s dinner, and he considered it rather a
point of honor that he should bring the offending savage to justice.
That it was an Indian he did not doubt, but he never once suspected,
what was true, that it was the identical one he had been following,
and who had passed his camp-fire.

In a few moments he found a shallow portion of the creek across which
he immediately waded and made his way down the bank, to where the
Indian had first manifested his presence. Here the keen eye of Tim at
once detected moccasin prints, and he saw that the savage had departed
with his prize.

There was no difficulty in following the trail, and the trapper did
so, with his long, loping, rapid walk. It happened to lead straight to
the northward, so that he felt it was no loss of time for him to do
so.

It was morally certain the savage could be at no great distance; hence
the pursuer was cautious in his advance. The American Indian would
rather seek than avoid an encounter, and he was no foe to be despised
in a hand-to-hand contest. The trapper was in that mood that he would
not have hesitated to encounter two of them in deadly combat for the
possession of the bird which was properly his own, and which he was
not willing to yield until compelled to do so by physical force.

About a hundred rods brought the trapper to a second creek of larger
size than the first. The trail led directly into this, so he followed
without hesitation. Before doing so, he took the precaution to sling
his rifle to his back, so that his arms should be disencumbered in any
sudden emergency.

The creek proved to be of considerable depth, but not sufficient to
cause him to swim. Near the center, when it was up to his armpits, and
he was feeling every foot of the way as he advanced, he chanced by
accident to raise his head. As he did so, he caught a movement among
the undergrowth, and more from habit than anything else, dodged his
head.

The involuntary movement allowed the bullet that was discharged at
that moment to pass harmlessly over his crown and bury itself in the
bank beyond. The next instant the trapper dashed through the water,
reaching the shore before the savage could reload. To his
disappointment and chagrin, the Indian was gone.

Tim, however, was not to be baffled in this manner, and dashed on as
impetuously as before. He was so close that he could hear the
fugitive as he fled, but the nature of the ground prevented rapid
progress upon the part of ei