nking."
But then that was long ago. Youths are wiser now!

On the evening of that day, when the sun went down, and when it became
too dark to follow the trail, and, therefore, unsafe to travel for fear
of stumbling into badger-holes, the three friends pulled up beside a
clump of wood on the margin of a little stream, and prepared their
encampment.

Little did they imagine, while busy with the fire and kettle, how nearly
they had gained their end, yet how disastrously they had missed it.
Well for man, sometimes, that he is ignorant of what takes place around
him. Had the three pursuers known who was encamped in a clump of trees
not half a mile beyond them, they would not have feasted that night so
heartily, nor would they have gone to sleep with such calm placidity.

In the clump of trees referred to, Petawanaquat himself sat smoking over
the dying embers of the fire that had cooked his recently devoured
supper, and Tony, full to repletion, lay on his back gazing at him in
quiet satisfaction, mingled slightly with wonder; for Tony was a
philosopher in a small way, and familiarity with his father's pipe had
failed to set at rest a question which perplexed his mind, namely, why
men should draw smoke into their mouths merely to puff it out again!

When the pipe and the camp-fire had burnt low, Tony observed, with much
interest, that the Indian's eyes became suddenly fixed, that his
nostrils dilated, his lips ceased to move, the cloud that had just
escaped from them curled round the superincumbent nose and disappeared
without being followed by another cloud, and the entire man became rigid
like a brown statue. At that point Tony ceased to think, because tired
nature asserted her claims, and he fell sound asleep.

The practised ear of the Indian had detected the sound of horses' feet
on the prairie. To any ordinary man no sound at all would have been
perceptible save the sighing of the night wind. Petawanaquat, however,
not only heard the tramp, but could distinguish it from that of buffalo.
He rose softly, ascertained that Tony was asleep, turned aside the
bushes, and melted into darkness among the trees. Presently he emerged
on the plain at the other side of the clump, and there stood still.
Patience is one of the red man's characteristics. He did not move hand
or foot for half an hour, during which time, despite the distance of the
neighbouring clump, he could easily make out the sound of an axe
chopping wood,