perplexities--our hunters plan theirescape--unexpected interruption--the tablesturned--crusoe mounts guard--the escape.

dick varley sat before the fire ruminating. wedo not mean to assert that dick had been previouslyeating grass. by no means. for several dayspast he had been mentally subsisting on the remarkablethings that he heard and saw in the pawnee village,and wondering how he was to get away without beingscalped. he was now chewing the cud of this intellectualfare. we therefore repeat emphatically--in case anyreader should have presumed to contradict us--thatdick varley sat before the fire ruminating!

joe blunt likewise sat by the fire along with him,ruminating too, and smoking besides. henri also satthere smoking, and looking a little the worse of hislate supper.

"i don't like the look o' things," said joe, blowinga whiff of smoke slowly from his lips, and watching itas it ascended into the still air. "that blackguardmahtawa is determined not to let us off till he gits allour goods; an' if he gits them, he may as well take ourscalps too, for we would come poor speed in the prairieswithout guns, horses, or goods."dick looked at his friend with an expression of concern.

"what's to be done?" said he.

"ve must escape," answered henri; but his tone wasnot a hopeful one, for he knew the danger of theirposition better than dick.

"ay, we must escape--at least we must try," saidjoe. "but i'll make one more effort to smooth oversan-it-sa-rish, an' git him to snub that villain mahtawa."just as he spoke the villain in question entered thetent with a bold, haughty air, and sat down before thefire in sullen silence. for some minutes no one spoke,and henri, who happened at the time to be examiningthe locks of dick's rifle, continued to inspect them withan appearance of careless indifference that he was farfrom feeling.

now, this rifle of dick's had become a source ofunceasing wonder to the indians--wonder which wasgreatly increased by the fact that no one could dischargeit but himself. dick had, during his short stay at thepawnee village, amused himself and the savages by exhibitinghis marvellous powers with the "silver rifle."since it had been won by him at the memorable matchin the mustang valley, it had scarce ever been out ofhis hand, so that he had become decidedly the best shotin the settlement, could "bark" squirrels (that is, hitthe bark of the branch on which a squirrel happenedto be standing, and so kill it by the concussion alone),and could "drive the nail" every shot. the silver rifle,as we have said, became "great medicine" to the red-menwhen they saw it kill at a distance which the fewwretched guns they had obtained from the fur-traderscould not even send a spent ball to. the double shot,too, filled them with wonder and admiration; but thatwhich they regarded with an almost supernatural feelingof curiosity was the percussion cap, which, in dick'shands, always exploded, but in theirs was utterly useless!

this result was simply owing to the fact that dick,after firing, handed the rifle to the indians withoutrenewing the cap; so that when they loaded and attemptedto fire, of course it merely snapped. when hewished again to fire, he adroitly exchanged the old capfor a new one. he was immensely tickled by thesolemn looks of the indians at this most incomprehensibleof all "medicines," and kept them for some daysin ignorance of the true cause, intending to reveal itbefore he left. but circumstances now arose whichbanished all trifling thoughts from his mind.

mahtawa raised his head suddenly, and said, pointingto the silver rifle, "mahtawa wishes to have the two-shottedmedicine gun. he will give his best horse in exchange.""mahtawa is liberal," answered joe; "but the pale-facedyouth cannot part with it. he has far to travel,and must shoot buffaloes by the way.""the pale-faced youth shall have a bow and arrowsto shoot the buffalo," rejoined the indian.

"he cannot use the bow and arrow," answered joe.

"he has not been trained like the red-man."mahtawa was silent for a few seconds, and his darkbrows frowned more heavily than ever over his eyes.

