and
looked out. There was Elam on his horse, skurrying along; not going
fast, for he had nearly a hundred miles to ride, but taking it easy, as
though he could stand it. Elam didn't know it, but he was to travel
twenty miles at as fast a gait as he had ever ridden it before.

"There goes my luck again," said Tom, as he turned about and returned
through the evergreens. "If anything should happen to him, I don't know
what I should do. I feel drawn toward the fellow. I will pay attention
to what he told me, and in order to put it out of the power of those men
to carry off this map and money I will just chuck the bag in here, where
I know it is safe."

The place where Tom hid the bag was in a hollow tree. He pushed it in,
put some leaves and brush over it, and turned away, satisfied, to begin
work on his lean-to. He could not see any signs of the approaching
blizzard, but Elam could, and he worked hard. That day he had the frame
up, and the next day it was all done and the things carried under it.

"There," said Tom, with a smile of satisfaction. "We are all ready for
what comes. Now, if Elam was only here, I'd be content. One more day, or
at least I will give him two, and then he will have to show up."

The third day passed without bringing any signs of the missing boy, but
Tom paid little attention to it. On the fourth he began making trips to
the edge of the evergreens, and then he saw that the sun was hazy and
that it began to look stormy. It grew worse on the fifth day, and Tom
really began to be alarmed. Toward evening a horseman suddenly made his
appearance on the edge of the prairie, walking slowly along, as if his
nag was tired almost to death. But it was Elam, for after he had made
many steps he discovered Tom, and pulled off his hat and waved it to
him.

"Something has gone wrong," muttered Tom, vigorously returning the
salute. "Why don't he whip up? If I was as close to home as he is, I
would go faster than that."

Tom waited in the margin of the woods for him to come up, and when he
drew nearer saw that his face was pale, and that he carried his arm in a
sling, as if he had been wounded. When Tom saw that, he began to grow
pale, too.

"Oh, it's all over," said Elam. "Look there."

"What! Is your horse wounded, too?"

"Yes, and was hardly able to move when I rode him into the fort. Say,
you told me that soldiers always wanted to see the fair thing done,
didn't you? They're a mean set. But I got the s