For a short time, the Otoes watched the movements of the party, then turning off, they crossed the prairie, and disappeared in a piece of forest. CHAPTER XVIII. _Elk Chase.—Indian Sagacity.—Indian Camp._ On the following day we were traversing a valley between two black prairie hills, when the crack of a rifle sounded from a distant hollow, and was followed by a loud shout. The Indians stopped short, and listened, but the shout was not repeated. At length a young Pawnee, impatient, sprang upon a horse and galloped over a hill, beyond which the shout had arisen. As he disappeared over its top, a second shout was heard. After the lapse of a few moments a loud whoop rose from the same quarter, and suddenly a powerful buck elk, with branching antlers, and enormous tynes, dashed with mad leaps to the summit of the hill. He stopped short at the sight of our band and glared wildly around. He was wounded in the shoulder, and the Pawnee was in hot pursuit. Casting a quick glance round at his foe, and throwing back his head, he bounded along the ridge. The wound in his shoulder, lessened his speed. The Pawnee plied his lash. The heavy hoofs of his horse, struck with a jarring sound upon the burnt prairie; and a whirl of black ashes was raised in a light cloud around him. His long hair streamed in the air, and his dark, heavy robe, fluttered from his shoulders, as he dashed forward. A great interest in the result was evinced. The Pawnees were anxious that their hunter should acquit himself well, in the presence of a foreign tribe, who watched his movements with a jealous eye. The Otoes lost their usual cold character, in the earnest interest, excited by the headlong chase; and the Indian hunter who had wounded the elk, stood upon the top of the hill, leaning upon the muzzle of his rifle, and watching the success of his ally.