scratched his head helplessly.

"Then I must 'a' been asleep, or in a hell of a hurry when I come to this
slope," he muttered. "And it ain't just the right kind of a slope to go
galloping over. I don't understand it a bit. They was riding into the
settlement when I come out. I called to Dale and asked if he'd seen any
Injun signs. He told me he hadn't seen any. Then that feller Ward come
trotting out the woods, looking like a' Injun, and I was bringing up my
rifle to give him his needings when Dale let out a yelp and said he was a
white man. Wal, it'll tickle the gal to learn how near her moccasin come
to killing you."

"The Indian knew it was there and knew we were coming, and used it for
bait," I mused.

"A five-year-old child would know that," was the scornful rejoinder. "But
what no five-year-old on Howard's Creek would 'a' done was to go for to
git it after I'd called a halt. You must 'a' been foolish in your mind.
The Injun took a spot where he could line his gun on the moccasin. The
growth cut off any sight of the trace 'cept where the moccasin lay. All he
had to do was to line it and shoot when you stooped over it. The second he
couldn't see the moccasin he'd know some one's body was between it and
him. He heard me bawl out, but he didn't git sight of you till you was
over it, and by that time my old hoss give you a belt and made you keep on
moving."

"He undershot, yet as I was bending close to it he would have bagged me,"
I said. "I have to thank you for saving my life."

"Part of a day's work," he carelessly observed. "Wal, seeing as the skunk
has skedaddled, we might as well push on rather smart and tell the fellers
there's a loose red round these parts."

When we entered the settlement we saw men and women gathered in front of
the Davis cabin, frankly curious to see the newcomers and eager to volley
them with questions. I joined the group and through a window beheld Patsy
in animated conversation with what women could crowd inside. Mrs. Davis
was very proud of her cousin's daughter and was preening herself
considerably.

Patsy's cheeks were flushed and her tongue was racing as only a woman's
can. As she talked I could see she was trying to get used to the table of
split slabs and its four round legs set in auger-holes, the pewter
tableware and the spoons and bowls fashioned from wood, and the gourds and
hard-shell squash hollowed out for noggings.

With a slant of half-veiled eyes she also was stud