"the pale-faces are too bold," he exclaimed, workinghimself into a passion. "they are in the power ofmahtawa. if they will not give the gun he will takeit."he sprang suddenly to his feet as he spoke, andsnatched the rifle from henri's hand.

henri being ignorant of the language had not beenable to understand the foregoing conversation, althoughhe saw well enough that it was not an agreeable one;but no sooner did he find himself thus rudely and unexpectedlydeprived of the rifle than he jumped up,wrenched it in a twinkling from the indian's grasp, andhurled him violently out of the tent.

in a moment mahtawa drew his knife, uttered asavage yell, and sprang on the reckless hunter, who,however, caught his wrist, and held it as if in a vice.

the yell brought a dozen warriors instantly to the spot,and before dick had time to recover from his astonishment,henri was surrounded and pinioned despite hisherculean struggles.

before dick could move, joe blunt grasped his arm,and whispered quickly, "don't rise. you can't helphim. they daren't kill him till san-it-sa-rish agrees."though much surprised, dick obeyed, but it requiredall his efforts, both of voice and hand, to control crusoe,whose mind was much too honest and straightforwardto understand such subtle pieces of diplomacy, and whostrove to rush to the rescue of his ill-used friend.

when the tumult had partly subsided, joe blunt roseand said,--"have the pawnee braves turned traitors that theydraw the knife against those who have smoked with them the pipe ofpeaceand eaten their maize? thepale-faces are three; the pawnees are thousands. ifevil has been done, let it be laid before the chief.

mahtawa wishes to have the medicine gun. althoughwe said, no, we could not part with it, he tried to takeit by force. are we to go back to the great chief ofthe pale-faces and say that the pawnees are thieves?

are the pale-faces henceforth to tell their children whenthey steal, 'that is bad; that is like the pawnee?'

no; this must not be. the rifle shall be restored, andwe will forget this disagreement. is it not so?"there was an evident disposition on the part ofmany of the indians, with whom mahtawa was no favourite,to applaud this speech; but the wily chief sprangforward, and, with flashing eyes, sought to turn thetables.

"the pale-face speaks with soft words, but his heartis false. is he not going to make peace with the enemiesof the pawnee? is he not going to take goods tothem, and make them gifts and promises? the pale-facesare spies. they come to see the weakness of thepawnee camp; but they have found that it is strong.

shall we suffer the false hearts to escape? shall theylive? no; we will hang their scalps in our wigwams,for they have struck a chief, and we will keep all theirgoods for our squaws--wah!"this allusion to keeping all the goods had more effecton the minds of the vacillating savages than the chief'seloquence. but a new turn was given to their thoughtsby joe blunt remarking in a quiet, almost contemptuoustone,--"mahtawa is not the great chief.""true, true," they cried, and immediately hurried tothe tent of san-it-sa-rish.

once again this chief stood between the hunters andthe savages, who wanted but a signal to fall on them.

there was a long palaver, which ended in henri beingset at liberty and the rifle being restored.

that evening, as the three friends sat beside theirfire eating their supper of boiled maize and buffalo meat,they laughed and talked as carelessly as ever; but thegaiety was assumed, for they were at the time planningtheir escape from a tribe which, they foresaw, wouldnot long refrain from carrying out their wishes, androbbing, perhaps murdering them.

"ye see," said joe with a perplexed air, while hedrew a piece of live charcoal from the fire with hisfingers and lighted his pipe--"ye see, there's more difficultiesin the way o' gettin' off than ye think--""oh, nivare mind de difficulties," interrupted henri,whose wrath at the treatment he had received had notyet cooled down. "ve must jump on de best horsesve can git hold, shake our fists at de red reptiles, andgo away fast as ve can. de best hoss must vin derace."joe shook his head. "a hundred arrows would bein our backs before we got twenty yards from thecamp. besides, we can't tell which are the best horses.

our own are the best in my 'pinion, but how are we togit' em?""i know who has charge o' them," said dick. "isaw them grazing near the tent o' that poor squawwhose baby was saved by crusoe. either her husbandlooks after them or some neighbours.""that's well," said joe. "that's one o' my difficultiesgone.""what are the others?""well, d'ye see, they're troublesome. we can't gitthe horses out o' camp without bein' seen, for the redrascals would see what we were at in a jiffy. then, ifwe do git 'em out, we can't go off without our bales,an' we needn't think to take 'em from under the noseo' the chief and his squaws without bein' axed questions.

