CAMP-FIRE TALES 217 



hope that some settler would come along; for by that 

 time I had resolved that if assistance did not come soon, 

 I would put a ball through that murderer's head, affix 

 my brand, and leave him in the road. 



" To my great relief I soon detected the sound of 

 hoof-beats, coming at a sharp gallop down the hillside, 

 from the west. As they came nearer and nearer, the 

 Indian began to beg of me to let him go. It was the 

 first time he had spoken to me after telling me his name 

 in the evening; but I ordered him to lie still. In a few 

 minutes a lieutenant and four soldiers of the regular 

 army trotted up to my smouldering fire. 



" As the officer in command dismounted, his glance 

 fixed upon the blanketed party in front of the fire, and 

 he took in the whole situation. He went up and poked 

 the Indian with his foot, and as the savage turned his 

 head and looked at him, he said to me, very cheerfully, 

 * Well, stranger, you've got our bird here! We've been 

 wanting this fellow.' 



" ' Very likely, officer,' I said, ' and if you hadn't 

 showed up for another hour, a hearse would have been 

 of more use to him than handcuffs.' 



" ' Would you have executed him? ' 



" ' He's got a white woman's scalp under his blanket, 

 and I shorely would have branded him so well that he 

 wouldn't have been taken for a maverick. But I'm 

 mighty glad you've come, just the same; and now I re- 

 lease all claims on him.' 



" They soon had the brute in irons, and I soon had 

 a pot of cofifee boiling. While we drank our coffee, we 



