"Ye see, mistress," he said, "d.i.c.k is a oncommon tough customer, an' if he could only git fifty yards start, there's not a Injun in the west as could git hold o' him agin; so don't be takin' on."

"But what if he's bin taken prisoner?" said the widow.

"Ay, that's jest wot I've comed about. Ye see it's not onlikely he's bin took; so about thirty o' the lads o' the valley are ready jest now to start away and give the red riptiles chase, an' I come to tell ye; so keep up heart, mistress."

With this parting word of comfort, Jim withdrew, and Marston soon followed, leaving the widow to weep and pray in solitude.

Meanwhile an animated scene was going on near the block-house. Here thirty of the young hunters of the Mustang Valley were a.s.sembled, actively engaged in supplying themselves with powder and lead, and tightening their girths, preparatory to setting out in pursuit of the Indians who had murdered the white men, while hundreds of boys and girls, and not a few matrons, crowded round and listened to the conversation, and to the deep threats of vengeance that were uttered ever and anon by the younger men.

Major Hope, too, was among them. The worthy major, unable to restrain his roving propensities, determined to revisit the Mustang Valley, and had arrived only two days before.

Backwoodsmen's preparations are usually of the shortest and simplest.

In a few minutes the cavalcade was ready, and away they went towards the prairies, with the bold major at their head. But their journey was destined to come to an abrupt and unexpected close. A couple of hours'

gallop brought them to the edge of one of those open plains which sometimes break up the woodland near the verge of the great prairies.

It stretched out like a green lake towards the horizon, on which, just as the band of hors.e.m.e.n reached it, the sun was descending in a blaze of glory.

With a shout of enthusiasm, several of the younger members of the party sprang forward into the plain at a gallop; but the shout was mingled with one of a different tone from the older men.

"Hist!--hallo!--hold on, ye cat-a-mounts! There's Injuns ahead!"

The whole band came to a sudden halt at this cry, and watched eagerly, and for some time in silence, the motions of a small party of hors.e.m.e.n who were seen in the far distance, like black specks on the golden sky.

"They come this way, I think," said Major Hope, after gazing steadfastly at them for some minutes.

Several of the old hands signified their a.s.sent to this suggestion by a grunt, although to unaccustomed eyes the objects in question looked more like crows than hors.e.m.e.n, and their motion was for some time scarcely perceptible.

"I sees pack-horses among them," cried young Marston in an excited tone; "an' there's three riders; but there's somethin' else, only wot it be I can't tell."

"Ye've sharp eyes, younker," remarked one of the men, "an' I do b'lieve yer right."

Presently the hors.e.m.e.n approached, and soon there was a brisk fire of guessing as to who they could be. It was evident that the strangers observed the cavalcade of white men, and regarded them as friends, for they did not check the headlong speed at which they approached. In a few minutes they were clearly made out to be a party of three hors.e.m.e.n driving pack-horses before them, and _somethin'_ which some of the hunters guessed was a buffalo calf.

Young Marston guessed too, but his guess was different. Moreover, it was uttered with a yell that would have done credit to the fiercest of all the savages. "Crusoe!" he shouted, while at the same moment he brought his whip heavily down on the flank of his little horse, and sprang over the prairie like an arrow.

One of the approaching hors.e.m.e.n was far ahead of his comrades, and seemed as if encircled with the flying and voluminous mane of his magnificent horse.

"Hah! ho!" gasped Marston in a low tone to himself, as he flew along.

"Crusoe! I'd know ye, dog, among a thousand! A buffalo calf! Ha! git on with ye!"

This last part of the remark was addressed to his horse, and was followed by a whack that increased the pace considerably.

The s.p.a.ce between two such riders was soon devoured.

"Hallo! d.i.c.k,--d.i.c.k Varley!"

"Eh! why, Marston, my boy!"

The friends reined up so suddenly, that one might have fancied they had met like the knights of old in the shock of mortal conflict.

"Is't yerself, d.i.c.k Varley?"

d.i.c.k held out his hand, and his eyes glistened, but he could not find words.

