beauty
and picturesque appeal. Winding streams, swelling hills, and steep
ravines broke the monotony of the plains.

The streams were bordered by the rich foliage of noble trees. The
streams were called "Creeks." In reality, they were beautiful rivers
in the month of May--the Marais des Cygnes and the Pottawattomie. They
united near Osawatomie to form the Osage River, the largest tributary
to the Missouri below its mountain sources. Each river had its many
tributaries winding gracefully along wood-fringed banks.

Beyond these ribbons of beautiful foliage stretched the gorgeous carpet
of the grass-matted, flower-strewn prairies.

The wild flowers were in full bloom, pushing their red, white, yellow,
blue and pink heads above the grass. The wind was blowing a steady
life-giving gale. The fields of flowers bowed and swayed and rose again
at its touch. Their perfume filled the air. The perfume of the near-by
fields was mingled with the odor of thousands of miles of prairie
gardens to the south and west. A peculiar clearness in the atmosphere
gave the widest range to vision. Brown climbed the hill alone while his
men were unpacking. From the hilltop, even in the falling twilight, he
could see clearly for thirty or forty miles.

He swept the horizon for signs of the approach of a party which might
interfere with his plan.

He knelt again and prayed to his God, as the twilight deepened into
darkness. The stars came out one by one and blinked down at his bent
figure still in prayer, his eyes uplifted in an uncanny glare.

As he slowly moved back to his camp he met Townsley.

Frederick and Oliver had reached camp and Townsley had caught a note of
the sinister in their whispered talk. He didn't like the looks of it.
Brown had told him there was trouble brewing on the Pottawattomie. He
had supposed, as a matter of course, that it was the long-threatened
attack of enemies on Weiner's store. Weiner, a big, quarrelsome
Austrian, had been in more than one fist fight with his neighbors.

Brown studied Townsley and decided to give him but a hint of his true
purpose. He didn't like this sign of weakness on the eve of great
events.

Townsley took the hint with a grain of salt, but what he heard was
enough to bring alarm. The thing Brown had hinted was incredible.

But as Townsley looked at the leader he realized that he was not an
ordinary man. There was something extraordinary about him. He either
commanded the absolute obedi