The action of Mul-tal-la removed any lingering misgiving the boys may have felt. Had the Blackfoot been distrustful of the honor of Black Elk, the Shoshone chieftain, he himself would have acted as sentinel for the first portion and probably throughout all the darkness; but, while the night was still young, he wrapped himself in his blanket and stretched out to sleep, Victor Shelton speedily doing the same. Left to himself, George Shelton entered upon his task in his usual deliberate manner. The fire was replenished from the wood that had been gathered, and with his gun resting on his shoulder he marked out a beat over which he slowly tramped to and fro. At the middle of the course he moved in front of the fire, so that any foe lingering near could have seen him clearly, and, had he been so disposed, picked off the youth without risk to himself. George at first felt a natural shrinking when he knew his form was shown in relief against the yellow background, but after the pacing had been kept up for an hour or so without molestation this feeling passed off, and his thoughts became tranquil. He often peered into the gloom which walled him in on every hand, pausing and listening, but hearing nothing unusual. His expectation was that some prowling beast would be attracted by the light of the camp-fire, but it was the summer time, when they were not likely to be pressed for food, and nothing in the nature of an attack was to be feared from wolves, bears or any species of forest creatures. The youth looked up at the sky, which was clear and cold. The moon gave only slight illumination, and now and then he traced many of the constellations, as he and his brother had often done when at home or when on the trail in the leafy solitudes. He gazed at the Pleiades, which to him and Victor were always the Seven Stars, and again noted the peculiarity of that beautiful group with which I am sure you are familiar. When you look at the stars fixedly and try to count, you can see but six, but glancing abruptly at them the seven are visible. He recalled the fancy that one of the cluster was so modest that when stared at it shrinks from sight, to steal into view again after the scrutiny is removed. It seemed to George that he never looked at the heavens on a starry night without his eyes immediately resting upon the Dipper, as he and his friends called a portion of the constellation of Ursa Major. Then, too, he traced the Little Dipper, located Orion and the North Star, and in the loneliness of the hour mused upon the One who had launched all these stupendous orbs into space and set them spinning over their mighty orbits, as they shall spin until time shall be no more.