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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/14876-8.txt b/14876-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2529671 --- /dev/null +++ b/14876-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9198 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Forest Runners, by Joseph A. Altsheler + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Forest Runners + A Story of the Great War Trail in Early Kentucky + +Author: Joseph A. Altsheler + +Release Date: February 2, 2005 [EBook #14876] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FOREST RUNNERS *** + + + + +Produced by Kentuckiana Digital Library, David Garcia, Emmy and the +PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + + +_The_ FOREST RUNNERS + +[Illustration: "A massive black form shot down into the center of the +room." [Page 277.]] + + + +_The_ FOREST RUNNERS + +A STORY OF THE GREAT WAR +TRAIL IN EARLY KENTUCKY + +BY +JOSEPH A. ALTSHELER +AUTHOR OF "THE YOUNG TRAILERS" + + +D. APPLETON-CENTURY COMPANY +INCORPORATED + +NEW YORK LONDON +1936 + + +1908, BY +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY + + + + +1935, BY EQUITABLE TRUST CO +Printed in the United States of America + + +BOOKS BY JOSEPH A. ALTSHELER + + THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR SERIES + + The Hunters of the Hills + The Rulers of the Lakes + The Lords of the Wild + The Shadow of the North + The Masters of the Peaks + The Sun of Quebec + + THE YOUNG TRAILERS SERIES + + The Young Trailers + The Forest Runners + The Keepers of the Trail + The Eyes of the Woods + The Free Rangers + The Riflemen of the Ohio + The Scouts of the Valley + The Border Watch + + THE TEXAN SERIES + + The Texan Star + The Texan Scouts + The Texan Triumph + + THE CIVIL WAR SERIES + + The Guns of Bull Run + The Guns of Shiloh + The Scouts of Stonewall + The Sword of Antietam + The Star of Gettysburg + The Rock of Chickamauga + The Shades of the Wilderness + The Tree of Appomattox + + THE GREAT WEST SERIES + + The Lost Hunters + The Great Sioux Trail + + THE WORLD WAR SERIES + + The Guns of Europe + The Forest of Swords + The Hosts of the Air + + BOOKS NOT IN SERIES + + Apache Gold + The Quest of the Four + The Last of the Chiefs + In Circling Camps + The Last Rebel + A Soldier of Manhattan + The Sun of Saratoga + A Herald of the West + The Wilderness Road + My Captive + The Candidate + +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY New York London + + + + This story, while independent in itself, continues the + fortunes of the two boys who were the central characters + of "The Young Trailers." + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I. PAUL 1 + + II. IN THE RIVER 17 + + III. THE LONE CABIN 36 + + IV. THE SIEGE 59 + + V. THE FLIGHT 72 + + VI. THE BATTLE ON THE HILL 91 + + VII. WHAT HAPPENED IN THE DARK 108 + + VIII. AT THE RIVER BANK 125 + + IX. A CHANGE OF PLACES 142 + + X. THE ISLAND IN THE LAKE 157 + + XI. A SUDDEN MEETING 176 + + XII. THE BELT BEARERS 192 + + XIII. BRAXTON WYATT'S ORDEAL 217 + + XIV. IN WINTER QUARTERS 239 + + XV. WORK AND PLAY 254 + + XVI. NOEL 273 + + XVII. FOOTPRINTS IN THE SNOW 283 + +XVIII. WHAT THE WARRIOR SAW 295 + + XIX. THE WARNING 310 + + XX. THE TERRIBLE FORD 328 + + XXI. THE FLIGHT OF LONG JIM 340 + + XXII. THE LAST STAND 355 + + + + + +THE FOREST RUNNERS + + + + + +CHAPTER I + +PAUL + + +Paul stopped in a little open space, and looked around all the circle of +the forest. Everywhere it was the same--just the curving wall of red and +brown, and beyond, the blue sky, flecked with tiny clouds of white. The +wilderness was full of beauty, charged with the glory of peace and +silence, and there was naught to indicate that man had ever come. The +leaves rippled a little in the gentle west wind, and the crisping grass +bowed before it; but Paul saw no living being, save himself, in the vast, +empty world. + +The boy was troubled and, despite his life in the woods, he had full right +to be. This was the great haunted forest of _Kain-tuck-ee_, where the red +man made his most desperate stand, and none ever knew when or whence +danger would come. Moreover, he was lost, and the forest told him nothing; +he was not like his friend, Henry Ware, born to the forest, the heir to +all the primeval instincts, alive to every sight and sound, and able to +read the slightest warning the wilderness might give. Paul Cotter was a +student, a lover of books, and a coming statesman. Fate, it seemed, had +chosen that he and Henry Ware should go hand in hand, but for different +tasks. + +Paul gazed once more around the circle of the glowing forest, and the +shadow in his eyes deepened. Henry and the horses, loaded with powder for +the needy settlement, must be somewhere near, but whether to right or left +he could not tell. He had gone to look for water, and when he undertook to +return he merely went deeper and deeper into the forest. Now the boughs, +as they nodded before the gentle breeze, seemed to nod to him in derision. +He felt shame as well as alarm. Henry would not laugh at him, but the born +scholar would be worth, for the time, at least, far less than the born +trailer. + +Yet no observer, had there been any, would have condemned Paul as he +condemned himself. He stood there, a tall, slender boy, with a broad, high +brow, white like a girl's above the line of his cap, blue eyes, dark and +full, with the width between that indicates the mind behind, and the firm, +pointed chin that belongs so often to people of intellect. + +Paul and Henry were on their way from Wareville, their home, with horses +hearing powder for Marlowe, the nearest settlement, nearly a hundred miles +away. The secret of making powder from the nitre dust on the floors of the +great caves of Kentucky had been discovered by the people of Wareville, +and now they wished to share their unfailing supply with others, in order +that the infant colony might be able to withstand Indian attacks. Henry +Ware, once a captive in a far Northwestern tribe, and noted for his great +strength and skill, had been chosen, with Paul Cotter, his comrade, to +carry it. Both rejoiced in the great task, which to them meant the saving +of Kentucky. + +Paul's eyes were apt at times to have a dreamy look, as if he were +thinking of things far away, whether of time or place; but now they were +alive to the present, and to the forest about him. He listened intently. +At last he lay down and put his ear to the earth, as he had seen Henry do; +but he heard nothing save a soft, sighing sound, which he knew to be only +the note of the wilderness. He might have fired his rifle. The sharp, +lashing report would go far, carried farther by its own echoes; but it was +more likely to bring foe than friend, and he refrained. + +But he must try, if not one thing, then another. He looked up at the +heavens and studied the great, red globe of the sun, now going slowly +down the western arch in circles of crimson and orange light, and then he +looked hack at the earth. If he had not judged the position of the sun +wrong, their little camp lay to the right, and he would choose that +course. He turned at once and walked swiftly among the trees. + +Paul stopped now and then to listen. He would have uttered the long forest +shout, as a signal to his comrade, but even that was forbidden. Henry had +seen signs in the forest that indicated more than once to his infallible +eye the presence of roving warriors from the north, and no risk must be +taken. But, as usual, it was only the note of the wilderness that came to +his ears. He stopped also once or twice, not to listen, but to look at the +splendid country, and to think what a great land it would surely be. + +He walked steadily on for miles, but the region about him remained +unfamiliar. No smoke from the little camp-fire rose among the trees, and +no welcome sight of Henry or the horses came to his eyes. For all he knew, +he might be going farther from the camp at every step. Putting aside +caution, he made a trumpet of his two hands, and uttered the long, +quavering cry that serves as a signal in the forest. It came back in a +somber echo from the darkening wilderness, and Paul saw, with a little +shiver, that the sun was now going down behind the trees. The breeze rose, +and the leaves rustled together with a soft hiss, like a warning. Chill +came into the air. The sensitive mind of the boy, so much alive to +abstract impressions, felt the omens of coming danger, and he stopped +again, not knowing what to do. He called himself afraid, but he was not. +It was the greater tribute to his courage that he remained resolute where +another might well have been in despair. + +The sun went down behind the black forest like a cannon shot into the sea, +and darkness swept over the wilderness. Paul uttered the long cry again +and again, but, as before, no answer came back; once he fired his rifle, +and the sharp note seemed to run for miles, but still no answer. + +Then he decided to take counsel of prudence, and sleep where he was. If he +walked on, he might go farther and farther away from the camp, but if he +stopped now, while he might not find Henry, Henry would certainly find +him. Any wilderness trail was an open road to his comrade. + +He hunted a soft place under one of the trees, and, despising the dew, +stretched himself between two giant roots, his rifle by his side. He was +tired and hungry, and he lay for a while staring at the blank +undergrowth, but by and by all his troubles and doubts floated away. The +note of the wind was soothing, and the huge roots sheltered him. His +eyelids drooped, a singular feeling of peace and ease crept over him, and +he was asleep. + +It was yet the intense darkness of early night, and the outline of his +figure was lost between the giant roots, but after a while a silver moon +brought a gray tint to the skies, and the black bank over the forest began +to thin and lighten. Then two figures, hideous in paint, crept from the +undergrowth, and stared at the sleeping boy with pitiless eyes. + +Paul slept on, and mercifully knew nothing of his danger; yet it would +have been hard to find in the world two pairs of eyes that contained more +savagery than those now gazing upon him. Their owners crept nearer, +looking with fierce joy through the darkness at the sleeping boy who was +so certainly their prey. Their code contained nothing that taught them to +spare a foe, and this youth. In the van of the white invasion, was the +worst of foes. + +The boy still slept, and his slumber was deep, sweet, and dreamless. No +warning came to him while the savage eyes, bright with cruel fire, crept +closer and closer, and the merciful darkness, coming again, tried to close +down and hide the approaching tragedy of the forest. + +Paul returned with a jerk from his peaceful heaven. Hands and feet were +seized suddenly and pinned to the earth so tightly that he could not move, +and he gazed up at two hideous, painted faces, very near to his own, and +full of menace. The boy's heart turned for a moment to water. He saw at +once, through his vivid and powerful imagination, all the terrors of his +position, and in the same instant he leaped forward also to the future, +and to the agony it had in store for him. But in a moment his courage came +back, the strong will once more took command of the body and the spirit, +and he looked up with stoical eyes at his captors. He knew that resistance +now would be in vain, and, relaxing his muscles, he saved his strength. + +The warriors laughed a little, a soundless laugh that was full of menace, +and bound him securely with strips of buckskin cut from his own garments. +Then they stood up, and Paul, too, rose to a sitting position, gazing +intently at his captors. They were powerful men, apparently warriors of +middle age, and Paul knew enough of costume and paint to tell that they +were of the Shawnee nation, bitterly hostile to him and his kind. + +His terrors came back upon him in full sweep. He loved life, and, scholar +though he was, he loved his life in the young wilderness of Kentucky, +where he was at the beginnings of things. Every detail of what they would +do to him, every incident of the torture was already photographed upon his +sensitive mind, but again the brave lad called up all his courage, and +again he triumphed, keeping his body still and his face without +expression. He merely looked up at them, as if placidly waiting their +will. + +The two warriors talked together a little, and then, seeming to change +their minds, they unbound the boy's feet. One touched him on the shoulder, +and, pointing to the north, started in that direction. Paul understood, +and, rising to his feet, followed. The second warrior came close behind, +and Paul was as securely a prisoner as if he were in the midst of a band +of a hundred. Once or twice he looked around at the silent woods and +thought of running, but it would have been the wildest folly. His hands +tied, he could have been quickly overtaken, or, if not that, a bullet. He +sternly put down the temptation, and plodded steadily on between the +warriors, the broad, brown back of the one in front of him always leading +the way. + +It seemed to him that they sought the densest part of the undergrowth, +where the night shadows lay thickest, and he was wise enough to know that +they did it to hide their trail from possible pursuit. Then he thought of +Henry, his comrade, the prince of trailers! He might come! He would come! +Paul's blood leaped at the thought, and his head lifted with hope. + +Clouds swept up, the moon died, and in the darkness Paul had little idea +of direction. He only knew that they were still traveling fast amid the +thick bushes, and that when he made too much noise in passing one or other +of the brown savages would prod him with the muzzle of a gun as a hint to +be more careful. His face became bruised and his feet weary, but at last +they stopped in an opening among the trees, by the side of a little brook +that trickled over shining pebbles. + +The warriors wasted little time. They rebound Paul's feet in such tight +fashion that he could scarcely move, and then, lying down near him, went +to sleep so quickly that it seemed to Paul they accomplished the feat by +some sort of a mechanical arrangement. Tired as he was, he could not close +his own eyes yet, and he longed for his comrade. Would he come? + +Paul's sensitive nerves were again keenly alive to every phase of his +cruel situation. The warriors, lying almost at his feet, were monsters, +not men, and this wilderness, which in its finer aspects he loved, was +bristling in the darkness with terrors known and unknown. Yet his clogged +and weary brain slept at last, and when he awoke again it was day--a +beautiful day of white and gold light, with the autumnal tints of the +forest all about him, and the leaves rustling in a gentle wind. + +But his heart sank to the uttermost depths when he looked at the warriors. +By day they seemed more brutal and pitiless than at night. From their +long, narrow eyes shone no ray of mercy, and the ghastly paint on their +high cheek bones deepened their look of ferocity. It was not the +appearance of the warriors alone, it was more the deed for which they were +preparing that appalled Paul. They were raking dead leaves and fallen +brushwood of last year around a small but stout sapling, and they went on +with their task in a methodical way. + +Paul knew well, too well. Hideous tales of such doings had come now and +then to his ears, but he had never dreamed that he, Paul Cotter, in his +own person would be such a victim. Even now it seemed incredible in the +face of this beautiful young world that stretched away from him, so quiet +and so peaceful. He, who already in his boyhood was planning great things +for this splendid land, to die such a death! + +The warriors did not cease until their task was finished. It was but a +brief one after all, for Paul had made no mistake in his guess. There was +not time, perhaps, to take a prisoner beyond the Ohio, and they could not +forego a savage pleasure. They dragged the hoy to the sapling, stood him +erect against the slim trunk, and hound him fast with green withes. Then +they piled the dead leaves and brushwood high about him above his knees, +and, this done, stood a little way off and looked at their work. + +The warriors spoke together for the first time since Paul had awakened, +and their black eyes lighted up with a hideous glow of anticipation. Paul +saw it, and an icy chill ran through all his veins. Had not the green +withes held him, he would have fallen to the ground. Once more his active +mind, foreseeing all that would come, had dissolved his strength for the +moment; but, as always, his will brought his courage back, and he shut his +eyes to put away the hateful sight of the gloating savages. + +He had never asked in any way for mercy, he had never uttered a word of +protest, and he resolved that he would not cry out if he could help it. +They should not rejoice too much at his sufferings; he would die as they +were taught to die, and he would show to them that the mind of a white boy +could supply the place of a red man's physical fortitude. But Henry might +come! Would he come? Oh, would he come? Resigned to death, Paul yet hoped +for life. + +He opened his eyes, and the warriors were still standing there, looking at +him; but in a moment one approached, and, bending down, began to strike +flint and steel amid the dry leaves at the boy's feet. Again, despite +himself, the shivering chill ran through Paul's veins. Would Henry come? +If he came at all, he must now come quickly, as only a few minutes were +left. + +The leaves were obstinate; sparks flew from the flint and steel, but there +was no blaze. Paul looked down at the head of the warrior who worked +patiently at his task. The second warrior stood on one side, watching, and +when Paul glanced at him he saw the savage move ever so little, but as if +driven by a sudden impulse, and then raise his head in the attitude of one +who listened intently. Heat replaced the ice in Paul's veins. Had +something moved in the forest? Was it Henry? Would he come? + +The standing warrior uttered a low sound, and he who knelt with the flint +and steel raised his head. Something had moved in the forest! It might be +Henry. For Paul, the emotions of a life were concentrated in a single +moment. Fear and hope tripped over each other, and the wilderness grew +dim to his sight. A myriad of little black specks danced before his eyes, +and the blood was beating a quick march in his ears. + +The two savages were motionless, as if carved of brown marble, and over +all the wilderness hung silence. Then out of the silence came a sharp +report, and the warrior who stood erect, rifle in hand, fell to the earth, +stricken by instant death. Henry had come! His faithful comrade had not +failed him! Paul shouted aloud in his tremendous relief and joy, forgetful +of the second warrior. + +The kneeling savage sprang to his feet, but he had made a fatal mistake. +To light the fire for the torture, he had left his rifle leaning against +the trunk of a tree twenty feet away, and before he could regain it a +terrible figure bounded from the bushes, the figure of a great youth, clad +in buckskin, his face transformed with anger and his eyes alight. Before +the savage could reach his weapon he went down, slain by a single blow of +a clubbed rifle, and the next moment Henry was cutting Paul loose with a +few swift slashes of his keen hunting knife. + +"I knew you would come! I knew it!" exclaimed Paul joyously and wildly, as +he stood forth free. "Nobody in the world but you could have done it, +Henry!" + +"I don't know about that, Paul," said Henry, "but I'd have had you back +sooner if it hadn't been for the dark. I followed you all night the best +way I could, but I couldn't come up to you until day, and they began work +then." + +He glanced significantly at the leaves and brushwood, and then, handing +Paul's rifle to him, looked at those belonging to the savages. + +"We'll take 'em," he said. "It's likely we'll need 'em, and their powder +and bullets will be more than welcome, too." + +Paul was rubbing his wrists and ankles, where the blood flowed painfully +as the circulation was restored, but to him the whole affair was ended. +His life had been saved at the last moment, and the world was more +brilliant and beautiful than ever. His imagination went quickly to the +other extreme. There was no more danger. + +But Henry Ware did not lose his eager, wary look. It did not take him more +than a minute to transfer the ammunition of the warriors to the pouches +and powder-horns of Paul and himself. Then he searched the forest with +keen, suspicious glances. + +"Come, Paul," he said, "we must run. The woods are full of the savages. +I've found out that there's a great war party between us and Marlowe, and +I've hid the powder in a cave. I turned the horses loose, hoping that +we'll get 'em some time later; but just now you and I have to save +ourselves." + +Paul came back to earth. Danger still threatened! But he was free for the +time, and he was with his comrade! + +"You lead the way, Henry," he said. "I'll follow, and do whatever you +say." + +Henry Ware made no reply, but bent his ear again, in the attitude of one +who listens. Paul watched his face attentively, seeking to read his +knowledge there. + +"The big war band is not far away," said Henry, "and it's likely that +they've heard my shot. It would carry far on such a still, clear morning +as this. I didn't want them to hear it." + +"But I'm glad you did shoot," said Paul. "It was a mighty welcome sound to +me." + +"Yes," said Henry, with grim humor, "it was the right thing at the right +time. Hark to that!" A single note, very faint and very far, rose and was +quickly gone, like the dying echo of music. Only the trained ranger of the +wilderness would have noticed it at all, but Henry Ware knew. + +"Yes, they've heard," he said, "and they're telling it to each other. They +are also telling it to us. They're between us and Marlowe, and they are +between us and Wareville, so we must run to the north, and run as fast as +we can." + +He led the way with swift, light footsteps through the forest, and Paul +followed close behind, each boy carrying on his shoulder two rifles and at +his waist a double stock of bullets and powder. + +Paul scarcely felt any fear now for the future. The revulsion from the +stake and torture was so great that it did not seem to him that he could +be taken again. Moreover, they had seized him the first time when he was +asleep. They had taken an unfair advantage. + +The sun rose higher, gilding the brown forest with fine filmy gold, like a +veil, and the boys ran silently on among the trees and the undergrowth. +Behind them, and spread out like a fan, came many warriors, fierce for +their lives. Amid such scenes was the Great West won. