Not even asking where he intended to go, Joseph and Robert followed Deerfoot and in a half-dazed condition walked beside him. To be made orphans as suddenly and as unexpectedly as these two boys had been, would be a shock to anyone and both young frontiersmen felt their loss keenly.
They made their way across the clearing and were just about to enter the woods when from behind them came the sharp bark of a rifle. A bullet sang above their heads and buried itself in a nearby tree.
CHAPTER IV
A HIDDEN RETREAT
Neither Joseph nor Robert nor Deerfoot stopped to see who it was that had fired at them. Without a word they plunged quickly in among the trees and once again started on a race for their lives. From behind them came the faint sounds of the war whoops, which only served to increase the speed of the three fugitives.
They had baffled and eluded their pursuers the night previous, but could they do it again? That was the thought uppermost in the minds of the three hunted men who were once more closely pressed by their enemies. Certainly they intended to do their utmost.
No sounds reached them from behind now, but this did not mean that their foes had given up the chase. The two brothers and their Indian friend realized that this time it was to be a race to a finish. Black Hawk and his band had been foiled once and consequently it would be all the harder to escape them the second time. The three fugitives knew that their enemies would keep up the pursuit until the race was definitely settled.
On and on Deerfoot led the way until they emerged from the woods onto the open prairie. There was an open space, at least a mile wide here, bordered on both sides by the forest and directly out upon this Deerfoot sped.
“They’ll see us here surely, Deerfoot,” panted Joseph. “We’ll be in plain sight and they can easily shoot us down.”
“Follow Deerfoot,” came the short, sharp reply, and neither Joseph nor his brother offered any more objections.
Deerfoot did not go far from the shelter of the trees, however. He ran perhaps twenty-five or thirty yards from the border of the forest and then turned abruptly to his left. The ground was hard here and the trail as a consequence difficult to follow. Deerfoot kept on in this new course perhaps fifty yards more and then made another sharp turn to his left. This brought them back toward the woods once more.