elated over the promise of success which the situation seemed to
hold out to them. Bob would have been a little better satisfied if he
could have seen any way of taking the Indians alive, and so making a
"finished job of it," as he afterward told his friend George; but,
knowing that this was entirely beyond his power, he was about to give
the signal to advance when a most unexpected interruption occurred. They
heard the snapping of twigs behind them, accompanied by a slight
rustling among the leaves, such as might be made by some heavy body
working its way cautiously through the thick undergrowth. The astonished
troopers hugged the ground closely, holding their breath in suspense;
and in a second more, without a single footstep being audible, the
bushes parted and the form of an Indian warrior could be dimly seen
through the darkness.

"Beyond a doubt it is the sentry coming in to call his relief," thought
Bob. "_Now_, how am I going to act? Shall I let him go into the camp, or
not?"

Without pausing an instant, the Indian, all unconscious of danger,
approached the line, and might have passed through it between Bob and
Carey without discovering anything to excite his suspicions, had not the
former, acting upon the impulse of the moment, made up his mind that he
would not go back to his comrades without at least one prisoner to
reward him for his long and tiresome scout. Throwing out his arm, he
caught the warrior around the legs and lifting him from the ground threw
him upon his back. He fell across Carey and Loring, both of whom turned
like lightning and seized him, one trying to secure his arms, so that he
could not draw a weapon, and the other taking him by the throat.
Everything was done quickly, but not quickly enough to shut off the wild
yell with which the captive Indian awoke the echoes of the gully. Seeing
that all further attempts at concealment were useless, Bob and George
jumped to their feet.

"Forward with a cheer!" yelled the former. "Cover the boys, everybody."

This last order was hardly necessary, for each individual member of the
squad had secretly resolved to do that very thing, leaving his
companions to act as they pleased.

The Indians were wide awake and moving before their unlucky comrade's
yell had fairly left his lips. So quickly did they spring to their feet
that the troopers might have thought, if they had been allowed time to
think at all, that the savages had been merely keeping up an