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +IN THE RIVER + + +Paul, while not the equal of Henry in the woods, was a strong and enduring +youth. His muscles were like wire, and there were few better runners west +of the mountains. Although the weight of the second rifle might tell after +a while, he did not yet feel it, and with springy step he sped after +Henry, leaving the choice of course and all that pertained to it to his +comrade. After a while they heard a second cry--a wailing note--and Henry +raised his head a little. + +"They've come to the two who fell," he said. + +But after the single lament, the warriors were silent, and Paul heard +nothing more in the woods but their own light footsteps and his own long +breathing. Little birds flitted through the boughs of the trees, and now +and then a hare hopped up and ran from their path. The silence became +terrible, full of omens and presages, like the stillness before coming +thunder. + +"It means something," said Henry; "I think we've stumbled into a regular +nest of those Shawnees, and they're likely to be all about us." + +As if confirming his words, the far, faint note came from their right, and +then, in reply, from their left. Henry stopped so quickly that Paul almost +ran into him. + +"I was afraid it would be that way," he said. "They're certainly all +around us except in front, and maybe there, too." + +Visions of the torture rose before Paul again. + +"What are we to do?" he said. + +"We must hide." + +"Hide I Why, they could find us in the forest, as I would find a man in an +open field." + +"I don't mean hide here," said Henry; "the river is just ahead, and I +think that if we reach it in time we can find a place. Come, Paul, we must +run as we never ran before." + +The two boys sped with long, swift bounds through the forest as only those +who run for their lives can run. Now the voices of the pursuit became +frequent, and began to multiply. Henry, with his instinctive skill in the +forest, read their meaning. The pursuers were sure of triumph. But Henry +shut his lips tightly, and resolved that he and Paul should yet elude +them. + +"The river is not more than a half mile ahead," he said. "Come, Paul, +faster! A little faster, if you can!" + +Paul obeyed, and the two, bending their heads lower, sped on with +astonishing speed. Trees and bushes slid behind them. Before them appeared +a blue streak, that broadened swiftly and became a river. + +"We must not let them see us," said Henry. "Bend as low as you can, and be +as quiet as you can!" + +Paul obeyed, and in a few more minutes they were at the river's edge. + +"Fasten your bullets and powder around your neck," said Henry, "and keep +the rifle on your shoulder." + +Paul did so, following Henry's quick example, and the two stepped into the +water, which soon reached to their waists. Henry had been along this river +before, and at this crisis in the lives of his comrade and himself he +remembered. Dense woods lined both banks of the stream, which was narrow +here for miles, and a year or two before a hurricane had cut down the +trees as a reaper mows the wheat. The surface of the water was covered +with fallen trunks and boughs, and for a half mile at least they had +become matted together like a great raft, out of which grass and weeds +already were growing. But Paul did not know it, and suddenly he stopped. + +"Why, what has become of the river?" he exclaimed, pointing ahead. + +The stream seemed to stop against a bank of logs and foliage. + +Henry laughed softly. + +"It is the great natural raft," he said. "There is where we are to hide." + +He hastened his steps, wading as rapidly as he could, and Paul kept by his +side. He comprehended Henry's plan, their last and desperate chance. In a +few moments more they were at the great raft, and in the bank, amid a +dense, almost impenetrable mass of foliage, they hid their rifles and +ammunition. Henry uttered a deep sigh as he did it. + +"I hate like everything to leave them," he said, "but if we come to close +quarters with any of those fellows, we must trust to our knives and +hatchets." + +Then he turned reluctantly away. It was not a deep river, nowhere above +their necks, and he pushed a way amid the trees and foliage that were +packed upon the surface, Paul, as usual, following closely. Now and then +he dived under a big log, and came up on the other side, his head well +hidden among upthrust boughs and among the weeds and grass that had grown +in the soil formed by the silt of the river. And Paul always carefully +imitated him. + +When they were about thirty yards into the mass Paul felt Henry's hand on +his shoulder. "Look back, Paul," was whispered in his ear, "but be sure +not to move a single bough." Paul slowly and cautiously turned his head, +and saw a sight that made him quiver. + +Running swiftly, savage warriors were coming into view on either bank of +the river--tall men, dark with paint, and, as he well knew, hot with the +desire to take life. + +"I thank God that this place is here!" breathed Paul. + +"Yes, it was just made for us," said Henry, and he laughed ever so little. +"Come, Paul, we must get farther into it. But be sure you don't shake any +boughs." + +They waded on, only their heads above the current, and these always hidden +by the interlacing trunks and branches. A great shout, fierce with +triumph, rose behind them. + +"They've found where our trail entered the water, and they think they've +got us," whispered Henry. "Now, be still, Paul; we'll hide here." + +They pushed themselves into a mass of debris, where logs and boughs, swept +by the current, formed a little arch over the stream. There they stood up +to their chins in water, with their heads covered by the arch. Through +the slits between the trunks and boughs they could see their pursuers. + +It was a numerous band--thirty or forty men--and they divided now into +several parties. Some ran along the banks of the stream and others sprang +from log to log over the raft, searching everywhere, with keen, black eyes +trained to note every movement of the wilderness. + +Paul felt Henry's hand again on his shoulder, but neither boy spoke. Both +felt as if they were in a little cage, with the fiercest of all wild +animals around it and reaching long paws through the bars at them. Each +sank a little deeper into the water, barely leaving room to breathe, and +watched their enemies still searching, searching everywhere. They heard +the patter of moccasins on the logs, and now and then they saw brown, +muscular legs passing by. Two warriors stopped within ten feet of them and +exchanged comment. Henry, who understood their language, knew that they +were puzzled and angry. But Paul, without knowing a word that they said, +understood, too. His imagination supplied the place of knowledge. They +were full of wrath because they had lost the trail of the two whom they +had regarded as certainly theirs, and to seek them in the vast maze of +logs and brush was like looking for one dead leaf among the millions. + +The two warriors stood still for a full minute, and then moved on out of +sight. Paul drew a deep breath of relief, like a sigh, and Henry's hand +was pressed once more upon his shoulder. + +"Not a sound yet, not a sound, Paul!" he whispered ever so softly. "They +will hunt here a long time." + +More warriors, treading on the logs, showed that his caution was not +misplaced. They poked now and then in the water, amid the great mass of +debris, and one stood on a log so near to the two lads that they could +have reached out and touched his moccasined feet. But their covert was too +close to be suspected, and soon the man passed on. + +Presently all of them were out of sight; but Henry, a true son of caution +and the wilderness, would not yet let Paul stir. + +"They will come back this way," he said. "We risk nothing by waiting, and +we may save much." + +Paul made no protest, but he was growing cold. The chill from the water of +the river was creeping into his veins, and he longed for the dry land and +a chance to stir about. Yet he clenched his teeth and resolved to endure. +He would not move until Henry gave the word. + +He saw what a wise precaution it was, when, a half hour later, seven or +eight warriors came walking back on the logs, and thrust with sticks into +the little patches of open water between them. Henry and Paul crouched +closer in their covert, and the warriors stalked back and forth, still +searching. + +Henry knew that the Shawnees, failing to find a place beyond the debris +where the fugitives had emerged upon the bank, would believe that they +might be hidden under the logs, and would not give up the hunt there. If +they should happen to find the rifles and ammunition, they would certainly +be confirmed in the conclusion, but so far they had not found them. Henry, +looking between the logs, saw them pass near the place of concealment, but +they did not stop, and were soon near the other bank. It would have +bitterly hurt his pride if they had found the rifles, even had he and Paul +escaped. + +An hour more they waited, and then the last warrior was out of sight, gone +up the river. + +"I think we may crawl out now," whispered Henry; "but we've still got to +be mighty careful about it." + +Pad took a step and fell over in the water. His legs were stiff with the +wet and cold; but Henry dragged him up, and before trying it again he +stretched first one leg and then the other, many times. + +"We must make our way back through the logs and brush to the rifles," +whispered Henry, "and then take to the woods once more." + +"I think I've lived in a river long enough to last me the rest of my +life," Paul said. + +Henry laughed. He, too, was stiff and cold; but, a born woodsman, he now +dismissed their long hiding in the water as only an incident. The two +reached the precious rifles and ammunition, drew them forth from +concealment, and stepped upon the bank, rivulets pouring from their +clothing, and even their hair. + +"I think we'd better go back on our own trail now," said Henry. "The war +party has passed on, and is still looking for us far ahead." + +"We've got to dry ourselves, and somehow or other get that powder to +Marlowe," said Paul. + +"That's so," said Henry. "We came to do it, and we will do it." + +He spoke with quiet emphasis, but Paul knew that he meant to perform what +he had set out to do, come what might, and Paul was willing to go with him +through anything. Neither would abandon the great task of helping to save +Kentucky. But they were still in a most serious position. They had been +many hours in water which was not now warmed by summer heat, and they were +bound to feel the effect of it soon in every bone. Henry glanced up at +the heavens. It was far past noon, and the golden sun was gliding down the +western arch. + +"I think," said Henry, "that it would be best for us to walk, as fast as +we can on the back track, and then try to dry out our clothing a little." + +He started at once, and Paul walked swiftly by his side. The rivulets that +ran from their clothing decreased to tiny streams, and then only drops +fell. The sinking sun shot sheaves of brilliant beams upon them, and soon +Paul felt a grateful warmth, driving for the time the chill from his +bones. He swung his arms as he walked, as much as the rifles would allow, +and nearly every muscle in his frame felt the touch of vigorous exercise. +His clothing dried rapidly. + +Two hours and three hours passed, and they heard no more the cries of the +warriors calling to each other. Silence again hung over the wilderness. +Rabbits sprang up from the thickets. A deer, frightened by the sound of +the boys' footsteps, held up his head, listened a moment, and then fled +away among the trees. Henry took his presence as a sign that no other +human being had passed that way in the last hour. + +The sun sank, the twilight came and died, and darkness clothed the +wilderness. Then Henry stopped. + +"Paul," he said, "I've got some venison in my knapsack, but you and I +ought to have a fire. While our clothes are drying outside they are still +wet inside and we can't afford to have a chill, or be so stiff that we +can't run. You know we may have another run or two yet." + +"But do we dare make a fire?" asked Paul. + +"I think so. I can hide the blaze, and the night is so dark that the smoke +won't show." + +He plunged deeper into the thickets, and came to a rocky place, full of +gullies and cavelike hollows. It was so dark that Paul could see only his +dim form ahead. Presently their course led downward, and Henry stopped in +one of the sheltered depressions. + +"Now we'll make our fire," he said. + +It was pitchy black where they stood. The walls of the hollow rose far +above their heads, and its crest was lined on every side with giant trees +and dense undergrowth. + +The two boys dragged up dead leaves and brushwood, and Henry patiently +ignited the heap with his flint and steel. A tiny blaze arose, but he did +not permit it to grow into a flame. Heavier logs were placed upon the top, +and the fire only burned beneath, amid the small boughs. Smoke arose, but +it was lost in the black heavens. The fire, thus confined, burned +fiercely and rapidly within its narrow limits, and a fine bed of coals +soon formed. It was time! The night had come on cold, and the chill +returned to Paul's veins. Before the fire was lighted he had begun to +shiver, but when the deep bed of coals was formed, he sat before it and +basked in the grateful and glowing heat. + +"I think we'd better take off our clothing and dry it," said Henry, and +both promptly did so. They hung part of their garments before the fire, on +a stick thrust in the ground, until they were dry, and then, putting them +on again, replaced them with the remainder, to dry in their turn. +Meanwhile they ate of the venison that Henry carried in his knapsack, and +felt very happy. It was a wonderful experience for Paul. This was comfort +and safety. They were only a pin point in the wilderness, but for the +present the stony hollow fenced them about, and the hidden fire gave forth +warmth and pleasure. + +"Do you think you could sleep, Paul?" asked Henry, when they had put on +again the last of the dried clothing. + +Paul laughed. + +"Could I sleep?" he said. "Would a hungry wolf eat? Will water run down +hill? I don't think I could do anything else just now." + +"Then try it," said Henry. "After a while I'll wake you up for your +watch, and take a turn at it myself." + +Paul said not another word, but sank back on the grass and leaves, with +his feet to the great bed of coals. He saw their glow for a moment or two, +then his eyelids shut down, and he was wafted away on a magic carpet to a +dreamless region of happy peace. Henry's eyes, grown used to the dark, +looked at him for a moment or two, and then the larger boy smiled. Paul, +his faithful comrade, filled a great place in his heart--they liked each +other all the better because they were so unlike--and he was silently, but +none the less devoutly thankful that he had come. + +Henry was warm and dry, and as he tested his muscles he found them supple +and strong. Now he took precautions, thinking he had let the fire burn as +long as was safe. He scattered the coals with a stick, and then softly +crushed out each under the stout heel of his moccasin. With the minute +patience that he had learned from his forest life, he persisted in his +task until not a single spark was left anywhere. Then he sat down in +Turkish fashion, with his rifle lying across his lap and the other rifles +near, listening, always listening, with the wonderful ear that noted every +sound of the forest, and piercing the thickets with eyes whose keenness +those of no savage could surpass. He knew that they were in the danger +zone, that the Shawnees were on a great man-hunt, and regarded the two +boys as stilt within their net, although they could not yet put their +hands upon them. That was why he listened and watched so closely, and that +was why he would break his word to Paul and not waken him, keeping the +nightlong vigil himself. + +The night advanced, the darkness shredded away a little before a half +moon, and Henry was very glad that he had put out the last remnant of the +fire. Yet the trees still enclosed the hollow like a black wall, and he +did not think a foe had one chance in a thousand of finding them there +while the night lasted. But he never ceased to watch--a silent, powerful +figure, with the rifle lying across his lap, ready to be used at a +moment's notice. His stillness was something marvelous. Even had it been +light, an ordinary observer would not have seen him move a hair's breadth. +He was a part of the silent wilderness. + +Midnight, and then the long hours. Faint noises arose in the thickets, bet +the ear of the gray statue was alive, and he knew. The rabbits were +hopping about, at play, perhaps, in the moonlight; a deer was passing; +perhaps a panther stirred somewhere; but these were things that neither he +nor Paul feared; it was only man that they dreaded. After a while a +faint, clear note rose, far to the east, and to it came three replies like +it, and also far away. Henry laughed low. They were the familiar signals, +but he and Paul were well hidden, and they would escape through the lines +before morning. They might easily go back to Wareville, too, but he was +resolved not to abandon either the horses or the powder. The powder was +needed at Marlowe, and it would be a bitter humiliation not to take it +there. + +Two hours more passed, and then Henry heard the signals again, but now +closer. By chance, perhaps, the Shawnees had formed their ring about the +right place, and it was time to act. Paul had slept well and was rested, +so Henry leaned over and shook him. Paul opened his eyes, and any question +that he might have wished to ask was cut short at his lips by Henry's low, +but commanding, + +"Caution! Caution!" + +"It is far after midnight, and we must move, Paul," said Henry. "They may +have blundered on our trail before it was dark, and they are still looking +for us. I think they are coming this way." + +Paul understood in a moment, but he asked no question; if Henry said so, +it was true, it did not matter how he knew. He rose, imitating Henry, +taking his two rifles, and they stole silently away from the little cove +that had been so full of comfort for both. + +"We'll go toward the south now," said Henry, "and on your life, Paul, +don't stumble!" + +Paul knew the worth of this advice, and he was woodsman enough to avoid +tripping on the vines and bushes, despite the darkness. One mile dropped +behind them, then two, then three, and Henry suddenly put his hand upon +the shoulder of Paul, who, understanding the signal, sank down at once +beside his comrade. + +The bushes were thick there, but Paul soon saw the danger, of which +Henry's ear had already warned him. A dozen warriors marched in a silent +file through the undergrowth. Well for the two that they were some +distance away, and that the bushes grew thick and long! And well for them, +too, that it was night! The warriors looked keenly on every side as they +passed, apparently seeking out the last little leaf and twig; but, acute +as were their eyes, they did not see the boys in the bushes. And perhaps +it was well for some of them that they did not find what they sought, as +the wilderness furnished no more formidable antagonist than Henry Ware, +and Paul Cotter, too, was both brave and skillful. + +But the warriors passed, and the black wilderness hid them. Henry watched +a little bush that one had brushed against, swinging in the moonlight +with short jerks that became shorter until it grew quite still again. But +he did not yet go. He and Paul knew that they must not move for many +minutes. A warrior might turn on his track, see their risen forms, and +with his cry bring the whole band back again. They yet lay motionless and +still, while the moonlight filtered through the leaves and the silence of +the forest endured. Henry rose at last, and led the way again. + +"They are certainly beating up the woods for us," said he, "and I think +that party will stumble right upon the little hollow where we rested. It +was well we moved." + +They increased their southward pace, and when it was scarcely two hours to +the dawn Henry said: + +"I know of a good place in which to rest, and a still better place in +which to fight if they should find us." + +"Where?" + +"Holt's lone cabin. It's less than half a mile from here. I've had it in +mind." + +Paul did not know what he meant by Holt's lone cabin, but he was always +willing to trust Henry without questions. His imagination, flowering at +once into splendor, depicted it as some kind of an impregnable fortress. + +"Come, we mustn't lose time!" said Henry, and he suddenly increased his +speed, running so fast that Paul had much to do to keep pace with him. +Paul looked up, and he saw why Henry hastened. The black curtain was +rolled back a little in the east, and a splendid bar of gray appeared just +at the horizon's edge. As Paul looked, it broadened and turned to silver, +and then gold. Paul thought it a very phantasy of fate that the coming of +day, which is like life, should bring such terrors. + +They reached a clearing--a high, stony piece of ground--and in its center +Paul saw a little old log cabin, with a heavy open door that sagged on +rude wooden hinges. + +"Come," said Henry, and they crossed the clearing to the cabin, pushing +open the door. Paul looked around at the narrow place, and the protecting +walls gave him much comfort. Evidently it had been abandoned in great +haste. In one corner lay a tiny moccasin that had been a baby's shoe, and +no one had disturbed it. On a hook on the wall hung a woman's apron, and +two or three rude domestic utensils lay on the floor. The sight had Its +pathos for Paul, but he was glad that the Holts had gone in time. He was +glad, too, that they had left their house behind that he and Henry might +use it when they needed it most, because he began to be conscious now of +a great weakness, both of body and spirit. + +Hooks and a stout wooden bar still remained, and as Henry closed the door +and dropped the bar into place, he exclaimed exultantly: + +"They may get us, Paul, but they'll pay a full price before they do it." + +"I'd rather they wouldn't get us at all," said Paul. + +Nevertheless his imagination, leaping back to the other extreme, made the +lone cabin the great fortress that he wished. And a fortress it was in +more senses than one. Built of heavy logs, securely chinked, the single +window and the single door closed with heavy oaken shutters, no bullet +could reach them there. Paul sat down on a puncheon bench, and breathed +laboriously, but joyously. Then he looked with inquiry at Henry. + +"It was built by a man named Holt," said Henry. "He was either a great +fool or a very brave man to come out here and settle alone. But a month +ago, after the Indian wars began, he either became wiser or less brave, +and he went into Marlowe with his family, leaving the place just as it +is." + +"He left in time," said Paul. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE LONE CABIN + + +Henry was deeply thankful for this shelter because he knew how badly it +was needed. He went to the single little window, which sagged half open on +hinges made of the skin of the buffalo. He pushed it back in place, and +fastened it, too, with a smaller bar, which he was lucky enough to find +lying on the floor. + +"Well, Paul, we are here," he said. + +As he spoke he looked keenly and anxiously at his comrade. + +"Yes, Henry," Paul replied. "Here we are, and mighty glad am I. It's good +to be in a house again after that river." + +Henry noticed at once that his voice was thinner and weaker than usual, +and he saw also that the color on Paul's face was high--the rest and the +little fire in the forest had not been enough. Again he was deeply +grateful for the presence of the cabin. He looked around, with inquiring +eyes that could see everything. It was dusky in the cabin with both door +and window closed, but he observed with especial pleasure, among the +abandoned articles, a small iron pot, suitable for cooking purposes, and a +large water bowl. When he summed up all, it seemed to this resourceful son +of the wilderness that Fortune had been very kind to them. Then he looked +at Paul and distinctly saw a tremor pass over his frame. + +"Paul," he said, "are you cold?" + +"A little," replied Paul reluctantly. It hurt his pride to confess that he +felt on the verge of physical collapse. + +"Then we must have a fire, and I'm going to build it now." + +"Won't it be dangerous?" asked Paul. "Won't it be seen?" + +"Oh, no," replied Henry lightly. "We are alone in the forest now." + +His tone was convincing to Paul, but Henry himself was aware that they +were taking great risks. Yet they must be taken. + +"Now, Paul," he said cheerfully, "you keep a good watch while I bring in +deadwood. But first we will rake clean the welcoming hearth of our good +friends who departed so quickly." + +Ashes and dead coals were lying in the fireplace, and he raked them +carefully to one side. Then he unbarred the door. The crisp October air +rushed into the close, confined space, and it felt very welcome to Henry, +but Paul shivered again. + +"Sit down in one of those chairs and rest, Paul," he said, as he pointed +to two homemade chairs that stood by the wall. "I'll be back in a minute +or two." + +Then he shut the door behind him. + +"I must take the risk," he murmured. It was characteristic of Henry Ware, +that in this emergency not even a vague thought of deserting his comrade +entered his mind. And faithful as he was to Paul, Paul would have been as +faithful to him. Both meant to finish together their great errand. + +Henry looked around. The settler had made but little impression upon the +surrounding forest. The trees had been cut away for a distance of fifteen +or twenty paces on every side, but the wilderness still curved in solid +array about the lone cabin, as if it would soon reclaim its own and blot +out the sole sign of man's intrusion. Everywhere the foliage glowed with +the deep reds and yellows and browns of October, and afar hung a faint +bluish haze, like an early sign of Indian summer. The slight wind among +the leaves had a soothing note, and breathed of nothing but peace. Peace +Henry Ware devoutly hoped that it would be. + +His task was easy. The forest all about was littered with the fallen and +dead wood of preceding years, and in a few moments he gathered up an +armful, with which he returned to the house. Then he brought in dry +leaves, and heaped leaves and wood together in the chimney-place. He +glanced at Paul and saw him trembling. As if by chance he touched his +comrade's hand, and it felt ice-cold. But he did not depart one jot from +his cheerful manner, all his words showing confidence. + +"Now, Paul," he said, "In less than a minute you'll see burning before you +the finest, warmest, glowingest and most comfortable fire in all the +West." + +Paul's eyes glistened. + +Henry drew forth flint and steel, and with a few strokes sent out the +vivifying spark. The dry leaves caught, a light flame formed, the wood +caught in its turn, and then the blaze, leaping high, roared up the +chimney. In a moment the hearth was glowing, and presently a bed of deep +red coals began to grow. + +Paul uttered a low laugh of joy, and spread out his hands to the flames. +The red light glowed across the delicately cut but strong face of the boy, +and Henry noticed now that all his color was gone, leaving his