“Well, the authorities have taken every possible precaution,” replied Mr. Melton.  “Jim Hotchkiss, the sheriff, told me that word had been passed to officers of the forts to have the troops in readiness for instant action.  But the ‘noble red man’ is cunning in his own way, and lays his plans carefully.  And when he is ready to strike he strikes quickly, like the snake.  A marauding band will attack and sack a farmhouse, and be forty miles away before the troops arrive on the scene.  And in a country as large and wild as this it is something of a task to corner and subdue them.”

“There hasn’t been any trouble of the kind for a long time, has there?” asked Dick.

“No, not for a good many years,” answered Mr. Melton; “and that inclines me all the more to take the present situation seriously.  These uprisings come only at long intervals now, but it seems impossible to prevent them altogether.  After an outbreak has been put down the Indians are very quiet for a time.  They have probably suffered considerable loss of life, and been severely punished by the government.  For years the memory of this lingers, but gradually it fades away, and the rising generation of young bucks, with the inherited lust of fight and warfare running riot in their blood, become restless and rebellious under the restraints of civilization and government.  They hear stories of their ancestors’ prowess from the lips of the old men of the tribe, and they long to go out and capture a few ‘pale face’ scalps on their own account.  After a while they work themselves up to the required pitch, and some fine day a band of them sallies forth on the ‘war path.’  Then there is a brief time of plundering and murdering, until the troops can come up with them.  Then there’s a scrimmage, in which most of the band is exterminated, and the rest are herded back to the reservation, with most of the fight gone out of them.”

“I should think a few experiences like that would teach them wisdom, and keep them from repeating the experiment,” commented Bert.

“It would seem so,” assented Melton, “but,” with a smile, “youth is always prone to disregard what is told it by its elders, and to insist on finding out the why and wherefore of things by bitter experience.”

“I hope there’s nothing personal in that,” grinned Dick.

“Oh, not at all,” replied his host with an innocent expression on his face, but a twinkle in his eye.  “I wonder what could have given you that idea.”

“Nothing,” replied Dick.  “I just thought it barely possible, that’s all.”

“Oh, no,” disclaimed Melton, “nothing could have been further from my thoughts.”

Dick looked suspicious, and Tom and Bert laughed heartily.

After this little interruption, the talk went back to the subject of the threatened Indian uprising.  After a time Mr. Melton said:  “It might be a good idea for you boys to ride to town to-morrow and get the latest news.  There’ll be very little going on about the ranch to-morrow to interest you, and it will be a good way to spend the day.  Besides, there are one or two things I forgot when in town, and while you are about it you can get them and bring them back with you.”