feet, he sent an arrow at his head with savage
violence. Crusoe, however, had been so well used to dodging the
blunt-headed arrows that were wont to be shot at him by the boys of the
Mustang Valley, that he was quite prepared, and eluded the shaft by an
active bound. Moreover, he uttered one of his own peculiar roars, flew
at the Indian's throat, and dragged him down. At the same moment the
other Indians came up, and one of them turned aside to the rescue. This
man happened to have an old gun, of the cheap sort at that time
exchanged for peltries by the fur-traders. With the butt of this he
struck Crusoe a blow on the head that sent him sprawling on the grass.

The rest of the savages, as we have seen, continued in pursuit of Dick
until he leaped into the river; then they returned, took the saddle and
bridle off his dead horse, and rejoined their comrades. Here they held
a court-martial on Crusoe, who was now bound, foot and muzzle, with
cords. Some were for killing him; others, who admired his noble
appearance, immense size, and courage, thought it would be well to carry
him to their village and keep him. There was a pretty violent dispute
on the subject; but at length it was agreed that they should spare his
life in the mean time, and perhaps have a dog-dance round him when they
got to their wigwams.

This dance, of which Crusoe was to be the chief, though passive
performer, is peculiar to some of the tribes east of the Rocky
Mountains, and consists in killing a dog and cutting out its liver,
which is afterwards sliced into shreds or strings and hung on a pole
about the height of a man's head. A band of warriors then come and
dance wildly round this pole, and each one in succession goes up to the
raw liver and bites a piece off it, without, however, putting his hands
near it. Such is the dog-dance, and to such was poor Crusoe destined by
his fierce captors, especially by the one whose throat still bore very
evident marks of his teeth.

But Crusoe was much too clever a dog to be disposed of in so disgusting
a manner. He had privately resolved in his own mind that he would
escape, but the hopelessness of his ever carrying that resolution into
effect would have been apparent to any one who could have seen the way
in which his muzzle was secured, and his four paws were tied together in
a bunch, as he hung suspended across the saddle of one of the savages!

This particular party of Indians who had followed Di