er to deep thought.

The question which he was seeking to answer was as to his duty. He had
gone to the settlement to see his young friends, and learned that they
had started some hours before on a hunting expedition. Such a proceeding
was so natural, and, withal, so common, that any one expressing wonder
thereat was likely to be laughed at for his words. The boys of the
frontier learn to handle the rifle when much younger than either Otto
Relstaub or Jack Carleton, and they were sometimes absent for days at a
time without causing any misgiving on the part of their parents.

Why, then, should Deerfoot be perplexed over the matter, when even the
mother of Jack expressed no fear concerning him?

Why, indeed? That was the query which puzzled the young warrior. It has
already been said it was the custom of Deerfoot to follow a certain
inexplainable intuition which often came to his help in his moments of
doubt. In the present instance, something seemed to whisper that it was
his duty to look after the boys, but the whisper was so low--as may be
said--that he hesitated to obey it, led to do so by a doubt as to
whether, after all, it was that instinctive prompting which hitherto
had guided him so infallibly in many of his daring enterprises and
undertakings.

It was characteristic of the warrior that, after spending a long time in
such anxious thought, he should draw his Bible from the inner pocket of
his hunting shirt, and begin looking through its pages for guidance.
There were certain portions that were favorites of his, and, without
searching, the volume opened to one after another of these places; but
seek as much as he chose, he could find nothing that bore on the problem
he wished to solve.

"The Great Spirit wills that Deerfoot shall settle the question for
himself," was his conclusion, as he returned the treasure to its place.

It may as well be admitted that the principal cause of Deerfoot's
hesitation cannot be given at this time. There was an urgent reason why
he should make haste to the southwest, and he longed to break into his
easy, loping trot, which he was able to maintain without fatigue from
rise of morn till set of sun. But the same strange impulse which sent
him into the settlement to inquire concerning his friends, still kept
them in his thoughts.

But he was not the youth to torment himself in this manner, hour after
hour, and he finally compressed his thin lips and muttered:

"Deerfoot will re