"It was murder," said Wolf Ear sullenly, and then, before the other could frame a reply, his swarthy face lightened up. "But you and I, Brinton, are friends; I shot at you because I thought you were someone else; it would have grieved my heart had I done you harm; I am glad I did not; I offer you my hand." Young Kingsland could not refuse the proffer, though he was far from feeling comfortable, despite his narrow escape a moment before. "I thought you were a civilised Indian, Wolf Ear," he added, as he relinquished the grasp, and the two once more looked in each other's countenances; "you told me so when I last saw you." Wolf Ear, the Ogalalla, was sent to Carlisle, when only eight years old. Unusually bright, he had made good progress, and won the golden opinions of his teachers by his gentle, studious deportment, and affection for those that had been kind to him. He spoke English as well as the whites, and was a fine scholar. He went back to his people, when sixteen years old, and did what he could to win them from their savagery and barbarism. He and Brinton Kingsland met while hunting at the base of the Black Hills, and became great friends. The young Ogalalla visited the white youth at his home on Raccoon Creek, where he was kindly treated by the Kingslands, and formed a deep affection for little Edith. But nothing had been seen of Wolf Ear for several months. The home of his people was some distance away, but that should not have prevented him from visiting his white friends, who often wondered why he did not show himself among them. Rather curiously, Brinton was thinking of his dusky comrade at the moment he was roused by the shot which nipped his coat sleeve. It was natural that he should be disappointed, and impatient to find that this bright Indian youth, who had lived for several years among civilised people, was carried away by the wave of excitement that was sweeping across the country. He knew that his twin brother and his father were still savages, and it was easy to find excuse for them, but not for Wolf Ear. "You believe in the coming of One to save your people--why should not we place faith in the coming of our Messiah?" was the pertinent question of Wolf Ear. "What is this revelation?" asked Brinton, who had heard many conflicting accounts of the strange craze, and felt a natural desire for an authoritative statement.