de as you never rode before!" shouted Scott. "We will
circumvent those Indian devils yet, and bring Dan safe into camp. Come
along, Dan, old fellow; you're doing nobly."

Dan recognized the familiar voice. He entered into the spirit of the
race, and, relieved from the weight of his rider, dashed forward with
increased speed, till he led, and Scott and Tom were forced to follow.

The Indians were mad with rage. Their comrade had received a fatal
wound. They saw the round hole in his breast, from which the life-blood
was gushing, and they thirsted for vengeance.

Should two palefaces, one of them a boy, escape from them? That would be
a disgrace, indeed; the blood of their brother called for blood in
return.

Could they have inspired their horses with the same spirit which
animated themselves, they might, perhaps, have overtaken their intended
captives; but, happily for our two friends, the horses were less
interested than their riders.

The danger was well-nigh over. It was scarcely two miles to the camp.
There they would be so re-enforced that the Indians would not venture an
attack. That was the goal they had in view. Already they could see in
the distance the wagon-train, ready for a start. They were surely safe
now. But at this unlucky moment Tom's horse stumbled. The motion was so
rapid that he could not retain his seat. He was thrown over the horse's
head, and lay stunned and insensible upon the ground. His horse kept on
his way to the camp.

CHAPTER XXX.

TOM BECOMES AN INDIAN.

Scott did not immediately notice Tom's mishap. The boy had shown himself
so good a rider that such an accident had not occurred to him as likely
to happen. When he did look back there was already a considerable
distance between them. In fact, Tom lay midway between the Indians and
himself.

What was he to do?

If he returned there was no hope of rescuing Tom; and he would
infallibly fall into the hands of the Indian pursuers. In that case his
fate was sealed. He had killed an Indian warrior, and his life would pay
the forfeit. By going on he could head a rescuing party from the camp.
His heart ached for Tom. It was hard to leave him in the hands of the
savage foe; but Tom was a boy, and there was hope that he would be
spared; so he felt that it was better to continue his flight.

There was a shout of fierce joy when the Indians saw Tom's fall. They
would have preferred to capture Scott, for he it was who had killed
t