Fred realized this when the party had traveled for several hours through the dense forest. From the position of the sun he could tell what time of the day it was, yet he knew, too, that they had not covered more than a mile. There were creeks to cross, swamps to circumvent, fallen trees to avoid, and difficulties of all kinds. At noon the three held a council and considered what to do. "The guide was right in saying that we cannot travel through the woods on horseback," Fred began; "I fear we must get rid of the steeds." "But how are we to walk through this mass of entanglement," Agnes asked. "We certainly won't make headway without the horses." "Agnes is right," Matthew ventured to say. "I don't know where we are going, but I do know that on foot we will not get anywhere. So let's keep the horses." "I fear you are right," Fred meditated, "but I am sure the horses won't benefit us." Suddenly Agnes exclaimed: "I know what we are going to do! We'll get back to the trail, and follow that to the next settlement. Samowat said that the Indians are south of us. Very well by this time they may be west of us, and we might escape them since we go east. Let's try it; at least then we know where we are going." "I am in favor of it," Matthew replied; "if we are attacked, we can fight; but who is going to fight with conditions as we find them in this dense underbrush." After some delay Fred gave in, and so the three adventurers turned the heads of their horses south, and after a few hours found the trail which they had left in the morning. Quickly they pushed east, spurring on their horses who by this time were quite exhausted. They traveled until dusk, and they were about to leave the trail and hide in the woods when suddenly Fred's steed neighed. "What's the matter with you?" the boy reproved his horse. "You will never get any oats if you make such a noise like that." To his great horror, however, the neighing was answered by another horse at some distance. "It's time for us to hide!" Fred cried. "Away into the woods! The Indians are coming." Fortunately they found a deep ravine in the woods were they could conceal the horses. "You stay here, till I come back," Fred said. "I will see who they are." "I am coming along," Agnes ventured; "you cannot go alone on so perilous a mission." "Stay back," the lad urged her; "this is a job for one man." But the girl would not listen, and so the two stole along the edge of the ravine hiding themselves as best they could. Near the trail they climbed a huge tree from which they could look down conveniently. In a short time they saw a horse, followed by several others. They were loaded heavily, and Fred saw at once that this was a troop of Indians carrying supplies. In fact, he could not see a single warrior, for ugly women and children followed the train.