ory that no such precaution was needed, since
no possible danger could threaten them.

Suspecting the truth, Tim dropped hastily from his pony and stole along
the edge of the stream, until he reached a point which gave him a sight
of the miscreants, and at the same time afforded him tolerably fair
protection.

The scene was calculated to inspire anything but pleasant feelings in a
spectator. Fully a score of young warriors were squatted in a circle,
listening to the harangue of one of their number, who had wrought
himself into a furious passion. He was swinging his arms, shouting and
leaping about like a lunatic, and rising to a pitch which not only
threatened to throw him into a paroxysm, but was imparting itself to his
listeners. Some of them were smoking, but showing at the same time an
excitement which is generally believed to be foreign to the American
race. They were all bucks, and eager to be led upon the warpath. There
was not an old or middle-aged man among them.

The eavesdropper was not able to understand their words, but the
gestures left no doubt of their fearful meaning. The speaker pointed in
the direction of the home of the Starrs so often, and indulged in so
much action to which the others signified full assent, that it was
beyond dispute that they meant to attack the house and slay the inmates.
Knowing all about these, and the resistance they were likely to meet,
they would wait until night before bursting upon them.

Tim Brophy was sagacious enough to grasp almost on the instant the full
nature of the awful peril. He saw that accident, or rather Providence,
had given to him the secret which revealed that only by prompt action
could the lives of his friends be saved. There was no saying how long
the council, if such it may be called, would last, and he did not care
to know.

Nothing could show the intense absorption of the fierce Sioux in the
outrage they had determined to commit more than the fact that a white
man rose up in full view only a few hundred yards away, without his
presence being detected. Such being the case, it was easy for Tim to
withdraw from the immediate vicinity of the gathering, steal round to
where his pony was cropping the grass, and mount again.

He rode carefully forward, keeping the elevation between him and the
camp of the hostiles, until convinced it was safe, when he struck his
horse into a run and sped away as if for life.

A few minutes sufficed to take him to the