and accepted the overtures of
friendship that the boys made toward him, so that before their visit at
the ranch came to a close they were on very good terms with him.

CHAPTER IX

The Indian Outbreak

"They seem to be having trouble with the Indians on the reservation,"
remarked Mr. Milton one evening, just after his return from a trip to
town; "everybody in Helena seems to be talking about it, and there was
a big article in the 'Despatch' this morning, too."

"What kind of trouble?" asked Bert, his interest at once aroused. "You
don't mean there's talk of an outbreak among them, do you?"

"That's exactly what I _do_ mean," replied Mr. Melton seriously. "The
young bucks are discontented, and are continually making 'war medicine.'
Of course, the old men of the tribes do all they can to keep them within
bounds, for they know how useless any outbreak would be. But the young
men have never had the bitter experience of their fathers, and at present
they seem very restless."

"But I thought the days of Indian outbreaks were over," exclaimed Tom
excitedly; "why, they wouldn't have a ghost of a chance if they started
anything now."

"Just the same there are enough of them to make trouble, if they ever got
started," said Mr. Melton soberly. "Of course, as you say, the uprising
would be suppressed quickly enough, but not perhaps without considerable
bloodshed and loss of property. At any rate, the prospect of such an
outbreak is enough to keep people living anywhere near the reservation
boundary on the anxious seat."

"But I should think," remarked Dick, "that the authorities would make
such preparations to subdue an uprising among the Indians that it would
be crushed before they had a chance to get off the reservation."

"Well, the authorities _have_ taken every possible precaution," replied
Mr. Melton. "Jim Hotchkiss, the sheriff, told me that word had been
passed to officers of the forts to have the troops in readiness for
instant action. But the 'noble red man' is cunning in his own way, and
lays his plans carefully. And when he is ready to strike he strikes
quickly, like the snake. A marauding band will attack and sack a
farmhouse, and be forty miles away before the troops arrive on the scene.
And in a country as large and wild as this it is something of a task to
corner and subdue them."

"There hasn't been any trouble of the kind for a long time, has there?"
asked Dick.

"No, not for a good many years