THE AMERICANS AND THE ABORIGINES. 411 



mile, the canoe stopped, and the young chief and his 

 followers entered it, previously breaking the "bushes 

 growing upon the shore, so as to leave unmistakable 

 marks of their passage. They continued their pro- 

 gress down the river to the end of the table-rock, and 

 then, leaving the old man in the boat, El Sol and the 

 four warriors again landed, and glided away in the 

 direction of their recently abandoned bivouac. In 

 its vicinity were stationed a troop of twenty horses. 

 Of the Indians to whom these belonged, ten re- 

 mained mounted, Avhilst the remainder searched the 

 cave, and followed the trail left by its late occupants. 

 Crouching and crawling upon the ground, the better 

 to distinguish the footmarks dimly visible in the 

 moonlight, it might almost have been doubted 

 whether their dark forms were those of men, or of 

 some strange amphibious animals who had stolen out 

 of the depths of the river for a midnight prowl upon 

 the shore. 



His ear against the rock, and motionless as a 

 statue, El Sol observed each movement of the foe. 

 Suddenly, when the Indians who followed the trail 

 were at some distance from the cave, he made a sign 

 to his companions, and, with a noiseless swiftness 

 that defied detection, the five warriors approached 

 the horses. A slight undulation of the plain was all 

 that now separated them from their enemy. El Sol 

 listened, gazed upwards at the moon's silver disc, 

 just then emerging from behind a snow - charged 



