l I see good reason--"

"Well, well, boy--please yourself!" muttered the trader angrily, as he
broke away at full speed, followed by his men.

Our trappers instantly turned their horses' heads towards the mountains,
and made for the Wild-Cat Pass.

Macgregor's estimate of the cunning of the Indians was but too correct.
The instant the fur-traders disappeared behind the ridge, as if on their
return homewards, several of their fastest riders were dispatched to the
nearest hill, to watch the movements of the enemy. They ascended one
which commanded a wide view of the surrounding country, and thence
beheld the fur-traders proceeding swiftly back in the direction of the
fort. Unfortunately, they also perceived the bottle-brush of Bertram's
steed, as it disappeared behind the crag which already concealed the
rest of his comrades from view. One instant later, and the Indians
would have failed to make this discovery, for a deep impassable gorge
lay between them and the ravine which conducted to the pass. It was but
the barest possible glimpse they got of that shabby tail; but it told a
tale which they perfectly understood, for they flew back in the utmost
haste to warn their comrades, who, knowing the smallness of the party
thus sent against them, from the largeness of the party that had shammed
returning to the fort, resolved upon executing a counter movement.

They had a shrewd suspicion, from the nature of the country, that the
intention of the whites was to get through a pass of some sort and
intercept them, and, concluding that this pass must lie at the head of
the valley up which the bottle-brush had vanished, they resolved to
proceed to the same spot through the gorge that separated the hill from
the crag or rocky ridge before referred to.

Promptitude they knew to be everything, so they swept up the gorge like
a whirlwind. Thus both parties drew nearer to the chaotic opening
styled the Wild-Cat Pass--the trappers, all ignorant of what awaited
them there; the savages bent on giving their enemies an unpleasant
surprise.

But, unknown to either, there was a pair of eyes high on a rock above
the Wild-Cat Pass, that overlooked the two valleys or ravines, and gazed
with considerable interest and curiosity on the two advancing parties.
Those eyes belonged to a solitary horseman, who stood on the edge of the
wild precipice that overhung the pass. The hunter, for such his
leathern dress bespoke him, stood beside his