features +white and drawn. + +"Sit a little closer, Paul, a little closer," he said, still in tones of +high, good cheer. "Isn't it the most beautiful fire you ever saw?" + +"Yes," said Paul, "it is. It looks mighty good, but it's curious that it +doesn't warm me more." + +Henry had closed the door, and it was already very hot in the cabin; but +he decided now on another step--one that would take more time, but it must +be taken. + +"Paul," he said, "I'm going out in the woods to look for something, and I +may be gone at least half an hour. Take good care of our house while I'm +away." + +"All right," said Paul. But as he spoke his teeth struck together. + +Henry closed the door once more, with himself on the outside. Then he +walked to the edge of the clearing, and looked back at the cabin. He had +been careful to choose the kind of wood that would give out the least +smoke, and only a thin column rose from the chimney. The wind caught it +before it rose far, and it was lost among the great trees of the +wilderness. It seemed again to Henry Ware that Fortune was kind to them. + +The single look sufficed, and then, drawing his long-bladed hunting knife +from its sheath, he began to search the forest. Henry Ware had been long a +captive among the Northwestern Indians, and he had learned their lore. He +had gained from the medicine men and old squaws a knowledge of herbs, and +now he was to put it to use. He sought first for the bitter root called +Indian turnip, and after looking more than twenty minutes found it. He dug +it up with his sharp knife, and then, with another search of a quarter of +an hour, he found the leaves of wild sage, already dried in the autumn +air. A third quarter of an hour and he added to his collection two more +herbs, only the Indian names of which were known to him. Then he returned +to the house, to find that the icy torrent in Paul's blood had now become +hot. + +"I can't stand this, Henry," he said. "We've got the door and window +closed and a big fire burning, and I'm just roasting hot." + +"Only a little while longer," said Henry. "The truth is, Paul, you've had +a big chill, and now the fever's come on you. But I'm Dr. Ware, and I'm +going to cure you. When I was up there among the Indians, I learned their +herb remedies, and mighty good some of 'em are, too. They're particularly +strong with chills and fever, and I'm going to make you a tea that'll just +lay hold of you and drive all the fever out of your veins. What you want +to do, Paul, is to sweat, and to sweat gallons." + +He spoke in rapid, cheerful tones, wishing to keep up Paul's spirits, in +which effort he succeeded, as Paul's eyes sparkled, and a gleam of humor +lighted up his face. + +"Well, Dr. Ware," he said, "I'm mighty glad to know what's the matter with +me. Somehow you always feel better when you know, and I'll trust to your +tea." + +He meant what he said. He knew Henry too well to doubt him. Any assertion +of his inspired him with supreme confidence. + +"Now, Paul," Henry resumed, "you keep house again, and I'll find where our +unknown friend got his drinking water." + +He took the iron pot that he had noticed and went forth into the forest. +It was an instinctive matter with one bred in the wilderness like Henry +Ware to go straight to the spring. The slope of the land led him, and he +found it under the lee of a little hill, near the base of a great oak. +Here a stream, six inches broad, an inch deep, but as clear as burnished +silver, flowed from beneath a stony outcrop in the soil, and then trickled +away, in a baby stream, down a little ravine. There was a strain of +primitive poetry, the love of the wild, in Henry's nature, and he paused +to admire. + +He saw that human hands had scraped out at the source a little fountain, +where one might dip up pails of water, and looking down into the clear +depths he beheld his own face reflected back in every detail. It seemed to +Henry Ware, who knew and loved only the wilderness, that the cabin, with +its spring and game at its very doors, would have made a wonderfully snug +home in the forest. Had it been his own, he certainly would have +undertaken to defend it against any foe who might come. + +But all these thoughts passed in a second, treading upon one another's +heels. Henry was at the fountain scarcely a moment before he had filled +the pot and was on the way back to the cabin. Then he cast in the herbs, +put it upon a bed of red coals, and soon a steam arose. He found an old, +broken-sided gourd among the abandoned utensils, and was able to dip up +with it a half dozen drinks of the powerful decoction. He induced his +comrade to swallow these one after another, although they were very +bitter, and Paul made a wry face. Then he drew from the corner the rude +bedstead of the departed settler, and made Paul lie upon it beside the +fire. + +"Now go to sleep," he said, "while I watch here." + +Paul was a boy of great sense, and he obeyed without question, although it +was very hot before the fire. But it was not a dry, burning heat that +seemed to be in the blood; it was a moist, heavy heat that filled the +pores. He began to feel languid and drowsy, and a singular peace stole +over him. It did not matter to him what happened. He was at rest, and +there was his faithful comrade on guard, the comrade who never failed. The +coals glowed deep red, and the sportive flames danced before him. Happy +visions passed through his brain, and then his eyes closed. The red coals +passed away and the sportive flames ceased to dance. Paul was asleep. + +Henry Ware sat in silence on one of the chairs at the corner of the +hearth, and when Paul's breathing became long, deep, and regular, he saw +that he had achieved the happy result. He rose soundlessly, and put his +hand upon Paul's forehead. It came back damp. Paul was in a profuse +perspiration, and his fever was sinking rapidly. Henry knew now that it +was only a matter of time, but he knew equally well that in the +Indian-haunted wilderness time was perhaps the most difficult of all +things to obtain. + +No uneasiness showed in his manner. Now the lad, born to be a king of the +wilderness, endowed with all the physical qualities, all the acute senses +of a great, primitive age, was seen at his best. He was of one type and +his comrade of another, but they were knitted together with threads of +steel. It had fallen to his lot to do a duty in which he could excel, and +he would shirk no detail of it. + +He brought in fresh wood and piled it on the hearth. At a corner of the +cabin stood an old rain barrel half full of water. He emptied the barrel +and brought it inside. Then, by means of many trips to the little spring +with the iron pot, he filled it with fresh water. All the while he moved +soundlessly, and Paul's deep, peaceful slumber was not disturbed. He took +on for the time many of the qualities that he had learned from his Indian +captors. Every sense was alert, attuned to hear the slightest sound that +might come from the forest, to feel, in fact, any alien presence as it +drew near. + +When the store of water was secure he looked at their provisions. They had +enough venison in their knapsacks to last a day or two, but he believed +that Paul would need better and tenderer food. The question, however, must +wait a while. + +The day was now almost gone. Great shadows hovered over the eastern +forest, and in the west the sun glowed in its deepest red as it prepared +to go. Henry put his hand upon Paul's forehead again. The perspiration was +still coming, but the fever was now wholly gone. Then he took his rifle +and went to the door. He stood there a moment, a black figure in the red +light of the setting sun. Then he slid noiselessly into the forest. The +twilight had deepened, the red sun had set, and only a red cloud in the +sky marked its going. But Henry Ware's eyes pierced the shadows, and none +in the forest could have keener ears than his. He made a wide circle +around the cabin, and found only silence and peace. Here and there were +tracks and traces of wild animals, but they would not disturb; it was for +something else that he looked, and he rejoiced that he could not find it. +When he returned to the cabin the last fringe of the red cloud was gone +from the sky, and black darkness was sweeping down over the earth. He +secured the door, looked again to the fastenings of the window, and then +sat down before the fire, his rifle between his knees. + +Paul's slumber and exhaustion alike were so deep that he would not be +likely to waken before morning, so Henry judged, and presently he took out +a little of the dried venison and ate it. He would boil some of it in the +pot in the morning for Paul's breakfast, but for himself it was good +enough as it now was. His strong white teeth closed down upon it, and a +deep feeling of satisfaction came over him. He, too, was resting from +great labors, and from a task well done. He realized now, for the first +time, how great a strain had been put upon him, both mind and body. + +The night was sharp and chill, but it was very warm and comfortable in the +little cabin. Paul slept on, his breathing as regular as the ticking of a +clock, healthy color coming back into his pale face as he slept. Henry's +own eyes began to waver. A deep sense of peace and rest soothed him, heart +and brain. He had meant to watch the night through, but even he had +reached the limit of endurance. The faint moaning of the wind outside, +like the soft, sweet note of a violin, came to his ears, and lulled him to +slumber. The fire floated far away, and, still sitting in his chair with +his rifle between his knees, he slept. + +Outside the darkness thickened and deepened. The forest was a solid black, +circling wall, and the cabin itself stood in deepest shadow. Inside a +fresh piece of wood caught, and the blaze burned brighter and higher. It +threw a glow across the faces of the two boys, who slept, the one lying +upon the bed and the other sitting in the chair, with the rifle between +his knees. It was a scene possible only in the great wilderness of +_Kain-tuck-ee_. + +Meanwhile word was sent by unknown code through the surrounding forest to +all its inhabitants that a great and portentous event had occurred. Not +long before they had welcomed the departure of the strange intruder, who +had come and cut down the forest and built the house. Then, with the +instinct that leaped into the future, they saw the forest and themselves +claiming their own again; the clearing would soon be choked with weeds and +bushes, the trees would grow up once more, the cabin would rot and its +roof fall, and perhaps the bear or the panther would find a cozy lair +among its timbers. + +Now the strange intruders had come again. The fox, creeping to the edge of +the clearing, saw with his needlelike eyes a red gleam through the chinks +of the cabin. The red gleam smote him with terror, and he slunk away. The +wolf, the rabbit, and the deer came; they, too, saw the red gleam, and +fled, with the same terror striking at their hearts. All, after the single +look, sank back into the shadows, and the forest was silent and deserted. +Paul and Henry, as they slept, were guarded by a single gleam of fire from +all enemies save human kind. + +But as the night thickened there had been a whirring in the air not far +away. An hour earlier the twilight had been deepened by something that +looked like a great cloud coming before the sun. It was a cloud that moved +swiftly, and it was made of a myriad of motes, closely blended. It +resolved itself soon into a vast flock of wild pigeons, millions and +millions flying southward to escape the coming winter. + +Presently they settled down upon the forest for the night, and all the +trees were filled with the chattering multitude. Often the bough bent +almost to the ground beneath the weight of birds, clustered so thick that +they could scarcely find a footing. The fox and the wolf that had looked +at the lone cabin came back now to seek, an easier prey. + +Henry Ware slept until far after midnight, and then he awoke easily, +without jerk or start. The fire had burned down, and a deep bed of coals +lay on the hearth. Paul still slept, and when Henry touched him he found +that he had ceased to perspire. No trace of the fever was left. Yet he +would be very weak when he awoke, and he would need nourishing food. It +was his comrade's task to get it. Henry took his rifle and went outside. +The moon was shining now, and threw a dusky silver light over all the +forest. He might find game, and, if so, he resolved to risk a shot. The +chances were that no human being save himself would hear it. He felt +rather than saw that nothing had happened while he slept. No enemy to be +feared had come, while all his own strength and elasticity had returned to +him. Never had he felt stronger or more perfectly attuned in body and +mind. + +He moved again in a circuit about the cabin, watching carefully, and now +and then looking up among the trees. Perhaps an opossum might be hanging +from a bough! But he saw nothing until he widened his circuit, and then he +ran directly into the myriads of wild pigeons. Here was food for an army, +and he quickly secured plenty of it. The danger of the rifle report was +gone, as he had nothing to do but take a stick and knock off a bough as +many of the pigeons as he wished. Then he hastened back to the cabin with +his welcome burden. Paul still slept, and it pleased Henry to give him a +surprise. He kindled the fire afresh, cleaned two of the youngest, +fattest, and tenderest of the pigeons, and began to boil them in the pot. + +When the water simmered and pleasant odors arose, he was afraid that Paul +would awake, as he turned once or twice on his bed and spoke a few +incoherent words. But he continued to sleep, nevertheless, and at last the +pigeon stew was ready, throwing out a savory odor. + +The day was now coming, and Henry opened the window. The forest, wet with +morning dew, was rising up into the light, and afar in the east shone the +golden glory of the sun. He drew a deep breath of the fresh, good air, and +decided to leave the window open. Then he filled the broken gourd with the +grateful stew, and, holding it in his right hand, shook Paul violently +with his left. Paul, who had now slept his fill, sat up suddenly and +opened his eyes. + +"Here, Paul, open your mouth," said Henry commandingly, "and take this +fine stew. Dr. Ware has prepared it for you specially, and it is sure to +bring hack your strength and spirits. And there's plenty more of it." + +Paul sniffed hungrily, and his eyes opened wider and wider. + +"Why--why, Henry!" he exclaimed. "How long have I slept, and where did you +get this?" + +"You've slept about twenty hours, more or less," replied Henry, laughing +with satisfaction, "and this is wild pigeon stew. Fifteen or twenty +millions roosted out there in the forest last night, and they won't miss +the dozen or so that I've taken. Here, hurry up; I'm hungry, and it's my +turn next." + +Paul said no more, but, thankful enough, took the stew and ate it. Then, +by turns, they used the broken gourd and ate prodigiously, varied by +drinks from the water barrel. They had fasted long, they had undergone +great exertions, and it took much to remove the sharp edge from their +appetites. But it was done at last, and they rested content. + +"Henry," said Paul, upon whose mind the fortunate advent of the wild +pigeons made a deep impression, "while we have had great mischances, it +seems to me also that we have been much favored by Providence. Our +finding of this cabin was just in time, and then came the pigeons as if +specially for us. You remember in the Bible how the Lord sent the manna in +the wilderness for the Israelites; it seems to me that He's doing the same +thing for us." + +"It looks so," replied Henry reverently. "The Indians with whom I once +lived think that the Great Spirit often helps us when we need it most, and +I suppose that their Great Spirit--or Manitou, as they call Him--is just +the same as our God." + +Both boys were now silent for a while. They had been reared by devout +parents. Life in the forest deepens religious belief, and it seemed to +them that there had been a special interposition in their favor. + +"What are we going to do now?" asked Paul at length. + +"We can't take up our journey again for a day or two," replied Henry. +"We've got to get that powder to Marlowe some time or other. Wareville +sent us to do the job, and we'll do it; but you are yet too weak, Paul, to +start again. You don't know how really weak you are. Just you get up and +walk about a little." + +Paul rose and walked back and forth across the room, but in a few moments +he became dizzy and had to sit down. Then he uttered an impatient little +cry. + +"You're right, Henry," he said, "and I can't help it. Find the horses and +take the powder to Marlowe by yourself. I guess I can get back to +Wareville, or come on later to Marlowe." + +Henry laughed. + +"You know I wouldn't dream of doing such a thing, Paul," he said. +"Besides, I don't think they need to be in any hurry at Marlowe for that +powder. We'll rest here two or three days, and then take a fresh start." + +Paul said no more. It would have been a terrible blow to him to have no +further share in the enterprise, but he had forced himself nevertheless to +make the offer. Now he leaned back luxuriously, and was content to wait. + +"Of course," said Henry judicially, "we run risks here. You know that, +Paul" + +"Everybody who lives in Kentucky runs risks, and big ones," said Paul. + +"Then we'll sit here for the present and watch the forest. I don't like to +keep still, but it's a fine country to look at, isn't it, Paul?" + +The love of the wilderness was upon Henry, and his eyes glowed as he +looked at the vast surrounding forest, the circling wall of deep-toned, +vivid colors. For him, danger, if absent, did not exist, and there was +inspiration in the crisp breeze that came over a thousand miles of +untenanted woods. He sat in the doorway, the door now open, and stretched +his long legs luxuriously. He was happy; while he might be anxious to go +on with the powder, he pined for neither Wareville nor Marlowe for their +own sakes. + +Paul looked at his comrade with understanding and sympathy. The forest +made its appeal to him also, but in another way; and since Henry was +content, he would be content, too. Used as he was to hardships and narrow +quarters, the little cabin would not be a bad place in which to pass two +or three days. He turned back to the fire and held out his hands before +the mellow blaze. + +Henry examined the forest again, widening his circle, and saw no traces of +an enemy. He judged that they had passed either to east or west, and that +he and Paul would not be molested just yet, although he had no confidence +in their permanent security. He saw a deer, but in view of their bountiful +supply of pigeons he did not risk a shot, and returned before noon, to +find Paul rapidly regaining his strength. He cooked two more of the +pigeons in their precious iron pot, and then they rested. + +They left both door and window open now, and they could see forest and +sky. Henry called attention to a slight paleness in the western heavens, +and then noted that the air felt damp. + +"It will rain to-night, Paul," he said, "and it is a good thing for you, +in your weakened condition, that we have a roof." + +They ate pigeon again for supper, and their wilderness appetites were too +sharp to complain of sameness. They had barred window and door, and let +the fire die down to a bed of glowing coals, and while they ate, Paul +heard the first big drops of rain strike on the board roof. Other drops +came down the chimney, fell in the coals, and hissed as they died. Paul +shivered, and then felt very good indeed in the dry little cabin. + +"You were a real prophet, Henry," he said. "Here's your storm." + +"Not a storm," said Henry, "but a long, cold, steady rain. Even an Indian +would not want to be out in it, and bear and panther will hunt their +holes." + +The drops came faster, and then settled into a continuous pour. Paul, +after a while, opened the window and looked out. Cold, wet air struck his +face, and darkness, almost pitchy, enveloped the cabin. Moon and stars +were gone, and could not see the circling wail of the forest. The rain +beat with a low, throbbing sound on the board roof, and, with a kind of +long sigh, on the ground outside. It seemed to Paul a very cold and a very +wet rain indeed, one that would be too much for any sort of human beings, +white or red. + +"I think, we're safe to-night, Henry," he said, as he closed and fastened +the window. + +"Yes, to-night," replied Henry. + +Paul slept a dreamless sleep, lulled by the steady pour of the rain on the +roof, and when he awoke in the morning the sun was shining brightly, +without a cloud in the sky. But the forest dripped with rain. He was +strong enough now to help in preparing the breakfast, and Henry spoke with +confidence of their departure the next morning. + +The hours passed without event, but when Henry went as usual through the +forest that afternoon, he came upon a footprint. He followed it and found +two or three more, and then they were lost on rocky ground. The discovery +was full of significance to him, and he thought once of hurrying back to +the cabin, and of leaving with Paul at once. But he quickly changed his +mind. In the forest they would be without defense save their own strong +arms, while the cabin was made of stout logs. And perhaps the danger would +pass after all. Already the twilight was coming, and in the darkness his +own footprints would not be seen. + +Paul was at the door when Henry returned, and he did not notice anything +unusual in his comrade's face, but Henry advised that they stay inside +now. Then he looked very carefully to the bars of the door and the window, +and Paul understood. The danger flashed instantly on his mind, but his +strong will prepared him to meet it. + +"You think we are likely to be besieged?" he said. + +"Yes," replied Henry. + +Paul did not ask why Henry knew. It was sufficient that he did know, and +he examined his arms carefully. Then began that long period of waiting so +terrible to a lad of his type. It seemed that the hours would never pass. +The coals on the hearth were dead now, and there was no light at all in +the cabin. But his eyes grew used to the dusk, and he saw his comrade +sitting on one of the benches, one rifle across his lap and the other +near, always listening. + +Paul listened, too. The night before the rain had fallen on the board roof +with a soothing sound, but now he could hear nothing, not even the wind +among the trees. He began to long for something that would break this +ominous, deadly silence, be it ever so slight--the sound of a falling nut +from a tree, or of a wild animal stirring in the undergrowth--but nothing +came. The same stillness, heavy with omens and presages, reigned in all +the forest. