"It is bad," he said, irritably. "It will take us a long time to reach the Shawnee village. Perhaps it will be too late to help Spotted Deer."
"If Spotted Deer is with these people, perhaps he will leave a sign," suggested Turning Eagle.
"I am watching sharp," Running Fox told him.
Soon afterward they lost the trail on a barren, rocky hillside. There were neither tracks nor signs to guide them, and they halted in dismay. Then they separated and began to search. Some moved along the slope, others went along the summit of the ridge.
"Perhaps it is a trick," Crooked Foot said suspiciously. "Perhaps those people have turned off. Perhaps they are not Shawnees."
The possibility was disturbing. Running Fox, however, felt confident. He believed they would find the trail at the base of the ridge. His hopes were verified when Turning Eagle suddenly called:
"Here are tracks," he said.
They hurried down the hillside and found the trail continuing toward the west. They followed it until the end of the day when it led them to a little stream that flowed from the north. Running Fox stopped and looked sharply at Dancing Owl. Dancing Owl nodded understandingly. It was a familiar spot.
"This is the place where Running Fox and Spotted Deer took me away from the Shawnees," he told his companions. "They were very brave. They fought back many Shawnees."
The year previous, Dancing Owl had been captured by the Shawnees, who were taking him to their village, when Running Fox and Spotted Deer discovered his plight. They followed swiftly on the trail and overtook their foes at the stream. Then the daring Delawares crossed the water below their enemies and concealed themselves in the bushes on the opposite side of the stream. As the Shawnees were crossing, the two young Delawares made a fierce attack from ambush and threw the Shawnees into such confusion that Dancing Owl was able to escape. Then the three Delawares sped safely away while the bewildered Shawnees were hiding in the woods in fear of an attack from a large war party of Delawares. Dancing Owl told the story to his friends with great delight.