him, anyway, and it was best for the two to stand or fall
together. Hence, he went straight for the hollow.

It was bitter work running up a slope, but his two years of life
in the open were a great help to him now. The strong heart and
the powerful lungs responded nobly to the call. He ran lightly,
holding his rifle in the hollow of his arm, ready for use if need
be, and he watch warily lest he make an incautious footstep and
fall. The moonlight was still full and clear, but when he took
an occasional hurried glance backward he could not yet see his
pursuers. He heard, now and then, however, the barking of a dog
or the cry of a warrior.

Dick reached the crest of the hill, and there for an instant or
two his figure stood, under the pines, a black silhouette against
the moonlight. Four or five shots were fired at the living
target. One bullet whizzed so near that it seemed to Dick to
scorch his face.

He had gathered fresh strength, and that hot bullet gave a new
impetus also. He ran down the slope at a great speed now, and he
had calculated craftily. He could descend nearly twice as fast
as they could ascend, and while they were reaching the crest he
would put a wide gap between them.

He kept well in the shadow now as he made with long leaps
straight toward the hollow, and he hoped with every heart beat
that Albert, aroused by the shots, would be awake and ready.
"Albert!" he cried, when he was within twenty feet of their camp,
and his hope was rewarded. Albert was up, rifle in hand, crying:

"What is it, Dick?"

"The Sioux!" exclaimed Dick. "They're not far away! You heard
the shots! Come!"

He turned off at an angle and ran in a parallel line along the
slope, Albert by his side. He wished to keep to the forests and
thickets, knowing they would have little chance of escape on the
plain. As they ran he told Albert, in short, choppy sentences,
what had happened.

"I don't hear anything," said Albert, after ten minutes. "Maybe
they've lost us."

"No such good luck! Those curs of theirs would lead them. No,
Al, we've got to keep straight on as long as we can!"

Albert stumbled on a rock, but, quickly recovering himself, put
greater speed in every jump, when he heard the Indian shout
behind him.

"We've got to shoot their dogs," said Dick. "We'll have no other
chance to shake them off."

"If we get a chance," replied Albert.

But they did not see any chance just yet. They heard th