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE SIEGE + + +The whole night passed without event and the day came. Paul saw the light +grow deeper and deeper, but nothing stirred in the forest. It stretched +before him, a living curve of glowing red and yellow and brown, but it was +now like a sea of dangerous depths, and the little cabin was their sole +island of safety. + +"It's a good thing we brought the extra rifles with us," said Henry. "They +look like good weapons, and they may save us in case of a rush. Ah, there +they come!" + +Paul had noticed nothing, but Henry had seen the bushes at the edge of the +forest quiver, and then move contrary to the wind. His eye did not rest +upon any brown body, but he knew as well as if they had cried out that the +warriors were there. How many? That was the question that concerned him +most. If a great war party, they might hang on a long time; but if only a +small one, he and Paul might beat them off as often as they came. They +had four rifles, plenty of ammunition, enough food to last several days, +and he thanked God for the providential presence of the rain barrel. + +These were but brief passing thoughts, and he never ceased to watch the +forest. Still no sign of a face, but now and then the unnatural quiver of +the bushes, and above them the sun spinning a fine golden, veil over all +the great wilderness. + +"Our guests have come, Paul," said he, "but from safe cover they are +inspecting our front yard." + +"And they don't know yet whether or not they would like to disport +themselves on our lawn." + +"That is just it. They have doubts about their welcome." + +"That being so," said Paul, in the light, jesting spirit that he loved, +"I'll just wait until they knock at our door. Meanwhile I'll take a drink +from that lucky cistern of ours." + +He bent his head into the barrel, and as he drank he felt fresh strength +and courage rushing into his veins. + +"It was great luck, wasn't it, to find this barrel?" he said. + +"It certainly was," replied Henry, and his words came from the bottom of +his heart. "Now you watch while I take a drink." + +Paul did so, but he noticed nothing unusual in the woods. The faint signs +that Henry read with such an unerring eye were hidden from him. But his +skill was sufficient to cover all the cleared space. No warrior could pass +there unseen by him. Henry rejoined him. + +"You watch from one side and I'll take the other," he said. + +They did so, but the single room of the cabin was so small that they were +only a few feet from each other, and could talk together in low tones. + +"It will be a trial of patience," said Henry. "The Indian always has more +time than anybody else in the world, and he is willing to make the most of +it." + +Paul, too, knew that Shawnees, no matter what their numbers, would not yet +risk a headlong attack on the cabin, and now his curiosity as to what they +would do was aroused. It was surprise that Henry and he must guard +against. What was to be expected? His sense of curiosity was as keenly +aroused as his sense of danger. + +Over an hour dragged slowly by, minute by minute. The sun blazed +brilliantly over the wilderness, and the shut little cabin grew close and +hot. No fresh air came except by the loopholes, and it was not enough for +coolness. Paul's forehead grew damp, and his eyes ached from continual +watching at the loophole. Curiosity now began to give way to anger. If +they were going to do anything, why didn't they do it? He watched the +forest so much and so intently that he began to create images there for +himself. A tall stump was distorted into the figure of an Indian warrior, +a clump of bushes took the shape of an entire group of Shawnees, and many +savage, black eyes looked from the leaves. Paul's reason told him that he +beheld nothing, but his fancy put them there, nevertheless. He saw +presently a little jet of smoke, rising like a white feather; he heard a +report, and then the sound of a bullet burying itself with a soft sigh in +a log of the cabin. He laughed at the futility of it, but Henry said: + +"They're just trying us a little--skirmishing, so to speak. Be careful +there, Paul! A chance bullet might catch you in the eye at the loophole." + +More lead came from the forest, and there was a sharp crackle of rifle +fire. Bullets thudded into the stout walls of the cabin, and Paul's soul +swelled with derision. His vivid mind pictured himself as safe from the +warriors as if they were a thousand miles away. He was attracted suddenly +by a slight, gurgling sound, and then a cry of dismay from Henry. He +wheeled in alarm. Henry had sprung to the water barrel, the precious +contents of which were oozing from a little round hole in the side, about +two thirds of the way up. A bullet had entered one of the loopholes and +struck the barrel. It was an unfortunate chance, one in a thousand, and +had not Henry's acute ear detected at once the sound of flowing water, it +might have proved a terrible loss. + +But Henry was rapidly stuffing a piece of buckskin, torn from his hunting +shirt, into the little round hole, and he waved Paul back to the wall. + +"You stay there and watch, Paul," he said. "I'll fix this." + +The buckskin stopped all the flow but a slight drip. Then, with his strong +hunting knife, he cut a piece of wood from the bench, whittled it into +shape, and drove it tightly into the bullet hole. + +"That's all secure," he said, with a sigh of relief. "Now I must get it +out of range." + +He wheeled it to a point in the cabin at which no chance bullet could +reach it, and then resumed the watch with Paul. + +"Aren't you glad, Paul," said Henry, "that you were not in the place of +the water barrel?" + +"Yes," replied Paul lightly, "because a piece of buckskin and a round +stick wouldn't have healed the damage so quickly." + +He spoke lightly because he was still full of confidence. The little cabin +was yet an impregnable castle to him. The crackle of rifle fire died, the +last plume of white smoke rose over the forest, drifted away, and was lost +in the brilliant sunshine. Silence and desolation again held the +wilderness. + +"Nothing will happen for some hours now," said Henry cheerfully, "so the +best thing that we can do, Paul, is to have dinner." + +"Yes," said Paul, with his quick fancy. "We can dine sumptuously--venison +and pigeon and spring water." + +"And lucky we are to have them," said Henry. + +They ate of the venison and pigeon, and they drank from the barrel. They +were not creatures of luxury and ease, and they had no complaint to make. +When they finished, Henry said: + +"Paul, you ought to take a nap, and then you'll be fresh for to-night, +when things will be happening." + +Paul at first was indignant at the idea that he should go to sleep with +the enemy all about them, but Henry soon persuaded him what a wise thing +it would be. Besides, the air was all the time growing closer and warmer +in the little cabin, and he certainly needed sleep. His head grew heavy +and his eyelids drooped. He lay down on the bed, and in a surprisingly +quick time was slumbering soundly. + +Henry looked at the sleeping lad, and his look was a compound of great +friendship and admiration. He knew that Paul was not, like himself, born +to the wilderness, and he respected the courage and skill that could +triumph nevertheless. But it was only a fleeting look. His eyes turned +back to the forest, where he watched lazily; lazily, because he knew with +the certainty of divination that they would not attempt anything until +dark, and he knew with equal certainty that they would attempt something +then. + +He awakened Paul in two hours, and took his place on the bench. He had not +slept at all the night before, when they were expecting a foe who had not +yet come, and he, too, must be fresh when the conflict was at hand. + +"When you see shadows in the clearing, wake me, without fail, Paul," he +said. + +Then he closed his eyes, and like Paul slept almost at once. Neither the +weary waiting nor the danger could upset his nerves so much that sleep +would not come, and his slumber was dreamless. + +The afternoon waned. Paul, peeping from the loophole, saw the sun, red +like fire, seeking its bed in the west, but the shadows were not yet over +the clearing. Refreshed by his sleep, and his nerves steadied, he no +longer saw imaginary figures in the wilderness. It was just a wall of red +and yellow and brown, and it was hard to believe that men seeking his +life lay there. By and by the east began to turn gray, and over the +clearing fell the long shadows of coming twilight. Then Paul awakened +Henry, and the two watched together. + +The shadows lengthened and deepened, a light wind arose and moaned among +the oaks and beeches, a heavy, dark veil was drawn across the sky, and the +forest melted into a black blur. Now Henry looked with all his eyes and +listened with all his ears, because he knew that what the warriors wanted, +the covering veil of the night, had come. + +It was a very thick and black night, too, and that was against him and +Paul, as the objects in the clearing were hidden almost as well now as +anything in the forest. Hence he trusted more to ear than to eye. But he +could yet hear nothing, save the wind stirring the leaves and the grass. +Inside the little cabin it grew dark, too, but their trained eyes, +becoming used to the gloom, were able to see each other well enough for +all the needs of the defense. + +Time passed slowly on, and to Paul every moment was tense and vivid. The +darkness was far more suggestive of danger than the day had been. He took +his eyes now and then from the loophole, for a moment, to glance at +Henry's face, and about the third or fourth time he saw a sudden light +leap into the eyes of his comrade. The next instant Henry thrust his +rifle into the loophole and, taking quick aim, fired. + +A long, quavering cry arose, and after that came a silence that lay very +still and deadly upon Paul's soul. Henry had seen in the shadow a deeper +shadow quiver, and he had fired instantly but with deadly aim. Paul, +looking through the loophole on his own side of the cabin, could see +nothing for a little space, but presently arose a patter of feet, and many +forms darted through the dusk toward the cabin. He quickly fired one +rifle, and then the other, but whether his bullets hit he could not tell. +Then heavy forms thudded against the log walls of the hut, and through the +loophole he heard deep breathing. + +"They've gained the side of the cabin," said Henry, "and we can't reach +'em with our rifles now." + +"I did my best, Henry," said Paul ruefully. Conflict did not appeal to +him, but the wilderness left no choice. + +"Of course, Paul," said Henry, with every appearance of cheerfulness, +"it's not your fault. In such darkness as this they were bound to get +there. But they are not inside yet by a long sight. Be sure you don't get +in front of any of the loopholes." + +There came a heavy push at the door, but neither it nor the bar showed the +slightest sign of giving way. Henry laughed low. + +"They can't get enough warriors against that door to push it in," he said. + +The two boys rapidly reloaded the empty rifles, and now each crouched +against the wall, where no chance bullet through a loophole could reach +him. An eye unused to the darkness could have seen nothing there. Their +figures were blended against the logs, and they did not speak, but each, +listening intently, could hear what was going on outside. Paul's fancy, as +usual, added to the reality. He heard men moving cautiously, soft +footfalls going pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat around the cabin, and it seemed to +him a stray word of advice or caution now and then. + +The silence was broken suddenly by a blaze of fire that seemed to come +through the wall, a report that roared like a cannon in the cabin. A spurt +of smoke entered at one of the holes, and a bullet burled itself in the +opposite wall. A savage had boldly thrust the muzzle of his rifle into a +loophole and fired. + +"Be still, Paul," whispered Henry. "They can't hit us, and they are +wasting their ammunition." + +A second shot was tried by the besiegers, but the result was only the +roaring, echoing report, the smoke and the flame, and the bullet that +found a vain target of wood. But to Paul, with an imagination fed by +stories of mighty battles, it was like a cannonade. Great guns were +trained upon Henry and himself. A thin, fine smoke from the two shots had +entered the cabin, and it floated about, tickling his nostrils, and +adding, with its savor, to the fever that began to rise in his blood. He +dropped to his knees, and was creeping, rifle ready, toward one of the +loopholes, eager with the desire to fire back, when Henry's strong hand +fell upon his shoulder. + +"I understand what you want, Paul," he whispered. "I, too, feel it, but it +pays us to wait. Let 'em waste their lead." + +Paul stopped, ashamed of himself, and his blood grew cooler. He was not +one to wish anybody's life, and again his mind rebelled at the necessity +of conflict. + +"Thank you, Henry," he said, and resumed his place by the wall. + +No more shots were fired. The warriors could not know whether or not their +bullets had hit a human mark, and Henry inferred that they would wait a +while, crouched against the cabin. He reckoned that when they did move +they would attack the door, and he noiselessly made an additional prop for +it with the heavy wooden bench. But the faint sound of footsteps suddenly +ceased, and Henry, listening intently, could hear nothing save the rising +wind. He looked through one of the loopholes, but he could not see +anything of the savages. Either they were still crouching against the +wall, or had slipped back to the forest. But he saw enough to tell him +that the night was growing cloudy, and that the air was damp. + +Presently rain fell in a slow drizzle, but Henry still watched at the +loophole, and soon he caught a glimpse of two parallel rows of men bearing +something heavy, and approaching the cabin. They had secured a tree trunk, +and would batter down the door; but they must come within range, and Henry +smiled to himself. Then he beckoned to Paul to come to his side. + +"Bring me your two rifles," he whispered. "This is the only place from +which we can reach them now, and I want you to pass me the loaded guns as +fast as I can fire them." + +Paul came and stood ready, although his mind rebelled once more at the +need to shoot. Henry looked again, and saw the brown files approaching. He +thrust the muzzle of the rifle through the hole and fired at a row of +brown legs, and then, with only a second between, he discharged another +bullet at the same target. Cries of pain and rage arose, there was a thud +as the heavy log was dropped to the ground, and Henry had time to send a +third shot after the fleeing warriors as they ran for the forest. + +"They won't try that again," said Henry. "They cannot approach the door +without coming within range of the loophole, and they'll rest a while now +to think up some new trick." + +"What will be the end of it?" asked Paul. + +"Nobody can say," replied the great youth calmly. "Indians don't stick to +a thing as white men do; they may get tired and go away after a while, but +not yet, and it's for you and me, Paul, to watch and fight." + +A certain fierce resolve showed in his tone, and Paul knew that Henry felt +himself a match for anything. + +"Better eat and drink a little more, Paul," said Henry. "Take the half of +a pigeon. We'll need all our strength." + +Paul thought the advice good, and followed it. Then came another period of +that terrible waiting. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE FLIGHT + + +Paul was half reclining against the wall, when he suddenly saw Henry look +up. Paul's eyes followed his comrade's, and then he heard a soft, faint +sound over their heads. He understood at once. Danger had come from a new +quarter. The Shawnees were upon the board roof, through which a rifle +bullet could easily pass. The menace was serious, but the men up there +could not see their targets below, and they themselves were in a +precarious position. + +Henry once pointed his rifle toward a portion of the roof from which a +slight sound came, but for a reason that he did not give he withheld his +fire. Then came a dead stillness, to be broken a few moments later by +fierce war cries all around the cabin and a crash of rapid shots. It +seemed to Paul that an attack in great force was being made from every +side, and, thrusting his rifle through the loophole, he fired quickly at +what he took to be the flitting form of a foe. The next moment he became +aware of a terrible struggle in the cabin itself. He heard a thud, the +roar of a rifle shot within the confined space, a fall, and then, in the +half darkness, he saw two powerful figures writhing to and fro. One was +Henry and the other a mighty Shawnee warrior, naked to the waist, and +striving to use a tomahawk that he held in a hand whose wrist was clenched +in the iron grasp of his foe. Lying almost at their feet was the body of +another warrior, stark and dead. + +Paul sprang forward, his second and loaded rifle in his hand. + +"No, no, Paul!" cried Henry. "The chimney! Look to the chimney!" + +Paul whirled about, and he was just in time. A savage warrior dropped down +the great wide chimney that all the log cabins had, and fell lightly on +his feet among the dead embers of a month ago. His face was distorted +horribly with ferocity, and Paul, all the rage of battle upon him now that +battle had come, fired squarely at the red forehead, the rifle muzzle only +three feet away. The savage fell back and lay still among the cinders. The +next instant the deep, long-drawn sigh of a life departing came from +behind, and Paul whirled about again, his heart full of sickening fear. + +But it was Henry who stood erect. He had wrenched the warrior's own +tomahawk from him, and had slain him with it. His face was flushed with a +victorious glow, but he stood there only a moment. Then he seized his own +second and loaded rifle, and ran to the chimney. But nothing more came +down it, and there were no more sounds of warriors walking on the roof. +The three who had come had been daring men, but they had paid the price. +The shots and shouts around continued for a little space, forms dashed +heavily against the door, and then, as suddenly as it began, the tumult +ceased. + +Paul felt a chill of horror creeping through his bones. It was all so +ghastly. The dead warriors lay, each upon his back, one among the dead +coals, and Paul could hear nothing but his own and Henry's heavy +breathing. + +"It was a daring thing to do," said Henry at last, "to come down the +chimney that way; but it has been done before in Kentucky." + +Then they reloaded their rifles, but Paul was like one in a dream. It +seemed to him now that he could not endure the long hours in the cabin +with those dead faces on the floor staring at him with their dead eyes. + +"Henry," he said, "we can't keep them here." + +"No," replied Henry, "we can't; but we must wait a little." + +Paul sat down on the bench. He felt for a moment faint and sick. The +little cabin was full of rifle smoke, and it lay heavy in his nostrils and +upon his lungs. He felt as if he were breathing poisoned air. But the +smoke gradually drifted away up the chimney, and the thick, clogging +feeling departed from his lungs and nostrils. Strength and spirit came +back. + +"How are we to get rid of them?" he asked, nodding toward the dead +warriors. + +"Let's wait an hour at least, and I'll show you," replied Henry. + +The hour passed, but to Paul it seemed two. Then Henry took the largest of +the warriors and dragged him to the wall just beneath the window. The +second and third he did the same way. + +"Now, Paul," he said, "you must take down the bar and open the window. +Then I'll pitch them out. The besiegers will be surprised, and they won't +have time to get at us." + +Paul accepted his part of the task eagerly. There might be danger, but +better that than having the dead men lying on the floor and staring at him +with dead eyes. He took down the bar and quickly held the window open. +Henry heaved up the bodies of the warriors and cast them out, one by one, +each falling with a dull, heavy sound to the ground below. Then Paul +slammed back the window and shot the bar into place. As he did so three +or four rifles flashed from the forest, and the bullets pattered upon the +heavy oaken shutter. + +"Too late," said Henry, "We took 'em by surprise, as I thought we should." + +Paul drew a long and deep breath. The cabin had taken on a brighter +aspect. + +"I'm mighty glad that's done," he said. + +"If you'll listen carefully, I think you'll hear something later," said +Henry. + +Henry was right. In about half an hour they heard soft, shuffling noises +beside the cabin, just under the window. + +"They're taking away the dead warriors," said Henry. + +"I don't want to fire on them while they're doing it," said Paul. + +"Nor I," said Henry. "We might reach 'em, but I'm glad they're doing what +they are." + +The slight, sliding noises continued for a little while, and then they +heard only the light sweep of the rain. On the roof it became a patter, +and here and there a drop made its way between the boards and fell on the +floor. It was soothing to Paul after the excitement of those terrible +moments, and he felt a queer, pleasant languor. His eyes half closed, but +his vague look fell on somber, dark spots on the floor, and the sight was +repellent to him. He went to the hearth, heaped up the whole of the embers +and ashes, and sprinkled them carefully over the spots, which would have +been red in the light, but which were black in the night and gloom of the +cabin. Henry watched him do it, but said nothing. He understood Paul, and +gave him his sympathy. + +Paul sat down again on the floor, and leaned against the wall. The +pleasant, languorous feeling came once more, but he was roused suddenly by +scattered rifle shots, and sprang up. Henry laughed. + +"They're not attacking," he said. "It was only a volley, fired from the +wood, to show how angry they are. I don't think we need expect anything +more to-night. You might really go to sleep, Paul, if you feel like it." + +"No, I will not!" exclaimed Paul with energy. "I won't do all the +sleeping, and let you do all the watching. Besides, I couldn't sleep, +anyhow; my nerves wouldn't let me. I looked sleepy just because I was +tired, it's your time." + +"All right," said Henry. "Now, you watch good, Paul." + +Then Henry lay down upon the floor and closed his eyes. He might not have +done so, but he felt sure that nothing more would be attempted that +night; and if, by any chance, they should attack again, Paul would be +sure to waken him in time. The rain grew harder on the roof, and its +steady patter was like the rocking of a cradle to a child. His nerves were +of steel, and the mechanism of his body and brain were not upset at all. +The half-dropped lids dropped down entirely, and he slept, breathing +peacefully. + +Paul watched, his brief lethargy gone; but his accustomed eyes could see +little now through the loopholes, only the dim forest and the rain, +falling slowly but steadily. He and Henry seemed to be alone in the world. +Outside all the wilderness was in gloom, but in the little cabin it was +dry and warm. The few drops that came through the boards now and then, and +fell with a little pat on the floor, were nothing. He and Henry were dry +and safe, and it seemed to him that so far, at least, they had all the +better of the battle. The glow of triumph came again. + +Paul watched until dawn, and saw the sun spring up over the eastern +forests. Then he awakened Henry, and the great youth, stretching himself, +uttered a long sigh. + +"That was fine, Paul!" he said, "fine! Now, what are our friends outside +doing?" + +"Nothing that I can see. There are only stumps in the clearing, and trees +and hushes in the forest. I see no warrior." + +Henry laughed, and his laugh had a most cheerful tone. + +"They are not far away," he said. "It is likely they'll try to starve us +out, or rather conquer us with thirst. They don't know anything about our +barrel of water." + +"Blessed barrel!" ejaculated Paul. + +It seemed that Henry was right in his prediction. As long hours passed, +the sun rose higher and higher, and it grew very close in the little +cabin. Paul thought the warriors must have gone away, disgusted with their +losses, but Henry cautioned him against savage patience. Toward noon they +ate a little more of their pigeon and dried venison, and Paul looked with +some dismay at the small portions that were left. + +"Henry," he exclaimed, "there is enough for supper, and no more." + +"Just so," said Henry, "and our enemies remain on guard. They'll wait for +us." + +He thought it best to put the case plainly and in all its hideous phases +to Paul. While savages sometimes abandoned a siege very soon, they did not +show signs of ceasing now. Perhaps they relied on starving out the +besieged, and if they only knew the state of affairs within the cabin +theirs was a good reliance. + +Their brief dinner over, the two boys sat down on the floor, and from the +loopholes on either side watched the forest. To Paul the whole air and +atmosphere of the cabin had now become intolerably oppressive. At first it +had been such a strong, snug place of refuge that he rejoiced, but at last +his sensitive spirit was weighed down by the long delay, the gloom, and +the silence. The sight of their limited rations brought to him all the +future--the vigilant enemy on guard, the last little piece of food gone, +then slow starvation, or a rush on the savage bullets and sure death. As +usual, his uncommon imagination was depicting everything in vivid colors, +far in advance. + +But he said nothing, nor did Henry. They had already exhausted all +subjects for talk, and they waited--Henry with real, and Paul with assumed +patience. Fully two hours passed in silence, but after that time it was +naturally Paul who spoke first. + +"Henry," he said in a tone that indicated unbelief in his own words, +"don't you think that they must have got tired and gone away?" + +"No, they are surely in the forest about us; but since they won't go, +Paul, you and I must leave to-night." + +"What do you mean?" Paul's words expressed the greatest surprise. + +Henry stood up, and figure, face, and words alike showed the greatest +decision. + +"Paul," he said, "our last piece of venison will soon be gone, and the +Shawnees, I think, will stay, expecting to starve us out, which they can +do; but the night shows all the signs of being very dark, and you and I +must slip through their lines some way or other. Are you ready to try it?" + +It was like a signal to Paul, those words, "Are you ready to try it?" He +was ready to try anything now, as a release from the cabin, and a fine +flare of color mounted to his cheeks as he replied: + +"I'll follow you anywhere, Henry." + +Henry said nothing more; Paul's reply was sufficient; but he resumed his +position at the loophole, and attentively watched the heavens. Somber +clouds were rolling up from the southwest and the air was growing cooler, +but heavy with damp. Already the sun, so bright and pitiless in the +morning, was obscured, and mists and vapors hung over the forest. He +judged that it would be a dark night, with flurries of mist and rain, just +suited to his purpose, and he felt a sensation of