n, which
evidently was meant to furnish dinner for the rest. The majority were
smoking a species of red clay pipe, and the appearance of the party
suggested that they were resting after a laborious tramp through the
woods.

There were precisely ten, and they were Indians--every one. Jack could
not be certain of the tribe to which they belonged, but inasmuch as it
was apparent they were neither Shawanoes nor Hurons, he was confident
they were Osages, though it was not impossible that their totem was
another altogether.

Several peculiarities about the strange Indians interested the youth.
They were noticeably shorter in stature than the Hurons and Shawanoes
whom they had been accustomed to meet on the other side of the
Mississippi. The poetical American Indian is far different from the one
in real life. It is rarely that a really handsome warrior or squaw is
met. They are, generally a slouchy, frowsy, lazy, unclean people, of
whom nothing is truer than that distance lends enchantment to their
view.

Those upon whom Jack and Otto gazed with natural curiosity, were not
only shorter in stature, but of homelier countenance. Their eyes were
smaller, more piggish, and further apart, their cheek-bones more
prominent, the foreheads lower and more sloping, while Jack always
asserted that they had much larger mouths than the Indians with whom he
was familiar.

While asking themselves whether it was wise to go any closer and to make
their acquaintance, the lads stood side by side, each with the stock of
his gun resting on the earth, while their whole attention was absorbed
by the curious scene before them.

It would naturally follow that if the Indian party was in such plain
sight of the boys, they themselves must have been visible to the red men
had they chosen to cast their searching glances towards the spot where
the two were standing, even though the latter were partially hidden by
the undergrowth.

Had Jack and Otto been as vigilant and suspicious as they ought to have
been, their misgivings would have been awakened by what took place
within the next ten minutes. Two of the warriors, leaving their rifles
where they were leaning against a fallen tree, leisurely rose and
sauntered into the woods, taking a course directly opposite to that
which would have led them to where the boys stood. The latter observed
the movement, but thought nothing of it.

"What do you say?" finally asked Jack, in a guarded voice; "shall we go