thirst when Ralph had trailed him and
brought him low.

"Oh, Dan! The deer's gone!"

The cry came straight from Ralph's heart, as with staring eyes he ran
in under the pecan-trees and gazed at the spot where the game had
rested less than an hour before.

"Gone?" repeated the brother. "Then you didn't kill him?"

"Yes, I did,--I am sure of it, for I turned him over after he was shot.
Could some wild animal have carried him off?"

"More than likely, although it would take a pretty fair sized animal to
tote a deer, especially if he was as big as you say. Let us see if we
can find any tracks."

They began to search around the bank of the stream, and soon discovered
a number of footprints.

"Indian moccasins!" exclaimed Dan. "Ralph, you were right about that
Indian. He was watching you, and after you left the deer he came in and
took possession."

"But he hadn't any right to do that," burst out the smaller boy,
angrily. It cut him to the heart to have his first big game taken from
him. "It's downright robbery."

"It certainly wasn't fair, but about its being robbery, that's
questionable. You shouldn't have left your game without leaving
something on top of it, a knife or anything, just to show that you were
coming back for it."

"But this is father's land."

"It isn't fenced yet, and the Indians don't recognise such ownership,
anyway."

"But they must have known I was coming back. No one would throw away
such choice venison as that was." Ralph heaved a sigh. "I wish I was a
man,--I'd go after that redskin in short order, and make him either
give up the game or bring him down with my gun."

"If you shot him you'd bring on a regular war, more than likely. But if
you wish, we can follow this track for a stretch, and look for father
at the same time."

Ralph was more than willing to do this--anything to learn what had
really become of his game, and so they continued up the river bank for
the best part of half a mile. Here they came to a creek, leading
directly west, and saw that the footprints followed this new
water-course. Along the creek the way was rocky and uneven, and it was
plain to see where the deer had been dragged along.

Ralph was going on, with his eyes bent to the trail, when suddenly his
brother caught him by the arm, bringing him to a halt. In silence Dan
pointed to the opposite side of the creek, at a distance a hundred feet
farther up the water-course.

"It's Hank Stiger, the half-breed!"