ne, without uttering another word, he vaulted into his saddle,
and dashed away as if he were flying for his life. The old woman
listened until the clatter of his horse's hoofs ceased to beat upon her
deadened ear, and then bent her head, as at the first, in calm
resignation. Doubtless she fancied that another fellow-creature had
forsaken her, and that the end would soon come.

But Dick had not forsaken her. He bounded along over the rugged ground
on the mettlesome steed, striking fire from the flinty rocks, leaping
creeks and rivulets, bursting through bush and brake, mile after mile,
until he gained the open prairie, while the black coat of his charger
was speckled with foam. Here he drew rein, and trotted hither and
thither in search of the tracks of the Indians. He found them at last,
and dismounted to examine them, for, save to the eye of a trapper or a
redman, there were no visible tracks on that hard turf.

Remounting, he resumed his headlong course--sweeping over the springy
turf of the plains as if his horse were a winged Pegasus, whose energies
could not know exhaustion. All day he rode, and as evening drew on he
came in sight of the tribe of Indians.

They had encamped for the night, and were preparing their evening meal;
but when they saw the solitary horseman on the far-off horizon, the
braves and old men went to the verge of the camp to watch him. On he
came, bounding over the turf like the prong-horned antelope, turning
neither to the right hand nor to the left, but taking everything that
intercepted him in a flying leap, and bearing down on the camp as an
arrow flies from the bow.

Although a single horseman is not usually an object of terror to a band
of Indians, these braves soon began to evince by their looks that they
did not feel easy in regard to this one. As he drew near they
recognised him; for Dick had on a former occasion given this particular
tribe a taste of his prowess. Each man instantly rushed to his weapons
and horse; but the horses had been turned out to graze, and could not be
easily caught. Before they secured their weapons Dick was in the midst
of them. With an eagle glance he singled out the chief with the cut
over his right eye, and rode between him and his tent. The Indian,
seeing that he was cut off from his weapons, darted swiftly out upon the
plain, and made for a clump of stunted trees, hoping to find shelter
until his comrades could come to his rescue. But Dick