Such was not the case; but at that moment there came an overpowering conviction that he was doing a most foolhardy thing in remaining s0 conspicuously in view, when the red-skins were liable to return at any moment and wreak their vengeance upon him for the robbery, to say nothing of the death, of their comrade, which might be attributed to him.  So he hurriedly and quietly withdrew into the outer darkness.

CHAPTER XVIII ALONE IN THE RAVINE

Fred Munson felt that he had been extremely fortunate, not only in securing a good, substantial supper, but in getting a rifle.  With it he could guard against danger and starvation.  In that country, and especially among those mountains, was quite an abundance of game, and he had learned how to aim a gun too well to prevent his throwing any shots away.

By this time the night was well advanced, and he concluded that the wisest thing he could do was to hunt up some place where he could sleep until morning.  This did not seem to be difficult in a country so cut up and broken by rocks, and he moved away from the camp-fire with a sense of deep gratitude for the extraordinary good fortune that had followed him from the time Lone Wolf had withdrawn him from the main party.

“Now, if I could only get a horse,” he said to himself, “I would be set up in business.  I could find the way back to New Boston in a day or two, shooting what game I want, and keeping out of the way of all Indians.  I wonder what has become of Sut Simpson?  I expected he would be somewhere around here before this.  It would be very handy to come across him just now and have him help me home.  And there’s Mickey Rooney.  He went off on one of the best horses; and if he could pick me up and take me along, it wouldn’t need much time for us to get back home.  Ah, if I only had Hurricane here,” he sighed.  “How we would go back through that ravine, leaving behind us the best horses in the country; but there’s no use of thinking of that.  Hurricane is at home, and so he can’t be here, and I must trust to Providence to get back.  I have something now that is of more use than a horse.  If I miss with one charge, I can—­”

He stopped suddenly in amazement, for at that juncture he recalled a piece of great stupidity which he had committed.  He had secured the rifle, and yet he had left without one thought of the indispensable ammunition that was required to make the weapon of any use.  He did not know whether the gun in his hand was loaded or not, in which latter case it was of no more account than a piece of wood.

“Well, if that don’t beat everything,” he muttered, at a loss to understand how he could have committed such an oversight.  “I never once thought of it till this minute, and now it’s too late!”

The reflection of his great need inclined him to return to the camp-fire and incur the risk involved in the effort to repair the blunder that he had committed.