nfused into
him. He placed his gun, axe, firebag, and powder-horn by themselves on
the ground; then he wrapped himself in his blanket and lay slowly down
beside them with his feet towards the fire. For a few minutes he lay on
his back, gazing earnestly upwards, while his lips moved slowly, but no
sound issued from them. Then he turned wearily on his side, and,
covering his head with the blanket and turning his face towards the
ground, he resigned himself to death.

But God had ordained that, at that time, the red man should not die.

About the time when he lay down, our hunters emerged upon the plain
which had caused the Indian to despair.

"It's of no use goin' farther," observed Robin, as he and his companions
stood at the edge of the forest and looked across the plain; "the wind
blows too hard, and the drift is keen; besides there ain't much to be
got hereaway, even in seasons of plenty."

"Father! is that smoke risin' over the bluff yonder?" asked Roy,
pointing with his finger as he spoke.

"No doubt of it, lad."

"Indians, may be," said Walter.

Robin shook his head. "Don't think so," said he, "for the redskins
don't often come to see me at this time o' the year. But we'll go see;
an' look to your primin', lads--if it's a war-party we'll ha' to fight,
mayhap, if we don't run."

The three hunters crossed the plain in the teeth of the howling drift,
and cautiously approached the bluff referred to by Roy, and from behind
which the smoke ascended.

"It's a camp fire," whispered Robin, as he glanced back at his
companions, "but I see no one there. They must have just left the
place."

There was a shade of anxiety in the hunter's voice as he spoke, for he
thought of Fort Enterprise, its defenceless condition, and the
possibility of the Indians having gone thither.

"They can't have gone to the Fort," said Walter, "else we should have
seen their tracks on the way hither."

"Come," said Robin, stepping forward quickly, "we can see their tracks
now, anyhow, and follow them up, and if they lead to the Fort."

The hunter did not finish his sentence, for at that moment he caught
sight of the recumbent form of Wapaw in the camp.

"Hist! A redskin alone, and asleep! Well, I never did 'xpect to see
that."

"Mayhap, he's a decoy-duck," suggested Walter. "Better look sharp out."

Robin and Roy heeded not the caution. They at once went forward, and
the father lifted the blanket from the Indian's head.