"Yes," added Roger, "and ever afterwards he was the best friend the settlers had. Why, he even followed our parents most of the way down to the Mississippi, when they descended the Ohio River on a flatboat. And then another time, you remember, they won the good will of the great Indian chief, Pontiac, by saving his life." "That is a fact, Roger; and he gave them a wampum belt that kept them from the fury of the Indian ever afterwards. Some people may not think it pays to befriend an Indian, but we have been taught differently." When the three Indians joined the main column Dick tried to ascertain whether they had been successful in their pursuit of Mayhew, or had met with failure. He knew it would be folly to try to obtain this information through the wily Frenchman, who, wishing to add to their distress, would very likely boast that the frontiersman had been brought down. Dick, however, quickly made up his mind that this could not be the case. The sullen manner of the three braves was enough in itself to tell the story of their having been outwitted by Mayhew. Then, besides, if they had slain the hunter they would be shouting of victory and holding up a freshly taken scalp in evidence. "Depend on it, our friend got away," Dick told Roger. "I was thinking that myself," returned the other, "for they look mad enough to bite a nail in two, if they knew what such a thing was." For some little time they marched along steadily. Then the important-looking Indian, who was walking alongside Lascelles, turned, and called out something in his own language. "Good! we are going to stop at last!" muttered Roger. "I can hear the tinkling of a running brook close by. I hope the water is good and cold, and that they let me drink my fill." There was no doubt about it, for the Indians no longer kept pushing forward. To make a camp, when far from home, was an easy matter for these hardy braves, accustomed, as they were, to enduring all manner of hardships with the stoicism that has always distinguished their race. There were no tents to erect, no packs to undo, and getting the meal was a most primitive operation, since it would probably consist of cooking some sort of meat by thrusting it in the flames at the end of long sticks of wood. When some of the braves started to fasten the prisoners to two trees that grew close together, Dick thought it about time to begin making friends. Accordingly he called to Lascelles to approach, as he had a communication to make that might strike him favorably. "I have had some success in binding up gun-shot wounds," Dick told him, "and if I was given a chance I believe I could do that poor fellow some good. He may bleed to death unless something is done." The wily Frenchman eyed him keenly. "Zat sounds very good, but how am I to know zat you vill not try to escape if ze bonds zey are remove?" he demanded suspiciously.