ndian. But
for that he would not have been allowed to go, for there was but one
rifle in the family, which the settler would trust in no hands but his
own for any length of time.

The Winnebago was shrewd enough to disarm any doubt that might have been
felt about himself. It was the rule in the settlement to show kindness
to every wandering Indian that visited them, and no one dreamed that any
thing was to be feared from the Wolf. But his heart was full of exulting
malignancy. He knew who had the gun, and aware that the two boys had
started for the camp of the Ozarks, he understood where to look for it.
The fact that the Winnebago had no gun with him would have caused the
belief that he was the vagabond Indian, had he not explained that he
left it in the woods as a token of comity.

The Wolf sauntered back until he was across the stream and out of sight.
Then he sped along the trail, with a long, loping trot, which his race
can maintain for hours without fatigue. He had a long distance to
travel, but he reached the scene of the encounter with the strange
animal, just as it was growing dark.

At this point, he showed admirable woodcraft. The signs on the ground
puzzled him for a time, but there was the carcass of the animal, and by
and by he found the imprints of the small moccasins, which told him that
the young Shawanoe had rejoined the others at this point.

As you can well believe, this was any thing but a pleasant discovery,
for, superior as was the strength of the Winnebago, he would have
preferred to meet the two boys, even though both were armed, than to
find himself face to face again with the remarkable Indian youth.

But there was no help for it, and the dusky Winnebago compressed his
coppery lips with the resolve that the gun should be in his hands before
the rising of the morrow's sun.

The light was rapidly fading among the trees and he improved what was
left of it. Prowling around the spot in a circle, with his nose close to
the ground, he discovered that the three youths had started along the
bank of the brook toward its head.

Thereupon the Winnebago formed the correct conclusion; they had moved
from the main trail (doubtless on the suggestion of the young Shawanoe),
in search of some place to encamp where there would be less danger of
detection.

By the time the Wolf had satisfied himself on this point, it had become
too dark among the trees for his eyes to detect the trail, which at
mid-day w