l feeling
that, safe or unsafe, he must make the venture, he once more started,
crawling slowly along without making a sound, till he felt it safe to
rise to his hands and knees, when he got over the ground far more
swiftly, ending by springing to his feet, and listening intently for a
few moments, when there was the faint neigh of a horse from the Indian
camp.

"If one of ours hears that," muttered Joses, "he'll answer, and the
Indians will be down upon us before we know where we are."

CHAPTER FOUR.

THE NIGHT ALARM.

Bart Woodlaw had not been keeping his renewed watch long before he heard
a step behind him, and, turning sharply, found himself face to face with
Dr Lascelles.

"Well, my boy," he said, "is all right?"

"I think so, sir. Did you hear anything?"

"No, my boy, I woke up and just came to see how matters were going. Any
alarm?"

"Yes, sir, and no, sir," replied Bart.

"What do you mean?" exclaimed the Doctor sharply.

"Only that Joses woke up, sir, and I found him watching that mass of
rock which you can see out yonder. That one sir--or--no!--I can't see
it now."

"Why?" said the Doctor, in a quick low decisive tone; "is it darker
now?"

"Very little, sir; but perhaps Joses was right: he said he thought there
must be a fire out there to make it stand out so clearly, and--"

"Well? speak, my boy! Be quick!"

"Perhaps he was right, sir, for I cannot see the rock there at all."

"Where is Joses? Why did he not go and see?" exclaimed the Doctor
sharply.

"He has been gone nearly an hour, sir, and I was expecting him back when
you came."

"That's right! But which way? Joses must feel that there is danger, or
he would not have left the camp like this."

Bart pointed in the direction taken by their follower, and the Doctor
took a few hasty strides forward, as if to follow, but he came back
directly.

"No. It would be folly," he said; "I should not find him out in this
wild. Depend upon it, Bart, that was an Indian fire and camp out beyond
the ridge yonder, and he suspected it. These old plainsmen read every
sign of earth and sky, and we must learn to do the same, boy, for it may
mean the saving of our lives."

"I'll try," said Bart earnestly. "I can follow trail a little now."

"Yes, and your eyes are wonderfully keen," replied the Doctor. "You
have all the acute sense of one of these hunters, but you want the power
of applying what you see, and learning its meaning."