it was only a chief who was likely to have
committed such an act, probably the younger brother of the head chief;
who, Charley said, had frequently talked to him of the beauty of the
pale faced women, and of his intention of obtaining one of them for his
wife. This had always greatly angered his elder brother, who had
declared, should he bring a pale-face to their lodges, that he should be
turned out of the tribe, and that she should be put to death. Charley
was certain, therefore, that Black Eagle--so the chief was called--would
not return to his people; and that, should we be able to discover his
trail, we should find him protected with only a small band, with whom it
would not be difficult to deal.

The first thing was to discover the trail, and Folkard, Long Sam, and
Pierre set out for the purpose. We, in the meantime, were engaged in
organising the pursuing party, if so I may call it. Dick, though
wounded, made light of the matter, and insisted on going. Folkard had
offered to take all his people. Besides Story and I, we had Pierre, and
Long Sam, the Canadian, and two other men; making altogether a
well-armed party of twelve, mostly experienced hunters and backwoodsmen,
accustomed all their lives to encounters with the red men.

Long Sam, who in his wanderings in South America had learned the use of
the lasso, never went on an expedition without carrying a long coil of
rope at his saddle bow; which he used, not only for catching horses, but
for stopping the career of a wounded buffalo or deer; and he had, he
asserted, made captives at different times of several Indians by whom he
had been attacked, when they, approaching within the radius of his long
line, were surprised to find themselves jerked to the ground and dragged
along at a rate which rendered all resistance useless.

It was late in the evening when the three trappers returned. They had
discovered a trail made by a small party, though they had been unable to
decide whether it was that which had carried off the lady, until Long
Sam, observing an object glittering on the ground, had, on picking it
up, found it to be a golden locket, such as was not likely to have
belonged to an Indian. On showing it to Mr Praeger and his family,
they at once recognised it as having been worn by Miss Hargrave, thus
leaving us in no doubt on the subject.

It was too late that night to follow up the trail, though every moment
was precious. We had to wait therefore,