ot tarry."

A few words made clear the plan of Deerfoot. The Pawnees, like all their
race, were extremely revengeful in their disposition, and they would
never consent that the four intruders should be allowed to go back
without punishment. They had slain several of their warriors, without
receiving any injury in return. What though the Evil One, in the guise
of a young Shawanoe, had charge of the little party, neither he nor they
were invulnerable, and the well-aimed bullet must be more effective than
the arrow of the matchless archer Deerfoot.

An additional incentive to pursuit lay in the fact that the Pawnees had
learned of the trick that Otto Relstaub played on them. His presence in
his own flesh and blood was evidence that could not be disputed. These
and other considerations, which it is not necessary to give in detail,
convinced Deerfoot that a sharp pursuit would be made by the hostiles.
Such a pursuit would be pushed at a pace which neither of the pale-faced
youths could equal; they were certain to be overtaken unless skillful
strategy was employed.

The Shawanoe, therefore, directed the boys to make for the ridge which
he pointed out in the south-east. He told them to use all haste and
reach it at the earliest possible moment. It was probable they could not
do so before dark, but he impressed upon them the duty of making no halt
until their arrival there. If darkness overtook them while several miles
away in the woods, they must push on. Both, and especially the young
Kentuckian, had had enough experience to know how to maintain a straight
course when the sun was not shining.

Deerfoot expected to join them before daylight, but in the event of his
failing to do so, they were forbidden to wait for him. At the earliest
dawn, they were to press their flight, and keep it up to the utmost
limit until nightfall. If by that time no further molestation resulted,
they might consider all danger ended, so far as that particular party of
Pawnees was concerned.

Deerfoot instructed the two friends to resort to every expedient to hide
their trail. When they reached a stream, they were never to cross it by
a direct line, but, if possible, wade a considerable distance before
stepping out on the other bank. If they should find their path crossed
by any thing in the nature of a river, they were to make a raft and
float a long distance with the current, before resting their feet again
on dry land.

It followed, as a matt