whole thing, indeed, was so well managed, that within ten minutes of
Ernest Wilton's arrival in camp, the rescuing party had started for the
spot where Mr Rawlings and Seth and the terror-stricken Jasper were
awaiting their approach: a band of strong, well-armed, resolute men,
consisting, besides the young engineer himself and Noah Webster, of
Moose the half-breed, Black Harry--one of the former crew of the _Susan
Jane_, a muscular giant who would have been a match for three Indians in
himself--and five of the miners, old "Californian stagers," used to
frontier life and rough and tumble fighting--in addition to Josh, of
course, who drove the mule waggon.

As soon as the scene of the fray was reached, Seth was lifted carefully
into the waggon and sent back to Minturne Creek, under the care of
Jasper--who took the place of Josh as teamster, that darkey displaying
considerably more pluck than the former, and evincing as much eagerness
to encounter the Indians as Jasper did to avoid them--while the rescuing
party followed on the trail of Sailor Bill's abductors.

STORY ONE, CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

RISING CLOUD.

"Silenza!" said the half-breed warningly, hearing Black Harry talking
rather loudly and threatening what he would do in case a hair of the
poor boy was injured,--"Silenza! Senors must go soft, or Sioux hear
mens speak!"

This happened just as they started, and from that moment not a word was
further spoken amongst the party, the men preserving a solemn silence
and marching one after the other in single file, Moose and Noah Webster
leading the way, and tracking the course of the Indians like
sleuth-hounds, seeing traces of the passage of those of whom they were
in pursuit in places where, as in the rocky bottom of a dry ravine they
presently came across, no footprints were perceptible like as they were
when the trail led through the prairie-grass, in a manner most
unaccountable both to Mr Rawlings and the young engineer.

On and on, mile after mile, went the gallant little band, at one time
treading downward towards some bottom or valley, at another their route
lying upwards along some ascending plateau, until the afternoon grew
dusky and night approached, when they had travelled over a considerable
distance of ground from their starting-point.

The prairie still stretched before them, the fringe of trees on the
horizon which Ernest Wilton had perceived some hours before still far
off, but much nearer than th