Part 21 (1/2)

”They got theht so far, and I can go on without running the risk of seeing any of theet up there”

Ela after the trail as boldly as though he had a right to be there He didn't feel any fear, for he knew that he was on the trail of the Indians instead of having them upon his, and he knew they would not be likely to coain Presently he caone into the s to fight their victiot in there he would find the bodies of the men who had robbed hi to the savages' hoops!

But all was silent now He led his horse a short distance into the bushes and dis the trail of an Indian who had crept up on all fours toward the place where the doomed men were concealed, and presently carowth had been trampled in every direction Near the middle of the valley were two round, dead There was nothing on them to indicate who they were, but Ela them

”Well, it is better so,” said he sorrowfully ”The Indians have got you, and that's all there is of it Now et a grub-stake”

There were no signs of mutilation about them, as there would have been if the men had fallen into the hands of the Indians when alive The Cheyennes had evidently been in a hurry, for all they had done was to see that the men were dead, after which they had stripped theuns and aone off to hunt new booty In this case it pro hunter resolved that he would go into ca his horse near the streaht of the hosts, but slept as placidly as if the field on which the savages had vented their spite was a hundred miles away

When he awoke, it was dark, and the peaceful h the tree-tops He watered his horse, ate as left of the lunch, and began to work his way out of the valley, when he discovered that both his nag and hione a long distance out of his way to see what the Cheyennes had done, and he didn't feel like bracing up to face the eighty miles before him His horse didn't feel like it either, for when he stopped and allowed hi his head down and went to sleep The horse seee he wore round his neck, and when it was taken off he was more at his ease

It took Elam two days to make the journey to the camp where he had left To the daytiht He was getting hungry, but his horse was growing stronger everyday He dared not shoot at any of the nued across his path, for fear that he would betray hiot within sight of Toe of the s did he feel coazed in astonish tih to satisfy hiht,” said Ela back on his blanket with a hunk of corn bread and bacon in his uninjured hand and a cup of stea coffee in front of him ”Do you know that I have worried about you more than I have about myself?”

”Well, how did those Indians look when they were following you?” asked Tom, who had not yet recovered himself His hand trembled when he poured out the coffee so that one would think that he was the one who had had a narrow escape froes ”Did they yell?”

”Yell? Of course it came faintly to my ears because they were so far away, but if I had been close to thee left,” said ElaotI did not expect to get”

”Was there no one in the sheep-herder's ranch to look for you?”

”If there had been, I wouldn't 'a' been here There was nobody there at all I just went in and got my saddle, and that's all there was to it

You see, I was on their trail, and they had passed over that ground once and thought they had got everybody”

”Well, I am beaten I never heard a whisper of an Indian since you went away It is lucky for me that they didn't knoas here How did those men look that were killed?”

”They were dead, of course There was no h to shoho killed theot hold of theht have expected so They would have just thrown theony they could put them to I never want to fall into the hands of the Indians alive Do you know that the soldiers always carry a derringer in their pockets?

Yes, they do, and that last shot is intended for the breath ”Let us get out of here”

”Where e go?”

”Let's go back to the States I never was made to live out here”

”Hi yah! I couldn't h toanywhere You won't find one man in ten out here who talks as plainly as you do”

”That's all owing toup Ever since I was a little kid I have been under the care of Uncle Ezra, who talks about as plain as o and see hio just as soon as this blizzard is over It is co in here”

”Is that the blizzard? Why, I thought it was snow”

”You go to sleep and see if you don't find snow on the ground in thethat you can bless your lucky stars for: the Indians are safely housed up They'll not think of going out plundering while this blizzard lasts”

”They knohen it is co, I suppose?”