r scent by the trackers had not occurred to him. He had the
greatest faith in Jim's sagacity and, now that the idea was
presented to him, it seemed plausible enough.

"Very good, Jim, you keep your eye on those fellows. I will do the
same. We shall soon find out if they are up to any tricks."

Jim had been running by his master's stirrup, while this
conversation had been going on; and he now dropped into his usual
place at the rear of the party. For some miles the trail was
followed at a hand gallop, for the grass was several inches in
height, and the trail could be followed as easily as a road. The
country then began to change. The ground was poorer and more arid,
and clumps of low brush grew here and there. Still, there was no
check in the speed. The marks made by the frightened flock were
plain enough, even to the horsemen; and bits of wool, left behind
on the bushes, afforded an unmistakable testimony to their passage.

"They were not going so fast, here," Mr. Blount said, after
dismounting and examining. "The footprints do not go in pairs, as
they did at first. The flock has broken into a trot. Ah! There is
the first, ahead."

In a hundred yards they came upon the skin and head of a sheep.
Nothing else remained. Unable to keep up with the flock, it had
been speared, cut up, and eaten raw by the blacks. In the next mile
they came upon the remains of two more; then the track widened out,
and the footprints were scattered and confused. The horses were
reined up, and Jim and the trackers examined the ground. Jim
returned in a minute or two.

"Black fellows give em a rest here. Could no go any furder. Lie
down and pant."

One of the trackers then came up.

"They stop here, captain, five six hours till moon rise. Make fire,
kill sheep, and have feast."

Reuben and some of the settlers rode over to the spot to which the
tracker pointed.

"Confound them!" Blount exclaimed. "Look there! There are at least
twenty heads."

"So there are," Reuben said. "There must have been a lot of
natives."

"Yes, there must have been a good many," the settler agreed, "but
not so many, perhaps, as you would think. Nobody has ever found
out, yet, how much these blacks can eat when they make up their
mind to it; but two could certainly devour a sheep. They will eat
till they can't sit upright."

"They would hardly eat as much as that, with a long journey before
them," Reuben said; "but allow only three to a sheep, there must