seat beside the chief and employed himself in smoking
and talking.

"Who _can_ he be? He knows me and I--ah! I remember!"

Sure enough, and why had he not thought of it before? He was one of the
five Indians who had left the other five and gone off with Otto
Relstaub, on the day that he and Jack Carleton were captured by the band
so near their own home. More than that, Jack had seen the others that
same morning in the village at the war feast, though the recollection of
them was so shadowy that it had not caused him the perplexity produced
by the appearance of the warrior before him.

With the truth came the startling question--Where was Otto? While his
captors were in the village, he certainly was elsewhere. What had become
of him?

The question fairly took away the breath of Jack and made him faint at
heart.

"He can't be at home, for Otto never could have made his escape from
them; _he must be dead!_"

The first declaration of the youth my reader knows was true, for the
visit of Deerfoot, several days later to Martinsville, as has been
described, proved it. As to the second theory, that will be investigated
in due time.

One of the most trying features of this occurrence was the certainty
Jack felt that the Indian visitor was trying to tell him something about
Otto. Those swinging arms, swaying head and apoplectic grunting carried
a message within themselves, which, if translated would be found of
great importance; but alas! the interpreter had not come.

While the lad sat on the bison robe, reflecting over the matter, he
became aware of the peculiar sensations that alarmed him some time
before. His head was dizzy, a curious lightness took possession of his
limbs, and he felt that if he should undertake to cross the lodge, he
would stagger and fall like a drunken man.

"I'm going to be ill," he said, pressing his hand to his forehead;
"something is wrong with me."

The shock which came with the conviction was deepened by the belief that
he was about to go through the experience that had befallen poor Otto
Relstaub.

"He fell sick while tramping through the woods with the Indians, and
they have either tomahawked or left him to die. These people with all
their Medicine Men and Women know nothing about curing sick folks, and
if I _do_ become ill that will be the end of me."

The boy was in anything but a cheerful frame of mind, but he faced the
position like a hero. He did not lose heart, though he was