relief. + +"Paul," he said, after a while, "I think we'd better take the two captured +rifles with us again. If we come face to face with 'em, a couple of extra +shots might save us." + +"Whatever you say, Henry," replied Paul. + +The afternoon passed slowly away, and the night came on thick and dark, as +Henry had hoped. The rain fell again in intermittent showers, and it was +carried in gusts by the wind. The two boys drank deeply from the barrel, +and ate what was left of the venison. + +"Be sure your powder horns are stopped up tight, Paul," said Henry. "We've +got to keep our powder dry. The sooner we go the better, because the +Shawnees won't be expecting us to come out so soon." + +The darkness was now rolling up so thick and black that to Paul it seemed +like a great sable curtain dropping its folds over them. It enveloped the +forest, then the clearing, then the hut, and those within it. The inky sky +was without a star. The puffs of rain rattled dismally on the roof of the +old cabin. But all this somberness of nature brought comfort and lightness +of heart to the besieged. Paul's spirits rose with the blackness of the +night and the wildness of the rain. + +"Are you all ready, Paul?" asked Henry. + +"Yes," replied Paul cheerfully. + +Accustomed as they were to the darkness of the cabin, they could not see +each other's faces now, only the merest outlines of their figures. + +"We must keep close together," said Henry. "It won't do to lose sight of +each other." + +He slipped to the door, lifted the bar and put it soundlessly on one side, +and he and Paul stood together in the open space, just a moment, waiting +and listening. + +The rush of air and raindrops on Paul's face felt wonderfully cool and +invigorating. His chest expanded and his spirits rose to the top. It was +like leaving a prison behind. + +"Step more lightly than you ever did before in your life," said Henry, and +he and Paul put foot together on mother earth. The very pressure of the +damp earth felt good to Paul all the way through his moccasins. A step or +two from the door they paused again, waiting and listening. The forest was +invisible, and so were the stumps in the clearing. But nothing stirred. +Henry's acute ear told him that. + +"We'll follow the wall around to the other side of the cabin," he +whispered to Paul. "They don't know yet that we've come out, and naturally +they'll watch the door closest. Be careful where you put your feet." + +But the very dampness prevented any rustle in the weeds and grass, and +they passed to the other side of the cabin without an alarm coming from +the forest. There they paused again, and once more Henry whispered his +instructions. + +"I think we'd better get down and crawl," he said. "It's a hard thing to +do with two rifles each, but we must do it until we get to the woods." + +It was difficult, as Henry had said, and Paul felt, too, a sense of +humiliation; but then one's life was at stake, and without hesitation he +dropped to his knees, crawling slowly after the dark figure of his +comrade. Henry made no sound and Paul but a little, not enough to be heard +ten feet away. Henry stopped now and then, as if he would listen intently +a moment or two, and Paul, of course, stopped just behind him. Fortune +seemed to favor their daring. The great silence lasted, broken only by +puffs of wind and rain, and the wet leaves of the forest rubbing softly +against each other. Paul looked back once. The cabin was already melting +into a blur, although not twenty yards distant, and in as many yards more +it would be lost completely in the surrounding darkness. + +Now the forest was only a few yards away, but to Paul it seemed very far. +His knees and wrists began to ache, and the two rifles became awkward for +him to carry. He wondered how Henry could go forward with so much ease, +but he resolved to persist as long as his comrade led the way. + +The dark outline of the wood slowly came nearer, then nearer yet, and then +they entered it, pressing silently among the hushes and the black shadows +of the lofty trees. Here Henry rose to his feet and Paul imitated him, +thankful to rest his aching knees and wrists, and to stand up in the form +and spirit of a man. + +"We may slip through unseen and unheard," whispered Henry, "and then again +we may not. Come on; we'll need all our caution now." + +But as they took the first step erect, a cry arose behind them, a cry so +full of ferocity and chagrin that Paul absolutely shuddered from head to +foot. It came from the clearing, near the hut, and Paul, without the +telling of it, knew what had happened. + +"They've tried the door of the cabin, only to find it open and the place +empty," whispered Henry. "Now, we must not go too fast, Paul. In this +pitchy darkness not even a Shawnee could see us ten feet away, but he +could hear us. No noise, Paul!" + +They stole forward, one close behind the other, going but slowly, seeking +with sedulous care to avoid any noise that would bring the savages upon +them. The rain, which had grown steadier, was a Godsend. It and the wind +together kept up a low, moaning sound that hid the faint pressure of +Paul's footsteps. The cry behind them at the cabin was repeated once, +echoing away through the black and dripping forest. After that Paul heard +nothing, but to the keener ears of Henry came now and then the soft, +sliding sound of rapid footsteps, a word or two uttered low, and the faint +swish of bushes, swinging back into place after a body passed. He knew +that the warriors were now seeking eagerly for them, but with the aid of +the intense darkness he hoped that he and Paul would steal safely through +their lines. They went slowly forward for perhaps half an hour, stopping +often and listening. Once Henry's hand on Paul's shoulder, they sank a +little lower in the bushes, and Henry, but not Paul, saw the shadowy +outline of a figure passing near. + +Fortunately the forest was very dense, but unfortunately the clouds began +to thicken, and a rumble dull and low came from the far horizon. Then the +clouds parted, cut squarely down the middle by a flash of lightning, and +for a moment a dazzling glow of light played over the dripping forest. +Everything was revealed by it, every twig and leaf stood out in startling +distinctness, and Paul, by impulse, sank lower to hide himself among the +bushes. + +The glow vanished and Henry had seen nothing; he was sure, too, that no +one had seen them, but he knew that it was only luck; another flash might +reveal them, and he and Paul must now hasten, taking the chances of +discovery by noise. He spoke a word to his comrade, and they plunged more +rapidly through the undergrowth. The thunder kept up an unceasing and +threatening murmur on the far horizon, and the lightning flared fitfully +now and then, but they were still unseen, and Henry hoped that they had +now passed the ring of savages in the forest and the dusk. + +Paul had dropped back from Henry's side, but was following closely behind +him. He was deeply impressed by a situation so extraordinary for one of +his type. The thunder, the lightning, the darkness and the danger +contained for him all the elements of awe and mystery. + +"I think we've shaken them off," said Henry presently, "and unless the +lightning shows us to some stray member of the band they can't pick up our +trail again before morning." + +Paul was grateful for the assurance, and he noticed, too, that the danger +of the lightning's revelation was decreasing, as the flashes were becoming +less frequent and vivid. His breathing now grew easier and his spirits +rose. Much of the gloom departed from the forest. The thunder that had +kept up a continuous low rolling, like a dirge, died away, and the +lightning, after a few more weak and ineffectual flashes, ceased. + +"We won't have any further trouble to-night, that's sure," said Henry. +"They could not possibly find our trail before day, and I think we'd +better push on, as nearly as we can, in the direction of our hidden +powder. You know we still mean to do what we started out to do." + +They traveled all night, with brief periods of rest, through rough and +densely wooded country. Toward morning the rain ceased, and the clouds all +floated away. The stars came out in a clear sky, and a warm wind blew over +the wet forest. Henry looked more than once at Paul, and his look was +always full of sympathy. Paul's face was pale, but his expression was set +in firm resolve, and Henry knew that he would never yield. + +After a while the dark began to lighten, and Henry stopped short in +surprise. Paul was walking in such automatic fashion that he almost ran +against him before he stopped. Henry pointed with a long forefinger to a +red spot deep in the forest. + +"See that?" he said. + +"Yes, I guess it's the sun rising," said Paul, who was staggering a +little, and who saw through a cloud, as it were. + +Henry looked at him and laughed. + +"The sun!" he said. "Well, Paul, it's the first time I ever knew the sun +to rise in the west." + +"The sun's likely to do anything out here where we are," rejoined Paul. + +"That's a fire, a camp fire, Paul," said Henry, "and I'm thinking it must +be made by white men." + +"White men! Friends!" exclaimed Paul. He stood up straight, and his eyes +grew brighter. An hour or two ago it had scarcely seemed possible to him +that they should ever see white faces again. + +"It's only my belief," said Henry. "We've got to make sure. Now, you wait +here, Paul, and I'll do a little bit of scouting. Sit down among those +bushes there and I'll be back soon." + +Paul was fully content to do what Henry said. He found a good place in a +thick clump of underbrush, and sank down easily. He would have been quite +willing to lie down, because he was terribly tired and sleepy, but with an +effort he held himself to a sitting posture and watched Henry. He was +conscious of a vague admiration as the tall form of his comrade went +forward swiftly, making no noise and hiding itself so quickly in the +forest that he could not tell where it had gone. + +Then Paul was conscious of a great peace, and a heavy tugging at his +eyelids. Never in his life before was he so tired and sleepy. The last +raindrop was gone, and the bushes and grass were drying in the gentle +wind. A fine golden sun was bringing with it a silver dawn, and a pleasant +warmth stole all through him. His head sank back a little more and his +elbow found a soft place in the turf. + +The boy, with his half-closed eyes and pale face, was not alone as he lay +there among the bushes. Little neighbors came and looked at the newcomer. +A hare gazed solemnly at him for a moment or two, and then hopped solemnly +away. A bluebird flew down to the very tip of a bough, surveyed him at +leisure, and then flew off in search of food. Neither hare nor bird was +scared. Tiny creeping things scuttled through the grass, but the boy did +not move, and they scuttled on undisturbed. + +Paul was just sinking away into a pleasant unknown land when a shout +brought him back to earth. He sprang to his feet, and there was Henry +returning through the forest. + +"Friends, Paul! Old friends!" he cried. "Up with you and we'll pay 'em a +surprise visit!" + +Paul shook his head to clear his thoughts, and followed Henry. Henry +walked swiftly now, not seeming to care whether or not he made noise, and +Paul followed him toward the fire, which now rapidly grew larger. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE BATTLE ON THE HILL + + +Six men were sitting around a camp fire, and they showed every sign of +comfort and cheerfulness. It was a big fire, a glowing fire, a warm fire, +and it took all trace of damp from the rain or cold of the autumn morning. +They were just having breakfast, and their food was buffalo hump, very +tender as it came from beneath a huge bed of red-hot embers. + +The men seemed to have no fear of an enemy, perhaps because their fire was +in an open space, too far from the forest for the rifle shot of an +ambushed foe to reach them. Perhaps, too, they felt security in their +numbers and valor, because they were certainly a formidable-looking party. +All were stalwart, dressed in wilderness fashion--that is, in tanned +deerskin--and every one carried the long, slender-barreled Kentucky rifle, +with knife and hatchet at his belt. There was Tom Ross, the guide, of +middle years, with a powerful figure and stern, quiet face, and near him +lounged a younger man in an attitude of the most luxurious and indolent +ease, Shif'less Sol Hyde, who had attained a great reputation for laziness +by incessantly claiming it for himself, but who was nevertheless a hunter +and scout of extraordinary skill. Jim Hart, a man of singular height and +thinness, whom Sol disrespectfully called the "Saplin'"--that is, the +sapling, a slim young tree--was doing the cooking. The others were typical +frontiersmen--lean, big of build, and strong. + +The shiftless one curled himself into an easier position against a log, +and regarded with interest a particularly juicy piece of the buffalo hump +that lay on the grass some distance from him. + +"Say, Saplin'," he drawled, "I wish you'd bring me that piece o' hump. I +think it would just suit my teeth." + +"Git it yourself," replied Saplin' indignantly. "Do you think I'm goin' to +cook for a lazy bag o' bones like you, an' then wait on you, too?" + +"Well, I think you might," said Shif'less Sol sorrowfully. "I'm pow'ful +tired." + +"If I wuz to wait on you when you wuz tired, I'd wait on you all my life." + +"Which 'ud he puttin' yourself to a mighty good use," said Sol tolerantly. +"But if you won't bring it to me, I reckon I'll have to go after it." + +He rose, with every appearance of reluctance, and secured the buffalo +meat. But he stood with it in his hand and regarded the forest to the +east, from which two figures were coming. Ross had already seen them, but +he had said nothing. The keen eyes of the shiftless one were not at fault +for a moment. + +"Paul Cotter an' Henry Ware," he said. + +"Yes," said Tom Ross. + +"And Paul's just about done up." + +"Yes," said Tom Ross. + +"Looks like they've had a big fight or a big run, one or t'other or both." + +"Yes," said Tom Ross. + +Then all went forward to meet the two boys, so well known to them. Paul +was staggering a little, and there was a high color, as of fever, in his +face, but Henry showed signs of neither fatigue nor excitement. + +"We're glad to find you," said Henry briefly. + +"We're glad, awful glad!" began Paul, with more fervor; but he suddenly +reeled, and everything grew dim about him. Shif'less Sol caught him. + +"Here, Paul," he said, "stand up. You're a heavy weight for a tired man to +hold." + +His words were rough, but his tone was kindly. Paul, all his pride +aroused, made a great effort and stood straight again. Slowly the world +about him swam back, into its proper position. + +"Who said I wasn't standing up?" he asked. + +"Nobody," replied Shif'less Sol; "but if I'd been through what I reckon +you've been through, I'd fall flop on the ground, an' Jim Hart would have +to come an' feed me or I'd starve to death right before his eyes." + +Paul laughed, and then he felt more like himself. Ross, too, had been +regarding him with sympathy, but he glanced inquiringly at Henry. + +"You've had it hot an' hard?" he said. + +"Yes," replied the boy laconically; "we've run against Shawnees, and about +everything that could has happened to us." + +"Then it's fire, warmth, meat, rest, an' sleep for Paul right away," said +Ross. + +Henry nodded. + +Paul was looking at the fire, which seemed to him the most glorious one +ever built, and he did not notice anything more until he was lying beside +it, stretched on a blanket, and eating the very piece of tender buffalo +meat that Shif'less Sol had coveted for himself. Despite his relaxed and +half-dreamy condition, his imagination leaped up at once to magnificent +heights. All danger and hardship were gone. He was surrounded by a ring +of dauntless friends, and the fire glowed splendidly. + +Shif'less Sol sat down near him, and regarded him with the deepest +sympathy, mingled with a certain amount of envy. + +"Paul," he said, "I wish I wuz in your place for an hour or two. They've +jest got to wait on you. Nobody ever believes me when I say I'm sick, +though I'm took pow'ful bad sometimes, an' they don't care whether I'm +tired or not. Now, Paul, take all the advantages o' your position. Don't +you reach your hand for a thing. Make 'em bring it to you. Ef I can't get +waited on myself, I like to see another fellow waited on. Here, Saplin', +some more o' that buffalo steak for Paul, who is mighty hungry." + +Saplin' cast a look of scorn upon Shif'less Sol, but he brought the steak, +and Paul ate again, for he was voraciously hungry. But one cannot eat +always, and by and by he had enough. Then his restful, dreamy feeling +grew. He saw Henry and the men talking, but he either did not hear what +they said or he was not interested. Soon the whole world faded out, and he +slept soundly. And as he slept the touch of fever left him. Shif'less Sol +looked down at him kindly. + +"I'm tired, too," he said, "but I suppose if I wuz to go to sleep some o' +you 'ud be mean enough to shove me in the side with his foot." + +"I'd try to be the first," said Jim Hart, "an' I'd shove pow'ful hard." + +"It 'ud be jest like you," said Shif'less Sol, "but I suppose you can't +any more help bein' mean, Jim, than I can help bein' tired." + +Jim shrugged his shoulders and returned to his cooking, his tall, lean +form bent over like a hoop. Paul slept peacefully on the blanket, but the +others talked much and earnestly. Henry, as he ate of the buffalo meat, +told them all that had happened to him and Paul in that brief period which +yet looked so long. That the band would pick up the trail, daylight now +come, and follow on, he did not doubt. There he stopped, and left the +conclusion to the others. Shif'less Sol was the first to speak. + +"This gang," he said, "come out to hunt buffalo, an', accordin' to what +Henry says, a war party--he don't know how big--is comin' this way huntin' +him an' Paul. Well, ef it keeps on huntin' him an' Paul, it's bound to run +up agin us, because Paul an' Henry are now a part o' our gang. Ez fur me, +I've done a lot o' trampin' after buffalo, an' I feel too tired to run, I +jest do." + +"I ain't seen no better place for cookin' than this," said Jim Hart, +undoubling himself, "an' I like the looks o' the country round here +pow'ful well. I'd hate to leave it before I got ready," + +"'Tain't healthy to run afore you're ready," said Ike Stebbins, a short, +extremely thick man. "It ain't good for the stomach. Pumps the blood right +up to the heart, an' I ain't feelin' very good just now, noway. Can't +afford to take no more risks to my health." + +A slight smile passed over the stern, bronzed face of Tom Ross. + +"I expected to hear you talk that way, boys," he said, "it's in your +blood; but thar's a better reason still for our not goin'. If this war +band stays around here, it'll be pickin' off settlers, an' it's fur us to +stop it. Now, them Shawnees are comin' a-huntin' us. I jest wish to say +that we don't mean to be the hunted; we're to be the hunters ourselves." + +Sharp exclamations of approval broke from all these fierce spirits of the +border. But the deepest and most dangerous gleam of all was in the eyes of +Henry Ware. All his primeval instincts were alive, and foremost among them +was the desire to fight. He was tired of running, of seeking to escape, +and his warlike blood was up and leaping. Two more men who had been out +ranging the woods for buffalo, or any other worthy game that might happen +in their way, came in presently, and the little army, with the addition +of the two boys, was now raised to the number of ten. And a real little +army it was, fortified with indomitable hearts and all the skill and +knowledge of the wilderness. + +When Paul awoke beneath the pressure of Henry's hand on his shoulder, the +sun was much higher, and the forest swam in limpid light. He noticed at +once that the fire was out, trampled under strong heels, and that all the +men looked as if ready for instant conflict. He rubbed his eyes and sprang +to his feet, half in shame that he should have slept while others watched. +It was Shif'less Sol who came to his rescue. + +"It's all right, Paul," he drawled. "We all know you were pow'ful tired, +an' I'd have slept, too, ef them fellows hadn't been mean enough to keep +me from it. You wuz just nacherally overpowered, an' you had to do it." + +Paul looked around at the little group, and he read the meaning in the eye +of every man. + +"You are going to fight that war band?" he said. + +"It 'pears to me that it's a sight less tirin' than runnin' away," replied +Shif'less Sol, "though we hate to drag you, Paul, into such a fracas." + +The blood flushed into Paul's face. + +"I'm ready for it!" he exclaimed. "I'm as ready as any of you! Do you +think I want to run away?" + +"We know, Paul, that you've got ez much grit ez anybody in the world," +said Tom Ross kindly; "but Sol maybe didn't think a boy that's a big +scholar, an' that kin read an' understand anything, would he as much +interested in a real hair-raisin' fight as the rest o' us." + +Paul was mollified. He knew their minds now, and in a way it was an +unconscious tribute that these wild borderers paid to him. + +"I'm with you to the end of it," he said. And they, too, were satisfied. +Then the entire party moved forward into the deep woods, watching and +listening for the slightest sign of the Shawnee advance. Tom Ross +naturally took command, but Henry Ware, as always, was first scout. No +other eye was so keen as his, nor any other ear. All knew it, and all +admitted it willingly. His form expanded again, and fierce joy surged up +in his heart. As Ross truly said, the hunted had turned into the hunter. + +It was the purpose of the men to circle to the east, and to strike the war +party on the Hank. They knew that the Shawnees had already discovered the +junction of the fugitives with a larger force, but the warriors could not +yet know that the new party intended to stand and fight. Ross, therefore, +like the general of a great army going into battle, intended to seek the +best possible position for his force. + +They traveled in a half circle for perhaps two hours, and then Henry +struck a trail, calling at once to Ross. They examined it carefully, and +judged that it had been made by a force of about twenty warriors, +undoubtedly the band that was following Henry and Paul. + +"We're behind 'em now," said Henry. + +"But they'll soon be coming back on our trail," said Ross. "They know that +they are more than two to one, and they will follow hard." + +"I'm gittin' mighty tired ag'in," said Shif'less Sol. "It 'pears to me +thar's a pow'ful good place fur us to rest over thar among all them big +trees on that little hill." + +Ross and Henry examined the hill, which was not very high, but small, and +crowned with mighty beeches. The great tree-trunks would offer admirable +cover for the wilderness fighter. + +"It does kinder invite us," said Ross meaningly, "so we'll jest go over +thar, Sol, an' set a while longer." + +A few minutes later they were on the hill, each man lying behind a tree of +his own selection. Shif'less Sol had chosen a particularly large one, and +luckily there was some soft turf growing over its roots. He stretched +himself out luxuriously. + +"Now, this jest suits an easy-goin' man like me," he said. "I could lay +here all day jest a-dreamin', never disturbin' nobody, an' nobody +disturbin' me. Paul, you and me ain't got no business here. We wuz cut out +fur scholars, we wuz." + +Nevertheless, lazy and luxurious as he looked, Shif'less Sol watched the +forest with eyes that missed nothing. His rifle lay in such a position +that he could take aim almost instantly. + +There was a long and tense silence, full of strangeness to Paul. He could +never get used to these extraordinary situations. When preparing for +combat, as well as in it, the world seemed unreal to him. He did not see +why men should fly at each other's throats; but the fact was before him, +and he could not escape it. + +The little hill was so situated that they could see to a considerable +distance at all points of the compass, but they yet saw nothing. Shif'less +Sol stretched himself in a new position and grumbled. + +"The wust thing about this bed o' mine here," he said to Paul, "is that +sooner or later I'll be disturbed in it. A fellow never kin make people +let him alone. It's the way here, an' it's the way back in the East, too, +I reckon. Now, I'm only occupyin' a place six feet by two, with the land +rollin' away thousands o' miles on every side; but it's this very spot, +six feet by two, that the Shawnees are a-lookin' fur." + +Paul laughed at the shiftless one's complaint, and the laugh greatly +relieved his tension. Fortunately his tree was very close to Sol's, and +they could carry on a whispered conversation. + +"Do you think the Shawnees will really come?" asked Paul, who was always +incredulous when the forest was so silent. + +"Come! Of course they will!" replied Shif'less Sol. "If for no other +reason, they'll do it jest to make me trouble. I ought to be back