With noiseless steps the gaunt beast came onward. It halted by the side of the motionless figure.
The fierce eyes of the wolf peered into the face of the human, and the huge jaws opened and shut with an ominous clash.
Then from the tree-top the carrion bird stooped again to earth.
Alarmed for a moment by the flap of the wings, the wolf lifted its huge jowl and displayed its white tusks in anger. The prowling beast was willing to fight for the human banquet.
But the carrion crow and the huge gray wolf were comrades of old in the great greenwood, and many a banquet had they shared together.
The crow opened its beak and the wolf licked its jaws as they stood by the side of the fallen man.
CHAPTER XI.
THE SURPRISE.
Boone, concealed in the bushes behind the fallen tree, on which sat the Indian girl and the red warrior, cursed the unlucky star that led the twain to select the place of his concealment for a stolen interview.
The scout hardly dared to breathe lest he should betray his presence to the two.