The next minute the three moved toward the spot indicated. Their lives had accustomed them to many repulsive and terrible scenes, but all were visibly shocked by what they saw. It was a magnificently-formed Blackfoot warrior, lying flat upon his back, while the bird had been tearing its meal from his vitals. He had undoubtedly been dead several days, else the odor would not have penetrated so far, but there was no bullet-mark upon his person, so far as the three could see without a more minute examination than any chose to make. “What killed him?” asked Black Tom. “The beast,” was the instant answer of Teddy. “What makes you say that?” asked Tom, turning rather sharply upon the Irishman. “Look how his hid is broke in,” replied Teddy, as he pointed downward. “Thar ar’ only two things that could break it in that shtyle.” “Wal, what are they?” “A shillalegh or the baste; and, as there is no one prisent that can wield the shillalegh but your humble servant, Teddy O’Doherty, be the same towken it must have bin the baste.” The trappers acquiesced in the decision of their companion, and felt certain that the Blackfoot had been a victim to the fury of the brute that had so terrified them. It was plain that he had been struck a terrible blow on the head and face, a blow that had crushed in his skull as though it were an egg-shell. Here there was a demonstration of what this fearful creature could do, when excited by anger, and it sent a natural shudder through the whole three. “I tell yer,” said old Stebbins, in a solemn undertone, “it wouldn’t take much to turn me back ag’in toward the States.” Black Tom was silent a moment, and then shook his head. “No; thar’s gold around us, and we’ll stay long ’nough to git some of it to pay fur comin’ hyar.” “I’d rather have the Blackfeet swarmin’ all around, than that ar’ single critter.” “So would I; but how you goin’ to help it?” “Kaap with me,” said Teddy. “The baste and mesilf ar’ on the bist of terms, as me Bridget remarked whin she threw her parlor-sofa (that she used as a bootjack) at me hid, and by r’ason of me prisence wid yees, ye’ll be thrated in the same ilegant shtyle.” All this might be true, but there was little probability of it, and the two trappers were too great veterans in the service to place any reliance upon it. Indeed they believed it would be fatal foolhardiness for the Irishman to trust himself in its power again. But they saw no remedy except to retreat, and they were not yet prepared for that. So they returned to the brook and resumed their hunt for the gold. By this time the afternoon was well nigh passed, and little time was left for them to continue their work. They had nigh reached the place where they had discovered the auriferous particles the preceding spring, and they pressed on until they saw the yellow ore gleaming under the crystal waters, just as it had gleamed there for many a long year.