thar in +the East, teachin' school or makin' laws fur somebody." + +Paul's eyes wandered from Sol to his comrade, and he saw Henry suddenly +move, ever so little, then fix his gaze on a point in the forest, three or +four hundred yards away. Paul looked, too, and saw nothing, but he knew +well enough that Henry's keener gaze had detected an alien presence in the +bushes. + +Henry whispered something to Ross, who followed his glance and then nodded +in assent. The others, too, soon looked at the same point, Jim Hart +craning his long neck until it arched like a bow. Presently from a dense +clump of bushes came a little puff of white smoke, and then the stillness +was broken by the report of a rifle. A bullet buried itself in one of the +trees on the hill, and Shif'less Sol turned over with a sniff of contempt. + +"If they don't shoot better'n that," he said, "I might ez well go to +sleep." + +But the forest duel had begun, and it was a contest of skill against +skill, of craft against craft. Every device of wilderness warfare known to +the red men was practiced, too, by the white men who confronted them. + +Paul at first felt an intense excitement, but it was soothed by the calm +words of Shif'less Sol. + +"I'd be easy about it, Paul," said the shiftless one. "That wuz jest a +feeler. They've found out that we're ready for 'em. There ain't no chance +of a surprise, an' they shot that bullet merely as a sort o' way o' +tellin' us that they had come. Things won't be movin' fur some time yet." + +Paul found that Shif'less Sol was right. The long waiting customary in +such forest combats endured, but he was now becoming more of a stoic, and +he used the time, at least in part, for rest, although every nerve and +muscle was keyed to attention. It was fully an hour later when a shot came +from behind a tree much nearer to them, and a bullet cut a fragment of +bark from the gigantic beech that sheltered Shif'less Sol. There was a +second report before the sound of the first had died away, and a Shawnee, +uttering a smothered cry, fell forward from his shelter, and lay upon the +ground, quite still. Paul could see the brown figure, and he knew that the +man was dead. + +"It was Tom Ross who did that," said Shif'less Sol. "The savage leaned too +fur forward when he fired at me, an' exposed hisself. Served him right fur +tryin' to hurt me." + +Then Sol, who had raised himself up a little, lay down again in his +comfortable position. He did not seem disturbed at all, but Paul kept +gazing at the figure of the dead warrior. Once more his spirit recoiled at +the need of taking life. Presently came a spatter of rifle fire--a dozen +shots, perhaps--and bullets clipped turf and trees. The Shawnees had crept +much nearer, and were in a wide semicircle, hoping thus to uncover their +foes, at least in part, and they had a little success, as one man, named +Brewer, was hit in the fleshy part of the arm. + +Paul saw nothing but the smoke and the flashes of fire, and he was wise +enough to save his own ammunition--he had long since learned the border +maxim, never to shoot until you saw something to shoot at. + +But the enemy was creeping closer, hiding among rocks and bushes, and a +second and longer spatter of rifle fire began. One man was hit badly, and +then the borderers began to seek targets of their own. Their long, +slender-barreled rifles flashed again and again, and more than one bullet +went straight to the mark. The plumes of white smoke grew more numerous, +united sometimes, and floated away in little clouds among the trees. + +Paul saw that his comrades were firing slowly, but with terrible effect, +as five or six still, brown figures now lay in the open. Shif'less Sol, at +the next tree, only four feet away, was stretched almost perfectly flat on +his face on the ground, and every movement he made seemed to be slow and +deliberate. Yet no one was firing faster or with surer aim than he, and +faint gleams of satisfaction showed now and then in his eyes. Paul could +not restrain speech. + +"It seems to me, Sol, that you are not tired as you said you were," he +said. + +"Perhaps not," replied Sol slowly, "but I will be." + +The savages suddenly began to shout, and kept up a ferocious yelling, as +if they would confuse and terrify their opponents. The woods echoed with +the din, the long-drawn, whining cry, like that of a wolf, and despite +all the efforts of a strong will, Paul shuddered as he had not shuddered +at the sound of the rifle fire. + +"'Tain't no singin' school," said Shif'less Sol, in a clear voice that +Paul could hear above the uproar, "but, then, yellin' don't hurt nobody, +either. I'd be pow'ful tired ef I used my mouth that way. But jest you +remember, Paul, that noise ain't bullets." + +It seemed to Paul that the Shawnees had come to the same conclusion, +because all the yelling suddenly ceased, and with it the firing. Brown +forms that had been flitting about disappeared, too, and all at once there +was silence in the wilderness, and nothing to be seen save the hunters and +the still, brown figures among the rocks and bushes. To Paul it was +wonderful, this melting away of the battle, and this disappearance of the +foe, all in a flash. He rubbed his eyes, and could scarcely believe that +it was real. But there were the still, brown figures, and by a tree near +him lay another still figure, in hunting shirt and leggings, with his face +upturned to the sky. One of the hunters had been shot through the heart, +and had died instantly and without noise. Three others had been wounded, +but they were not complaining. + +Presently a little hum of talk arose, and Shif'less Sol once more moved +comfortably. + +"Bit off more'n they could chaw," he said reflectively. "Will wait a +while before takin' another bite. Guess I'll rest now." + +He stretched himself luxuriously, took out a piece of venison and began to +eat it, at the same time handing a piece to Paul. + +"Atween fights I allus eat," he said. "Better do the same, Paul." + +But Paul had no appetite. He crawled over to Henry, and asked him what he +expected to happen next. + +"They won't give up," replied Henry, "that is sure. They know that they +outnumber us two or three to one, and I've an idea that this is a band of +picked warriors." + +"You think, too, they'll want to revenge their losses?" + +"Of course. And they're likely to attack again before night. It's not noon +yet, and they have lots of time." + +Paul crawled back to his tree, and, knowing that he would have to wait +again, forced himself to eat the venison that Shif'less Sol had given to +him. + +The Shawnees remained silent and hidden in the forest, and the white men, +voiceless, too, lay waiting behind the trees. Between them stretched the +fallen, their brown faces upturned to the red sun, which sailed peacefully +on in a sky of cloudless blue. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +WHAT HAPPENED IN THE DARK + + +Shif'less Sol rose to a sitting position, and carefully cracked his +joints, one by one. + +"I wuz a bit afeard, Paul," he said, "that I had jest petrified, layin' +thar so long. A tired man likes to rest, but thar ain't no sense in +turnin' hisself into a stone image." + +Sol seemed so careless and easy that Paul drew an inference from his +manner. + +"You are not expecting anything more from them just now, Sol?" + +His nod toward the forest indicated the "them." + +"No, not yet a while," replied Shif'less Sol. "I guess they'll lay by +until night." + +His face showed some apprehension as he spoke of night, but it was gone +quickly. Shif'less Sol was not a man who took troubles to heart, else he +never would have earned his name. + +"We'll jest chaw a little more venison, Paul," he said. "I know you think +a drink o' water would go pow'ful well with it, an' so do I; but since it +ain't to be had, we'll jest do without it and say no more." + +The remainder of the day passed undisturbed, but as the first wan shade of +twilight appeared the men began to look closely to their arms. Horns were +held up to the light in order that the powder line might show, bullets +were counted, and flints examined. Paul knew what it all meant. The +Shawnees would attack in the darkness, and there would be all the +confusion of a midnight battle, when one might not be able to tell friend +from friend nor foe from foe. The sense of weirdness and awe overcame him +again. They were but the tiniest of atoms in that vast wilderness, which +would be just the same to-morrow and the next day, no matter who won. + +But Paul had in him the stuff of which heroes are made, and his strong +will brought his mind back to present needs. He, too, measured his powder +and counted his bullets, while he strove also to forget the hot thirst +that tormented him. + +The sun sank in the forest, the wan twilight deepened into shadow, and the +shadow darkened into night. The trees where the Shawnees lay hidden were +gone in the dusk, which hung so close that Paul could see but the nearest +of his comrades. Only the murmur of night insects and the faint rustle of +leaves came to his ears. The feeling of awe returned, and his blood grew +chill. Then it was a relief to him to know that he had a comrade in this +sensation. + +"Ef an owl would only hoot once or twice now," whispered Shif'less Sol, "I +think I'd jump right out o' my huntin' shirt." + +Paul laughed and felt better. + +"Now, Paul," continued Shif'less Sol, very gravely this time, "lemme give +you a piece o' mighty good advice. When the muss comes on, don't move +about much. Lay close. Stick to me an' Henry, an' then thar ain't so much +chance to git mixed up with them that's lookin' fur you here." + +"I'll remember what you say, Sol," replied Paul earnestly, as he girded +his spirit for action. He knew that the attack would come very soon, as +the Indians would choose the darkest period before the moon rose. Nor was +he wrong. The battle in the night began only a half hour later. + +Paul first saw a pink point appear in the darkness, but he knew that it +was the flame from a rifle shot. It came from a place not far away, to +which some Shawnee had crawled; but the hunters paid no attention to it, +nor to a second, nor to a third, as all the bullets flew wild. Paul, +forgetting for the moment that those bullets were sent to kill, became +engrossed in the spectacle of the fireworks. He was always wondering where +the next spurt of blue or pink flame would break through the darkness, +and the popping of the shots formed a not unpleasant sound in the night. + +"Comin' closer, comin' closer, Paul!" whispered Shif'less Sol. "One o' +them bullets flyin' in the dark may hit somethin' putty soon." + +Sol was a prophet. A hunter not far away uttered a low cry. He was struck +in the shoulder, but after the single cry he was silent. Henry was the +first to see one of the creeping brown bodies and fired, and after that +the shots on either side increased fast. It was all confused and terrible +to Paul. The darkness, instead of thinning to accustomed eyes, seemed to +him to grow heavier. The pin points of light from the rifle fire +multiplied themselves into hundreds, and the front of the foe shifted +about, as if they were trying to curve around the defenders. + +Paul could not definitely say that he saw a single savage, but he fired +now and then at the flashes of light, and also tried to obey Sol's +injunction about sticking close to him and Henry. But he was not always +sure that the figures near him were theirs, the darkness remaining so +intense. He heard occasional low cries, the light impact of bullets, and +the shuffling sound of feet, but he was fast losing any ordered view of +the battle. He knew now that the savages were very close, that the combat +was almost hand to hand, but he knew little else. The night enclosed all +the furious border conflict, and hid the loss or gain of either side from +all but the keenest eyes. + +Paul could never tell how long this lasted, but he felt confident that the +area of conflict was shifting. Having first faced one side, they were now +facing another, as the savages wheeled about them. He rose to his feet in +order to keep with his friends. He had been loading and firing more +rapidly than he knew, and the barrel of his rifle was hot to his touch. He +stood a moment listening for the savages, and then turned to two +indistinct figures near him. + +"Sol," he said, "can you and Henry see them?" + +The two indistinct figures suddenly became distinct, and sprang upon him. +He was seized in a powerful grasp and hurled down so violently that he +became unconscious for a little while. Why he was not killed he did not +know that night, nor ever after--probably they wished to show a trophy. +When he gathered his scattered senses he was being dragged away, and his +hands were bound. He was too dazed to cry aloud for rescue, but he +remembered afterwards that the battle behind him was waning at the time. + +He was dragged deeper into the forest, and the shots on the hill became +fainter and fewer. His sight cleared, but the darkness was so great that +he could yet see little except the warrior who pulled him along. Paul made +an effort and gained a better footing. It hurt his pride to be dragged, +and now he walked on in the path that the warrior indicated. + +They stopped after a while in an open space in the forest. The moon was +clearing a little, and Paul saw other warriors standing about. Nearly all +were wounded. Hideous and painted they were, with savage eyes filled with +rage and disappointment, and the looks they gave Paul made him consider +himself as one dead. + +As the moon cleared, more warriors drifted back into the glade. Some of +these, too, bore wounds, and Paul's heart leaped up with fierce joy as he +saw that they had been defeated. The firing had ceased and the wilderness +was returning to silence, broken only by the low words of the savages and +the soft sound of their moccasins on the earth. + +Paul was still in a sort of daze. The warriors were grouped about him, +their sole visible trophy of the battle, and they regarded him with +vengeful eyes. But he had passed through so much that he was not afraid. +His only feeling was that of dull stupefaction, and mingled with it a sort +of lingering pride that his comrades had been the victors, although he +himself was a prisoner. He did not know whether they would kill him or +take him with them, and at that moment his mind was so dulled that he felt +little curiosity about the question. + +A thin, sharp-faced warrior of middle years seemed to be the leader of the +band, and he talked briefly to the others. They nodded toward Paul, and +then, with a warrior on each side of the prisoner, they started northward. +Paul, his brain clearing, judged that they were taking him as a trophy, as +a prize to show in their village before putting him to death. + +They marched silently through the forest, curving far to the left of the +battlefield. The warriors were about a score in number, and Paul thought +they must have lost at least half as many in battle. Their hideous paint +and their savage faces filled him with repulsion. Their wild life and the +mystery of wild nature did not appeal to him as they had once appealed to +Henry in a similar position. To Paul, the chief thing about the wilderness +was the magnificent home it would make in the future for a great white +race. Spared for the present, he expected to live. Henry had saved him +once, and he and his comrades would come again to the rescue. + +He stumbled at first in their rapid flight from weakness, and the warrior +next to him struck him a blow as a reminder. Paul would have struck back, +but his hands were tied, and he could only guard himself against another +stumble. Pride sustained him. + +They did not stop until nearly dawn, when they camped by the bank of a +creek and ate. Paul's arms were unbound, and the hatchet-faced chief +tossed him a piece of venison, which he ate greedily because he was very +hungry. Then, as the warriors seemed in no hurry to move, he sagged slowly +over on his side and went to sleep. Despite his terrible situation, he was +so thoroughly worn out that he could not hold up his head any longer. + +When Paul awoke the sun was high, and he was lying where he had sunk down. +The warriors were about him, some sitting on the grass or lying full +length, but the party seemed more numerous than it was the night before. +He looked again. It was certainly more numerous, and there, too, sitting +near him, was a white youth of nearly his own age. Paul rose up, inspired +with a feeling of sympathy, and perhaps of comradeship, and then, to his +utter amazement, he saw that the youth was Braxton Wyatt, one of the boys +who had come over the mountains with the group that had settled Wareville. + +Braxton Wyatt, a year or two older than Paul, had always been disliked at +Wareville. Of a sarcastic, sneering, unpleasant temperament, he habitually +made enemies, and did not seem to care. Paul disliked him heartily, but in +this moment of sudden meeting he felt only sympathy and fellowship. They +were captives together, and all feeling of hostility was swept from his +mind. + +"Braxton!" he exclaimed. "Have they got you, too?" + +Wyatt rose up, came to Paul, and took his hand in the friendliest manner. + +"Yes, Paul," he said. "I was out hunting, thinking that there were no +savages south of the Ohio, and I was taken last night by a band which +joined yours this morning while you slept." + +"Why haven't they killed us?" asked Paul. + +"I suppose they'd rather show us to the tribe first, or maybe they think +they can adopt us, as Henry Ware was once. They haven't treated me badly." + +"That may be because you were taken without any loss to them," said Paul. +"We've had a big fight, and I'm the only one they got. Henry Ware, Tom +Ross, Shif'less Sol, and the others beat them off." + +"That was grand fighting!" said Braxton. "Tell me about it." + +Wyatt's fellowship and sympathy greatly cheered Paul, and he told in +detail about the battle with the band, and all that preceded it. Braxton +Wyatt listened with attention, but more than once expressed surprise. + +"How many did you say were left back there on the hill?" he asked at last. + +"We were ten when we began the fighting," replied Paul. "One that I know +of was killed, and it is likely that one or two more were. Then I'm gone. +Not more than six or seven can be left, but they are the best men in all +these woods. Twice their number of Indians cannot whip them." + +Paul said the last words proudly, and then he added: + +"Henry and Ross and Shif'less Sol will come for me. They'll be sure to do +it. And they'll rescue you, too." + +Braxton Wyatt looked thoughtful. + +"I think you're right," he said; "but it'll be a very risky thing for +them, especially if the Shawnees expect it. Be sure you don't let the +Indians think you are dreaming of such a thing." + +"Of course not," said Paul. + +The sharp-faced chief now came up, and said something to Wyatt. Braxton +replied in the Indian tongue. + +"I didn't know that you understood any Shawnee," said Paul in surprise, as +the chief turned away. + +"I've picked it up, a word here and a word there," replied Wyatt, "and I +find it very useful now. The Chief--Red Eagle is his name--says that if +you'll give 'em no trouble, he won't bind your hands again, for the +present, anyway. I've followed that plan, and I've found it a heap easier +for myself." + +Paul pondered a little. Braxton Wyatt's advice certainly seemed good, and +he did not wish to be bound again. It would be better to go along in +docile fashion. + +"All right, Braxton," he said, "I'll do as you suggest. We won't make them +any trouble now, but after a while we'll escape." + +"That's the best way," said Wyatt. + +Red Eagle and another warrior, who seemed to be his lieutenant, were +talking earnestly. The chief presently beckoned to Wyatt, who went over to +him and replied to several questions. But Wyatt came back in a few +moments, and took his seat again beside Paul. + +A half hour later they resumed the march, and Paul knew by the sun that +they were going northward. Hence he inferred that they would make no +further attack upon the white hunters, and were bound for what they +called home. Refreshed by his rest and sleep, and relieved by the removal +of the bandages from his wrists, he walked beside Wyatt with a springy +step, and his outlook upon life was fairly cheerful. It was wonderful what +the comradeship of one of his own kind did for him! After all, he had +probably been deceived about Braxton Wyatt. Merely because his ways were +not the ways of Henry and Paul was not proof that he was not the right +kind of fellow. Now he was sympathetic and helpful enough, when sympathy +and help were needed. + +The march northward was leisurely. The Shawnees seemed to have no further +expectation of meeting a foe, and they were not so vigilant. Paul and +Braxton Wyatt were kept in the center of the group, but they were +permitted to talk as much as they pleased, and Paul was not annoyed by any +blow or kick. + +"Have you any idea how far it is to their village, Braxton?" Paul asked. + +"A long distance," replied Wyatt. "We shall not be there under two weeks, +and as the party may turn aside for hunting or something else, it may be +much longer." + +"It will give Henry and Ross and the others more time to rescue us," said +Paul. + +Braxton Wyatt shrugged his shoulders. + +"I wouldn't put much hope in that if I were you, Paul," he said. "This +band is very strong. Since the two parties joined it numbers forty +warriors, and our friends could do nothing. We must pretend to like them, +to fall in with their ways, and to behave as if we liked the wild life as +well as that back in the settlements, and in time would like it better." + +"I could never do that," said Paul. "All kinds of savages repel me." + +Braxton Wyatt shrugged his shoulders again. + +"One must do the best he can," he said briefly. + +The leisurely march proceeded, and they camped the next afternoon in the +midst of a magnificent forest of beech, oak, and hickory, building a great +fire, and lounging about it in apparently careless fashion. But Paul was +enough of a woodsman to know that some of the warriors were on watch, and +he and Braxton, as usual, were compelled to sit in the center of the +group, where there was no shadow of a chance to escape. + +Hunters whom they had sent out presently brought in the bodies of two +deer, and then they had a great feast. The venison was half cooked in +strips and chunks over the coals, and the warriors ate it voraciously, +chattering to each other, meanwhile, as Paul did not know that Indians +ever talked. + +"What are they saying, Braxton?" he asked. + +"I can't catch it very well," replied Wyatt, "but I think they are talking +about a stay near the Ohio--for hunting, I suppose. That ought to be a +good thing for us, because they certainly will not decide about our fate +until we get back to their village, and the more they are used to us the +less likely they are to put us to death." + +Paul watched the warriors eating, and they were more repellent to him than +ever. Savages they were, and nothing could make them anything else. His +ways could never become their ways. But the fresh deer meat looked very +good, and the pleasant aroma filled his nostrils. Braxton Wyatt noticed +his face. + +"Are you hungry, Paul?" he asked. + +"No, not hungry; merely starving to death." + +Wyatt laughed. + +"I'm in the same condition," he said, "but I can soon change it." + +He spoke to Red Eagle, and the thin-faced chief nodded. Then Braxton +picked up two sharpened sticks that the savages had used, and also two +large pieces of venison. One stick and one piece he handed to Paul. + +"Now we also will cook and dine," he said. + +Paul's heart warmed toward Braxton Wyatt. Certainly he had done him wrong +in his thoughts when they lived at Wareville. But he was thinking the +next moment about the pleasant odor of the deer meat as he fried it over +the coals. Then he ate hungrily, and with a full stomach came peace for +the present, and confidence in the future. He slept heavily that night, +stretched on the ground before the fire, near Braxton Wyatt, and he did +not awaken until late the next morning. + +The Indians were very slow and leisurely about departing, and Paul +realized now that, vigilant and wonderful as they were in action, they +were slothful and careless when not on the war path, or busy with the +chase. He saw, also, that the band was entirely too strong to be attacked +by Henry and his friends. + +They marched northward several days more, at the same dawdling pace, and +then they stopped a week at one place for the hunting. Half the warriors +would go into the forest, and the next day the other half would go, the +first remaining. They brought in an abundance of game, and Paul never +before saw men eat as they ate. It seemed to him that they must be trying +to atone for a fast of at least six months, and those who were not hunting +that day would lie around the fire for hours like animals digesting their +food. He and Braxton Wyatt were still treated well, and their hands +remained unbound, although they were never allowed to leave the group of +warriors. + +Paul was glad enough of the rest and delay, but the life of the Shawnees +did not please him. He was too fastidious by nature to like their +alternate fits of laziness and energy, their gluttony and lethargy +afterwards, but he took care not to show his repulsion. He acted upon +Wyatt's advice, and behaved in the friendliest manner that he could assume +toward his captors. Wyatt once spoke his approval. "The Chief, Red Eagle, +thinks of adopting you, if you should fall into their ways," said Wyatt. + +"He may adopt me, but I'll never adopt him," replied Paul sturdily. + +But Wyatt only laughed and shrugged his shoulders, after his fashion. + +A few days later they reached the Ohio. It was running bankful, and where +Paul saw it the stream was a mile wide, a magnificent river, cutting off +the unknown south from the unknown north, and bearing on its yellow bosom +silt from lands hundreds of miles away. The warriors took hidden canoes +from the forest at the shore, and Paul thought they would cross at once +and continue their journey northward, but they did not do so. Instead, +they dawdled about in the thick forest that clothed the southern bank, and +ate more venison and buffalo meat, although they did not kindle any fire. +A day or two passed thus amid glorious sunshine, and Paul still could not +understand why they waited. + +Meanwhile he still clung tenaciously to his great hope. He might escape, +he might be rescued, and then Henry and he would resume their task which +would help so much to save Kentucky. No matter what happened, Paul would +never lose sight of this end. