until daylight, and would be an hour and a half following it to the top of the canon, so that they had fully two hours' start. This being the case, they did not hurry their horses, but kept up a steady pace until they emerged at the lower end of the ravine; then they urged them forward, and two hours later arrived at the halting-place of the caravan. No move had been made, but the instant they were seen approaching, Abe and his two comrades rode up to meet them.

"What has happened?" he asked, as he reached them. "We have been terrible uneasy about you, and I was just going to start to try and pick up your track and follow you."

Dick related the adventure.

"It war well it war no worse," Abe said. "That critter's sense has saved your lives, for ef he hadn't given you warning you would have ridden slap into the hands of the Injins; you may consider you are quits with him now, Frank. But it war a nasty fix, and I congratulate you both on having brought your har safely back to camp; that coming straight back on your trail when you was stopped by the fall of the ground was a judgmatical business."

"It was Frank's idee," Dick said.

"Wall, he just hit the right thing; if it hadn't been for that you would have been rubbed out sure."

At the next halting-place they found that three or four of the caravans which had preceded them had halted, being afraid to move forward in small parties, as the Indians had made several attacks. With the accession of force given by the arrival of John Little's party, they considered themselves able to encounter any body of redskins they might meet, as there were now upwards of fifty waggons collected, with a fighting force of seventy or eighty men.

They therefore moved forward confidently. Several times parties of Indian horsemen were seen in the distance, but they never showed in force, the strength of the caravan being too great for any hope of a successful attack being made upon it.

It was nearly five months from the time of their leaving Omaha before the caravan approached the point where the great plateau of Nevada falls abruptly down to the low lands of California many thousand feet below. Here the hunters bade farewell to the emigrants, whom they had so long escorted. All danger of Indians had been long since passed, and they were now within a short distance of the gold regions.

Very deep and sincere were the thanks which were poured upon them by the emigrants, who felt that they owed their lives entirely to the vigilance and bravery of Abe and his companions. They expected to meet again ere long at the gold-fields, and many were the assurances that should by any chance better luck attend their search than was met with by the hunters, the latter should share in their good fortune.

The change in the character of the scenery was sudden and surprising. Hitherto the country had been bare and treeless, but the great slopes of the Nevada mountains were covered from top to bottom with a luxuriant growth of timber. Nowhere in the world are finer views to be obtained than on the slopes of the Nevada Mountains. The slopes are extremely precipitous, and sometimes, standing on a crag, one can look down into a valley five or six thousand feet below, clothed from top to bottom with luxuriant foliage, while far away in front, at the mouth of the valley, can be seen the low, rich flats of California.

On the lower slopes of these mountains lay the gold deposits. These were found in great beds of gravel and clay, which in countless generations had become so hardened that they almost approached the state of conglomerate. The gold from these beds had been carried, either by streams which ran through them, or by the action of rain and time, into the ravines and valleys, where it was found by the early explorers. These great beds of gravel have been since worked by hydraulic machinery, water being brought by small canals, or flumes, many miles along the face of the hills, to reservoirs situated one or two hundred feet above the gravel to be operated upon.

From the reservoirs extremely strong iron pipes lead down to the gravel, and to the end of these pipes are fitted movable nozzles, like those of fire-engines, but far larger. The water pours out through these nozzles with tremendous force, breaking up the gravel, and washing it away down a long series of wooden troughs, in which the gold settles, and is caught by a variety of contrivances.

But in the early days of gold discovery the very existence of these beds of gravel was unknown, and gold was obtained only in the ravines and valleys by washing the soil in the bottom. It had already been discovered that the soil was richer the further the searchers went down, by far the greater finds being made when the diggers reached the solid rock at the bottom, in the irregularities of which, worn by water thousands of years before, large quantities of rough gold were often discovered.

There was no difficulty in following the track through the forest, and after two days' travelling the party arrived at the first mining village. They chose a piece of ground for their camp, fastened their horses to stumps, erected a tent of blankets, and placed in it the stores brought on their baggage-horses, which had remained untouched since they started. Then, leaving one of their number in charge, they started off to visit the diggings.