14 LIFE IN THE FAR WEST 



&c. that a whizzing noise was heard in the air, followed 

 by a sharp but suppressed cry from one of the hunters. 

 In an instant the mountaineers had sprung from 

 their seats, and, seizing the ever-ready rifle, each one 

 had thrown himself on the ground a few paces beyond 

 the light of the fire (for it was now nightfall ;) but not 

 a word escaped them, as, lying close, with their keen 

 eyes directed towards the gloom of the thicket, near 

 which the camp was placed, with rifles cocked, they 

 waited a renewal of the attack. Presently the leader of 

 the band, no other than Killbuck, who had so lately 

 been recounting some of his experiences across the 

 plains, and than whom no more crafty woodsman or more 

 expert trapper ever tracked a deer or grained a beaver- 

 skin, raised his tall leather-clad form, and, placing his 

 hand over his mouth, made the prairie ring with the 

 wild protracted note of an Indian war-whoop. This 

 was instantly repeated from the direction where the 

 animals belonging to the camp were grazing, under the 

 charge of the horse-guard. Three shrill whoops 

 answered the warning of the leader, and showed that 

 the guard was on the alert, and understood the signal. 

 However, with the manifestation of their presence, the 

 Indians appeared to be satisfied ; or, what is more pro- 

 bable, the act of aggression had been committed by some 

 daring young warrior, who, being out on his first expe- 

 dition, desired to strike the first coup, and thus signalise 

 himself at the outset of the campaign. After waiting 

 some few minutes, expecting a renewal of the attack, 

 the mountaineers in a body rose from the ground and 



