It was quite evident that they were spent.

Beyond the pool was a tiny valley or glade with a good growth of grass, and, after tying the reins to the pommels of the saddles, they released the two faithful beasts there.

Obed thought once of tethering them but he reflected that to do so would make them sure targets of the Indian bullets or arrows.

They, too, deserved a chance to escape.
Then he and Ned looked around for the fort, of which they had spoken, and they found it beyond the pool in an opening which would have been called a little prairie in the far north.

In the center of this opening grew a rather thick cluster of trees, and there was some fallen wood.