easons, nevertheless, were good. He was thinking less of the
boy, whom he implicitly trusted, than of his horses, and of a new peril
which at this moment seemed to threaten the whole of his company.

Just as he had halted beside Rube he had turned his glance back along the
narrow valley. Far off in the blue distance he had seen a thin film of
dust rising; or was it smoke? He was not certain at first, but when Rube
had gone he looked again in the same direction, and he said to himself in
his old drawling Western way--

"'Tain't smoke. Guess it's just dust. An' it's travellin' this ways
along the trail. But a cloud of dust same as that must ha' bin turned up
by more'n one gallopin' pony. Dozens an' dozens, more like. Guess it's
Injuns--a second detachment of Broken Feather's forces--rustlin' along
with th' idea of nippin' us in 'tween two fires. A cute idea; but I
don't notion that it's goin' ter come off. They're just a bit too late;
didn't calculate on our comin' along so quick, I guess."

The fighting had slackened considerably when Kiddie returned to his
loophole at the front of the leading wagon. Nick Undrell was still
there. He was rigidly looking along the sights of his rifle, hesitating
to fire.

"You're aimin' at a dead pony, Nick," Kiddie pointed out.

"I ain't doin' nothin' so fullish," returned Nick. "It's the skunk lyin'
doggo behind it that I'm interested in. Broken Feather's thar, sure; and
he ain't dead; he ain't even wounded. He's 'bout as much alive an' alert
's ever he was in his nat'ral. But his ammunition's all spent, an' he's
jus' waitin' his chance ter quit. He knows I've got th' bead on him.
Soon's I shift my gun, he'll do a vamoose, slick, an' his braves along of
him."

"Then shift your gun," commanded Kiddie. "Quit shootin' an let's git
outer this. Thar's a reinforcement of Injuns comin' down along the
trail."

"Eh?" Nick quietly rested his gun on the footboard and drew stealthily
back from it. "You watch him, then. When he's gone we'll make a move."

Kiddie watched, and witnessed a curious happening which gave him a vivid
insight into the character of the young Sioux chief.

Within a minute after Nick had stepped back out of sight Broken Feather
crawled swiftly out from the protecting barrier of the dead mustang and
took cover behind a boulder.

Quite near to the same boulder a wounded Indian was vainly trying to
mount his pony. The pony was restive and evidentl