The men had evidently been through a rough experience, and seemed to have lost all inclination to proceed any further into the unknown country of mysteries. Indeed, from certain words that they had dropped, it was plain nothing could induce them to return. They meant to head directly toward the camp near the Mandan village. This being the case, Dick was anxious to learn all he could before the separation came about, and so he did not attempt to chide Roger on account of the other's impatience when he burst out with: "Now please tell us what it was all about, and who pursued Jasper Williams at the time you saw him last?" Hardy seemed to be the best talker, for it was he who answered. "The Indians came down on us when we were not expecting an attack," he explained, looking somewhat humiliated, for a frontiersman was apt to feel a blush of shame when compelled to admit that for once his vigilance had relaxed. "Were you in camp at the time?" asked Roger. "Yes, close to the river," Hardy continued. "We had been seeing some wonderful things, and Jasper seemed to believe there were others even more amazing beyond. Then, like a bolt out of the clear sky, they dropped down on us. Some sprang from the bushes, while others appeared on the river in canoes made from dugout logs." He drew a long breath, as though the recollection of that sudden attack would give him a bad feeling for a long time to come. "But you must have snatched up your guns and fought them?" pursued Roger, who could not picture Jasper Williams doing anything less, since he had the reputation of being an unusually valiant borderman. "That was what we did," replied Hardy. "After shooting and wounding some of our enemies we clubbed our guns and strove to beat our way clear of the howling pack. In some fashion Jasper became separated from us. We managed to burst through the Indians, and fled for the thickest of the neighboring woods. Somehow we did not seem to be pursued, and, wondering at that, I looked over my shoulder, hearing the yells of the savages growing fainter." "Yes, and what did you see?" Roger demanded. "Jasper had managed to leap into one of their canoes, and was paddling like mad up the rough water of the Yellowstone, with the other boats in hot pursuit. They vanished from our sight around a bend in the stream, but for a long time we could hear the sound of distant yells when the wind turned that way." "You do not know certainly, then, that Jasper was captured or killed?" Dick asked. "We cannot say," replied Hardy. "All we thought about then was to get away from that region, and start back to the camp. We have seen enough of this wild country to satisfy us. By accident we managed in the darkness of the night to fall into that hole, and we have been held prisoners there ever since, suffering all the tortures of cold, hunger and despair. When we heard you call out it seemed to us the finest sound we had ever listened to."