s example being followed by the rest of
the party who were not required on duty. The most sharp-eyed Redskins
would have found it difficult to discover what the travellers were
about. Allan Keith was the only person who remained on foot. Having
visited the horses, and ascertained that the men in charge of them were
awake, he went on, intending to make the circuit of the camp, to assure
himself that the men were on the alert. Thinking it unnecessary to
crawl along the ground, from supposing that in the darkness he could not
be seen at any distance, he walked upright, and had just got close to
the outer circle where he expected to find one of the men on watch, when
an arrow whistled close to his head. The scout, who must have been
close in front of him, immediately began to crawl along, like a snake
through the grass, in the direction whence the arrow had come.

Allan was as courageous as most persons; but it would have been folly to
have exposed himself to the risk of another shot. He, therefore, wisely
crouched down in the spot which had been occupied by the man who had
gone forward in pursuit of the intruder. He listened with open ears,
but not a sound could he hear, nor could his eyes pierce the darkness
beyond a few yards from where he lay. He waited and waited, until he
began to fear that the scout must have been caught by the savages, and
killed before he had had time to cry out. That the other scouts were on
the watch, he had no doubt, and would take care that no Indians
approached without being discovered. He had remained in his recumbent
position for some time, when he at length heard a rustling in the grass,
and the scout rejoined him.

"The coquin has escaped us, monsieur," whispered the Canadian. "I wish
that I had shot him, but by firing I should have discovered our
position, and we should have had a score of arrows or bullets flying
about our ears."

After the warning he had received, Allan, imitating the example of the
scout, crawled along the ground to the different posts, and finding all
the men on the alert, returned in the same fashion to the camp.

Night went by, and no other alarm was raised. At early dawn Burnett,
having aroused the whole camp, gave them the information Isaac Sass had
brought.

There was no lack of volunteers, among whom was Allan Keith, eager to
accompany Loraine to Fort Duncan. He was somewhat less disappointed
than would otherwise have been the case at being ref