Because of all this, Alden halted just beyond the shadow thrown out by the huge wide cover of the Conestoga. His nerves were at the highest tension, and the feeling was strong upon him that some frightful danger was stealing upon the camp.
With the suddenness of lightning the truth flashed upon him. The second disturbance in the grass was for the purpose of drawing him away from his post, so as to leave that particular wagon and its precious load unguarded!
Not only was such the purpose of the Indian but the daring plan succeeded!
CHAPTER VII
JUST IN TIME
At the instant of turning, Alden saw a form rise from the grass, less than two rods from the wagon, and glide with incredible swiftness toward it. The Indian was crouching, a rifle in his left hand and a knife in his right. Through an unexplainable instinct he knew where some of the women and children were sleeping, and he intended to bound in among them, strike right and left with venomous fierceness, slaying the sleepers with lightning-like quickness, and then dart away in the moonlight.
Half the intervening space was passed when the youth brought his gun to his shoulder and in the same instant fired. The interval was too brief to miss. The warrior emitted a rasping screech, flung up his arms and dived head foremost, so close to the Conestoga that he slid like a sleigh over the ice beyond the hind wheels and lay motionless on his face.
Alden was on the spot in a twinkling. Aflame with rage, he looked down at the lifeless form and bitterly exclaimed: