Two hours after dark the feasting and dancing were under way. The red warriors provided meat for some time to come, indulged in much speechmaking, and one chief aroused great enthusiasm. Hickok did not know this man, and could not well get near enough to hear what he said--too many fires were burning, and the odor of cooking meat was wafted out to him, telling that the feasting and revelry would last throughout the night. Hickok knew where to find the horses this time, and had no trouble in passing the guard, who was all eyes and ears for the camp. But the first difficulty to overcome was an extra guard that had been posted over the stolen horses. These were apart from the ponies, probably because Bear Paw absolutely refused to associate with the Indian mustangs, and he usually emphasized his dislike in a way that made it unsafe for the smaller animals. The two horses were lariated on the bank of the little stream opposite the others and farther from the camp fires. This was fortunate in itself for the Laramie man, but the Indians had taken the precaution to post a separate sentry by them. The buck sat with his face to the firelight a few feet from the horses. He was smoking and now and then mumbling to himself, probably disgruntled comments on his ill luck at being unable to partake of the night’s festivities. In their anxiety to begin the sport the Indians had given their ponies scant time to graze, and the latter were out of temper and quarrelsome. They bit, kicked, and squealed in a continuous hubbub. This noise assisted the Laramie man to carry out his plan. He crossed the brook, and crept silently toward the unsuspecting guard. From behind clumps of sage he picked out his way, and crawled nearer and nearer. The buck was viciously sweeping the weeds about him with the muzzle of his rifle. “I’ll vent your temper a bit presently,” thought the Laramie man, creeping nearer and ready for a spring at the slightest turn of the Indian’s head, which was outlined against the firelight beyond. A silent bound, a dull thud, and the buck rolled over without a moan. The Laramie man’s revolver butt had descended true and hard. Hickok acted quickly. He cut the lariats of the horses, hitched Bear Paw’s line to his own saddle, and was just swinging into the saddle when there was a surprised “Ugh!” behind him, a shot, and Buffalo Bill’s right bower darted out upon the plain like a whirlwind, with the whole Indian encampment behind him in wild turmoil. CHAPTER XXIII. IN THE SIOUX CAMP. Buffalo Bill examined the ground closely where he and Hickok had tethered the horses the previous evening. He went over the ground inch by inch in search of a clue to the cause of the Laramie man’s disappearance. He knew that only some extraordinary occurrence would have called Hickok from the place before his--Cody’s--return. At last he found one of the hitch pins where Hickok had thrown it, several rods from the space the horses had grubbed.