Making use of each bush and rock, he slowly ascended the steep inclined plane. At times he was so close to some of the Indians, that he might have touched them with his arm had he so desired; but the reader may rest assured, Pandy did not take the trouble to test this. He was fated, however, to meet with one scrape before gaining his destination, and which came very near being fatal to him. It was among a cluster of rocks, and the ranger had mounted a sort of cliff to expedite matters. Accidents are not confined alone to the careless, although they meet with more than the prudent, no doubt. Pandy's foot slipped and over he went. It was certainly mortifying that after taking five minutes to get up this nice little cliff, he should descend it in a few seconds; it would have been even more so had he landed on the hard rocks below, for the fall was no petty one. As luck would have it, however, an Indian brave happened to be below, and on this poor devil came the brunt of the tumble. This being in the shape of a hundred and sixty pounds avoirdupois, proved to be too much for the equanimity of his mind and the balance of his body, as the poor fellow immediately collapsed. He was only a little confused, however, and had sense enough to lay hold of the object that struck him, so that Pandy sought the ground almost as soon as did the other. Perhaps the Indian had a vague notion that it was a comrade who had fallen upon him. If so, then he had no time to frame this idea into a thought, for the hill-top fell over upon him, at least the warrior thought so when he opened his eyes hours later in this world of pain. Pandy had only given him a sound argument in the shape of a blow between the eyes. Again the ranger pursued his upward way. The small cliff was successfully scaled, and beyond this traveling seemed much easier so far as lifeless obstructions were concerned. It would be impossible to follow Pandy's movements after this; they were inimical with those of a snake, crawling hither and thither, passing under the noses of red watchers, and close beside the fighting braves. How he did it the trapper chief could not tell himself. With a thousand chances against him, he successfully gave the savage Sioux the slip, and, all unknown to them, passed from their outer line, and scaling the rudely thrown up earth-works, found himself among the rifle pits of the soldiers. CHAPTER XIV. THE BOY TRAILER AT WORK. It needed no second look to convince Mason that it was the giant's canoe his eyes beheld, nor did he stop to examine the moving object more closely. Having arranged his course of action long before, he now stepped quietly into the water, and when it reached as high as his neck, began swimming out.