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +AT THE RIVER BANK + + +The days dragged into a week, and the Shawnees still clung to the banks of +the great river, occasionally hunting, but more often idling away their +time in the deep woods near the shore. Paul's wonder at their actions +increased. He could not see any purpose in it, and he spoke several times +to Braxton Wyatt about it. But Wyatt always shrugged his shoulders. + +"I do not know," he said. "It is true they build no camp fires, at least +no big ones, and they do not seem to be much interested in hunting; but I +cannot guess what they are about, and I should not dare to ask Red Eagle." + +Paul noticed that Red Eagle himself often went down to the bank of the +river, and would watch its surface with the keenest attention. But Paul +observed also that he always looked eastward--that is, up the stream--and +never down it. + +Paul and Wyatt were allowed an increasing amount of liberty, but they were +held nevertheless within a ring through which they could not break; Paul +was shrewd enough to perceive it, and for the present he made no effort, +thinking it a wise thing to appear contented with his situation, or at +least to be making the best of it. Braxton Wyatt commended his policy more +than once. + +On the morning of the seventh day the chief went down to the bank of the +river once more, and began to watch its surface attentively and long, +always looking up the stream. Paul and Braxton Wyatt and some of the +warriors stood among the trees, not fifty feet away. They also could see +the surface of the river for a long distance, and Paul's eyes followed +those of the chief, Red Eagle. + +The Ohio was a great yellow river, flowing slowly on in its wide channel, +the surface breaking into little waves, that crumpled and broke and rose +again. Paul could see the stream for miles, apparently becoming narrower +and narrower, until it ended in a yellow thread under the horizon. Either +shore was overhung with heavy forest red with autumn's touch. Wild fowl +occasionally flew over the current. It was inexpressibly weird and lonely +to Paul, seemingly a silent river flowing on forever through silent +shades. + +He saw nothing on the stream, and his eyes came back to the thin, +hatchet-faced chief, who stood upon the bank looking so intently. Red +Eagle had begun to interest him greatly. He impressed Paul as being a +thorough savage of savages, fairly breathing cruelty and cunning, and Paul +saw now a note of expectation, of cruel expectation, in the fierce black +eyes of the Shawnee. And as he looked, a sudden change came over the face +of the chief. A gleam appeared in the black eyes, and the tall, thin +figure seemed to raise itself a little higher. Paul again looked up the +stream, and lo! a tiny dark spot appeared upon its surface. He watched it +as the chief watched it, and it grew, coming steadily down the river. But +he did not yet know what it was. + +Now the spirit of action descended quickly upon the whole band. The chief +left the shore and gave quick, low orders to the men, who sank back into +the forest, taking Paul and Braxton Wyatt with them. Two warriors, having +Paul between them, crouched in a dense thicket, and one of them tapped the +unarmed boy meaningly with his tomahawk. Paul did not see Braxton Wyatt, +but he supposed that he was held similarly by other warriors, somewhere +near. In truth, he did not see any of the savages except the two who were +with him. All the rest had melted away with the extraordinary facility +that they had for hiding themselves, but Paul knew that they were about +him, pressed close to the earth, blurred with the foliage or sheltered by +tree trunks. + +The boy's eyes turned back to the river, and the black blot floating on +its surface. That blot, he knew, had caused this sudden disappearance of a +whole band of Shawnees, and he wanted to know more. The black blot came +down the stream and grew into shape and outline, and the shape and outline +were those of a boat. An Indian canoe? No; it rapidly grew beyond the size +of any canoe used by the savages, and began to stand up from the water in +broad and stiff fashion. Then Paul's heart thumped, because all at once he +knew. It was a flatboat, and it was certainly loaded with emigrants coming +down the Ohio, women and children as well as men, and the Shawnees had +laid an ambush. This was what the crafty Red Eagle had been waiting for so +long. + +It was the final touch of savagery, and the boy's generous and noble heart +rebelled within him. He started up, propelled by the impulse to warn; but +the two warriors pulled him violently back, one of them again touching him +significantly with his tomahawk. Paul knew that it was useless. Any +movement or cry of his would cause his own death, and would not be +sufficient to warn those on the boat. He sank back again, trembling in +every nerve, not for himself but for the unsuspecting travelers on the +river. + +The boat came steadily on, Paul saw a number of men, some walking about +and others at the huge sweeps with which it was controlled. And--yes, +there was a woman and a child, too; a little girl with long, yellow curls, +who played on the rude deck. Paul put his hand to his face, and it came +back wet. + +Then he remembered, and his heart leaped up. The river was a mile wide, +and the boat was keeping near the middle of the stream. No bullet from the +savages could reach it. Then what was the use of this ambush? It had +merely been a chance hope of the savages that the boat would come near +enough for them to fire into it, but instead it would go steadily on! Paul +looked exultantly at the two warriors beside him, but they were intently +watching the boat, which would soon be opposite them. + +Then a ghastly and horrible thing occurred. A white face suddenly appeared +upon the shore in front of Paul--the face of a white youth whom he knew. +The figure was in rags, the clothing torn and tattered by thorns and +bushes, and the hair hung in wild locks about the white face. Face and +figure alike were the picture of desolation and despair. + +The white youth staggered to the very edge of the water, and, lifting up +a tremulous, weeping voice, cried out to those on the boat: + +"Save me! Save me! In God's name, save me! Don't leave me here to starve +in these dark woods!" + +It was a sight to move all on the boat who saw and heard--this spectacle +of the worn wanderer, alone in that vast wilderness, appealing to +unexpected rescue. Fear, agony, and despair alike were expressed in the +tones of Braxton Wyatt's voice, which carried far over the yellow stream +and was heard distinctly by the emigrants. To hear was also to heed, and +the great flatboat, coming about awkwardly and sluggishly, turned her +square prow toward the southern shore, where the refugee stood. + +Braxton Wyatt never ceased to cry out for help. His voice now ran the +gamut of entreaty, hope, despair, and then hope again. He called upon them +by all sacred names to help him, and he also called down blessings upon +them as the big boat bore steadily toward the land where two score fierce +savages lay among the bushes, ready to slay the moment they came within +reach. + +Paul was dazed at first by what he saw and heard. He could not believe +that it was Braxton Wyatt who was doing this terrible and treacherous +thing. He rubbed away what he thought might be a deceptive film before +his eyes, but it was still Braxton Wyatt. It was the face of the youth +whom he had known so long, and it was his voice that begged and blessed. +And there, too, came the boat, not thirty yards from the land now! In two +more minutes it would be at the bank, and its decks were crowded now with +men, women, and children, regarding with curiosity and pity alike this +lone wanderer in the wilderness whom they had found in such a terrible +case. Paul heard around him a rustling like that of coiled snakes, the +slight movement of the savages preparing to spring. The boat was only ten +yards from the shore! Now the film passed away from his eyes, and his +dazed brain cleared. He sprang up to his full height, reckless of his own +life, and shouted in a voice that was heard far over the yellow waters: + +"Keep off! Keep off, for your lives! It is a renegade who is calling you +into an ambush! Keep off! Keep off!" + +Paul saw a sudden confusion on the boat, a running to and fro of people, +and a bucking of the sweeps. Then he heard a spatter of rifle shots, all +this passing in an instant, and the next moment he felt a heavy +concussion. Fire flashed before his eyes, and he sank away into a darkness +that quickly engulfed him. + +When Paul came back to himself he was lying among the trees where he had +fallen, and his head ached violently. He started to put up his hand to +soothe it, but the hand would not move, and then he realized that both +hands were bound to his side. His whole memory came back in a flash, and +he looked toward the river. Far down the stream, and near the middle of +it, was a black dot that, even as he looked, became smaller, and +disappeared. It was the flatboat with its living freight, and Paul's +heart, despite his own desperate position, leaped up with joy. + +From the river he glanced back at the Indian faces near him, and so far as +he could tell they bore no signs of triumph. Nor could he see any of those +hideous trophies they would have been sure to carry in case the ambush had +been a success. No! the triumph had been his, not theirs. He rolled into +an easier position, shut his eyes again to relieve his head, and when he +opened them once more, Braxton Wyatt stood beside him. At the sight, all +the wrath and indignation in Paul's indomitable nature flared up. + +"You scoundrel! you awful scoundrel! You renegade!" he cried. "Don't you +ever speak to me again! Don't you come near me!" + +Braxton Wyatt did not turn back when those words, surcharged with +passion, met him full in the face, but wore a sad and downcast look. + +"I don't blame you, Paul," he said gently, "for speaking that way when you +don't understand. I'm not a renegade, Paul. I did what I did to save our +lives--yours as well as mine, Paul. The chief, Red Eagle, threatened to +put us both to the most awful tortures at once if I didn't do it." + +"Liar, as well as scoundrel and renegade!" exclaimed Paul fiercely. + +But Braxton Wyatt went on in his gentle, persuading, unabashed manner: + +"It is as true as I stand here. I could not take you, too, Paul, to +torture and death, and all the while I was hoping that the people on the +boat would see, or suspect, and that they would turn back in time. If you +had not cried out--and it was a wonderfully brave thing to do!--I think +that at the last moment I myself should have done so." + +"Liar!" said Paul again, and he turned his back to Braxton Wyatt. + +Wyatt looked fixedly at the bound boy, shrugged his shoulders a little, +and said: + +"I never took you for a fool before, Paul." + +But Paul was silent, and Braxton Wyatt went away. An hour or two later Red +Eagle came to Paul, unbound his arms, and gave him something to eat. As +Paul ate the venison, Braxton Wyatt returned to him and said: + +"It is my influence with the chief, Paul, that has secured you this good +treatment in spite of their rage against you. It is better to pretend to +fall in with their ways, if we are to retain life, and ever to secure +freedom." + +But Paul only turned his back again and remained silent. Yet with the food +and rest the ache died out of his head, and he was permitted to wash off +the blood caused by the heavy blow from the flat of a tomahawk. Then he +crossed the Ohio with the band. + +Paul was in a canoe with Red Eagle and two other warriors, and Braxton +Wyatt was in another canoe not far away. But Paul resolutely ignored him, +and looked only at the great river, and the thick forest on either shore. +He was now more lonely than ever, and the Ohio that he was crossing seemed +to him to be the boundary between the known and the unknown. Below it was +Wareville and Marlowe, tiny settlements in the vast surrounding +wilderness, it was true, but the abodes of white people, nevertheless. +North of it, and he was going northward, stretched the forest that savages +alone haunted. The crossing of the river was to Paul like passing over a +great wall that would divide him forever from his own. All his vivid +imagination was alive, and it painted the picture in its darkest and most +somber colors. + +They reached the northern shore without difficulty, hid the canoes for +future use, and resumed their leisurely journey northward. Braxton Wyatt, +who seemed to Paul to have much freedom, resumed his advances toward a +renewal of the old friendship, but Paul was resolute. He could not +overcome his repulsion, Braxton Wyatt might plead, and make excuses, and +talk about the terror of torture and death, but Paul remained unconvinced. +He himself had not flinched at the crucial moment to undo what Wyatt was +doing, and in his heart he could find no forgiveness for the one whom he +called a renegade. + +Wyatt refused to take offense. He said, and Paul could not but hear, that +Paul some day would be grateful for what he was doing, and that it was +necessary in the forest to meet craft with craft, guile with guile. + +The days passed in hunting, eating, resting, and marching, and Paul lost +count of time, distance, and direction. He had not Henry's wonderful +instinct in the wilderness, and he could not now tell at what point of the +compass Wareville lay. But he kept a brave heart and a brave face, and if +at times he felt despair, he did not let anyone see it. + +They came at last to a place where the forest thinned out, and then broke +away, leaving a little prairie. The warriors, who had previously been +painting themselves in more hideous colors than ever, broke into a long, +loud, wailing chant. It was answered in similar fashion from a point +beyond a swell in the prairie, and Paul knew that they had come to the +Indian village. The wailing chant was a sign that they had returned after +disaster, and now all the old squaws were taking it up in reply. Paul was +filled with curiosity, and he watched everything. + +The warriors emerged from the last fringe of the forest, their faces +blackened, the hideous chant for their lost rising and falling, but never +ceasing. Forward to meet them poured a mongrel throng--old men, old +squaws, children, mangy curs, and a few warriors. Paul was with Red Eagle, +and when the old squaws saw him, they stopped their plaintive howl and +sent up a sudden shrill note of triumph. In a moment Paul was in a ring of +ghastly old faces, in every one of which snapped a pair of cruel black +eyes. Then the old women began to push him about, to pinch him, and to +strike him, and they showed incredible activity. + +Thoroughly angry and in much pain, Paul struck at the hideous hags; but +they leaped away, jabbered and laughed, and returned to the attack. While +he was occupied with those in front of him, others slipped up behind him, +jabbed him in the back, or violently twitched the hair on his neck. Tears +of pain and rage stood in Paul's eyes, and he wheeled about, only to have +the jeering throng wheel with him and continue their torture. At last he +caught one of them a half blow, and she reeled and fell. The others +shouted uproariously, and the warriors standing by joined in their mirth. + +One of the hags finally struck Paul a resounding smack in the face, and as +he turned to pursue her another from behind seized a wisp of hair and +tried to tear it out by the roots. Paul whirled in a frenzy, and so +quickly that she could not escape him. He seized her withered old throat +in both his hands, and then and there he would have choked her to death, +but the warriors interfered, and pulled his hands loose. But they also +drove the old women away, and Paul was let alone for the time. As he stood +on one side, gasping as much with anger as with pain, Braxton Wyatt, who +had not been persecuted at all, came to him again with ironic words and +derisive gesture. + +"It was just as I told you, Paul," he said. "I gave you good advice. If +you had taken it, they would have spared you. What you have just got is +only a taste to what you may suffer." + +Paul felt a dreadful inclination to shudder, but he managed to control +himself. + +"I'd rather die under the torture than do what you have done, you +renegade!" he said. + +This was the first time since they crossed the Ohio that he had replied to +Braxton, but even now he would say no more, and Wyatt, following his +custom, shrugged his shoulders and walked away. Then all, mingled in one +great throng, went forward to the village. Paul saw an irregular +collection of buffalo-skin and deer-skin tepees, and a few pole wigwams, +with some rudely cultivated fields of maize about them. A fine brook +flowed through the village, and the site, on the whole, was well chosen, +well watered, and sheltered by the little hills from cold winds. It was +too far away from those hills to be reached by a marksman in ambush, and +all about hung signs of plenty--drying venison and buffalo meat, and skins +of many kinds. + +When they came within the circle of huts and tents, Paul was again +regarded by many curious eyes, and there might have been more attempts to +persecute him, but the chief, Red Eagle, kept them off. Red Eagle was able +to speak a little English, but Paul was too proud to ask him about his own +fate. Not a stoic by nature, the boy nevertheless had a will that could +control his impulses. + +He was thrust into a small pole hut, and when the door was tightly +fastened he was left alone there. The place was not more than six feet +square, and only a little higher than Paul's head when he stood erect. In +one corner was a couch of skins, but that was its whole equipment. Some of +the poles did not fit closely together, leaving cracks of a quarter of an +inch or so, through which came welcome fresh air, and also the subdued hum +of the village noises. He heard indistinctly the barking of dogs, and the +chatter of old squaws scolding, but he paid little heed to them because he +felt now the sudden rush of a terrible despair. + +The Ohio had been the great wall between Paul and his kind, and with the +steady march northward, through the forests and over the little prairies, +still another wall, equally great, had been reared. It seemed to Paul that +Henry and Shif'less Sol and his other friends could never reach him here, +and whatever fate the Shawnees had in store for him, it would be a hard +one. Wild life he liked in its due proportion, but he had no wish to +become a wild man all his days. He wanted to see the settlements grow and +prosper, and become the basis of a mighty civilization. This was what +appealed to him most. His great task of helping to save Kentucky +continually appealed to him, and now his chance of sharing in it seemed +slender and remote--too slender and remote to be considered. + +The boy lay long on his couch of skins. The hum of the village life still +came to his ears, but he paid little heed to it. Gradually his courage +came back, or rather his will brought it back, and he became conscious +that the day was waning, also that he was growing hungry. Then the door +was opened, and Red Eagle entered. Behind him came a weazened old warrior +and a weazened old squaw, hideous to behold. Red Eagle stepped to one +side, and the old squaw fell on Paul's neck, murmuring words of +endearment. Paul, startled and horrified, pushed her off, but she returned +to the charge. Then Paul pushed her back again with more force. Red Eagle +stepped forward, and lifted a restraining hand. + +"They would adopt you in place of the son they have lost," he said in his +scant and broken English. + +Paul looked at Red Eagle. It seemed to him that he saw on the face of the +chief the trace of a sardonic grin. Then he looked at the weazened and +repulsive old pair. + +"Put me to the torture," he said. + +Now the sardonic grin was unmistakable on die face of the chief. + +"Not yet," he said, "but maybe later." + +Then he and the old pair left the hut, and presently food was brought to +Paul, who, worn out by his trials, ceased to think about his future. When +he had finished eating he threw himself on the couch again, and slept +heavily until the next day. