, and at another
sun we will bring them before the great chief Mighty Hand, who is the
greatest of warriors, and chief of the greatest of all tribes, the
Dacotahs. I have spoken."

"And spoken well," said Holden, thinking that it might be well to
propitiate the Medicine Man for the time. But Thunder-maker, stooping
forward with a pretence of picking up something from the ground, came
close enough to whisper, so that only the Englishmen could hear him--

"By another sun, when Mighty Hand looks upon the pale-faces, it may be
that the friends of Thunder-maker have looked first!"

The words were spoken with all the venom of a savage threat, and before
Holden could make reply the Medicine Man was speaking loudly to Swift
Arrow.

"The Dacotahs shall see great medicine when the fiery totem again turn
eyes upon the evil water-spirits. Thunder-maker will now go to his
teepee. He would speak with his little children that they show much
magic."

But Swift Arrow did not deign to reply. He turned to the Englishmen, and
with a few movements of his hunting-knife severed the cords that bound
them.

"The stranger who has raised no arm against the redmen may not be bound
in the camp of the Dacotahs. My brothers did wrong. The pale-faces will
forgive my foolish people."

"We do not blame you. You are a good man, and Manito smiles upon the
kind heart," returned Arnold quietly.

Thoroughly worn out with the events of the previous day as well as the
exciting incidents of the night, the two friends were glad to be at
liberty to return to their tent and stretch their tired limbs upon the
robes that had been provided for them. The Indians had quickly dispersed
at the bidding of old Swift Arrow, and soon the camp was once more in
peace.

Little was said by either of the men as they lay down at opposite parts
of the teepee, and it was not long before sleep came to the relief of
weariness.

For a couple of hours or more the Englishmen were wrapt in deep slumber.
Then, just as the grey dawn was beginning to chase the shadows from the
forest, Holden suddenly awoke. It was not the calm awakening that
follows refreshing rest, but that sudden return of the senses that one
sometimes experiences accompanied by a horrible instinct of danger.

Holden sat up and looked round. Nothing strange was to be seen within
the tent, and when he looked through the entrance all seemed peaceful
without. The brown teepees were not even stirred by a morning