"I'm thinking we had
best not take to the open just yet."
For answer I parted the willows, and forced myself into the covert,
pressing as closely as possible against the bank, and motioning
him to do the same. He obeyed, and the thick-clustering gold-green
twigs swung into place again, shutting us in with the black water
and the leafy, crumbling bank. From that green dimness we could
look out upon the pool and the grass, with small fear that we
ourselves would be seen.
Out of the shadow of the trees into the grassy space stepped an
Indian; a second followed, a third, a fourth, - one by one they came
from the gloom into the sunlight, until we had counted a score or
more. They made no pause, a glance telling them to what were due
the trampled grass and the muddied water. As they crossed the
stream one stooped and drank from his hand, but they said no word
and made no noise. All were painted black; a few had face and
chest striped with yellow. Their headdresses were tall and
wonderful, their leggings and moccasins fringed with scalp locks;
their hatchets glinted in the sunshine, and their quivers were stuck
full of arrows. One by one they glided from the stream into the
thick woods beyond. We waited until we knew that they were were
deep in the forest, then crept from the willows and went our way.
"They were Youghtenunds," I said, in the low tones we used when
we spoke at all, "and they went to the southward.
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