The Indian then made browse-beds in the open for the Overland girls, and again disappeared.
"What's the matter with that pesky savage ?" demanded the forest woman.
"He's wuss'n the bear." Hippy suggested that perhaps the Indian had gone off by himself to listen to the voices of nature.
"Perhaps he has gone away to shoot somebody's wooden leg," suggested Emma demurely.
Elfreda nodded, and said she too was convinced that Willy Horse had fired the shots that shattered Peg Tatem's wooden leg, and the girls agreed with her.

They never got any nearer to the truth of that occurrence, for, when questioned later about it, Willy Horse seemed unable to understand what they were talking about.
The Indian did not reappear until the following morning.

That day he led them a long chase and kept the Overlanders at a fast jog.

How he ever stood up under it they could not imagine, and when they stopped he was breathing naturally, and did not appear to be in the least fatigued.
"Come camp to-night," he told them when asked how near they were to their destination.
The woman guide had little to say, but her sour expression told the Overlanders that she was not pleased that the Indian was leading them.
The skies clouded over late in the afternoon, and later a drizzling rain set in, but they continued on, well protected by their waterproof coats, the hoods of which covered their heads.

Henry, however, was a disconsolate-looking object, but Hindenburg, riding in Hippy's saddle bag, was dry and cosy, sleeping soundly as the rain pattered on his sleeping quarters.
Night found the party still some little distance from its destination, and Willy Horse was appealed to for encouragement.