other grabbed the boy's rifle, as though to take it from him.

Ree smiled, but he held firmly to his gun, and snatched his hat from the
young brave who had seized it. One of the Indians now ordered that Ree be
let alone. But this was not the one the boy had taken to be the chief,
and Kingdom quickly perceived that he had made a rather serious mistake.
But he nodded his thanks to the Redskin and explained, using signs when
words would not do, that he was a trader and that his friends and store
of goods were not far away.

It caused Ree some alarm, however, when at a signal from the chief the
Indians gathered about in such a way as to hem him completely in. And
this alarm was decidedly increased as he noticed at the chief's belt, a
white man's scalp. There could be no mistaking it.

The savages made no move to molest the boy further than to prevent his
leaving them, but gave him to understand that they believed him to be a
spy. Seeing this the boy offered to conduct them to his friends and
merchandise. To this they agreed after some parleying and placing Ree
between two big, swarthy fellows, they set off in single file,
suspicious, it may be, that he would lead them into an ambush.

Ree gave little thought to this. He knew that if John and Tom had made
good progress that he could reach them by nightfall and the suspicions of
the Indians would be allayed.

It was wonderful how easily the savages followed Ree's back trail, and
they traveled at good speed. But hours passed and no sign of the wagon of
which the lad had told them was found. The doubt of the Indians increased
and they became ugly and impatient.

In vain Ree tried to explain that his friends must have been delayed, but
he himself could not understand why no gleam of light, no smoke of their
camp-fire, even, was visible as the day wore away, and soon he found that
he was indeed a prisoner; for as the savages presently prepared to go
into camp, their first act was to bind the white boy's hands behind him
and tie his feet with strong ropes of bark.

A full sense of his danger came to Ree's thoughts, but he put on a bold
front and emphatically objected to being tied, saying he had no thought
of running away and that early the next day his statement that he was a
trader would be found true.

The Indians gave no heed to his indignant words. They built a small fire
by flashing sparks with flint and steel, and ate their supper consisting
only of pounded parched