circumstances. I think we shall move to the westward, taking the
most direct route to the post, but are likely to be forced into a
long detour, which renders it impossible for me to give you any
direction by which we can meet each other.

I know that your impulse will be to try to join us before we reach
the fort, but it is my earnest wish that you shall not attempt it.
Turn about at once, while you have time, and retrace your steps. If
a day or two shall pass without our coming in, perhaps it may be
well to ask the colonel to send out a squad of cavalry to help us,
for it is idle to fancy we are not in great peril. It is my prayer
that Bruno shall intercept you in time to prevent any mishap. I
have instructed him precisely what he is expected to do, and he not
only fully understands, but, as you well know, will do it if it be
possible.

YOUR FATHER.

"You were right," said the youth gently, looking down once more on the
inanimate form. "Bruno did his duty, and he deserves a monument for
having done it so well."

All this time the pony stood some feet away, motionless, and apparently
a deeply interested witness of the singular scene.

He was too well trained to leave his master, who never resorted to the
precaution of securing him by his halter.

Meanwhile night was closing in. The gloom was overspreading the prairie
so that the ridge, which had been such a cause for solicitude to the
youth, was now dimly discernible. In a few minutes it would be swallowed
up in the coming darkness.

Resolutely forcing his sadness aside, Warren knelt down and pressed his
ear to the ground. If horsemen were approaching he could detect it
through the sense of hearing.

Then he climbed once more into the saddle and faced the ridge, debating
with himself what was the right course to pursue. His father had said in
unmistakable language that he wished him to return to Fort Meade.
Warren was a dutiful son, but he could not persuade himself that that
was the best thing to do. To follow his parent's wishes would require
him to look after his own safety, and to forget those whose lives were
dearer to him than his own. To return to the fort, and secure the aid
that he knew would be cheerfully given, would take a day or two, during
which the crisis must come and pass with his people. Two days at the
most would settle the question whether they were to escape or fall