28 LIFE IN THE FAR WEST 



tighter, he proceeded on his dangerous errand. Ascend- 

 ing the same bluff whence he had first discovered the 

 Indian camp, he glanced rapidly around, and made 

 himself master of the features of the ground choosing 

 a ravine by which he might approach the camp more 

 closely, and without danger of being discovered. This 

 was soon effected ; and in half an hour the trapper was 

 lying on his belly on the summit of a pine-covered bluff 

 which overlooked the Indians within easy rifle-shot, 

 and so perfectly concealed by the low spreading branches 

 of the cedar and arbor-vitse, that not a particle of his 

 person could be detected ; unless, indeed, his sharp 

 twinkling gray eye contrasted too strongly with the 

 green boughs that covered the rest of his face. More- 

 over, there was no danger of their hitting upon his 

 trail, for he had been careful to pick his steps on the 

 rock-covered ground, so that not a track of his mocassin 

 was visible. Here he lay, still as a carcagien in wait 

 for a deer, only now and then shaking the boughs as 

 his body quivered with a suppressed chuckle, when any 

 movement in the Indian camp caused him to laugh 

 inwardly at his (if they had known it) unwelcome pro- 

 pinquity. He was not a little surprised, however, to 

 discover that the party was much smaller than he 

 had imagined, counting only forty warriors ; and this 

 assured him that the band had divided, one half taking 

 the Yuta trail by the Boiling Spring, the other (the one 

 before him) taking a longer circuit in order to reach 

 the Bayou, and make the attack on the Yutas, in a 

 different direction. 



