ctober, 1788. That very night they killed their captors by shooting one
and tomahawking the other."

"Did they get away?" asked Sheldon eagerly.

"Yes, sir, they got away. Now, I want to ask you a few questions--and,
Bob, I want you to pay attention to his replies.--Where have you been to
get so much mud on your boots?"

"Why, back there in the plains we came to a little bayou, and the banks
of it was all muddy; and the Injins they pulled us off the ponies and
made us walk into all that there mud, and then they laughed at us
because we didn't like it," answered the boy; and his ludicrous display
of rage over the indignity that had been put upon himself and his
brother made the troopers smile again.

"Go on," said George. "What did you do next?"

"Well, they took us out of the mud after a while, the Injins did, and
then one of 'em he took us on a pony and rode off by himself until he
found this party; and we've been with them ever since."

"What did I tell you?" exclaimed George, hitting Bob a back-handed slap
on the chest. "What do you think of my guessing now?"

"I think you are pretty good at it," answered Bob. "And seeing you
_are_, I wish you would try your hand in a new line. Suppose you take a
couple of men with you, and all our canteens and coffee-pots, and guess
your way down the bluff to the stream, and bring us back a supply of
water? We'll have a good fire going by the time you return, and then
we'll boil a cup of coffee."

"I'll do it," said George readily.

"And while you are guessing, guess at the probable movements of that
Indian who got away," continued Bob. "Will he be likely to trouble us
to-night?"

"He will not," was the confident reply. "Our party is too large. He will
make the best of his way home, you may depend upon it."

While George and the two troopers whom Bob detailed to accompany him
were gone after the water, those who remained in camp were not idle. One
bound up Carey's wounded arm, another brought in a bountiful supply of
fire-wood, others stood guard, and one assisted the corporal in
collecting a quantity of leaves and light branches, and went out with
him to signal to the four men who had been left behind with the horses.
They readily found the hill which had served as a lookout-station for
the warrior who was now a captive in their hands; and they knew it when
they found it, for there was the pile of bushes through which he had
looked while watching the trail, and the pri