Dick had just finished severing the last of the bonds, and Roger was in the act of stepping forward, when something suddenly occurred that thrilled both boys to the heart, as well as put a different aspect on their method of hasty departure.
From some place back in the woods a little way a loud and singular whoop rang forth. Dick believed that it must be intended as a signal announcing an attack; for, hardly had it ceased to ring through the aisles of the forest, than a deafening chorus of wild yells rang forth, together with the rush of many bodies crashing through the underwood and advancing from every direction toward the camp of the Dacotahs.
CHAPTER XVII
SHELTER IN A HOLLOW TREE
“It is the Shoshone war-cry!” exclaimed Roger, instinctively, as he heard the piercing, bubbling sound that must have been uttered with a hand to the mouth.
Dick seized hold of his chum. He realized that any delay now might prove very costly for them both.
“We must get away from here!” he cried, thinking of what Roger had said concerning the savage ways of the Indians, and how they often preferred killing their prisoners to letting them be set free, or taken by a hostile tribe.
“Your gun, Dick?” asked Roger, breathlessly.
“I mean to make a grab for it,” replied the other, who was already moving off.