n suddenly grasped his arm and drew him behind the trunk of a
tree, from which point of vantage he cautiously gazed with an anxious
expression and a dark frown.

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.

ENEMIES, FRIENDS, SCOUTS, SKIRMISHES, AND COUNCILS OF WAR.

Arkal's attention had been arrested by the figure of a man who suddenly
appeared from behind a cliff not four hundred yards distant from the
scene of their recent exploit. The stealthy manner in which the man
moved among the bushes, and the earnest gaze which he directed from time
to time in one particular direction, showed clearly that he was watching
the movements of something--it might be a deer or an enemy.

"Evidently he has not seen us," whispered Maikar.

"Clear enough that, for he is not looking this way," returned Arkal.
"He presents his back to us in a careless way, which he would hardly do
if he knew that two crack bowmen were a hundred yards astern of him."

"Shall I shoot him?" whispered Maikar, preparing his weapons.

"He may be a friend," returned the captain. "But, see! yonder comes
what interests him so much. Look!"

He pointed to a distant ridge, over the brow of which the head of
Gunrig's column of men was just appearing.

"He is a scout!" exclaimed Maikar.

"Ay, and you may be sure that an enemy is not far off ahead of our
column--unless, perchance, he may be the scout of some tribe friendly to
the king. Hold your hand, Maikar. You are ever too ready to fight.
Listen, now; yonder is a convenient hollow where I may get into the
thick wood unseen by this scout, and run back to warn our friends.
Ahead, yonder, is a narrow pass which leads, no doubt, into the next
valley. Run you, as fast as your legs can wag, get through that pass,
and see what you can see. In the nature of things the scout is almost
sure to return through it, if he intends to carry the news of our
approach to his people, who are probably there. You must hide and do
the best you can to prevent him from doing this--either by killing him
or knocking him down. Be off, we have no time to lose."

"But how if he should be a friend?" asked Maikar with a smile. "How am
I to find out?"

Arkal paused and was perplexed.

"You must just exercise your wisdom," he replied. "If the fellow has an
ill-looking countenance, kill him. If he looks a sensible sort of man,
stretch him out somehow. I would offer to go instead of you, being more
of a match for him, but I could not match his le