"That is Tsa-ut-weih!" said Jack Williams; "I've seen him in St. Louis. It is no use trying to escape; we must obey his orders, and assure him of our friendly intentions."

"Do you know their language?" asked Ralph.

"I know enough to make them understand me," said the old man, while Ralph turned the canoe towards the shore.

Just as they had touched the bank, an arrow from one of the Indians pierced Jack Williams through the heart, and without a sound he fell backwards into the river, and disappeared. Ralph uttered a loud cry of horror and agony, and sprang to catch him, but upset the canoe, and fell into the water.

The old chief cried out in the greatest rage, denouncing such perfidious behaviour against an enemy who was giving himself up, and leaped down from the rock to find out the perpetrator of the outrage. It was a young man, one of the magicians of the tribe. Tsa-utweih seized his tomahawk, and would have killed him if several of the other Indians had not begged that his life might be spared. The chief then ordered him to be bound, which was immediately done.

Ralph, who was as good a swimmer as a diver, felt himself safe when he was in the water. His first thought was that Jack Williams was only wounded, and would be able to save himself without difficulty. He swam under water for some distance; but it was useless to attempt to escape. Three Indians had

plunged in after him, and reached him just as he raised his head above the surface of the water to take breath.

He tried to defend himself with his knife, but was soon overpowered and taken prisoner. They took him to a bank before the chief, whose eyes still glared with fury and indignation against the magician. He now fastened his angry and penetrating look upon the young man who stood before him, and who in the most fearless way bore himself with dauntless courage.

After they had looked at each other in this way for some minutes, the chief's countenance seemed to become milder; it took at least a different expression.

"Why fled you?" he asked in broken English.

"Because your people have shot the old man, who was coming to you peaceably," said Ralph, with a firm and decided tone.

A strange smile passed over the chief's countenance, and he glared angrily at the young man who had shot Jack Williams.

"Look here, you traitor!" he cried to him in his own language; "this pale-face rebukes me for the disgrace which you have brought upon us."

Tsa-ut-weih then went into his wigwam, and was followed by the old men of the tribe.

Ralph could learn nothing from the numerous savages who surrounded him; but their faces bore marks of cruelty and thirst for blood. His soul was agitated by sorrow for

the loss of the old friend whom he had loved as a father, and by the conviction that a death of torture awaited himself which might well make the stoutest heart quail. But in his distress and loneliness he looked up to God, and received strength and calmness of spirit. Knowing how much the Indians despised any tokens of grief, he summoned up all his courage, and endeavoured to hide from his enemies the emotions that stirred his inmost soul.

He looked carefully all around, but with an expression of indifference and unconcern which it cost him much to preserve. His mental sufferings were aggravated by the pain caused by the thongs with which he was bound to a tree. His wrists and ankles were severely tight; but he manfully suppressed all signs of the torture which he experienced.

The temporary encampment consisted of thirty or forty wigwams or tents made of buffalo skins, arranged in a circle, on the outside of which the horses were quietly feeding, with their fore-feet tied together. The Indians, of whom there seemed to be nearly forty, were squatting on the ground, and looked as immovable as if they were blocks of wood or stone. They were rather tall, and possessed athletic frames and expressive features. Some of them, although reserved and moody, were really good-looking. They wore a sort of jacket of leather round the waist; a kind of mantle of buffalo skin, with the hair on, hung loosely over one shoulder; and a belt or