to go off without them would niver do at all.""joe," said dick earnestly, "i've hit on a plan.""have ye, dick--what is't?""come and i'll let ye see," answered dick, risinghastily and quitting the tent, followed by his comradesand his faithful dog.

it may be as well to remark here, that no restraintwhatever had yet been put on the movements of ourhunters as long as they kept to their legs, for it waswell known that any attempt by men on foot to escapefrom mounted indians on the plains would be hopeless.

moreover, the savages thought that as long as there wasa prospect of their being allowed to depart peaceablywith their goods, they would not be so mad as to flyfrom the camp, and, by so doing, risk their lives anddeclare war with their entertainers. they had thereforebeen permitted to wander unchecked, as yet, farbeyond the outskirts of the camp, and amuse themselvesin paddling about the lake in the small indian canoesand shooting wild-fowl.

dick now led the way through the labyrinths oftents in the direction of the lake, and they talked andlaughed loudly, and whistled to crusoe as they went,in order to prevent their purpose being suspected. forthe purpose of further disarming suspicion, they wentwithout their rifles. dick explained his plan by theway, and it was at once warmly approved of by hiscomrades.

on reaching the lake they launched a small canoe,into which crusoe was ordered to jump; then, embarking,they paddled swiftly to the opposite shore, singinga canoe song as they dipped their paddles in the moonlitwaters of the lake. arrived at the other side, theyhauled the canoe up and hurried through the thin beltof wood and willows that intervened between the lakeand the prairie. here they paused.

"is that the bluff, joe?""no, dick; that's too near. t'other one'll be best--faraway to the right. it's a little one, and there'sothers near it. the sharp eyes o' the redskins won'tbe so likely to be prowlin' there.""come on, then; but we'll have to take down by thelake first."in a few minutes the hunters were threading theirway through the outskirts of the wood at a rapid trot,in the opposite direction from the bluff, or wooded knoll,which they wished to reach. this they did lest pryingeyes should have followed them. in quarter of an hourthey turned at right angles to their track, and struckstraight out into the prairie, and after a long run theyedged round and came in upon the bluff from behind.

it was merely a collection of stunted but thick-growingwillows.

forcing their way into the centre of this they beganto examine it.

"it'll do," said joe.

"de very ting," remarked henri.

"come here, crusoe."crusoe bounded to his master's side, and looked upin his face.

"look at this place, pup; smell it well."crusoe instantly set off all round among the willows,in and out, snuffing everywhere, and whining with excitement.

"come here, good pup; that will do. now, lads,we'll go back." so saying, dick and his friends leftthe bluff, and retraced their steps to the camp. beforethey had gone far, however, joe halted, and said,--"d'ye know, dick, i doubt if the pup's so cliver asye think. what if he don't quite onderstand ye?"dick replied by taking off his cap and throwing itdown, at the same time exclaiming, "take it yonder,pup," and pointing with his hand towards the bluff.

the dog seized the cap, and went off with it at fullspeed towards the willows, where it left it, and camegalloping back for the expected reward--not now, as indays of old, a bit of meat, but a gentle stroke of itshead and a hearty clap on its shaggy side.

"good pup! go now an' fetch it."away he went with a bound, and in a few secondscame back and deposited the cap at his master's feet.

"will that do?" asked dick, triumphantly.

"ay, lad, it will. the pup's worth its weight ingoold.""oui, i have said, and i say it agen, de dog is human,so him is. if not, fat am he?"without pausing to reply to this perplexing question,dick stepped forward again, and in half-an-hour orso they were back in the camp.

"now for your part of the work, joe. yonder's thesquaw that owns the half-drowned baby. everythingdepends on her."dick pointed to the indian woman as he spoke. shewas sitting beside her tent, and playing at her kneewas the identical youngster who had been saved bycrusoe.

"i'll manage it," said joe, and walked towards her,while dick and henri returned to the chief's tent.

"does the pawnee woman thank the great spiritthat her child is saved?" began joe as he came up.

