s
region.

He crossed a swell, but there was no friendly increase of the
darkness and he was afraid to swerve, knowing that the Sioux
would thereby gain upon him, since he would make himself the
curve of the bow, while they remained the string.

In fact, the hasty glance back showed that the Sioux had gained,
and Dick felt tremors. He was tempted for a moment to fire upon
his pursuers, but it would certainly cause a loss of speed, and
he did not believe that he could hit anything under such
circumstances. No, he would save his bullets for a last stand,
if they ran him to earth.

The Sioux raised their war whoop again and fired three or four
shots. Dick felt a slight jarring movement run through his pony,
and then the animal swerved. He was afraid that he had trodden
in a prairie-dog hole or perhaps a little gully, but in an
instant or two he was running steadily again, and Dick forgot the
incident in the excitement of the flight.

He was in constant fear lest the coming out of the moon should
lighten up the prairie and make him a good target for the Sioux
bullets, but he noted instead, and with great joy, that it was
growing darker. Heavy clouds drifted across the sky, and a cold
wind arose and began to whistle out of the northwest. It was a
friendly black robe that was settling down over the earth. It
had never before seemed to him that thick night could be so
welcome.

Dick's pony rose again on a swell higher than the others, and was
poised there for the fraction of a second, a dark silhouette
against the darker sky. Several of the Sioux fired. Dick felt
once more that momentary jar of his horse's mechanism, but it
disappeared quickly and his hopes rose, because he saw that the
darkness lay thickly between this swell and the next, and he
believed that he now could lose his pursuers.

He urged his horse vigorously. He had made no mistake when he
chose this pony as strong and true. The response was instant and
emphatic. He flew down the slope, but instead of ascending the
next swell he turned at an angle and went down the depression
that lay between them. There the darkness was thickest, and the
burst of speed by the pony was so great that the shapes of his
pursuers became vague and then were lost. Nevertheless, he heard
the thudding of their hoofs and knew that they could also hear
the beat of his. That would guide them for a while yet. He
thought he might turn again and cross the next swell,