CHAPTER XXIV.
I would it were bed-time, Hal, and all well.
-- Shakspeare.
A second glance sufficed to convince the whole of the startled party, that the young Pawnee, whom they had already encountered, again stood before them.

Surprise kept both sides mute, and more than a minute was passed in surveying each other, with eyes of astonishment, if not of distrust.

The wonder of the young warrior was, however, much more tempered and dignified than that of his Christian acquaintances.

While Middleton and Paul felt the tremor, which shook the persons of their dependant companions, thrilling through their own quickened blood, the glowing eye of the Indian rolled from one to another, as if it could never quail before the rudest assaults.

His gaze, after making the circuit of every wondering countenance, finally settled in a steady look on the equally immovable features of the trapper.