"she does," answered the woman, looking up at thehunter. "and her heart is warm to the pale-faces."after a short silence joe continued,--"the pawnee chiefs do not love the pale-faces.

some of them hate them.""the dark flower knows it," answered the woman;"she is sorry. she would help the pale-faces if shecould."this was uttered in a low tone, and with a meaningglance of the eye.

joe hesitated again--could he trust her? yes; thefeelings that filled her breast and prompted her wordswere not those of the indian just now--they were those of amother,whose gratitude was too full for utterance.

"will the dark flower," said joe, catching the nameshe had given herself, "help the pale-face if he openshis heart to her? will she risk the anger of hernation?""she will," replied the woman; "she will do whatshe can."joe and his dark friend now dropped their high-soundingstyle of speech, and spoke for some minutesrapidly in an undertone. it was finally arranged thaton a given day, at a certain hour, the woman shouldtake the four horses down the shores of the lake toits lower end, as if she were going for firewood, therecross the creek at the ford, and drive them to thewillow bluff, and guard them till the hunters shouldarrive.

having settled this, joe returned to the tent andinformed his comrades of his success.

during the next three days joe kept the indians ingood-humour by giving them one or two trinkets, andspeaking in glowing terms of the riches of the whitemen, and the readiness with which they would partwith them to the savages if they would only makepeace.

meanwhile, during the dark hours of each night,dick managed to abstract small quantities of goodsfrom their pack, in room of which he stuffed in piecesof leather to keep up the size and appearance. thegoods thus taken out he concealed about his person, andwent off with a careless swagger to the outskirts ofthe village, with crusoe at his heels. arrived there,he tied the goods in a small piece of deerskin, and gavethe bundle to the dog, with the injunction, "take ityonder, pup."crusoe took it up at once, darted off at full speedwith the bundle in his mouth, down the shore of thelake towards the ford of the river, and was soon lostto view. in this way, little by little, the goods wereconveyed by the faithful dog to the willow bluff andleft there, while the stuffed pack still remained in safekeeping in the chiefs tent.

joe did not at first like the idea of thus sneaking offfrom the camp, and more than once made strong effortsto induce san-it-sa-rish to let him go; but even thatchief's countenance was not so favourable as it had been.

it was clear that he could not make up his mind to letslip so good a chance of obtaining guns, powder andshot, horses, and goods, without any trouble; so joemade up his mind to give them the slip at once.

a dark night was chosen for the attempt, and theindian woman went off with the horses to the placewhere firewood for the camp was usually cut. unfortunately,the suspicion of that wily savage mahtawahad been awakened, and he stuck close to the huntersall day--not knowing what was going on, but feelingconvinced that something was brewing which he resolvedto watch, without mentioning his suspicions toany one.

"i think that villain's away at last," whispered joeto his comrades. "it's time to go, lads; the moonwon't be up for an hour. come along.""have ye got the big powder-horn, joe?""ay, ay, all right.""stop! stop! my knife, my couteau. ah, here i be!

now, boy."the three set off as usual, strolling carelessly to theoutskirts of the camp; then they quickened their pace,and, gaining the lake, pushed off in a small canoe.

at the same moment mahtawa stepped from thebushes, leaped into another canoe, and followed them.

"ha! he must die," muttered henri.

"not at all," said joe; "we'll manage him withoutthat."the chief landed and strode boldly up to them, forhe knew well that whatever their purpose might bethey would not venture to use their rifles within soundof the camp at that hour of the night. as for theirknives, he could trust to his own active limbs and thewoods to escape and give the alarm if need be.

"the pale-faces hunt very late," he said, with amalicious grin. "do they love the dark better thanthe sunshine?""not so," replied joe, coolly; "but we love towalk by the light of the moon. it will be up in lessthan an hour, and we mean to take a long ramble to-night.""the pawnee chief loves to walk by the moon, too;he will go with the pale-faces.""good!" ejaculated joe. "come along, then."the party immediately set forward, although thesavage was a little taken by surprise at the indifferentway in which joe received his proposal to accompanythem. he walked on to the edge of the prairie, however,and then stopped.

