Fraser's shot drew many eyes to the river. For, in the winter time, any occurrence, however trifling, could get the instant attention of the lonely garrison. Troopers in various stages of dress came tumbling out upon the long porch at barracks; others looked from the many windows of the big frame structure; the washer-women and their hopefuls blocked the doorways of "Clothes-Pin Row"; officers everywhere--at headquarters, at the sutler's, in their homes--and their wives and families, up and down the "Line," remarked the signal. But when Lounsbury brought up beside Fraser, and the two seemed to be occupying themselves with nothing in particular, the onlookers laid the shot to an over-venturesome water-rat, and so withdrew from their points of vantage. "What is it?" was the storekeeper's first breathless demand. The young officer, hands on hips, nodded straight ahead. "You see those willows just below the cut?" he asked. "Well, there's a queer, black bunch in 'em." "Yes. Is it a man?" "I think so." "Moved?" "Not yet." "Come on, then. Maybe he's aiming for the coulee mouth, so's to sneak up to the Lancasters' from behind." They charged away across the mile of ice. "If it's Matthews, why didn't he wing me as I went by," panted Lounsbury. "Look, look!" cried Fraser. "Now, he's moving!" They stopped to loosen their revolvers, after which they started again, cautiously. The tops of the willows were shaking. Presently, they spread outward, and the "black bunch" lengthened. Then it emerged, and was resolved into a blanketed Indian. "Charley!" exclaimed the officer. As he spoke, the outcast, shouldering a bundle of sticks, began to climb the cut. The two men looked at each other and burst into a laugh. "Fraser," said Lounsbury, "did you ever hear of the fellow that stalked a deer all day and then found it was a speck on his glasses?" "That's one on me," admitted the lieutenant, sheepishly. "I knew nobody had come out of that door--but you see we were in the stable a while." "'Charley,'--that squaw Indian they told me about, eh? Pretty good to them." "Yes. From what I understand, they're pretty good to him." They followed leisurely, and took up a stand in the cottonwoods above the landing to discuss the situation. At the very outset, Lounsbury determined not to speak of the plan that included Mrs. Martin's aid, the rebuff he had suffered from the section-boss having decided him against it. "By George!" he said regretfully, "I wish when I had Matthews covered that I'd just marched him up the coulee and on to Clark's." "Good idea; too bad you didn't." "But I'll tell you this: I'm not going to stay out here all night just to shoo him off. I've a good mind to happen in down there, sort him out, and do the marching act anyhow." "Now, look here," reminded Fraser; "that wouldn't do. You don't want to kill Matthews, and you don't want to be killed. It'd be one or the other if you poked your nose in there." "What _do_ you advise?"