* * * * *

A Ponka war party once camped near the enemy. The usual sentinels had
been stationed, with special injunctions to be vigilant, that the camp
might not be discovered and surprised. Among those assigned to duty as
sentinel that night was a young man ambitious to win preferment and
honour in the tribe. His career was yet all to make, and he was on the
alert for opportunity to distinguish himself.

There was no moon, and only the keenest eye could discern any distant
object in the darkness. The silence was unbroken save by the
occasional cry of the wolf, the creaking of a cricket, or the rustle
of a passing breeze.

The young man, intently on the watch, scanned the country from right
to left, searching through the dimness for any moving thing; but all
was motionless beneath, while overhead the stars moved slowly through
the heavens, as the night wore on.

At a little distance from the watcher was a clump of trees. Upon this
he kept a steady eye, only turning now and then to sweep the horizon.
Once, as his eye returned to the trees, he beheld a shadow unnoticed
before. It moved; and, without waiting to see more, he sped
noiselessly as an arrow to wake the Leader and report that he had seen
the enemy creeping toward the sleeping warriors.

The Leader, an old and experienced man, made no reply, but rose
quickly and silently, and taking his bow in his hand, motioned the
sentinel to lead the way.

With rapid, muffled steps, they reached the place where the young man
had stood when he had seen the moving shadow. The Leader looked
intently in the indicated direction, bent his ear to the ground and
listened, then rose and looked again.

A faint gleam of light in the east gave sign of the approach of day,
as the Leader stepped cautiously toward the group of trees, followed
by the young warrior, whose heart beat high with hope that the time
had at last come for him to show his valour and win a war honour. A
greyish hue was spreading over the land as they neared the place. The
young man's eyes sought among the trees the hidden enemy, but the
Leader paused and addressed the youth:--

"Was it here that you saw the enemy?"

"Yes."

"Look on the ground and tell me what you see?"

Surprised at the words, yet obedient, he turned his scrutiny from the
trees to the grass upon which they stood, and detected there the
traces of the feet of an animal. As he gazed silently at the tracks,
absor