the young hunters now asked themselves whether it was worth while to try to find out who had fired the gun whose report broke in upon them with such startling suddenness.

it was not at all unlikely that some of their friends from the settlement up the river, or from the scattered cabins, were out on a hunt through the woods.

but when young george blurted out his belief that it was an indian who had fired the weapon, he uttered the very thought that was in the mind of jack.

ever since his meeting with the wyandot chief and his son that morning he had been uneasy in mind. there were times when he would not think about the red men, but very soon his thoughts went back to the subject.

his misgiving may be understood when i repeat what i have already hinted, namely, that the presence of hua-awa-oma and his son in the neighbourhood of the two cabins meant that a band of his warriors were not far away. the wyandots, as you have already learned, were among the fiercest enemies of the settlers, and the painted faces of the chieftain and his son made it look as if the latter was on his first war path.

all this might be hard to explain in the light of the treatment received by jack at the hands of hua-awa-oma, or "he who fights without falling" but still it was not inexplainable. more than likely the chief gave back the gun as part punishment to his boy because he was beaten so badly in the wrestling bout.

probably the dusky leader felt so much faith in his own place at the head of a war party of wyandots that he believed it safe to indulge such a whim, believing as he did that not only the rifle but also the boy himself would be at his disposal whenever he cared to claim them.

"if there are indians near us," said jack, "we ought to know it, so as to be able to keep out of their way."

"they must have heard our guns, since we heard one of theirs," remarked will.

"if they are white men, we ought to know that too," added george.

"well, if we are careful i guess we can find out. come on."

jack led the way back to the path which they had followed for some distance, and crossing it, plunged into the wood on the other side. they had gone only a short way when the ground grew rougher, and sloped upward like a ridge. they pushed on until they reached the top of an elevation of several hundred feet.

beyond this the land sloped off again into a valley, fully a half mile in width, beyond which it rose almost to the same height as the surface on which they stood.

the spot where they halted was so open and free from undergrowth that they had a good view of the small valley spread out before them, and over which they gazed with keen interest.

"hallo, there they are!" whispered will.

following the direction of his finger, his companions saw near the middle of the valley a column of smoke ascending from among the trees, and lazily mingling with the air above, where it rested almost stationary, as though it had been there for hours.

"yes," said jack, "a camp fire is there, but we don't know whether it belongs to indians or white men."

"that's what we have come to find out."

"it seems to me," said george, "that instead of going down together we ought to separate. what do you think, jack?"

"it strikes me as a good plan; if we keep together it will be hard work for us to find out what we want to know without letting the indians--if they are indians--find out more than we want them to learn about us."

"that is good enough," observed will, to whom the others looked to hear his opinion, "and i guess we may as well try it; but if we separate we have got to be mighty careful that we don't run into danger before we know it. i will turn to the right, you, jack, to the left, while george can push straight down into the valley; we must be on the watch all the time. as soon as one of us sees anything that tells what we want to know, he must turn back to this place and wait for the others."

"the first one who finds the camp and learns who started it ought to signal to the others, so that they need not run any more risk."

"we will do that," said jack; "and that is likely to be george, because he has a shorter distance than either of us to travel."

"what shall be the signal?"

jack placed his two hands in front of his mouth, the palms curved toward each other, so that a hollow space was enclosed, the thumbs being in front. pressing his lips against these, he blew gently, and made a soft, deep whistle, whose volume he could increase until it was audible for several hundred yards.

while the call thus made bore little resemblance to that of any animal or bird, it had the advantage of being hard to locate. that is, if a person should detect it in the forest it would require the closest attention, and then would have to be repeated several times before the hearer could fix the exact spot whence it came.

"you know how to do that?" he said, looking inquiringly at the brothers.

by way of reply, each fashioned his hands as jack had done, and, with the lips against the thumbs, emitted a precisely similar sound.

"that's it," he said. "it is understood then that the first one who finds out what we want to know is to start straight back to this spot, and as soon as he reaches a point where it is safe to make the signal he will do so. neither of the others will be too far off to hear, and will hurry back. then, after we learn the truth, we'll settle what is best to be done."

all this was simple enough, and when each had added several cautions to the others they silently parted company.

you will see from what has been told that there was reason to believe that george burton, who took the direct course to the camp fire, would be the first to reach it. indeed, the others were so confident of his doing so that they were rather indifferent to their own progress.

feeling the responsibility on him, young george acted like an old campaigner, using more care than seemed necessary at first; but he had felt quite sure from the beginning that they were near a party of indian warriors, and he did not mean to betray himself and friends into their hands by any lack of caution. he was glad to see, after going a short distance down the slope, that there was an increase of undergrowth. this gave him a better chance to keep his body screened while approaching the camp.

"whatever happens," was his thought, "it shan't be said that i was the cause of jack and will getting into trouble. if there are a party of indians tramping through here, it is for no good, and the best thing we can do is to get back home as quick as we know how."

at the end of a quarter of an hour he thought he must be close to the camp. since coming down into the valley he was unable to see the smoke that was in such plain sight when they were on top of the ridge, but he used his keen eyes and sense of hearing with a skill that an indian scout would have found hard to surpass.

"it must be close at hand--sh!"

sure enough, he had not gone five steps farther when he came in full view of the camp.

in the middle of a small open space a number of sticks had been piled together and kindled an hour or two before. this was plain, not only from the number of burnt-out embers and brands, but from the appearance of the smoke above the trees as already described.

on a fallen tree, near the fire, sat three indian warriors, talking together in their low guttural voices. another was in the act of stooping down and lighting his long-stemmed pipe, while a fifth was standing a few feet away, examining his rifle--this being all that were in sight.

each was in his war paint, and, young as was george burton, he was certain that they were but a fraction of the party that was in the woods bent on mischief.

"they must be wyandots," he thought, forming this opinion from the story told by jack of his encounter that morning; "and we must get home as fast as we can, and tell the folk."

full of this purpose, he turned softly about to hasten back, when he found himself face to face with a gigantic and scowling indian warrior!