trust we have not disturbed you,” said Frank, calmly; “and we will leave you in your glory as soon as my friend, who fell from his wheel, is able to mount and ride.”
“No, no!” quickly declared the tall Indian; “white boy no go ’way. Injun like um heap much.”
Browning lifted his cap and felt for his scalp.
“It may be my last opportunity to examine it,” he murmured.
“But we are in a hurry, and we can’t stop with you, however much we may desire to do so,” declared Frank, glibly. “You see we are on urgent business.”
“Yes, very urgent,” agreed Rattleton. “Smoly hoke – no, holy smoke! don’t I wish I were back to New Haven, New York, any old place!”
“White boys must stop,” said the big savage. “Black Feather say so, that settle um.”
“I am afraid it does,” confessed Browning.
Diamond got upon his feet, assisted by Frank.
“Well,” he said, somewhat bitterly, “that is what we have come to by failing to heed the warning we received!”
“Don’t go to croaking!” snapped Rattleton. “These Indians are peaceable. They are not on the war path.”
“But they are off the reservation,” said Frank, in a low tone; “and that is bad. They have us foul, and there is no telling what they may take a notion to do.”
“It’s pretty sure they’ll take a notion to do us,” sighed Harry.
The tall Indian, who had given his name as Black Feather, professed great friendliness, and, when the boys told him they had been looking for the water-hole, he said:
“Um water-hole dare by fire. Good water, heap much of it. Come, have all water um want.”
“Well, that is an inducement,” confessed Browning. “We may be able to get a square drink before we are scalped.”
It was with no small difficulty that Toots was forced to get up, and, after he was on his feet, he would look at first one Indian and then dodge, and look at another, each time gurgling:
“O-oh, Lord!”
And so, surrounded by the Indians, the boys moved over to the fire, which was near the water-hole, as Black Feather had declared.
“Well, we’ll all drink,” said Frank, as he produced his pocket cup and proceeded to fill it. “Here, fellows, take turns.”
While they were doing so the Indians were examining their bicycles with great curiosity. It was plain the savages had never before seen anything of the kind, and they were filled with astonishment and mystification. They grunted and jabbered, and then one of them decided to get on and try one of the wheels.
It happened that this one was the smallest, shortest-legged redskin of the lot, and he selected the machine with the highest frame.
“Ugh!” he grunted. “White boy ride two-wheel hoss, Injun him ride two-wheel hoss heap same. Watch Blue Wolf.”
“Yes,” said Browning, softly, nudging Merriwell in the ribs with his elbow, “watch Blue Wolf, and you will see him smash my bicycle. I sincerely hope he will break his confounded head at the same time!”
“White boy show Injun how um git on,” ordered Blue Wolf.
“Go ahead, Bruce,” directed Frank.
“Oh, thunder!” groaned the big fellow. “I’m so tired!”
But he was forced to show the Indians how he mounted the wheel, which he did, being dragged off almost as soon as he got astride the saddle.
“Ugh!” grunted Blue Wolf, with great satisfaction. “Um heap much easy. Watch Blue Wolf.”
“Yes, watch Blue Wolf!” repeated Browning. “It will be good as a circus! Oh, my poor bicycle!”
With no small difficulty the little Indian steadied the wheel, reaching forward to grasp the handlebars while standing behind it. The first time he lifted his foot to place it on the step he lost his balance and fell over with the machine.
The other Indians grunted, and Blue Wolf got up, saying something in his own language that seemed to make the atmosphere warmer than it was before.
The bicycle was lifted and held for the little Indian to make another trial. He looked as if he longed to kick it into a thousand pieces, but braced up, placed his foot on the step and made a wild leap for the saddle. He missed the saddle, struck astride the frame just back of the handlebars, uttered a wild howl of dismay, and went down in hopeless entanglement with the unfortunate machine.
“Wow!” howled Blue Wolf.
“Oh, my poor bicycle!” groaned Browning, once more.
The fallen redman kicked the bicycle into the air, but it promptly came down astride his neck and drove his nose into the dirt.
“Ugh!” grunted the watching Indians, solemnly.
“Whoop!” roared Blue Wolf, spitting out a mouthful of dirt.
Then he made another frantic attempt to cast the machine off, but it persisted in sticking to him in a wonderful manner. One of his arms was thrust through the spokes of the forward wheel to the shoulder, and as he tried to yank it out, the rear wheel spun around and one of the pedals gave him a terrific thump on the top of the head.
“Yah!” snarled the unlucky Indian.
“Two-wheel hoss kick a heap,” observed Black Feather.
Blue Wolf tried to struggle to his feet, but he was so entangled with the bicycle that it seemed to fling him down with astonishing violence.
Then as the noble red man kicked, and squirmed, and struggled, the bicycle danced and pranced upon his prostrate body like a thing of life.
“O-o-oh!” wailed Blue Wolf, in pain and fear.
Toots suddenly forgot his fears, and holding onto his side, he doubled up with a wild burst of “coon” laughter.
“Oh, land ob watermillions!” he shouted. “Dat bisuckle am knockin’ de stuffin’ out ob Mistah Injun! Yah! yah! yah! Lordy! lordy! ’Scuse meh, but I has ter laff if it costs me all de wool on mah haid!”
Browning folded his arms, a look of intense satisfaction on his face as he observed:
“I have made a discovery that will be worth millions of dollars to the government of the United States. Now I know a swift and sure way of settling the Indian question. Provide every Indian in the country with a bicycle, and there will be no Indians left in a week or two.”
“Gamlet’s host – I mean Hamlet’s ghost!” chuckled Rattleton, holding his hand over his mouth to keep from shrieking with laughter. “I never saw anything like that before!”
Merriwell sprang forward and assisted Blue Wolf in untangling himself from the wheel, fearing the bicycle would be utterly ruined.
The
