CHAPTER X

THE BEAR GUIDE

The fire was just beyond the thicket of reeds, and Henry addressed
himself to the task of penetrating them without noise, a difficult thing
to do, but which he accomplished in about five minutes, stopping just
short of the outer edge, where he was still hidden well.

He was then able to see a small opening in which about a dozen warriors
lay around a low fire, with two who were sentinels sitting up but
nodding. He saw by their paint that they were Miamis, and thus he was
confirmed in his belief that Yellow Panther had come with a large force
from his tribe.

He knew that the sentinels had been set largely as a matter of form,
since the Indians in the bowl itself would not anticipate any attack
from a lone fugitive. The true watch would be kept on the outermost rim.
So reasoning he waited, hoping that the two sentinels who were nodding
so suggestively would fall asleep. Even as he looked their nods began to
increase in violence. Their heads would fall over on their shoulders,
hang there for a few moments and then their owners would bring them
back with a jerk.

Indians, like white people, have to sleep, and Henry knew that the two
warriors must have been up long, else they would not have to fight so
hard to keep awake. That they would yield before long he did not now
doubt, and he began to watch with an amused interest to see which would
give in first. One was an old warrior, the other a youth of about
twenty. Henry believed the lad would lead the way, and he was justified
in his opinion, as the younger warrior, after bringing his head back
into position two or three times with violent jerks, finally let it
hang, while his chest rose with the long and deep breathing of one who
slumbers. The older man looked at him with heavy-laden eyes and then
followed him to the pleasant land of oblivion.

Henry now examined the camp with questioning eyes. In such a land of
plentiful game they would be sure to have abundant supplies, and he saw
there a haunch of deer well cooked, buffalo meat, two or three wild
turkeys and wild ducks. His eyes rested longest on the haunch of the
deer, and, making up his mind that it should be his, he began to creep
again through the undergrowth to the sheltered point that lay nearest
it, a task in which he exercised to the utmost his supreme gifts as a
stalker, since these were the most critical moments of all.

The haunch lay not more than eight feet from the