"the pale-faces must go alone," said he; "mahtawawill return to his tent."joe replied to this intimation by seizing him suddenlyby the throat and choking back the yell that wouldotherwise have brought the pawnee warriors rushing tothe scene of action in hundreds. mahtawa's hand wason the handle of his scalping-knife in a moment, butbefore he could draw it his arms were glued to his sidesby the bear-like embrace of henri, while dick tied ahandkerchief quickly yet firmly round his mouth. thewhole thing was accomplished in two minutes. aftertaking his knife and tomahawk away, they loosenedtheir gripe and escorted him swiftly over the prairie.

mahtawa was perfectly submissive after the firstconvulsive struggle was over. he knew that the menwho walked on each side of him grasping his arms weremore than his match singly, so he wisely made no resistance.

hurrying him to a clump of small trees on the plainwhich was so far distant from the village that a yellcould not be heard, they removed the bandage frommahtawa's mouth.

"must he be kill?" inquired henri, in a tone ofcommiseration.

"not at all," answered joe; "we'll tie him to a treeand leave him here.""then he vill be starve to deat'. oh, dat is morehorrobell!""he must take his chance o' that. i've no doubthis friends'll find him in a day or two, an' he's gameto last for a week or more. but you'll have to run tothe willow bluff, dick, and bring a bit of line to tie him.

we can't spare it well; but there's no help.""but there is help," retorted dick. "just order thevillain to climb into that tree.""why so, lad?""don't ask questions, but do what i bid ye."the hunter smiled for a moment as he turned to theindian, and ordered him to climb up a small tree nearto which he stood. mahtawa looked surprised, butthere was no alternative. joe's authoritative tonebrooked no delay, so he sprang into the tree like amonkey.

"crusoe," said dick, "watch him!"the dog sat quietly down at the foot of the tree, andfixed his eyes on the savage with a glare that spokeunutterable things. at the same time he displayed hisfull complement of teeth, and uttered a sound likedistant thunder.

joe almost laughed, and henri did laugh outright.

"come along; he's safe now," cried dick, hurryingaway in the direction of the willow bluff, which theysoon reached, and found that the faithful squaw hadtied their steeds to the bushes, and, moreover, hadbundled up their goods into a pack, and strapped it onthe back of the pack-horse; but she had not remainedwith them.

"bless yer dark face!" ejaculated joe, as he spranginto the saddle and rode out of the clump of bushes.

he was followed immediately by the others, and inthree minutes they were flying over the plain at fullspeed.

on gaining the last far-off ridge, that afforded adistant view of the woods skirting the pawnee camp,they drew up; and dick, putting his fingers to hismouth, drew a long, shrill whistle.

it reached the willow bluff like a faint echo. at thesame moment the moon arose and more clearly revealedcrusoe's cataleptic glare at the indian chief, who, beingutterly unarmed, was at the dog's mercy. the instantthe whistle fell on his ear, however, he dropped his eyes,covered his teeth, and, leaping through the bushes, flewover the plains like an arrow. at the same instantmahtawa, descending from his tree, ran as fast as hecould towards the village, uttering the terrible war-whoopwhen near enough to be heard. no sound sendssuch a thrill through an indian camp. every warriorflew to arms, and vaulted on his steed. so quicklywas the alarm given that in less than ten minutes athousand hoofs were thundering on the plain, andfaintly reached the ears of the fugitives.

joe smiled. "it'll puzzle them to come up wi' nagslike ours. they're in prime condition, too--lots o' windin' em. if we only keep out o' badger holes we maylaugh at the red varmints."joe's opinion of indian horses was correct. in a veryfew minutes the sound of hoofs died away; but thefugitives did not draw bridle during the remainder ofthat night, for they knew not how long the pursuitmight be continued. by pond, and brook, and bluffthey passed, down in the grassy bottoms and over theprairie waves--nor checked their headlong course tillthe sun blazed over the level sweep of the eastern plainas if it arose out of the mighty ocean.

then they sprang from the saddle, and hastily setabout the preparation of their morning meal.