Marston seized it, and pushing his horse close up, vaulted nimbly off and alighted on Charlie's back behind his friend.

"Off ye go, d.i.c.k! I'll take ye to yer mother."

Without reply, d.i.c.k shook the reins, and in another minute was in the midst of the hunters.

To the numberless questions that were put to him he only waited to shout aloud, "We're all safe! They'll tell ye all about it," he added, pointing to his comrades, who were now close at hand; and then, dashing onward, made straight for home, with little Marston clinging to his waist like a monkey.

Charlie was fresh, and so was Crusoe; so you may be sure it was not long before they all drew up opposite the door of the widow's cottage.

Before d.i.c.k could dismount, Marston had slipped off, and was already in the kitchen.

"Here's d.i.c.k, mother!"

The boy was an orphan, and loved the widow so much that he had come at last to call her mother.

Before another word could be uttered, d.i.c.k Varley was in the room.

Marston immediately stepped out, and softly shut the door. Reader, we shall not open it!

Having shut the door, as we have said, Marston ran down to the edge of the lake, and yelled with delight--usually terminating each paroxysm with the Indian war-whoop, with which he was well acquainted. Then he danced, and then he sat down on a rock, and became suddenly aware that there were other hearts there, close beside him, as glad as his own.

Another mother of the Mustang Valley was rejoicing over a long-lost son.

Crusoe and his mother Fan were scampering round each other in a manner that evinced powerfully the strength of their mutual affection.

Talk of holding converse! Every hair on Crusoe's body, every motion of his limbs, was eloquent with silent language. He gazed into his mother's mild eyes as if he would read her inmost soul (supposing that she had one). He turned his head to every possible angle, and c.o.c.ked his ears to every conceivable elevation, and rubbed his nose against Fan's, and barked softly, in every imaginable degree of modulation, and varied these proceedings by bounding away at full speed over the rocks of the beach, and in among the bushes and out again, but always circling round and round Fan, and keeping her in view!

It was a sight worth seeing, and young Marston sat down on a rock, deliberately and enthusiastically, to gloat over it. But perhaps the most remarkable part of it has not yet been referred to. There was yet another heart there that was glad--exceeding glad--that day. It was a little one too, but it was big for the body that held it. Grumps was there, and all that Grumps did was to sit on his haunches and stare at Fan and Crusoe, and wag his tail as well as he could in so awkward a position! Grumps was evidently bewildered with delight, and had lost nearly all power to express it. Crusoe's conduct towards him, too, was not calculated to clear his faculties. Every time he chanced to pa.s.s near Grumps in his elephantine gambols, he gave him a pa.s.sing touch with his nose, which always knocked him head over heels; whereat Grumps invariably got up quickly and wagged his tail with additional energy.

Before the feelings of those canine friends were calmed, they were all three ruffled into a state of comparative exhaustion.

Then young Marston called Crusoe to him, and Crusoe, obedient to the voice of friendship, went.

"Are you happy, my dog?"

"You're a stupid fellow to ask such a question; however, it's an amiable one. Yes, I am."

"What do _you_ want, ye small bundle o' hair?"

This was addressed to Grumps, who came forward innocently, and sat down to listen to the conversation.

On being thus sternly questioned, the little dog put down its ears flat, and hung its head, looking up at the same time with a deprecatory look as if to say, "Oh, dear! I beg pardon; I--I only want to sit near Crusoe, please, but if you wish it I'll go away, sad and lonely, with my tail _very_ much between my legs--indeed I will, only say the word, but--but I'd _rather_ stay if I might."

"Poor bundle!" said Marston, patting its head, "you can stay then.

Hooray! Crusoe, are you happy, I say? Does your heart bound in you like a cannon ball that wants to find its way out and can't--eh?"

Crusoe put his snout against Marston's cheek, and, in the excess of his joy, the lad threw his arms round the dog's neck and hugged it vigorously, a piece of impulsive affection which that n.o.ble animal bore with characteristic meekness, and which Grumps regarded with idiotic satisfaction.