k with bodies to the horizon and beyond.

They killed as many of the buffalo as they wished and after the fashion
of the more northerly Indians reduced the meat to pemmican. Then, each
man bearing as much as he could conveniently carry, they began their
swift journey homeward, not knowing whether they would arrive in time
for the needs of the village.

Henry felt a deep concern for these new friends of his who were left
behind in the valley. He shared the anxiety of the others who feared
lest they would be too late and that fact reconciled him to the retreat
from the Great Plains, whose mysteries he longed to unravel.

As they went swiftly eastward the spring unfolded so fast that it seemed
to Henry to come with one great jump. They were now in the forests and
everywhere the trees were laden with fresh buds, in all the open spaces
the young grass was springing up, and the brooks, as if rejoicing in
their new freedom from the ice-bound winter, ran in sparkling little
streams between green banks.

The physical world was full of beauty to him, more so than ever because
his power of feeling it had grown. During the winter and by the
triumphant endurance of so many hardships his form had expanded and the
tide of sparkling blood had risen higher. Although a captive he was
regarded in a sense as the leader of the hunting party; it was obvious,
in the deference that the others, though much older, showed to him and
he knew that only his resource, courage and endurance had saved them all
from death. A song of triumph was singing in his veins.

They found the village at the edge of starvation despite the approach of
spring; two or three of the older people had died already of weakness,
and their supplies arrived just in time to relieve the crisis. There
were willing tongues to tell of his exploits, and Henry soon perceived
that he was a hero to them all and he enjoyed it, because it was natural
to him to be a leader, and he loved to breathe the air of approbation.
Yet as they valued him more they grew more jealous of him, and they
watched him incessantly, lest he should take it into his head to flee to
the people who were once his own. Henry saw the difficulty and again it
soothed his conscience by showing to him that he could not do what he
yet had a lingering feeling that he ought to do.

Good luck seemed to come in a shower to the village with the return of
the hunting party. Spring leaped suddenly into full bloom, and the