t.

"Al, ill and left behind!" he exclaimed again and again. "He
must have overexerted himself!"

His alarm deepened when he saw how fast the darkness was
increasing. The chill bars of red and gold were gone from the
west. When he looked back he could see the train no more, and
heard only the faint sound of the cracking of whips. The train
was fast disappearing in the pass.

But Dick had become a good woodsman and plainsman. His sense
of direction was rarely wrong, and he went straight upon the
trail for the creek. Night had now come but it was not very
dark, and presently he saw the flash of water. It was the creek,
and a few more steps took him there. A figure rose out of the
shadows.

"Al!" he cried. "Have you broken down? Why didn't you get into
the wagon?"

"Dick," replied Albert in a puzzled tone, "there's nothing the
matter with me, except that I'm tired. Bright Sun told me that
you were here waiting for me, and that you had something
important to tell me. I couldn't find you, and now you come
running."

Dick stopped in amazement.

"Bright Sun said I was waiting here for you, and had something
important to tell you?" exclaimed Dick. "Why, he told me that
you were ill, and had been left unnoticed at the crossing!"

The two boys stared at each other.

"What does it mean?" they exclaimed together.

From the dark pass before them came a sound which in the distance
resembled the report of a firecracker, followed quickly by two or
three other sounds, and then by many, as if the whole pack had
been ignited at once. But both boys knew it was not firecrackers.
It was something far more deadly and terrible--a hail of rifle
bullets. They looked toward the pass and saw there pink and red
flashes appearing and reappearing. Shouts, and mingled with them
a continuous long, whining cry, a dreadful overnote, came to their
ears.

"The train has been attacked!" cried Dick. "It has marched
straight into an ambush!"

"Indians?" exclaimed Albert, who was trembling violently from
sheer physical and mental excitement.

"It couldn't be anything else!" replied Dick. "This is their
country! And they must be in great force, too! Listen how the
fight grows!"

The volume of the firing increased rapidly, but above it always
rose that terrible whining note. The red and pink flashes in the
pass danced and multiplied, and the wind brought the faint odor
of smoke.

"We must help!" exclaimed Dick. "On