to
find the camp in the possession of a band of some eighty stalwart and
ferocious-looking Indians, with every one of their followers, save four,
like themselves, bound hand and foot. The four exceptions were the
unfortunate sentinels, the corpses of whom, transfixed by spears, could
be seen lying close to the smouldering watch-fires.

The captors wasted no time in any attempt to rummage the contents of the
camp; on the contrary, they took each prisoner, and while half-a-dozen
hemmed him in and threatened him with instant death upon the points of
their spears, a seventh cast loose the thongs that bound him. Then,
still threatening him, they indicated certain portions of the camp
equipment and signed to him to pick it up and carry it, thus
distributing the entire contents among the eleven survivors, Dick and
Earle being each assigned a load like the other captives. The only
exception made was in the matter of the firearms, which the captors
seemed to recognise as weapons of some sort, and distributed among
themselves; though from the carelessness with which they were handled,
it seemed doubtful whether the method of using them was understood.
This done, the leader of the marauders gave the word to march, and the
entire party of captors and captives set off up the pass, each prisoner
still surrounded by half a dozen Indians with spears held ever ready to
strike upon the least provocation; thus it was impossible for any of
them to hold converse with the others, the whites, in particular, being
kept as far apart as possible, Dick being stationed with the head of the
column, while Earle was compelled to march with the rearguard.

Luckily, as it at first seemed, for the captives, their march was not a
long one; for upon surmounting the crest of the pass they found
themselves only a short two miles from a native village, the inhabitants
of which no sooner perceived the approach of the party than they turned
out and greeted it with songs and dances of rejoicing, the fervour of
which became almost frantic when, a little later, the presence of the
two white men became known. The language of the strangers was utterly
incomprehensible to Dick and Earle, and so jealously was every movement
of the two watched that they found it impossible to communicate with
Inaguy; but after observing their captors for some time, while they
seemed to be explaining matters to the villagers, Earle gradually got
the impression that the strangers h