to north and south than he could
see either way. Doubtless the four had crossed there before the heavy
rains made the flood, and as he was unwilling to take the long circuit
to north or south he decided to make the passage on the ice which was
thick and strong.

He had been so free from danger for some time that he took little
thought of it now, but when it was absent from his mind it came. When he
was well out upon the ice he heard the crack of a rifle behind him and a
bullet whizzed by his ear. He ran forward at great speed before he
looked back, and then he saw a dozen warriors standing at the edge of
the ice, but making no motion to pursue. As he was now out of range, he
stopped and examined them, wondering why they did not follow him. The
solution came quickly.

The band suddenly united in a tremendous war whoop and from the woods on
the other side of the ice came an answering whoop. He was trapped
between them, and they could afford to be deliberate. His heart sank,
but as usual his courage came back in an instant, stronger than ever.
Alert, resourceful, the best marksman in all the West, he did not mean
to be taken or slain, and he looked about for the means of defense. As
it was not a lake, upon the frozen surface of which he stood, merely a
great shallow flooded area, there were clumps of bushes and little
islands of earth here and there, and he ran to one not twenty feet away,
a tiny place, well covered with big bushes. The Indians, seeing him take
refuge, set up a yell from both shores, and Henry, settling down in his
covert, waited for them to make the first move.

He knew that the warriors would be deliberate. Considering their victim
secure in the trap, they would reckon time of no value, and would take
no unnecessary risk. He believed they were hunting bands, not those that
had trailed him directly, and that his encounter with them was chance, a
piece of bad fortune, nothing more than he should expect after such a
long run of good fortune.

Warriors of the different bands sent far signals to one another across
the ice, and then slowly and with care each party built a large fire,
around which the men sat basking in the heat, and now and then, with a
cry or two, taunting the fugitive whom they considered so tight in the
trap. The red gleam of the flames upon the ice, contrasting with his own
situation, struck a chill into Henry. The wind had a clear sweep over
the frozen lagoon, and the rustling of the