dread of the latter which led Jack to creep carefully out of
the stream, after he had been in hiding perhaps half an hour. Of course
his clothing was saturated, and he had become chilled from his long
submersion, so that his teeth rattled, and he trembled in every limb.
Extended flat on the ground, he crawled with the utmost care until a
couple of rods from the water. Then he stopped and listened. He was so
far from the stream that its noise did not prevent him detecting any
slight noise which might have been made by some other cause, but he
heard nothing at all.

There was still considerable undergrowth around him, so that he felt
screened from the observation of any other Indians wandering in the
vicinity.

"They thought they were very cunning," muttered Jack, with a chuckle,
"when they tumbled me into the water, but I played a trick on them worth
two of their kind. I only wish there was some way of letting them know
how completely I have outwitted them----"

A cold shiver passed down the spine of Jack Carleton, when he distinctly
heard a guttural, grunting laugh behind him. Turning like a flash, he
saw the five Indian warriors from whom, up to that moment, he had
believed he was free, standing within a rod, and all grinning to an
extent that seemed to take the corners of their mouths around to their
ears.

The truth broke upon Jack: the red men had never lost sight of him,
except for the moment he was under the water. They knew where he was
when he supposed himself invisible, and they had been amusing themselves
at his expense.

CHAPTER VII.

TWO VISITORS.

On the evening succeeding the departure of Jack Carleton and Otto
Relstaub from the little settlement of Martinsville, the widowed mother
of Jack was seated by her fireside engaged in knitting. The night was
cold, and the huge sticks of wood were roaring and crackling in the
broad fireplace, and throwing a cheerful glow and warmth through the
room. The tallow candle on the mantel had not been lit, for there was no
need of it, and, despite the loneliness and poverty of the sad-faced
woman, there was an air of neatness and comfort about her home which
would have tempted any one who could look through the narrow window into
the homely, old-fashioned apartment.

The deft fingers flew back and forth as regularly as the most delicate
machinery, until all at once the lady stopped and allowed her hands to
rest in her lap. At the same moment a sigh escap