m the camp. Besides, we can't tell which are the
best horses. Our own are the best in my 'pinion, but how are we to
git' em?"

"I know who has charge o' them," said Dick. "I saw them grazing near
the tent o' that poor squaw whose baby was saved by Crusoe. Either her
husband looks after them or some neighbours."

"That's well," said Joe. "That's one o' my difficulties gone."

"What are the others?"

"Well, d'ye see, they're troublesome. We can't git the horses out o'
camp without bein' seen, for the red rascals would see what we were at
in a jiffy. Then, if we do git 'em out, we can't go off without our
bales, an' we needn't think to take 'em from under the nose o' the
chief and his squaws without bein' axed questions. To go off without
them would niver do at all."

"Joe," said Dick earnestly, "I've hit on a plan."

"Have ye, Dick--what is't?"

"Come and I'll let ye see," answered Dick, rising hastily and quitting
the tent, followed by his comrades and his faithful dog.

It may be as well to remark here, that no restraint whatever had yet
been put on the movements of our hunters as long as they kept to their
legs, for it was well known that any attempt by men on foot to escape
from mounted Indians on the plains would be hopeless. Moreover, the
savages thought that as long as there was a prospect of their being
allowed to depart peaceably with their goods, they would not be so
mad as to fly from the camp, and, by so doing, risk their lives and
declare war with their entertainers. They had therefore been permitted
to wander unchecked, as yet, far beyond the outskirts of the camp, and
amuse themselves in paddling about the lake in the small Indian canoes
and shooting wild-fowl.

Dick now led the way through the labyrinths of tents in the direction
of the lake, and they talked and laughed loudly, and whistled
to Crusoe as they went, in order to prevent their purpose being
suspected. For the purpose of further disarming suspicion, they went
without their rifles. Dick explained his plan by the way, and it was
at once warmly approved of by his comrades.

On reaching the lake they launched a small canoe, into which Crusoe
was ordered to jump; then, embarking, they paddled swiftly to the
opposite shore, singing a canoe song as they dipped their paddles in
the moonlit waters of the lake. Arrived at the other side, they hauled
the canoe up and hurried through the thin belt of wood and willows
that intervened between th