hile an' I wouldn't wonder,"
said Solomon, as he stood looking down at the scene. "He ain't a-goin'
to like the look o' a pale face--not overly much. Them Injuns that got
erway 'll never stop runnin' till they've reached the middle o' next
week."

He seized the foot of Red Snout and pulled his head out of the fire.

"You ol' hellion!" Solomon exclaimed. "You dog o' the devil! Tumbled
into hell whar ye b'long at last, didn't ye? Jack, you take that
luther bucket an' bring some water out o' the creek an' put out this
fire. The ring on this 'ere ol' wooden leg is wuth a hundred pounds."

Solomon took the hatchet from his belt and hacked off the end of Red
Snout's wooden leg and put it in his coat pocket, saying:

"'From now on a white man can walk in the bush without gittin' his
bones picked. Injuns is goin' to be skeered o' us--a few an' I
wouldn't be supprised."

When Jack came back with the water, Solomon poured it on the embers,
and looked at the swollen form which still seemed to be straining at
the green withes of moose wood.

"Nothin' kin be done fer him," said the old scout. "He's gone erway.
I tell ye, Jack, it g'in my soul a sweat to hear him dyin'."

A moment of silence full of the sorrow of the two men followed.
Solomon broke it by saying:

"That 'ere black pill o' mine went right down into the stummick o' the
hill an' give it quite a puke--you hear to me."

They went to the cavern's mouth and looked in.

"They's an awful mess in thar. I don't keer to see it," said Solomon.

Near them they discovered a warrior who had crawled out of that death
chamber in the rocks. He had been stunned and wounded about the
shoulders. They helped him to his feet and led him away. He was
trembling with fear. Solomon found a pine torch, still burning, near
where the fire had been. By its light they dressed his wounds--the old
scout having with him always a small surgeon's outfit.

"Whar is t' other captive?" he asked in the Indian tongue.

"About a mile down the trail. It's a woman and a boy," said the
warrior.

"Take us whar they be," Solomon commanded.

The three started slowly down the trail, the warrior leading them.

"Son of the Thunder, throw no more lightning and I will kiss your
mighty hand and do as you tell me," said the Indian, as they set out.

It was now dark. Jack saw, through the opening in the forest roof
above the trail, Orion and the Pleiades looking down at them, as
beautiful