I hope," said Dick, who was very slightly
singed, and forgot his own hurts in anxiety about his comrade. "Let me
see?"

"My eye!" exclaimed Joe Blunt, while a broad grin overspread his
countenance, "ye've not improved yer looks, Henri."

This was true. The worthy hunter's hair was singed to such an extent
that his entire countenance presented the appearance of a universal
frizzle. Fortunately the skin, although much blackened, was quite
uninjured, a fact which, when he ascertained it beyond a doubt, afforded
so much satisfaction to Henri, that he capered about shouting with
delight, as if some piece of good fortune had befallen him.

The accident had happened in consequence of Henri having omitted to
replace the stopper of his powder-horn, and when, in his anxiety for
Joe, he fired at random amongst the Indians, despite Dick's entreaties
to wait, a spark communicated with the powder-horn and blew him up.
Dick and Crusoe were only a little singed, but the former was not
disposed to quarrel with an accident which had sent their enemies so
promptly to the right-about.

This band followed them for some nights, in the hope of being able to
steal their horses while they slept; but they were not brave enough to
venture a second time within range of the death-dealing rifle.

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.

DANGERS OF THE PRAIRIE--OUR TRAVELLERS ATTACKED BY INDIANS, AND
DELIVERED IN A REMARKABLE MANNER.

There are periods in the life of almost all men when misfortunes seem to
crowd upon them in rapid succession, when they escape from one danger
only to encounter another, and when, to use a well-known expression,
they succeed in leaping out of the frying-pan at the expense of plunging
into the fire.

So was it with our three friends upon this occasion. They were scarcely
rid of the Blackfeet, who found them too watchful to be caught napping,
when, about daybreak one morning they encountered a roving band of
Camanchee Indians, who wore such a warlike aspect that Joe deemed it
prudent to avoid them if possible.

"They don't see us yit, I guess," said Joe, as he and his companions
drove the horses into a hollow between the grassy waves of the prairie,
"any if we only can escape their sharp eyes till we're in yonder clump
o' willows, we're safe enough."

"But why don't you ride up to them, Joe," inquired Dick, "and make peace
between them and the Pale-faces, as you ha' done with other bands?"

"Because it's o' no use to r