CHAPTER IV.
THE LONE INDIAN.
“Steady, Phœbe,” murmured the stranger in a dazed, uncertain way, recognizing the voice of his faithful mare, but not realizing where he was. “Sweet Phœbe,” he whispered again, his eyes closing dreamily as the horse answered to his words with a delighted little neigh.
“Out of his head,” whispered John Jerome in tones of sympathy.
“He must have lain here since last evening, at least,” Ree answered, “and his horse has not moved from the spot. He had probably ridden up here to camp for the night and had not even unsaddled his mare when he was shot. We must keep our eyes wide open, old chap.”
“It is just such another sneaking murder as they told about at Pittsburg, Ree.”
“You go back and bring up the cart, John. We may as well camp right here. It is the safest spot we can find, according to the old saying that ‘lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place.’”
John hurried away to carry out this suggestion, while Kingdom prepared to build a small fire, taking the precaution to dig a hole in the earth for that purpose, and covering this nearly over with strips of green bark that the flame would be concealed and not bring the Indians down upon them.
In a short time John returned with Neb and the wagon and with blankets and fur robes a comfortable bed for the wounded stranger was soon made. While one lad prepared supper, then, the other unharnessed and unsaddled their own and the Quaker’s horse and tethered them by short ropes where they might drink or graze along the bank of the stream. It was apparent that the dapple gray had eaten nothing during the long watch over its wounded master for now the animal drank and ate most greedily.
A sort of broth, not unlike beef tea, was prepared from venison for the sick man and though the boys persuaded him to swallow some of it, he was still delirious and knew nothing of where he was or what had happened.
A more thorough examination of the stranger’s condition revealed the fact that he had been shot through the left side, just over the heart, and either in falling or from the butt of a rifle or some similar instrument had received an ugly wound on his head, just back of his right ear. These injuries, added to the fact that his scalp had been carried off, made it quite miraculous that he was still alive.