Footprints in the Forest   By: Edward Sylvester Ellis (1840-1916)

"LOG CABIN SERIES." NO. 8.

BY EDWARD S. ELLIS

AUTHOR OF "NED IN THE BLOCK HOUSE," "NED IN THE WOODS," "NED ON THE RIVER," "THE LOST TRAIL," ETC.

PHILADELPHIA: PORTER & COATES.

COPYRIGHT, 1886, BY PORTER & COATES.

[Illustration: AN UNWELCOME SUMMONS.]

CONTENTS.

I. RETROSPECTIVE

II. A VALUABLE ALLY

III. THE CAMP OF THE STRANGERS

IV. THE QUARREL

V. SHAWANOE VS. PAWNEE

VI. A DOUBLE FAILURE

VII. A DISAPPOINTMENT

VIII. THE FLIGHT OF DEERFOOT

IX. THE PAWNEES ARE ASTONISHED

X. SAUK AND PAWNEE

XI. A REVERSAL OF SITUATION

XII. INDIAN HONOR

XIII. THE TWINKLE OF A CAMP FIRE

XIV. IN THE TREE TOP

XV. AN UNEXPECTED CALL

XVI. A STARTLING CONCLUSION

XVII. OTHER ARRIVALS

XVIII. WITH THE RIVER BETWEEN

XIX. JACK AND HAY UTA

XX. UNCONGENIAL NEIGHBORS

XXI. JACK CARLETON MAKES A MOVE ON HIS OWN ACCOUNT

XXII. A CLEW AT LAST

XXIII. RECROSSING THE RIVER

XXIV. A SUMMONS AND A SURRENDER

XXV. LONE BEAR'S REVELATION

XXVI. AN INTERESTING QUESTION

XXVII. A STRANGE STORY

XXVIII. A STARTLING INTERRUPTION

XXIX. A FIGHT AND A RETREAT

XXX. A SURPRISING DISCOVERY

XXXI. A FATAL FAILURE

XXXII. THE PRAYER OF HAY UTA IS THE PRAYER OF DEERFOOT

XXXIII. CONCLUSION

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

AN UNWELCOME SUMMONS.

A DISPUTED POINT.

A CRITICAL SITUATION.

THE DEATH OF HAY UTA.

FOOTPRINTS IN THE FOREST.

CHAPTER I.

RETROSPECTIVE.

Those of my friends who have done me the honor of reading "Campfire and Wigwam," will need little help to recall the situation at the close of that narrative. The German lad Otto Relstaub, having lost his horse, while on the way from Kentucky to the territory of Louisiana (their destination being a part of the present State of Missouri), he and his young friend, Jack Carleton, set out to hunt for the missing animal. Naturally enough they failed: not only that, but the two fell into the hands of a band of wandering Sauk Indians, who held them prisoners.

Directly after the capture of the lads, their captors parted company, five going in one direction with Jack and the other five taking a different course with Otto. "Camp Fire and Wigwam" gave the particulars of what befell Jack Carleton. In this story, I propose to tell all about the hunt that was made for the honest lad, who had few friends, and who had been driven from his own home by the cruelty of his parents to engage in a search which would have been laughable in its absurdity, but for the danger that marked it from the beginning.

The youth, however, had three devoted friends in Jack Carleton, his mother, and Deerfoot, the Shawanoe. But for the compassion which the good woman felt for the lad, she never would have consented that her beloved son should enter the wilderness for the purpose of bringing him home.

One fact must be borne in mind, however, in recalling the two expeditions. In the former Jack and Otto were the actors, but now the hunters were Jack and Deerfoot, and therein lay all the difference in the world. Well aware of the wonderful woodcraft of the young warrior, his courage and devotion to his friends, the parent had little if any misgivings, when she kissed her boy good by, and saw him enter the wilderness in the company of the dusky Shawanoe.