ead-stall and thrusting him away. "Gently, old boy; your hoofs are not
very soft. You hurt."

He raised himself up, stretching the while.

"How tiresome to sleep like that!" he muttered. "Why, I had not
finished my breakfast, and--"

Bart said no more, but stood there motionless staring straight before
him, where the plain was now ruddy and glowing with the rays of the
evening sun.

For there, about a mile away, he could see a body of some twenty or
thirty Indians coming over the plain at an easy rate, guided evidently
by one on foot who ran before them with bended head, and Bart knew as
well as if he had heard the words shouted in his ear that they were
following him by his trail.

There was not a moment to lose, and with trembling hands he secured the
buckles of his saddle-girths, and strapped on the various little
articles that formed his luggage, slung his rifle, and then leading the
cob to the other side of the patch of woodland, where he would be out of
sight of the Indians, he mounted, marked a spot on the horizon which
would keep him in a direct line and the woodland clump as long as
possible between him and his enemies, and rode swiftly off.

The inclination was upon him to gaze back, but he knew in doing so he
might swerve from the bee-line he had marked out, and he resisted the
temptation, riding on as swiftly as his cob could go, and wondering all
the while why it was that he had not been seen.

If he had been with the Apaches he would have ceased to wonder, for
while Bart was galloping off on the other side, his well-rested and
refreshed horse going faster and faster each minute as he got into
swing, the Indians began to slacken their pace. There was no doubt
about the trail, they knew: it led straight into the patch of woodland;
and as this afforded ample cover, they might at any moment find
themselves the objects of some able rifle-firing; and as they had
suffered a good deal lately in their ranks, they were extra cautious.

The trail showed that only one fugitive was on the way, him of whom
their dying comrade had spoken; but then the fugitive had made straight
for this clump of trees, and how were they to know but that he expected
to meet friends there, whose first volley would empty half the saddles
of the little troop?

Indians can be brave at times, but for the most part they are cowardly
and extremely cautious. Naturally enough an Indian, no matter to what
tribe he belongs, has a gre