ord was deep, with a swift current. Here and
there a bald butte stood out in full relief against the brilliant blue
sky.

"Whoo! whoo!" came the blood-curdling signal of danger from the front.
It was no unfamiliar sound--the rovers knew it only too well. It meant
sudden death--or at best a cruel struggle and frantic flight.

Terrified, yet self-possessed, the women turned to fly while yet there
was time. Instantly the mother looked to Nakpa, who carried on either
side of the saddle her precious boys. She hurriedly examined the
fastenings to see that all was secure, and then caught her swiftest
pony, for, like all Indian women, she knew just what was happening, and
that while her husband was engaged in front with the enemy, she must
seek safety with her babies.

Hardly was she in the saddle when a heartrending war-whoop sounded on
their flank, and she knew that they were surrounded! Instinctively she
reached for her husband's second quiver of arrows, which was carried by
one of the pack-ponies. Alas! the Crow warriors were already upon them!
The ponies became unmanageable, and the wild screams of women and
children pierced the awful confusion.

Quick as a flash, Weeko turned again to her babies, but Nakpa had
already disappeared!

When the Crows made their flank charge, Nakpa apparently appreciated
the situation. To save herself and the babies, she took a desperate
chance. She fled straight through the attacking force.

When the warriors came howling upon her in great numbers, she at once
started back the way she had come, to the camp left behind. They had
travelled nearly three days. To be sure, they did not travel more than
fifteen miles a day, but it was full forty miles to cover before dark.

"Look! look!" exclaimed a warrior, "two babies hung from the saddle of
a mule!"

No one heeded this man's call, and his arrow did not touch Nakpa or
either of the boys, but it struck the thick part of the saddle over the
mule's back.

"Whoo! whoo!" yelled another Crow to his comrades, "the Sioux have
dispatched a runner to get reinforcements! There he goes, down on the
flat! Now he has almost reached the river bottom!"

It was only Nakpa. She laid back her ears and stretched out more and
more to gain the river, for she realized that when she had crossed the
ford the Crows would not pursue her farther.

Now she had reached the bank. With the intense heat from her exertions,
she was extremely nervous, and she imagine