n was well advanced, it was
time he started homeward.

His hurried flight from the ferocious brute had bewildered him
somewhat, and, when he took the direction he judged to be the right
one, he found nothing familiar or remembered, from which fact he
concluded he was going astray.

But a little computation on his part, and he soon righted himself, and
was walking along quite hopefully, when he received another severe
shock of terror, at hearing the unmistakable whoop of an Indian,
instantly followed by several others.

Immediately he recalled the warning given by the trapper, and looked
furtively about, to make sure that he was not already in their hands.
His great anxiety now was to reach the steam man and leave the
neighborhood, which was rapidly becoming untenable.

So he began stealing forward as rapidly as possible, at the same time
keeping a sharp lookout for danger. It required a half-hour,
proceeding at this rate, before reaching the base of the mountain. The
moment he did so, he looked all around in quest of the steam man, whom
he had been compelled to desert for so long a time.

He discovered it standing several hundred yards away; but, to his
dismay, there were fully a dozen Indians standing and walking about
it, examining every portion with the greatest curiosity.

Here was a dilemma indeed, and the boy began to believe that he had
gotten himself into an inextricable difficulty, for how to reach the
steam man and renew the fire, under the circumstances, was a question
which might well puzzle an older head to answer.

It was unfortunate that the machine should have been taken at this
great disadvantage, for it was stripping it of its terror to those
Indians, who were such inveterate enemies to the whites. They had
probably viewed it with wonder and fear at first; but finding it
undemonstrative, had gradually gathered courage, until they had
congregated around it, and made as critical a scrutiny as they know
how.

Whatever fear or terror they had felt at first sight was now gone; for
they seemed on the most familiar terms with it.

Several climbed into the wagon, others passed in and around the helpless
giant, and one valiant follow bit him a thwack on the stomach with his
tomahawk.

This blow hurt the boy far more than it did the iron man, and he could
hardly repress a cry of pain, as he looked upon the destruction of his
wonderful friend as almost inevitable.

The savage, however, contented hi