Part 17 (1/2)

but all the wiser and h!” and the road to the left was decided upon without any more discussion That also decided in advance the course to be followed by Captain Grover and his cavalry, when they in their turn should reach the saerous horse-thieves they were pursuing, and in due tiht to rejoice upon catching up with the as the police and constables of a very disorderly co Bear and his Nez Perces, they had a very good reason for lazily hunting and fishi+ng around their present caone for the hidden lodges, and so forth Very few Indians need anything better than an excuse for not doing anything

Two Arroas not one of those Indians Na-tee-kah continually called his attention to so nehich she had discovered in the ways or in the possessions of those pale-faces She was greatly interested in a curious wire ”broiler” It opened, and a fish or a steak was put in, and it shut up and was put upon the coals, and when the cooking was finished, the long handles enabled you to take it off and not burn your fingers There were twenty other things as wonderful as the broiler; and the judge had shown her hoash her hands with soap, and had given her a pair of ear-rings and a silver buckle for her new blanket She hardly kneould come next, but she entirely sympathized with her brother in his own dream when he told her what it was

”Ask pale-face chief,” she said

”Ugh! Laugh Bow and arrows good enough for boy”

He said it alround sharply as she responded,

”Two Arrows is a young chief Big brave Not a boy anyback pony Great chief in a little while Give hih opinion of hiood-nature hich he was treated by Yellow Pine and the rest They regarded Sile as one bright boy and hi costly rifles and such things upon hiet away froo on a hunt with hiood-sense in his positive refusal to borrow a rifle He was determined to shoot with his oeapons or none, and he rode aith no better ones than had been used by his tribe before they had ever heard of white unpowder had been invented They were pretty good weapons yet, but there was one thing Two Arrows did not dreareat number of years since the ancestors of these very pale-faces had gone to war and to hunt with bows and arrows vastly better than any ever carried by any red Indian in the world The English race were bow closer to the bull's-eye than any other

Two Arrows felt that there was a sort of fever upon him It ly in all directions, longing for an opportunity to do so hi keenly the tops and branches of every cluaer near the smoke and smell of ca hunters should canter quietly on for et a shot at a deer

”We won't go back without soht along We can ca early enough to get back to-night”

He had so clear to Two Arrows, and the a Nez Perce was in precisely the fraree with him They even rode a little faster, and were hardly aware of the distance they had travelled Sile was beginning to grow nervous about his reputation as a hunter and to remember that the camp had only a three days' supply of fresh meat, in spite of the fish He believed that he had seen everything there was to be seen, but he was mistaken

Suddenly Two Arrows uttered a loud, astonished ”Ugh!” sprang fro him hurriedly towards the nearest bushes

Sile imitated his friend, without any idea of a reason for it, until Two Arrows took hiht towards the round, and could see for miles in some directions, except as the vieas cut off by patches and strips of forest

”Look! 'Pache!”

All that at first appeared to Sile's eyes were so black spots; but noas able to shoo Arrows another of the advantages of a civilizedfrom his left shoulder was a small leathern case, and Two Arroatched hi silver-s had beeneye of the pale-faces;” but he had no faith in it until Sile made him try it

”There they are; six of 'em,” said Sile ”Then look away down yonder and you'll see some more”

”No see us,” said Two Arrows ”Coers were between theht have ridden past others unseen, and these ht intercept their return Sile was only a white boy, and in an instant he understood that the young chief was the ”captain” of their squad of two

Two Arrows seemed to have the same notion instinctively, for anybody could read the look of blank uncertainty upon Sile's face His binocular spy-glass could help him see farther and more accurately than the best pair of Indian eyes in the world, but it could not tell him what to do next

”Come!” said Two Arrows, as he led his pony back down the slope and towards the forest that skirted the river This was less than half a mile away, but the horses were not mounted until both ell under cover of it It struck Sile that theythe strea and caution forbade any such risk as that Even the operation of reaching the bank uess at what ht stumble upon Apache warriors, and no others were at all likely to be there It wasupon both sides of the water, and as soon as Two Arrows reached it he rode in It was a wide and therefore shallow place, easily forded, and Sile breathed more freely as soon as he was under the shade of the woods beyond His guide and captain pushed right on until they were out in a comparatively open reach of country, and then he turned to Sile, his whole face gleah! Ride now Kill hoss Save pale-face Save Nez Perce Get there before Apache All scalp gone if 'Pache come first”

He suppressed a whoop, but the next bound of his pony explained his alloped, stride by stride, with him It was a race for life and for the lives of many others; for Two Arrows had briefly read that problelass,

”No squaw Braves on war-path No hunt Kill Take scalp”

Both ell h by no means so completely at home on horseback as was his red friend His rifle, too, was ht lance, and the bow and arroere now tightly ”slung,” and required no handling It would not do to wear out their horses in one rush, but they kept on at the highest speed at all consistent with a long ride It was much faster, at all events, than the Apaches were likely to travel, unless so well away fros, and could rideout for clu no attention to ga of deer and a respectable party of bisons