tolen three fine saddle ponies, and a powerful white
mule, from the corral of a stage station some twenty miles up the trail.
Now, therefore, as they swung their captive on the back of the mule, and
secured him by passing a thong of raw-hide about his ankles and beneath
the animal's belly, their hearts were filled with rejoicing over their
success.

Chapter XVI.

IN THE HANDS OF THE CHEYENNES.

Especially happy was the youngest of the three Indians, who was a boy of
about Glen's age. This was the first scout he had ever been allowed to
go on; and, as he reflected upon the glory of their return to the
village, with that prisoner, those stolen ponies, and all the valuable
information they had acquired, he wondered if there was any happier or
prouder boy living than he. He even had a kindly feeling towards the
white boy, who, by allowing himself to be captured, had contributed so
largely to the honors that would be showered upon him, and he grinned
good-humoredly in Glen's face as soon as the growing daylight enabled
him to see it plainly. Up to this time the Cheyenne boy had only been
known as "Blackbird;" but he had set forth on this scout with the firm
determination of winning a name more worthy of a young warrior. Had he
not already done so? His companions had complimented him on his
carefully executed imitation of a coyote's howl, and one of them had
suggested that he must have a veritable wolf's tongue in his mouth:
"Wolf-Tongue!" There was a fine name for a young Dog soldier. What if he
should be allowed to keep it for his own? There was not another boy of
his age in the village with such a name as that. Now he began to make
some curious motions with his hands, and poor Glen, who, in spite of his
own wretchedness, could not keep from watching him with some curiosity,
wondered what the young Indian was up to. Dropping the bridle on his
pony's neck, the boy lifted both hands to the level of his shoulders
with the first two fingers of each extended upward and forward, while
the thumbs and other fingers were tightly closed. At the same time he
stuck out his tongue. He was spelling out his new name in the Indian
sign language, just to see how it would look.

The boy only held his hands in this position for an instant, and then
dropped them to clutch a gun that was slipping from his knees, across
which he had laid it. The movement attracted Glen's attention to the
gun, and his face flushed angrily as he recogn