How they got there was a complete mystery, but the men did not wait to consider that point.  Catching up their guns they sprang after them with the fury of madmen, and were quickly scattered far and wide.  Dick ordered Crusoe to follow and help the men, and turned to spring on the back of Charlie; but at that moment he observed an Indian’s head and shoulders rise above the grass, not fifty yards in advance from him, so without hesitation he darted forward, intending to pounce upon him.

Well would it have been for Dick Varley had he at that time possessed a little more experience of the wiles and stratagems of the Banattees.  The Snake nation is subdivided into several tribes, of which those inhabiting the Rocky Mountains, called the Banattees, are the most perfidious.  Indeed, they are confessedly the banditti of the hills, and respect neither friend nor foe, but rob all who come in their way.

Dick reached the spot where the Indian had disappeared in less than a minute, but no savage was to be seen.  Thinking he had crept ahead, he ran on a few yards farther, and darted about hither and thither, while his eye glanced from side to side.  Suddenly a shout in the camp attracted his attention, and looking back he beheld the savage on Charlie’s back turning to fly.  Next moment he was off and away far beyond the hope of recovery.  Dick had left his rifle in the camp, otherwise the savage would have gone but a short way.  As it was, Dick returned, and sitting down on a mound of grass, stared straight before him with a feeling akin to despair.  Even Crusoe could not have helped him had he been there, for nothing on four legs, or on two, could keep pace with Charlie.

The Banattee achieved this feat by adopting a stratagem which invariably deceives those who are ignorant of their habits and tactics.  When suddenly pursued the Banattee sinks into the grass, and, serpent-like, creeps along with wonderful rapidity, not from but towards his enemy, taking care, however, to avoid him, so that when the pursuer reaches the spot where the pursued is supposed to be hiding, he hears him shout a yell of defiance far away in the rear.

It was thus that the Banattee eluded Dick and gained the camp almost as soon as the other reached the spot where he had disappeared.

One by one the trappers came back weary, raging, and despairing.  In a short time they all assembled, and soon began to reproach each other.  Ere long one or two had a fight, which resulted in several bloody noses and black eyes, thus adding to the misery which, one would think, had been bad enough without such additions.  At last they finished their suppers and their pipes, and then lay down to sleep under the trees till morning, when they arose in a particularly silent and sulky mood, rolled up their blankets, strapped their things on their shoulders, and began to trudge slowly back to the camp on foot.

CHAPTER XXI.