ey were naturally very angry--an' I don't
wonder--an' they threaten now to expel the Saulteaux from Red River
altogether, an' the white men along wi' them, unless the names of the
Saulteaux chiefs are wiped out o' the contract, an' the annual payment
made to the Crees alone."

"That iss bad, Taniel, ferry bad," said Fergus, as they reached the
bottom of the hollow and began to ascend the succeeding undulation, "an'
I am all the more sorry to hear it because our goot frund Okematan is a
Cree."

"Ay, Fergus, he is a great chief of the Crees, and a man of considerable
influence among his people. I should not like to have him for an
enemy."

"Stop!" said Fergus in a whisper at that moment, laying his hand on
Davidson's arm.

Dan drew rein at once and looked at his friend, but could not clearly
see his face, for the moon was still behind thick drifting clouds.

They had just risen high enough on the prairie wave, which they had been
ascending, to be able to see over it, and Dan could perceive by the
outstretched neck of his companion that he was gazing intently at
something directly in front.

"What do you see, Fergus?" he asked in a low voice.

"Do you see nothin', Taniel?" was the Highlander's reply.

"Why, yes. I see the plains stretching away to the horizon--an' dark
enough they are, too, at this moment. I also see a few small clumps
that look like bushes here an' there."

"Don't you see the clump that's nearest to you--right foment your nose?"
said the other.

"Of course I do," and he stopped abruptly, for at that moment he saw a
spark in the clump referred to--a spark so small that it might have been
taken for a glow-worm, had such a creature existed there.

"Savitches!" whispered the Highlander. "Let's get into the hollow as
fast as we can."

This retrograde movement was soon effected, and the friends dismounted.

"Now, Fergus, what's the best thing to be done?"

"I will be leavin' that to you, Taniel, for you've a clearer head than
mine."

"We dare not ride forward," said Dan, as if communing with himself, "an'
it would be foolish to make a long detour to escape from something until
we know there is something worth escaping from. My notion is that we
hobble or picket our horses here, and go cautiously forward on foot to
see what it is."

"You'll be doin' what ye think best, Captain Taniel, an' you will find
that private Fergus will back you up--whatever."

This being settled, the two men p