transferred to the
shore they had left, and then the campaign would open in earnest.

Hay-uta could not close his ear to the whispering of prudence; clearly
their duty was to leave the spot before their enemies could come back.
Bravery, skill, and cunning, when allied to common sense, would permit
no other course.

Throwing off, therefore, the extreme caution they had exercised, they
rose to their feet, and the Sauk led the way to the river bank. They did
not forget the care which a frontiersman always shows when treading the
wilderness, but the tension of their nerves was relaxed, and Jack felt
some of the jauntiness that was his during the first day he spent with
Deerfoot in the hunt for Otto Relstaub.

It did not seem necessary to go far, and scarcely a furlong was passed
when the Sauk selected a spot from which they could watch the river
without exposing themselves to detection by any one on the further
shore. If the Pawnees should return, as our friends were confident they
would do, it was not likely they would delay long. It was an easy matter
to summon all their warriors, and such as could not be accommodated in
the canoe, could swim beside it.

At the moment that the Sauk secured a safe point from which to look out,
Jack Carleton made the most important discovery that had come to the
knowledge of any one of the three since starting on their journey.

Something on the ground just ahead and a little to one side of Hay-uta,
caught his eye. The Sauk did not see it, and the boy did not suspect it
was of any account. It was in obedience rather to a whim than to any
reasoning impulse that he stepped aside and picked up the object.

"Great Caesar!" he exclaimed. "It's Otto's cap!"

For a moment Jack stood transfixed, with the article held at arm's
length, while the Sauk stared in turn, as if he thought the youth was
beside himself.

But the lad was too familiar with that headgear to be mistaken. He
turned it over and over, held it close to his face and scrutinized every
particle of it; it was the same peaked hat which poor Otto had worn so
long, and it was on his head when he and Jack--both captives--parted
company weeks before.

How long the hat had lain where it was picked up, could not be told. Its
make was such that, while the owner had worn it several years, it was
still good for an indefinite time longer. A day or a month of exposure
would make little difference in its appearance.

When Jack had recov