er lone in them sort o' places, ye'd soon lose yer
scalp. It's _obsarvation_ as does it all, an' in yer partikler case
it's the want o' that same as doesn't do it, d'ye see?"

"Non, vraiment, me shockable blind dis day; mais, p'r'aps, git more
cliver de morrow," replied the good-humoured Canadian with a grin. "Fat
you see?"

"I see fut-prints," replied Bounce, dismounting; "an' as fut-prints
implies feet, an' feet indicates critters, human or otherwise, it
becomes men wot be lookin' for a lost comrade to examine 'em with more
nor or'nary care."

"Hah!" shouted Gibault with unwonted energy. "Look! voila! behold!
Bounce, you hab great want of `obsarvation.' See!"

Now it chanced that, while Bounce was on his knees, carefully turning
over every leaf and blade of grass, his comrade, who remained on
horseback, and kept gazing at the horizon, without any particular object
in view, did suddenly behold an object coming towards them at full
gallop. Hence the sudden outburst, and the succeeding exclamation from
Bounce--"It's a hoss!"

"A hoss!" repeated Gibault. "Him be one buffalo I see hims bump."

"The bumps that ye see is neither more nor less than a man leanin'
forard--it is."

At this moment the rest of the party rode up, and Redhand confirmed
Bounce's opinion.

"There's only one, I guess, an' he's in a powerful hurry," observed Big
Waller. "But we may as well be ready to fix his flint if he means to
cut up rough."

He brought forward his gun as he spoke, and examined the priming.

"I b'lieve he's an evil spirit, I do," said Bounce; "wot a pace!"

"More like to de Wild Man of de Vest," observed Gibault.

"Think you so?" whispered Bertram in an anxious tone, with an
involuntary motion of his hand to the pouch in which lay that marvellous
sketch-book of his.

"Think it's him?" said Redhand to Hawkswing.

The Indian gave a slight grunt of assent.

But the strange horseman soon put all doubt on the point at rest by
bearing down upon them like a whirlwind, his long hair and tags and
scalp-locks streaming in the wind as usual. Dick had a distinct purpose
in thus acting. He wished to terrify men, or, at least, to impress them
with a wholesome dread of him, in order that he might simply be _let
alone_!

He did not check his slashing pace until within four or five bounds of
the party. Reining up so violently that he tore up the turf for a
couple of yards under his horse's heels, he looked at the trappe