"Yes; I believe the Indian is doing his best to keep his promise."

"I hope so, but I don't feel as sartin as yersilf of that."

The brief delay of the couple had allowed Arqu-wao to gain so much on them that he was almost invisible. Discovering the fact, he again halted and looked back, as if waiting for them to come up.

"Obsarve him," said Larry. "He stands jist as he did whin we took a drink from the brook."

Such was the fact. If he chose to launch an arrow, he could do so with an instantaneousness that was sure to be fatal to one; but now they were in a better situation than before, and the result was so certain to be fatal to him that neither felt much fear of any attempt.

Wharton beckoned to him to wait, and they hurried forward. Pointing to the hoofprints, clearly showing in the earth, he asked:

"What do they mean, Arqu-wao?"

The Shawanoe merely glanced at the ground. He had noticed the signs before, and it was not necessary for him to scrutinize or study them in order to know what the youth meant.

"Horses--so many," he said, holding up two fingers of his hand.

"How long ago did they pass this way?"

While the Indian understood the question, he was puzzled for a moment as to how to make an intelligent answer. He fixed his keen black eyes on the face of the questioner, then looked around the trees as if searching for some aid. These shut out the sun, but it was easy to locate the orb about one-third of the way between the horizon and the zenith. He had struck the key.

"When sun dere," he replied, pointing low down in the sky, "den men ride along on horses."

Wharton Edwards's heart gave a painful start. Of course the Shawanoe could not know that one of the horses carried a woman instead of a man, nor, with all the woodcraft of the American Indian, could he determine within an hour or two the time when the animals had passed along the trail, but he did know of a verity that the passage had taken place since the sun went down on the night before.

Understanding, now, the precise distance to the block-house, and the strong probability that the parties would not leave there in the night time, and well aware, also, from the marks of the hoofprints, that the horses were walking at a leisurely pace, it became an easy matter for him to tell at what time they were due at this particular spot. He had indicated the hour, which was another evidence that the boys were at no great distance from their destination.

"We don't want to go to the block-house," said Wharton, impetuously. "We want to travel the other way. We must overtake those horsemen before they reach the falls."

CHAPTER XXV.

A SINGULAR MEETING.

The paint on the face of the Shawanoe could not hide the astonishment caused by the words of Wharton Edwards. Despite the askew brain, the Indian was wonderfully shrewd in some respects.

"Go after dem--den be killed."

"Why will we be killed?"

"Shaw'noe wait for dem--bimeby dey shoot--both fall off horse--Shaw'noe take scalp--you go dere--take your scalp."

"Arqu-wao," said the distressed youth, stepping in front of the red man, "those horses are ridden by my father and mother; they are on their way to the settlement; we started out to come home with them; we must save them; we will do so or die with them."

These words, uttered with a depth of feeling hard to describe, were understood by the Shawanoe. He comprehended on the instant that the couple on horseback were so far along the trail that it was impossible for the two boys on foot to overtake them. Such was the fact concerning the elder of the two, but he probably would have changed his mind had he been aware of the fleetness of the younger one.

"Me catch dem," he hastened to say; "horse walk--Arqu-wao run faster den horse--he hurry--tell dem--me do that?"

The rising inflection showed that he only awaited the word to start off like the wind, but young Edwards was in a distressing quandary. The revelations of the last few minutes pointed to the loyalty of this strange being. He had certainly started them along the trail toward the block-house, as he had promised, and there was every reason to believe that he would have soon landed them there but for this unexpected check.

Nevertheless the youths could not free themselves from the suspicion that the whole proceeding was a part of a deep laid scheme for their own overthrow.

If he should be told to hurry back over the path and do his best to warn the parents of their peril, he would pass beyond reach of the boys, and consequently beyond any punishment they could visit upon him for his treachery.

But what should be done?

True, Wharton could have run, too, and there was little doubt that he was fully the equal of the guide, since he had vanquished the champion runner of his tribe.

He turned his head and asked Larry in a low voice for his advice, stating the project that had come into his mind. Larry urged him to carry it out.

"Ye can travel as fast as him, and ye can shoot him if he tries his tricks."

"But it will separate you and me."

"I'll follow as fast as I can go; I can't run like ye, but I'm sure that if there's any fighting to be done I'll be on hand in time to give some help."

"Go 'mong trees--hide quick--Shawanoe coming."

It was Arqu-wao who uttered these words, with every evidence of agitation. He made quick gestures, and was so urgent that he compelled instant obedience.

Wharton and Larry sprang out of the path, and each darting behind the trunk of a large tree, peered cautiously out to learn the cause of the sudden alarm of their guide.

They saw nothing, but his actions were singular. Instead of remaining where he was, he took a number of short, quick steps, which carried him several rods farther toward the block-house. Then he halted as suddenly as a soldier in obedience to the command of his officer.

"Sh! look out! there they are!" whispered Wharton to his friend, but a few paces away.

Several flickering objects, seen through the trees, revealed themselves to be three Shawanoes in their war paint, striding along the trail as though they were runners from the block-house to the settlement. In fact their gait was a loping trot until they slowed down on seeing Arqu-wao.

There could be no mistaking them for runners, for not only did their war paint forbid this, but with feelings that can be imagined the youth recognized the leader as Blazing Arrow, the savage who hated the white people with an intensity beyond imagination.

"This will settle the question about Arqu-wao," thought Wharton, "for he now has our lives in his hands; if he tells the truth to Blazing Arrow, and joins him and the rest, they will separate and shoot us down in spite of all we can do."

This was the situation, and a few brief minutes must determine the fate of the boys, who, in the event of betrayal, were doomed. Hardly daring to look around the bark of the trees, they could only wait and prepare themselves for the issue of the conference.

They saw Blazing Arrow stride forward, and, halting in front of Arqu-wao, address him in tones so loud that they were plainly heard by the listeners, who, however, could form no idea of their meaning.

Not only that, but the fierce warrior gesticulated as if angry. If so, the one to whom he spoke showed no fear of him. He answered in a voice as loud, and with more gestures, the other two warriors remaining in the background and leaving all to their leader.

Blazing Arrow made a threatening gesture, placing his right hand on the knife at his girdle. Arqu-wao withdrew a couple of steps and whipped an arrow from his quiver. Possessing no other weapon than the bow, he made ready to use that. Not once, so far as the boys could see, did he show a sign of quailing.

It was evident that, desperate as might be the resistance he offered, he was helpless, inasmuch as each of the three warriors possessed a loaded rifle, and he could have been shot down in a twinkling; but he was ready to fight for his life.

Blazing Arrow moderated his manner. His hand slipped from the weapon at his waist, and he talked in a lower voice. Arqu-wao stepped a little closer and responded in kind. Neither one of the others so much as opened his mouth.

Blazing Arrow pointed down to the ground several times, and it looked as if he were discussing the hoofprints which showed so plainly at their very feet.