CHAPTER XXIII 

 SURROUNDED BY KIOWAS 



A3 the shades of evening crept over the plain it 

 became impossible for me to see anything dis- 

 tinctly. The occasional reports of their carbines 

 assured me that my companions were still standing 

 off the savages. 



I kept asking myself: "What can I do to help 

 them?" But there was no reply. 



I had no inclination to eat or sleep but prepared 

 for a long, dismal night of watchfulness. After 

 attending to the horses in the stable I went into 

 our dugout and carried out some blankets and a 

 buffalo robe, and, making a snug bed in the re- 

 mains of our haystack, where I could command a 

 pretty good view of our camp and surroundings, I 

 settled down for a long night of torturing anxiety. 



I had scarcely got settled when a slight noise 

 from up the ravine attracted my attention, and, 

 quickly jumping to the conclusion that some of 

 the Indians were already looking for me, I strained 

 eyes and ears to locate the one who had made the 

 noise. 



I soon discerned a dark object coming down the 

 hollow, but, instead of the catlike tread of an ap- 



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