s scattering afore the wind. They are hovering around a
wounded buffaloe, making an end of the surly devil with their arrows!"

Middleton and Paul soon caught a glimpse of the dark group, that the
quick eye of the old man had so readily detected. Some fifteen or twenty
horsemen were, in truth, to be seen riding, in quick circuits, about
a noble bull, which stood at bay, too grievously hurt to fly, and yet
seeming to disdain to fall, notwithstanding his hardy body had already
been the target for a hundred arrows. A thrust from the lance of a
powerful Indian, however, completed his conquest, and the brute gave up
his obstinate hold of life with a roar, that passed bellowing over
the place where our adventurers stood, and, reaching the ears of the
affrighted herd, added a new impulse to their flight.

"How well the Pawnee knew the philosophy of a buffaloe hunt!" said
the old man, after he had stood regarding the animated scene for a few
moments, with evident satisfaction. "You saw how he went off like the
wind before the drove. It was in order that he might not taint the air,
and that he might turn the flank, and join--Ha! how is this! yonder
Red-skins are no Pawnees! The feathers in their heads are from the wings
and tails of owls.--Ah! as I am but a miserable, half-sighted, trapper,
it is a band of the accursed Siouxes! To cover, lads, to cover. A single
cast of an eye this-a-way, would strip us of every rag of clothes, as
surely as the lightning scorches the bush, and it might be that our very
lives would be far from safe."

Middleton had already turned from the spectacle, to seek that which
pleased him better; the sight of his young and beautiful bride. Paul
seized the Doctor by the arm; and, as the trapper followed with the
smallest possible delay, the whole party was quickly collected within
the cover of the thicket. After a few short explanations concerning the
character of this new danger, the old man, on whom the whole duty
of directing their movements was devolved, in deference to his great
experience, continued his discourse as follows--

"This is a region, as you must all know, where a strong arm is far
better than the right, and where the white law is as little known as
needed. Therefore does every thing, now, depend on judgment and
power. If," he continued, laying his finger on his cheek, like one who
considered deeply all sides of the embarrassing situation in which he
found himself,--"if an invention cou