the water-buckets or cropping the grass; the pack drivers in their high, buckskin leggins and leather jerkins ornamented with beads after the Indian fashion; the little tents of skins, blankets and stained muddy canvas, some of which served as shelters for bundles of merchandise that had been unloaded from the ponies, while others were evidently the sleeping quarters of the party. At the farther edge of the savannah, beyond the camp, Jolie saw two Indians come out of the forest. Each carried a rifle in one hand, while a great dark bird dangled limp and lifeless from the other. Each raised one hand above his head in a stately gesture, and Lachlan replied with a similar salutation.
"My warriors," Lachlan said to Jolie, "Striking Hawk and Little Mink, chiefs of the Muskogee. They have been out for game and they have two turkeys."
From the lower end of the meadow sounded a faint whoop. Three horsemen, all clad in buckskins, had emerged from the woods and were galloping towards the camp.
"Jock Pearson," said Almayne briefly, and rode to meet them.
"We shall have venison, too," said Lachlan, sitting his horse beside Jolie, in front of the first of the tiny tents. "There's a buck behind Ugly Meg Pearson's saddle."
Jolie saw the buck but looked in vain for Meg Pearson. The rider across whose horse the dead deer
