A NARROW ESCAPE. 61 



brain of that prying bloodhound who had so surely tracked 

 us to our lair. 



Was it best to kill him or let him go ? Hard question 

 to decide, and little time to do it in. Under such circum- 

 stances a man thinks quickly, very quickly. Why had 

 that Indian ridden more than half a night to ascertain our 

 whereabouts? not for curiosity curiosity is not an Indian 

 characteristic. Was not the probability of his being one 

 of a band of raiders, anxious to gain the knowledge that 

 would enable him to bring his murderous companions to 

 our massacre and plunder, and now possessing it, reason 

 sufficient to shoot him \ Nay, was it not the duty of the 

 sentinel to shoot him ? It was not simply a question of 

 his own life. Were not the lives of his sleeping comrades 

 entrusted not only to his vigilance but to his judgment ? 

 Was he not bound, as a necessity of the situation, to assume 

 the responsibility of homicide ? But the Indian might not 

 be there with hostile thoughts ; it was just barely pos- 

 sible. And then it looked so like deliberate murder that 

 settled it. 



The finger was removed from the trigger. 



Little did that dusky spy wot of the danger he had been 

 in. He never was nearer death before, never will be again, 

 until he is "called." 



After a few moments of motionless regard the Indian 

 recovered his riding-seat, cantered diagonally to the river's 

 bank, below our encampment, turned his back to the river, 

 and slowly described a large semicircle around us until he 

 reached the river's bank above it. He was cutting all our 

 tracks to see if there was any indication that we had left. 



