"'The call o' the moose.'

"'Now, Buckeye, you come with us,' I sez.

"I knowed that the white man were runnin' the hull party an' I itched
to git holt o' him. Gol ding his pictur'! He'd sent the Injuns on
ahead fer to do his dirty work. The Ohio country were full o' robber
whelps which I kind o' mistrusted he were one on 'em who had raked up
this 'ere band o' runnygades an' gone off fer plunder. We got holt o'
most o' their guns very quiet, an' I put John Irons an' two o' his boys
an' Peter Bones an' his boy Isr'el an' the two women with loaded guns
on guard over 'em. If any on 'em woke up they was to ride the
nightmare er lay still. Jack an' me an' Buckeye sneaked back up the
trail fer 'bout twenty rod with our guns, an' then I told the young
Injun to shoot off the moose call. Wall, sir, ye could 'a' heerd it
from Albany to Wing's Falls. The answer come an' jest as I 'spected,
'twere within a quarter o' a mile. I put Jack erbout fifty feet
further up the trail than I were, an' Buckeye nigh him, an' tol 'em
what to do. We skootched down in the bushes an' heerd 'em comin'!
Purty soon they hove in sight--two Injuns, the two wimmin captives an'
a white man--the wust-lookin' bulldog brute that I ever seen--stumpin'
erlong lively on a wooden leg, with a gun an' a cane. He had a broad
head an' a big lop mouth an' thick lips an' a long, red, warty nose an'
small black eyes an' a growth o' beard that looked like hog's bristles.
He were stout built. Stood 'bout five foot seven. Never see sech a
sight in my life. I hopped out afore 'em an' Jack an' Buckeye on their
heels. The Injun had my ol' hanger.

"'Drop yer guns,' says I.