themselves. See, here are faint traces of blood, yet staining the grass,
and here is a trail leading out of the bushes and into the grass that
lines the slopes of the hill. The trail goes forward, and then it comes
back. It is quite clear to both of us, Dagaeoga, that a warrior,
creeping through the long grass, tried to stalk the hill, but met a
bullet instead. Those who lay upon the hill and defended themselves were
not asleep. They could detect warriors who tried to steal forward and
secure good shots at them. And they could fire at long range and hit
their targets. Now, soldiers know too little of the forest to do that,
and so it must have been scouts or rangers."

"Perhaps some of the rangers belonging to Rogers. We know that he's
operating in this region."

"It was in my thought too, Great Bear, that the rangers of the Mountain
Wolf lay on the hill. See, here is a second trace of blood, and it also
came from a warrior who tried to stalk the hill, but who had to come
back again after he had been kissed by a bullet. The men up there among
the bushes never slept, and they allowed no one of their enemies to come
near enough for a good shot with a musket. The chances are ninety-nine
out of a hundred that they were rangers, Great Bear, and we may speak of
them as rangers. Now, we come to a spot where at least a dozen warriors
lay, and, since their largest force was here, it is probable that their
chief stayed at this spot. See, the small bones of the deer picked clean
are lying among the bushes. I draw from it the opinion, and so do you,
Great Bear, that the warriors kept up the siege of the hill until dawn,
because at dawn they would be most likely to eat their breakfast, and
these little bones of the deer prove that they did eat this breakfast
here. Now, it is very probable that they went away, since they could win
nothing from the defenders of the hill."