ture.

The great scout was much disturbed.

"It's foolishness for them to start off on the upper trail," he
declared. "I went over it but a few days ago, and at Brown's Crossing
the road is all torn up by a freshet. Besides that, we must keep
together."

"Yer right thar, Pawnee," answered Clemmer. "Delaney ought to know
better. But yer can't tell the Irish anything."

"Humpendinck went with him," put in Dunbar, who had brought the news.

"Both the Irishman and the German are smart enough in their way,"
answered Pawnee Brown. "But they've made a mistake. Cal and Dunbar, you
continue at the head, and I'll ride across country and head Delaney and
his crowd back through the Allen trail. I'll probably rejoin you just
this side of Honnewell."

With this command, Pawnee Brown left the wagon train and plunged off
through the darkness alone.

He had been over that district many times and thought he knew about
every foot of the ground.

But for once the great scout was mistaken, and that mistake was
destined to bring him into serious difficulty.

About half a mile had been covered, and he was just approaching a patch
of small timber, when he noticed that Bonnie Bird began to show signs of
shyness. She did not refuse to go forward, but evidently was proceeding
against her will.

Quick to notice a change in the beautiful mare's mood, Pawnee Brown
spoke to her. She pawed the ground and tossed her head.

"What is it, Bonnie? Danger ahead?"

Again the mare pawed the ground. Feeling certain something was wrong,
Pawnee Brown stood up in his stirrups and looked about him.

All was dark and silent upon every side. Overhead the faint stars shed
but an uncertain light.

"It's one too many for me, Bonnie," he mused. "Forward until the danger
becomes clearer."

Thus commanded, the mare moved forward once more, but this time much
slower. Once or twice her feet seemed to stick fast, but Pawnee Brown
did not notice this. At last she came to a dead halt and would not go
another step.

"The danger must be in the timber," thought the boomer. "Bonnie Bird
wouldn't balk for nothing. I'll dismount and reconnoitre."

Springing to the ground, he drew his pistol and moved forward silently.
Scarcely had he taken a dozen steps than he realized the cause of his
mare's unwillingness to proceed further.

He was in a bed of quicksand.

Anybody who knows what a bed of quicksand is knows how dangerous it
is--dangerous to both man and be