160 The King of the Thundering Herd 



apparent, for half a dozen mounted Indians 

 were discovered riding among them, shoot- 

 ing with bow and arrows instead of fire- 

 arms. That was why their approach had 

 been so silent, and Bennie had known noth- 

 ing of the hunt until this stirring scene 

 came almost under his eyes. Presently he 

 could hear the excited yells of the Indians, 

 and as he did not know whether they were 

 peaceful or hostile, and as all Indians were 

 more or less dangerous, he started Buck for- 

 ward at his best pace and rode hard all 

 night and all the next day. 



At last familiar scenes, peculiarities in 

 the landscape that he had noted in the trip 

 up, began to reappear. Finally he was able 

 so to time the return trip that he could stop 

 at his old camping-places each night. Now 

 his only thought was to get back home, so 

 he bent his every energy to covering the 

 distance between himself and father and 

 mother and brother. 



