at playin' a loafin' savage from some
other village that nary a Shawnee o' them all has dreamed that I am what I
ain't. If ever I go back thar in the East, I'm goin' to be a play-actor,
Paul."

"You can be anything on earth you want to be, Sol!" said Paul jubilantly.
"It was mighty good of you to come."

"You'd a-thought Henry would a-come," whispered Sol; "but we decided that
he was too tall an' somehow too strikin'-lookin' to come in here ez a
common, everyday Injun, so it fell to me to loaf in, me bein' a
tired-lookin' sort o' feller, anyway. But they're out thar in the woods
a-waitin', Henry an' Tom Ross an' that ornery cuss, Jim Hart."

"I knew that you fellows would never desert me!" exclaimed Paul.

"Why, o' course not!" said Sol. "We never dreamed o' leavin' you. Now,
Paul, we've got to git through this village somehow or other. Lucky it's
purty dark, an' you'll have to do your best to walk an' look like a Red.
Maybe we kin git fur enough to make a good run fur it, and then, with the
woods an' the night helpin' us, we may give them the slip. Here, take
this."

He pressed something cold and hard into Paul's hand, and Paul slipped the
pistol into his belt, standing erect and feeling himself much of a man.

"It's time to be goin'," said Shif'less Sol.

"I'm ready," said Paul.

But neither took more than a single step forward, stopping together as
they heard a light noise at the door.

"Thunder an' lightnin'!" said Shif'less Sol, under his breath. "Somebody's
suspectin'."

"It looks like it," breathed Paul.

"Lay down on the skins and pretend to be asleep," said Shif'less Sol.

Paul lay down on the couch at once, in the attitude of one who slumbers,
and closed his eyes--all but a little. Shif'less Sol shoved himself into
the corner, and blotted out his figure against the wall.

The door opened and Braxton Wyatt stepped in. What decree of fate had
caused him to be spying about that night, and what had caused him to find
the door of Paul's prison hut unfastened? He stood a few moments, trying
to accustom his eyes to the dark, and he plainly heard the regular
breathing of Paul on the bed of skins. Presently he saw the dim, recumbent
figure also. But he was still suspicious, and he took a step nearer. Then
a big form, projected somewhere from the dark, hurled itself upon him, and
he was thrown headlong to the earthen floor. Strong fingers compressed his
throat, and he gasped for breath.

"Here, Paul," s