putting down his nose
with a significant sniff, as Ernest Wilton again drew his hand across
Seth's track, he gave a loud yelp expressive of his intelligent
comprehension of the duty that lay before him; bounding on in advance
through the thick shrubbery, and going at such a pace that Mr Rawlings
and Jasper had hard work to do to keep up with Ernest, who followed
close behind the dog at a run almost.

"Steady, boy, steady!" said Ernest Wilton in a low tone, every now and
then, as Wolf would turn back his head to see whether his master was
near him or no, and then the sagacious animal would give an eager bark
in answer, as if to say--

"I'm going on all right, old man. Don't be alarmed, I'm making no
mistake about the scent."

Presently the trail diverged from underneath the timber and brushwood by
the river-bank, and struck off at an angle into the open prairie, as if
Seth had got tired of fighting his way amongst the overhanging branches
and projecting trunks of the pine-trees.

From this point the footprints gradually led up to a little plateau
above the valley through which the streamlet ran; and, arrived at the
top of this, Wolf gave vent to a louder and more triumphant bark than
previously, and halted in his tracks, as if waiting for Ernest to join
him before proceeding any further.

The young engineer was by the dog's side in a moment, and one rapid
glance round enabled him to see that the prairie extended beyond the
plateau in a vast plain as far as the eye could reach, being bounded on
the extreme verge of the horizon by a low range of hills or wooded
heights, most probably marking, he thought, the southward course of the
great Missouri river, although, as he reflected the moment after, they
were much too far to the westward for that.

His attention, however, was not much given to the scenery and the
picture which the spreading vast plain presented. A figure in the
foreground, some little distance from the higher level on which he was
standing, was gesticulating frantically towards him, and Seth's voice
assured him of his identity, if he had any lingering doubt on the
subject, by shouting out as soon as he had come into sight across the
sky line--

"Hyar, ahoy, man! Hurry up thaar an' help a feller, can't you?"

"Here he is!" shouted out Ernest back to Mr Rawlings and Jasper, who
were a few yards behind him, and, without waiting for them to come up,
he hastened down the slightly shelving ground towar