ng warrior aflame with passion was close behind him.

The wise Deerfoot was quick to grasp the situation, and he set out
hot-footed after the aforesaid flaming young warrior, and followed him
with such celerity that he came in sight of him long before the Sauk
arrived at the camp-fire. Little did the furious young Sauk dream, while
panting with anticipated revenge, and aglow with exultation, that one of
his own race was close upon his heels, ready to launch his deadly arrow
at any moment, and only waiting to decide in what manner the Sauk should
be "eliminated" from the whole business.

Seated around the camp fire late that night, the two friends talked over
the past. Jack gave full particulars of what befell him since his
capture by the Indians, up to the hour when Deerfoot joined him. The
young Shawanoe listened with great interest to the story, for it will be
admitted that in many respects it was an extraordinary narrative. He
told Jack that the people with whom he had passed more than a week were
Sauks, under the leadership of the chieftain whose lodge had sheltered
the prisoner during his captivity. The Sauks were a brave, warlike
people, and this offshoot, which had located in that portion of Upper
Louisiana, was among the most daring and vindictive of the tribe. Their
leniency toward Jack was remarkable, and could only be accounted for on
the supposition that Ogallah took a fancy to the youth and meant to
adopt him into his family. It was not at all unlikely that Jack's
suspicion that they were "training" him to figure in a scene of torture
was correct. His escape, therefore, could not have been more opportune.

Let not the reader accuse the two of indifference, because so little has
been recorded in their conversation, concerning Otto Relstaub, the
companion of both in more than one scene of peril, and held by them in
strongest friendship. They had talked more of him than of any one else,
though Jack's heart was oppressed by a great sorrow when he thought of
his mother and her grief over his continued absence. Jack had asked
Deerfoot over and over again as to his belief concerning their absent
friend, but the Shawanoe, for a long time, evaded a direct answer.

"I can tell you what _I_ think," said Jack with a compression of his
lips and a shake of his head: "Otto is dead."

"How did my brother meet his death?" calmly asked Deerfoot.

"Those five warriors started by another route to the village and they
mean