Julie. I believe these two men will follow; and if they find us
sleeping, they will brain us." Then, turning to the tangle of
struggling horses and Indians, she said in a stern voice--

"Some of you may only pretend that you have been wounded, and
purpose following us. But we shall keep strict watch, and woe unto
any one of you that we catch in pistol range again. We now leave
you." With these words the two sanguinary girls turned their horses,
and briskly rode away.

"What idiots they must have been to follow without fire-arms," Julie
said.

"Had we been armed only with hatchets, how different the case would
have been, enfant naif. You, child, may have considered this shedding
of blood unnecessary, and therefore cruel."

Oh, no; Julie did not think it so. La maitresse knew better than she
did.

"But there was only the choice between taking the method adopted,
and openly meeting the four Indians on _terra firma_, when probably all
the savages would have been killed; or, in the hurried shooting, we
might have missed the mark, and been cloven or speared."

"Where shall my mistress camp to-night?"

"I know an extensive bluff, and we could penetrate it far enough to
be tolerably safe from the braves."