value upon it. As Jack Carleton remarked later on, praise ran from
Deerfoot like water from a duck's back.

But another matter forced itself upon the attention of the boys, who
were on their way to the settlement. It has been stated already
that the father of Otto Relstaub was penurious, miserly, and cruel.
The colt on which the boy had ridden to Coatesville, Kentucky, and
part of the way back again, was the better of the two horses owned
by him. Its loss was certain to throw him into a great rage, and
doubtless would bring down the severest punishment on the back and
shoulders of the son.

Jack Carleton understood this prospect as well as did Otto himself,
and he was of the belief that a resolute effort should be put forth
to recover the horse. When the matter was stated to Deerfoot, his
own knowledge of the ill-tempered German caused him to urge the
attempt. In fact he would have done so, had the case been otherwise,
for the value of the animal was considerable. Furthermore, Deerfoot
was of the opinion that the colt could be regained without serious
difficulty, and he told them they had little to fear from hostile
Indians.

Had the Shawanoe seen the canoe, loaded to the gunwales with red men
in their war paint, which at that very moment was stealing close
under the Louisiana shore, be would have modified his remarks to a
very considerable extent.

The peculiarly original manner in which the boys crossed the
Mississippi had resulted in carrying them some distance below the
trail that trended to the westward. As the runaway horse had