ulled the revolvers from the holsters; a fourth
snatched the rifle from across the saddle; while a fifth, for a climax,
dealt Will a blow on the head with a tomahawk that nearly stunned him.

Then the band started for the Arkansas River, lashing the mule, singing,
yelling, and whooping. For one supposed to be stolid and taciturn, the
Indian makes a good deal of noise at times.

Across the river was a vast throng of warriors, who had finally decided
to go on the war-path. Will and his captors forded the shallow stream,
and the prisoner was conducted before the chiefs of the tribe, with some
of whom he was acquainted.

His head throbbed from the tomahawking, but his wits were still in
working order, and when asked by Satanta where he had been, he replied
that he had been out searching for "whoa-haws."

He knew that the Indians had been promised a herd of "whoa-haws," as
they termed cattle, and he knew, too, that the herd had not arrived, and
that the Indians had been out of meat for several weeks; hence he hoped
to enlist Satanta's sympathetic interest.

He succeeded. Satanta was vastly interested. Where were the cattle? Oh,
a few miles back. Will had been sent forward to notify the Indians that
an army of sirloin steaks was advancing upon them.

Satanta was much pleased, and the other chiefs were likewise interested.
Did General Hazen say the cattle were for them? Was there a chance that
the scout was mistaken?

Not a chance; and with becoming dignity Will demanded a reason for the
rough treatment he had received.

Oh, that was all a joke, Satanta explained. The Indians who had captured
the white chief were young and frisky. They wished to see whether he was
brave. They were simply testing him. It was sport--just a joke.

Will did not offer to argue the matter. No doubt an excellent test of a
man's courage is to hit him over the head with a tomahawk. If he lives
through it, he is brave as Agamemnon. But Will insisted mildly that it
was a rough way to treat friends; whereupon Satanta read the riot act to
his high-spirited young men, and bade them return the captured weapons
to the scout.

The next question was, were there soldiers with the cattle? Certainly,
replied Will; a large party of soldiers were escorting the succulent
sirloins. This intelligence necessitated another consultation. Evidently
hostilities must be postponed until after the cattle had arrived. Would
Will drive the cattle to them? He would be