he's
from the very village I'm hunting after. Heigh! there's something else
up!"

He suddenly checked himself and began snuffing the air, as though it
was tainted with something suspicious.

"I hope I may be shot if there ain't a camp-fire within two hundred
yards of where I am standing."

He looked sharply around in every direction, but saw nothing of the
camp, although positive that his olfactories could not have deceived
him.

"Whether it belongs to white or red can't be said, _sartin_; but it's
a great deal most likely that it's red, and it's just about as sartin
that that Injin ahead of me has gone pretty close to the camp, so I'll
keep on follering him."

A short distance further he became assured that he was in close
proximity to the fire, and he began to use extreme caution in his
movements. He knew very well how slight an inadvertence would betray
his approach, and a betrayal was almost fatal. Advancing some distance
further, he suddenly came in full view of the camp-fire. He saw three
Indians seated around it, smoking, and appearing as if they had just
finished their morning meal. It seemed, also, as if they were
discussing some matter that deeply interested all. The mumbling of
their voices could be heard, and one of them gesticulated quite
freely, as though he were excited over the conference. There was not
even the most remote possibility that what they were saying was of the
least concern to the trapper; and so, after watching them a few
moments, he moved cautiously by.

It was rarely that Tim ever had a mishap at such perilous times as
these, but to his dismay something caught his foot so dextrously, that
in spite of himself he was thrown flat upon his face. There was a dull
thump, not very loud, it is true, but he feared it had reached the
ears of the savages. He lay motionless, listening for a while, but
hearing nothing of their voices or footsteps, he judged that either
they had no suspicion of the true cause, or else had not heard him at
all. He therefore rose to his feet and moved on, occasionally glancing
back, to be sure he was not pursued.

The trapper proceeded in this manner until noon. Had the case been
urgent, he would not have paused until nightfall, as his indurated
muscles demanded no rest; he could go a couple of days without
nourishment, and experience little inconvenience. But there was no
call for haste. He therefore paused at noon, on the banks of a small
stream, in quest o