Here you, Hall, give me a hand, an' then we'll go out, an' round up them hosses." If the party of raiding Indians, whose foul deed we had discovered, had departed in a southerly direction, as their trail would plainly seem to indicate, then our safest course would seemingly be directed eastward up the valley.

This would give us the protection of the bluffs, and take us more and more out of the territory they would be likely to cover.

All this I explained to Eloise as we struggled with the hard bread, and a few strips of smoked bacon.

Most of the bag had held corn meal, but no one suggested a fire, as we were glad enough to possess anything which would still the pangs of hunger.

Eloise, filled with sympathy, attempted to converse with Hall, who ate as though half-starved, using hands and teeth like a young animal, but the boy was so embarrassed, and stuttered so terribly, as to make the effort useless.