"The trail is washed away by the water!" said one from below,
who stood so near the artificial cover of the fugitives, that he
might have been struck by the salmon-spear that lay in the bottom
of Jasper's canoe. "Water has washed it so clear that a Yengeese
hound could not follow."

"The pale-faces have left the shore in their canoes," answered the
speaker on the bank.

"It cannot be. The rifles of our warriors below are certain."

The Pathfinder gave a significant glance at Jasper, and he clinched
his teeth in order to suppress the sound of his own breathing.

"Let my young men look as if their eyes were eagles'," said the
eldest warrior among those who were wading in the river. "We have
been a whole moon on the war-path, and have found but one scalp.
There is a maiden among them, and some of our braves want wives."

Happily these words were lost on Mabel; but Jasper's frown became
deeper, and his face fiercely flushed.

The savages now ceased speaking, and the party which was concealed
heard the slow and guarded movements of those who were on the
bank, as they pushed the bushes aside in their wary progress. It
was soon evident that the latter had passed the cover; but the
group in the water still remained, scanning the shore with eyes that
glared through their war-paint like coals of living fire. After
a pause of two or three minutes, these three began also to descend