Page:Hendryx--Connie Morgan with the Mounted.djvu/127

Rh spur of a timbered ridge terminates abruptly in a high promontory around which the creek makes a sharp curve, forming a horseshoe bend. And upon this spur, whose timber formed some slight protection from the bitter winds of winter, a small band of the Brushwoods had set up their village of tepees. They are a peaceful people, lazy and self-satisfied, living upon game and fish, and the barter of fur. To supply their need for firewood, lodge-poles, and timber for sleds and caches, the Indians had cleared the trees from the ridge for a space of several hundred yards between the village on the extreme end of the spur and the mountains that towered upon the land side. And this was the village the Mooseheads had undertaken to plunder.

Long before Ick Far beached the canoe at the mouth of the Lansing, the sound of scattering shots reached the ears of its occupants. They've run onto th' Brushwoods!" exclaimed Toad. "They's a-goin' to be some scrappin' along this here crick, an' if we aim to do any good we'd better dive into it—listen at that!" Even as the man spoke, the shots suddenly burst into a furious fusilade. Volley after volley came