d by Dio. They were both gone. If
they had pulled up the tether-pegs, and we were under a mistake in
supposing that Indians had carried them off, we might easily catch them
in the morning. Should we follow them now, we might run the risk of
losing ourselves, and indeed it was too dark to see their tracks in the
snow; still, hoping that we might come up with them before we lost sight
of our fire, we went on, until Dio stumbled over the trunk of a fallen
tree, and I, knocking my head against a bough, was almost stunned. I
heard Dio cry out, but I was too much hurt to reply. Boxer was close at
my heels; he uttered a bark which brought the black to my assistance.
In less than a minute I recovered.

"We must go back to the fire," I said, "for we shall be frozen if we
remain long away from it."

Just at that moment, looking in the direction of our camp, I saw--unless
I was deceived--two figures, on which a flickering flame cast an
uncertain light, pass by on the other side of the fire. The alarming
thought occurred to me, that we had come away without our rifles, and
that, should the persons I fancied I had seen prove to be enemies, we
were entirely in their power. On looking again, I could see no one. I
told Dio, but he had not seen the figures. My first impulse was to rush
forward, to ascertain if our rifles had been taken; then I thought, if
hostile Indians are on the watch, they will shoot us down as soon as we
appear within the light of the fire.

"It will be more prudent to ascertain whether any enemies are near," I
whispered to Dio; "we will creep up, keeping as close as possible to the
trunks of the trees, until we get nearer the fire, and learn what has
happened."

We did as I proposed, Boxer keeping close to my heels. This was
somewhat suspicious, as it showed that he, at all events, believed that
Indians were not far off, he sharing the dislike of all white men's dogs
to the red-skins. We managed to creep up to within a short distance of
our camp, without, as we supposed, exposing ourselves to view. When we
looked round from behind the trunk of a tree which we had gained, we
could see no one.

"After all I believe that my fancy has deceived me," I whispered to my
companion; "probably the horses have only gone a short distance, to find
more grass. We may as well go back and sleep quietly until morning."

We accordingly, without hesitation, returned to the camp. The first
thing I did was to look