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184 "The beast nipped me in the arm," answered the private, trying to suppress a groan. "By George, but he was an ugly one!"

"That's right," put in another soldier. "You can be thankful you wasn't chewed up."

A brief search revealed the fact that the panther had left the vicinity, and then the others set to work to bind up the wounds the captain and Carwell had sustained.

"We had better move on now," said the young officer, when the hurts had been attended to. "If there are Indians or desperadoes around they must certainly have heard those shots, and they will be wondering what they mean."

They marched on in the gloom, and did not halt until the sun was showing itself over the hills to the eastward. They had now gained a rise of ground from which with a field-glass the fort might have been seen. But the young captain's glass was gone—confiscated, as already told, by those who had first attacked him.

"We will draw closer with caution," said the young officer. "We don't want to walk into any trap."

Less than a mile was covered, when Peck, who had been sent out in advance, came back and called for silence.

"Some Indians are ahead," he said.