e I saw where a horse
had stood--a fresh horse track. Near it were two tracks made by a man, an
enemy. I could see where he had stood, with one foot advanced before the
other. When I saw these tracks I knew what had happened; an enemy had stood
there looking over at us, and when he saw me with my gun start toward the
top of the hill he had gone away. Standing where he had stood, I looked
back toward our horses; I could hardly see their backs, but a man taller
than I could have seen more of them, and the heads of the two men. I turned
to follow the tracks a little way, and as I walked, it did not seem to me
that my bones were stiff enough to support my body; I seemed to sway from
side to side, and felt as if I should fall down. I was frightened.

I saw where the man had led his horse a little way back from the hill, and
then had jumped on it and ridden off as hard as he could gallop. A little
further on was the place where another horse had stood; it, too, had turned
and gone off fast; its rider had not dismounted. One of the men had said to
the other: "You wait here, and I will go up and take a look. If these
people sleep here we will attack them when it is dark, and kill them and
take their horses."

I cannot tell you how much I wanted to run back to my friend and tell him
what I had seen; but I had courage enough to walk. I felt angry at myself
for being so frightened. I said to myself: "Come, you are a man; you belong
to brave people; your uncle and your father did not fear things that they
could not see. Be brave. Be strong." It was no use for me to say this; I
was so frightened I could hardly control myself. I felt as if I must run
away.

I walked until I was close to my friend. He was cooking meat, and was still
singing to himself. When I was pretty near to him I said, "Friend, put the
saddle on your horse, and I will saddle mine, and we will go away from
here." He turned and looked at me, and in a moment he had dropped the meat
that he was cooking, and was saddling up. He told me the next day that my
face had changed so that he hardly knew me; my face was like that of one
dead. I said to him, "Do you go ahead, and go fast, but do not gallop." He
started off without a word, and I followed him. It was now growing dark,
but you could still see a long way. As I rode I seemed to have three heads,
I looked in so many different directions. We traveled fast. My courage did
not come back to me. I was still miserable.