le poker broke into a blaze, when he
withdrew it and whipped it on the ground till the flame was put out. His
rifle leaned against an adjoining tree within easy distance, and the
short clay pipe in his mouth, from which he sent out an occasional puff,
added to his apparently peaceful frame of mind.

The striking point about the hunter was his magnificent physical
manhood. He was more than six feet high, with immense shoulders and
chest, an enormous beard of a coal black color, which grew almost to his
keen black eyes, and descended over his chest in a silken, wavy mass. He
was attired in the ordinary hunting costume of the border, and looked as
if he might be one of those men who had spent their lives in the
Louisiana wilderness, hunting and trapping animals for their peltries,
which were sold at some of the advanced posts of civilization.

Deerfoot suspected the man was the owner of a horse which must be in the
vicinity, for it was hardly likely that he would wander aimlessly around
in the mountains and woods for the mere sake of doing so, but no animal
could be seen, and without speculating long over the matter, the young
Shawanoe walked forward to the camp.

While doing so, the stranger was giving his full attention to the fire
and his culinary duties. The wood had burned until there were enough
coals, when he arose and raked them apart, so as to afford a surface of
glowing embers. Then he turned back and took up a huge slice of meat,
which had been skewered on the prongs of a long stick. Balancing this
very cleverly, he held the meat down until it was almost against the
crimson coals. He could have done the same with the blaze, but he
preferred this method.

Almost instantly the meat began to crisp and scorch and shrink, and to
give off an odor which would have tortured a hungry man. The cook
quickly exposed the other side to the heat, reversing several times,
when the venison was cooked in as appetizing a form as could be wished.

The man gave such close attention to his task that he never turned his
head to observe the figure of an Indian warrior standing only a rod or
two away. Having finished his work, he carefully spread the meat on some
green oak leaves, arranged on the log. Its size was such that it
suggested a door mat burned somewhat out of shape.

"There," said the hunter, with a contented expression, seating himself
as if to guard the prize against disturbance; "the boys can't growl over
that--hello