Fifteen or twenty men galloped from the trees, and Ned and Obed, breaking cover, greeted them with joyous shouts, which the men returned in kind.
"You don't come to much," exclaimed Ned, "but we can say to you that never were men more welcome." "Which I beg to repeat and emphasize," said Obed White.
"Speak a little louder," said the foremost of the men, leaning from his horse and couching one hand behind his ear.
Ned repeated his words in a much stronger tone, and the man nodded and smiled.

Ned looked at him with the greatest interest.

He was of middle age and medium size.

Hair and eyes were intensely black, and his complexion was like dark leather.

Dressed in Indian costume he could readily have passed for a warrior.