e," said Dick, earnestly, "I've hit on a plan."

"Have ye, Dick? what is't?"

"Come and I'll let ye see," answered Dick, rising hastily and quitting
the tent, followed by his comrades and his faithful dog.

It may be as well to remark here, that no restraint whatever had yet
been put on the movements of our hunters as long as they kept to their
legs, for it was well-known that any attempt by men on foot to escape
from mounted Indians on the plains would be hopeless. Moreover, the
savages thought that as long as there was a prospect of their being
allowed to depart peaceably with their goods, they would not be so mad
as to fly from the camp, and, by so doing, risk their lives and declare
war with their entertainers. They had, therefore, been permitted to
wander unchecked, as yet, far beyond the outskirts of the camp, and
amuse themselves in paddling about the lake in the small Indian canoes
and shooting wild-fowl.

Dick now led the way through the labyrinths of tents in the direction of
the lake, and they talked and laughed loudly, and whistled to Crusoe as
they went, in order to prevent their purpose being suspected. For the
purpose of further disarming suspicion they went without their rifles.
Dick explained his plan by the way, and it was at once warmly approved
of by his comrades.

On reaching the lake they launched a small canoe, into which Crusoe was
ordered to jump; then, embarking, they paddled swiftly to the opposite
shore, singing a canoe song as they dipped their paddles in the moonlit
waters of the lake. Arrived at the other side, they hauled the canoe up
and hurried through the thin belt of wood and willows that intervened
between the lake and the prairie. Here they paused.

"Is that the bluff, Joe?"

"No, Dick, that's too near. T'other one'll be best. Far away to the
right. It's a little one, and there's others near it. The sharp eyes
o' the Red-skins won't be so likely to be prowlin' there."

"Come on, then; but we'll have to take down by the lake first."

In a few minutes the hunters were threading their way through the
outskirts of the wood at a rapid trot, in the opposite direction from
the bluff, or wooded knoll, which they wished to reach. This they did
lest prying eyes should have followed them. In a quarter of an hour
they turned at right angles to their track, and struck straight out into
the prairie, and after a long run they edged round and came in upon the
bluff from behind.