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A CHANGE OF PLACES + + +Now came a time which Paul did not wholly understand, but which seemed to +him a period of test. The repulse of the old couple was not permanent. +They came back again and again, inviting him to be their son, and +patiently endured all his rebuffs until he began to feel a kind of pity +for them. After that he was always gentle to them, but he remained firm in +his resolve that he would not become a savage, either in reality or +pretense. + +After a week he was allowed to walk in the village and to look upon +barbaric life, but he saw not the remotest chance of escape. The place +contained perhaps five hundred souls--men, women, children, and +papooses--and at least fifty mangy curs, every one of whom, including the +papooses and curs, seemed to Paul to be watching him. Black eyes followed +him everywhere. Nothing that he did escaped their attention. Every step +was noted, and he knew that if he went a yard beyond the village he would +bring a throng of warriors, squaws, and dogs upon him. But he was grateful +for this bit of freedom, the escape from the confinement of close walls, +and the forest about them, glowing with autumnal foliage, looked cool and +inviting. He saw nothing of Braxton Wyatt, but Red Eagle told him one day +that he had gone northward with a band, hunting. "He good boy," said Red +Eagle. Paul shuddered with disgust. + +More than two weeks passed thus, and it seemed to Paul that he was not +only lost to his own world, but forgotten by it. Kentucky and all his +friends had dipped down under the horizon, and would never reappear. Henry +and Ross and Shif'less Sol would certainly have come for him if they +could, but perhaps they had fallen, slain in the night battle. His heart +stood still at the thought, but he resolutely put it away. It did not seem +to him that one of such strength and skill as Henry Ware could be killed. + +Paul sat on a rock about the twilight hour one day, and watched the sun +sinking into the dark forest. He was inexpressibly lonely, as if forsaken +of men. Savage life still left him untouched. It made no appeal to him +anywhere, and he longed for Wareville, and his kind, which he was now sure +he would never see again. Behind him rose the usual hum of the +village--the barking of dogs, the chatter of squaws, and the occasional +grunt of a warrior. In their way, these people were cheerful. Unlike Paul, +they were living the only life they knew and liked, and had no thoughts of +a better. + +The lonely boy rose from the rock and walked back toward the pole hut, in +which they fastened him every night. It had become a habit with him now, +and he knew that it saved useless resistance and a lot of trouble. Had he +taken a single step toward the forest instead of his own prison hut, a +score of watchful eyes would have been upon him. + +The twilight melted into the dark, and fires gleamed here and there in the +village. Dusky figures passed before and behind the fires--those of squaws +cooking the suppers. Paul's eyes wandered, idle and unobserving, over the +savage scene, and then he uttered a little cry of impatience as a hulking +warrior lurched against him. The man seemed to have tripped upon a root, +an unusual thing for these sure-footed sons of the forest, and Paul drew +back from him. But the savage recovered himself, and in a low voice said: + +"Paul!" + +Paul Cotter started violently. It was the first word in good English that +he had heard in a time that seemed to be eternity--save those of Braxton +Wyatt, whom he hated--and the effect upon him was overpowering. It was +like a voice of hope coming suddenly from another world. + +"Paul," continued the voice, now warningly, "don't speak. Go on to your +hut. Friends are by." + +Then the hulking and savage figure walked away, and Paul knew enough to +take no apparent notice, but to continue on as if that welcome voice Had +not come out of the darkness. Yet a thousand little pulses within him were +throbbing, throbbing with joy and hope. + +But whose was the voice? In his excitement he had not noticed the tone +except to note that it was a white man's. He glanced back and saw the +hulking form near the outskirts of the village, but the light was too dim +to disclose anything. Henry? No, it was not Henry's figure. Then who was +it? A friend, that was certain, and he had said that other friends were +by. + +Paul walked with a light step to his prison hut, sedulously seeking to +hide the exultation in his face. He was not forgotten in his world! His +friends were ready to risk their lives for him! His heart was leaping as +he looked through the dusk at the smoking camp fires, the dim huts and +tepees, and the shadowy figures that passed and repassed. He would soon be +leaving all that savage life. He never doubted it. + +He came to his prison hut, went calmly inside, and a few minutes later, +the regular time being at hand, the door was fastened on the outside by +Red Eagle or some of his people. He might perhaps have forced the door in +the night, but he had not considered himself a skillful enough woodsman to +slip from the village unobserved, and accordingly he had waited. Now he +was very glad of his restraint. + +Paul lay down on the couch of skins, but he was not seeking sleep. Instead +he was waiting patiently, with something of Indian stoicism. He saw +through the cracks in his hut the Indian fires, yet burning and smoking, +and the dim figures still passing and repassing. There was also the faint +hum to tell him that savage life did not yet sleep, and now and then a +mongrel cur barked. But all things end in time, and after a while these +noises ceased; even the cure barked no more, and the smoking fires sank +low. + +The Indian village lay at peace, but Paul's heart throbbed with +expectation. Nor did it throb in vain. A muffled sound appeared in time at +his door. It was some one at work on the fastenings, and Paul listened +with every nerve a-quiver. Presently the noise ceased, a shaft of pale +night light showed, and then was gone. But the door had been opened, and +then closed, and some one was inside. + +Paul waited without fear. He could barely see a dark, shapeless outline +within the dimness of his hut, but he was sure it was the figure of the +slouching warrior who had bumped against him. The man stood a moment or +two, seeking to pierce the dusk with his own eyes, and then he said in a +low voice: + +"Paul! Paul! Is it you?" + +"Yes," replied Paul, in the same guarded tone, "but I don't know who you +are." + +The figure swayed a little and laughed low, but with much amusement. + +"It 'pears to me that we are forgot purty soon," it said. "An' I've worked +hard fur a tired man." + +Then Paul knew the familiar, whimsical tone. The light had burst upon him +all at once. + +"Shif'less Sol!" he exclaimed. + +"Jest me," said Sol; "an' ain't I about the purtiest Shawnee warrior you +ever saw? Why, Paul, I'm so good at playin' a loafin' savage from some +other village that nary a Shawnee o' them all has dreamed that I am what I +ain't. If ever I go back thar in the East, I'm goin' to be a play-actor, +Paul." + +"You can be anything on earth you want to be, Sol!" said Paul jubilantly. +"It was mighty good of you to come." + +"You'd a-thought Henry would a-come," whispered Sol; "but we decided that +he was too tall an' somehow too strikin'-lookin' to come in here ez a +common, everyday Injun, so it fell to me to loaf in, me bein' a +tired-lookin' sort o' feller, anyway. But they're out thar in the woods +a-waitin', Henry an' Tom Ross an' that ornery cuss, Jim Hart." + +"I knew that you fellows would never desert me!" exclaimed Paul. + +"Why, o' course not!" said Sol. "We never dreamed o' leavin' you. Now, +Paul, we've got to git through this village somehow or other. Lucky it's +purty dark, an' you'll have to do your best to walk an' look like a Red. +Maybe we kin git fur enough to make a good run fur it, and then, with the +woods an' the night helpin' us, we may give them the slip. Here, take +this." + +He pressed something cold and hard into Paul's hand, and Paul slipped the +pistol into his belt, standing erect and feeling himself much of a man. + +"It's time to be goin'," said Shif'less Sol. + +"I'm ready," said Paul. + +But neither took more than a single step forward, stopping together as +they heard a light noise at the door. + +"Thunder an' lightnin'!" said Shif'less Sol, under his breath. "Somebody's +suspectin'." + +"It looks like it," breathed Paul. + +"Lay down on the skins and pretend to be asleep," said Shif'less Sol. + +Paul lay down on the couch at once, in the attitude of one who slumbers, +and closed his eyes--all but a little. Shif'less Sol shoved himself into +the corner, and blotted out his figure against the wall. + +The door opened and Braxton Wyatt stepped in. What decree of fate had +caused him to be spying about that night, and what had caused him to find +the door of Paul's prison hut unfastened? He stood a few moments, trying +to accustom his eyes to the dark, and he plainly heard the regular +breathing of Paul on the bed of skins. Presently he saw the dim, recumbent +figure also. But he was still suspicious, and he took a step nearer. Then +a big form, projected somewhere from the dark, hurled itself upon him, and +he was thrown headlong to the earthen floor. Strong fingers compressed his +throat, and he gasped for breath. + +"Here, Paul," said Sol, "tear off a piece o' that skin an' stuff it into +his mouth." + +Paul, who had leaped to his feet, obeyed at once. + +"An' cut off some stout strips o' the same with this knife o' mine," said +Shif'less Sol. + +Paul again obeyed at once, and in three minutes Braxton Wyatt lay bound +and gagged on the earthen floor. Shif'less Sol Hyde and Paul Cotter stood +over him, and looked down at him, and even in the dark they saw the terror +of all things in his eyes. + +"The Lord has been good to us to-night, Paul," said Shif'less Sol, with a +certain solemnity, "an' He wuz best o' all when He sent this hound here +a-spyin'." + +"You know what he is?" said Paul. + +"Ef I don't know, I've guessed." + +Then the two stood silent for a little space, still gazing down at Braxton +Wyatt, bound and gagged. Paul had never before seen such stark dread in +the eyes of any one, and he shuddered. Despite himself, he felt a certain +amount of pity. + +"He would have lured a boat-load of our people into the hands of the +savages," he said. + +"I'll put this knife in his foul heart, Paul," said Shif'less Sol. + +The bound figure quivered in its bonds, and the eyes became wild and +appealing. + +"No, not that," replied Paul; "I couldn't bear to see anyone helpless put +to death." + +"It was just the thought uv a moment," said Shif'less Sol. "We've got a +better use fur him. It's the one that the Lord sent him here fur. Now, +Paul, help me strip off his huntin' shirt." + +They took off Braxton Wyatt's hunting shirt, leggins, and cap, and Paul +put them on, his own taking their place on the form of the gagged youth. + +"Now, Paul," said Shif'less Sol, "you're Braxton Wyatt--for a little +while, at least, you've got to stand it--an' he's you. Help me roll him up +thar on your bed o' skins, an' he kin sleep in calm an' peace until they +bring him his breakfast in the mornin'." + +They put Wyatt on the couch, and his eyes glared fiercely at them. He +struggled to speak, but they did not care to hear him. Sol took the +weapons from his belt and gave them to Paul. + +"Good-night, Braxton," said Shif'less Sol pleasantly. "Fine dreams to you. +We're glad you came. You happened in jest in time." + +Wyatt quivered convulsively on his bed of skins. Paul was filled with +repugnance, but he would not exult. His nature would not permit him. +Shif'less Sol opened the door, and the two stepped out into the open air +and a dark night. No one was about, and the shiftless one deliberately +fastened the doors on the outside in the usual manner. Then he and Paul +strolled away through the village. + +"Remember that you are Braxton Wyatt," whispered Shif'less Sol. "Walk ez +near like him ez you kin. You've seen him often enough to know." + +The two sauntered lazily forward. An old squaw, crouched by a low and +smoking fire, gave one glance at them, but no more. She went on dreaming +of the days when she was young, and when the braves fought for her. A +mangy cur barked once, and then lay down again at the foot of a deer-skin +lodge. A warrior, smoking a pipe in his own doorway, looked up, but saw +nothing unusual, and then looked down again. + +The coolness of Shif'less Sol was something wonderful to see. He merely +loafed along, as if he had no object in the world but to pass away the +time, and there was nothing in the course he chose to indicate that he +meant to reach the forest. Now and then he spoke apparently casual words +to Paul, and the boy, in the faint light, wearing Braxton Wyatt's clothes, +might easily pass for Braxton Wyatt himself, even to the keen eyes of the +Shawnees. + +Presently they reached the northern end of the village, the one nearest to +the forest, and it was here that Shif'less Sol intended to make the +escape. Paul kept close to him, and he noticed with joy that all the time +the light, already faint, was growing fainter. The friendly forest seemed +to curve very near. Paul's heart throbbed with painful violence. + +Shif'less Sol passed the last wigwam, and he took a step into the open +space that divided them from the forest. Paul stepped with him, but a +gaunt and weazened figure rose up in their path. It was that of the old +squaw who wished a new son, and she stared for a few moments at the +clothes of Braxton Wyatt, and the figure within them. Then she knew, and +she uttered a shrill cry that was at once a lament and a warning. At the +same time she flung her arms around Paul in a gesture that was intended +alike for affection and detention. + +"Run, Paul, run!" exclaimed Shif'less Sol. + +Paul attempted to throw off the old woman, but she clung to him like a +wild cat, showing marvelous strength and tenacity for one so little and +weazened and old. Shif'less Sol saw the difficulty and, seizing her in his +powerful grasp, tore her loose. + +"Don't hurt her, Sol!" cried Paul. + +Shif'less Sol understood, and he cast her from them, but not with +violence. Then the two ran with utmost speed and desperate need toward the +forest, because the village behind them was up and alive. Lights flared, +dogs barked, men shouted, and before the friendly trees were reached +rifles began to crack. + +"Jumpin' Jehoshaphat!" cried Shif'less Sol, as a bullet whistled past his +ear. "Ef that don't put life into a tired man, I don't know what will." + +He ran with amazing swiftness, and Paul, light-footed, kept beside him. +But the alert Shawnee warriors, ever quick to answer an alarm, were +already in fleet pursuit, and only the darkness kept their bullets from +striking true. Paul looked back once--even in the moment of haste and +danger he could not help it--and he saw three warriors in advance of the +others, coming so fast that they must overtake them. He and Sol might beat +them off, but one cannot fight well and at the same time escape from a +multitude. His heart sank. He would be recaptured, and with him the +gallant Shif'less Sol. + +Flashes of fire suddenly appeared in the forest toward which they ran, and +death cries came from the two warriors who pursued. Shif'less Sol uttered +an exultant gasp. + +"The boys!" he said. "They're thar in the woods, a-helpin'." + +Daunted by the sudden covering fire, the pursuing mob fell back for a few +moments, and the two fugitives plunged into the deep and friendly shadows +of the woods. Three figures, all carrying smoking rifles, rose up to meet +them. The figures were those of Henry Ware, Tom Ross, and Jim Hart. Henry +reached out his hand and gave Paul's a strong and joyous grasp. + +"Well, Sol has brought you!" he said. + +"But Sol's not goin' to stop runnin' yet for a long time, tired ez he is," +gasped the shiftless one. + +"Good advice," said Henry, laughing low, and without another word the five +ran swiftly and steadily northward through the deep woods. Henry had on +his shoulder an extra rifle, which he had brought for Paul, so confident +was he that Sol would save him; but he said nothing about it for the +present, preferring to carry the added weight himself. They heard behind +them two or three times the long-drawn, terrible cry with which Paul was +so familiar, but it did not now send any quiver through him. He was with +the ever-gallant comrades who had come for him, and he was ready to defy +any danger. + +Henry Ware, after a while, stopped very suddenly, and the others stopped +with him. + +"I think we'd better turn here," he said, unconsciously assuming his +natural position of leader. "It's not worth while to run ourselves to +death. What we've got to do is to hide." + +"Them's blessed words!" gasped Shif'less Sol. "I wuz never so tired in all +my born days. Seems to me I've been chased by Shawnees all over this here +continent of North Ameriky!" + +Paul laughed low, from pure pleasure--pleasure at his escape and pleasure +in the courage, loyalty, and skill of his comrades. + +"You may be tired, Sol," he said, "but there was never a braver man than +you." + +"It ain't bravery," protested the shiftless one. "I get into these things +afore I know it, an' then I've got to kick like a mule to get out o' 'em." + +But Paul merely laughed low again. + +Henry turned from the north to the west, and led now at a pace that was +little more than a walk. Paul and Sol drew deep breaths, as they felt the +heavenly air flowing back into their lungs and the spring returning to +their muscles. They went in Indian file, five dusky figures in the shadow, +a faint moonlight touching them but wanly, and all silent. Thus they +marched until past midnight, and they heard nothing behind them. Then +their leader stopped, and the others, without a word, stopped with him. + +"I think we've shaken 'em off," said Henry, "and we'd better rest and +sleep. Then we can make up our plans." + +"Good enough," said Shif'less Sol. "An' ef any man wakes me up afore next +week, I'll hev his scalp." + +He sank down at once in his buckskins on a particularly soft piece of +turf, and in an incredibly brief space of time he was sound asleep. Jim +Hart, doubling up his long, thin figure like a jackknife, imitated him, +and Paul was not long in following them to slumberland. Only Henry and +Ross remained awake and watchful, and by and by the moonlight came out and +silvered their keen and anxious faces. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE ISLAND IN THE LAKE + + +When Paul awoke the others were munching the usual breakfast of dried +venison, and Henry handed him a piece, which he ate voraciously. Henry was +sitting on the ground, with his back against a fallen log, and he regarded +Paul contemplatively. + +"Paul," he said, in the dryest possible tones, "I don't see how you could +have been so hard-hearted." + +Paul looked at him, startled. "Why, what do you mean?" + +"To tear yourself away, as you did, from a loving father and mother. Why, +Sol, here, tells me that you actually threw your mother from you." + +"Truth, Gospel truth," put in Shif'less Sol. "I never seen sech a cruel, +keerless person. He gives her jest one fling into the south, an' then he +bolts off into the north, like an arrow out o' the bow. I follows him +lickety-split to bring him back, but he runs so fast I can't ketch him." + +Paul smiled. + +"I've one father and mother already," he said, "and so I have no use for +two. Rather than cause embarrassment, I came away as quickly as I could." + +"You did come fast," said Henry dryly. + +"It was mighty fine of all of you to come after me," said Paul earnestly, +"and to risk your lives to save me from the Shawnees. But I knew you'd do +it." + +"Uv course," said Tom Ross simply. "The rest uv our party would hev come, +too, but they were needed back thar in Kentucky. Besides, we could spare +'em, ez it took cunnin' an' not numbers to do what we had to do." + +"What's our next step?" asked Paul, who was in the highest of spirits--his +imagination, with its usual vivid rebound, now painted everything in +glowing colors. + +"We are going northward," said Henry. + +"Northward?" + +"Yes, it's necessary. There's some great movement on foot among the +tribes. It's not the Shawnees alone, but the Miamis and Wyandots and +others as well, though the Shawnees are leaders. War belts are passing +between all the tribes, and we think they are joining together to destroy +all the white settlements in Kentucky." + +"An' some renegades are helpin' 'em," said Tom Ross. "They may hev better +luck than they did when they attacked Wareville." + +"Yes, an' there's Braxton Wyatt," said Shif'less Sol sorrowfully, "He's +cunnin' an' revengeful, an' he'll do us a power o' harm. Paul, you ought +to a-let me put a knife in atween his ribs when I had the chance. I might +a-saved some good lives an' a power o' sufferin'." + +Paul did not reply, but he was not sorry that he had interfered. He could +not see a bound youth killed. + +"I think we'd better be goin' now," said Tom Ross. "We've got to keep to +the north, to throw the Shawnees off the track, an' then we'll come back +an' spy on 'em." + +"An' me with only ten hours o' rest got to git up an' start to runnin' +ag'in," said Shif'less Sol plaintively. + +"Wa'al, no, you needn't run," said Tom Ross, grinning. "You can jest walk +for about forty hours without stoppin'!" + +Shif'less Sol heaved a deep sigh, but made ready. Jim Hart undoubled +himself, cracked his joints, and said deliberately: + +"Ef I wuz ez lazy ez Shif'less Sol Hyde, I'd a-stayed back thar in the +East, whar a feller might jest sleep hisself to death, an' no Injuns to +torment him." + +"Ef I wuz es mean an' onchristian ez Jim Hart, I'd go an' join Braxton +Wyatt an' become a renegade myself," rejoined Shif'less Sol. + +Paul smiled. He enjoyed the little spats of Sol and Jim, but he knew that +the two were as true as steel, and the best of friends to each other. +Moreover, he was about to take up again the mission which Fate seemed so +constantly to interrupt. The scene of action had been shifted to the great +northern woods, and it now seemed to Paul that perhaps Fortune had been +kind in bringing him there. If a league of the tribes were being attempted +for a new attack upon the settlements, the powder for Marlowe might well +rest, for the present, in its hiding-place in the woods, while his +comrades and he undertook more important action elsewhere. + +Before they started, Henry and Ross took stock of their ammunition, of +which they had a plentiful supply, replenished more than once from their +enemies, and also gave an abundance to Paul. The extra rifle given to him, +one of those taken from the two warriors that Henry had slain, was a fine +weapon, carrying far and true, and he was perfectly satisfied with it. + +Then they started, and they traveled all day northward, through a fine +rolling country, with little prairies and great quantities of game. It was +fully equal to Kentucky, but Paul knew they were in the heart of the +chosen home of the northern Indians, and it behooved them to be cautious. +But there were no signs of pursuit, and they went on all day undisturbed. + +Late in the afternoon they entered a dense forest, and walked through it +about two hours, when Paul saw an opening among the trees. It was a great +flash of silver that all at once greeted his eyes. But as he looked it +turned to gold under the late sun. + +"Another of those little prairies," he said. + +Henry laughed. + +"No, Paul," he said, "that's not a prairie. The sun and the sky together +have fooled you. It's a lake, and we're going to live in it for a little +while." + +"A lake," echoed Paul, "and we're going to live in it? Come on, I want to +see it!" + +Kentucky was not a country of lakes, and Paul did not know much about +them. Hence, as he hastened forward, he was thinking more of the lake +itself than of Henry's somewhat enigmatic words, "We're going to live in +it." + +They soon reached its margin, and Paul uttered a little cry of delight. It +was a splendid sheet of water, shaped like a half moon, seven miles long, +perhaps, and two miles across at the center. But at the widest part stood +a gem of a wooded island, covered with giant trees. High hills, clothed +with magnificent forest, rose all around the lake. + +The beauty of the scene penetrated the souls of all. Uneducated men like +Shif'less Sol and Jim Hart felt it as well as Paul. The five stood in +silence, gazing at the lake and the gem of a wooded island. The light from +the sinking sun gleamed in red and gold flame across the silver waters, +and on the wooded island the boughs of the trees seemed to be touched with +fire. + +"That's where we are to stay," said Henry, pointing to the little island. +"No Indian will ever trouble us there." + +"Why?" asked Paul, looking at him questioningly. + +"Wait and you'll see," replied Henry. + +Henry led the way along the shore, and from a dense thicket at the water's +edge he took a light canoe. + +"I captured this once," he said; "brought it across the woods and hid it +here, thinking it might be useful some day, and now you see I am right. +Get in! Light as it is, it will hold us all." + +Henry and Ross took the paddles, and they pushed out into the lake. +Shif'less Sol uttered a long and deep sigh of satisfaction. + +"Now, this jest suits a tired man," he said. "Henry, you an' Tom can +paddle jest ez long ez you please. I'd like to do all my travelin' this +way." + +"An' you'd get so lazy you'd want somebody to come an' feed you with a +spoon," said Jim Hart. + +"An' it would jest suit me to have you do it. That's jest the kind uv a +job you're fit fur, Jim Hart." + +"Shet up, you two," said Ross. "You hurt my ears, a-buzzin' an' +a-buzzin'." + +Shif'less Sol sank back a little and closed his eyes. An expression of +heavenly luxury and ease came over his face, but it could not last long +because in a few minutes the boat reached the wooded island. Shif'less Sol +opened his eyes, to find that the sun was almost gone, and that the +shadows had come among the great trees. + +"Cur'us kind o' place," he said. "Gives me a sort o' shiver." + +Paul had felt the same sensation, but he said nothing. Before them lay the +little island, a solid, black blot, its trees blended together, and behind +them the lake shone somberly in the growing darkness. + +"All out!" said Henry cheerfully. "This is home for a while, and we need +rest." + +They sprang upon the narrow beach, and Henry and Ross dragged the canoe +into some thick bushes, where they hid it artfully. Paul meanwhile was +looking about him, and trying to keep down the ghostly feeling that would +assail him at times. The island, so far as he could judge, was perhaps two +hundred yards long, half as broad, and thickly covered with forest. But he +could see nothing of the interior. + +"Come," said Henry Ware, in the same tone of cheerful confidence, as he +led the way. + +The others followed, stepping lightly among the great tree trunks, and +Henry did not stop until he came to a small, open space in the very center +of the island, where a spring bubbled up among some rocks, and flowed away +in a tiny brook in a narrow channel to the lake. The open space was almost +circular, and the great trees grew so thickly around that they looked like +a wall. + +"Here is the place to rest," said Henry. "There is no need for anybody to +watch." + +They lay down upon the ground, disposing themselves on the softest spots +that they could find. Paul stared up for a few moments at the great +circular wall of trees, and the weird, chilly sensation came again, but he +was too tired and sleepy to think about it long. In fifteen minutes he +slumbered soundly, and so did all the others. They lay with their faces +showing but faintly in the dusk, and as they lay in the sheltered cove a +soft wind breathed gently over them. + +All were up early in the morning, and Paul was surprised to see Henry +lighting a fire with flint and steel. + +"Why do you do that, Henry?" he said. "Will not the smoke give warning to +our enemies that we are here?" + +"We shall send up but little smoke," replied Henry; "but if they should +see it, they will not come." + +He went on with the fire, and Paul, although mystified, would not ask +anything more, too proud to show ignorance, and confident that anyhow he +would soon learn the cause of these strange proceedings. The fire was +lighted, and burned brightly, but cast off little smoke. Then Henry turned +to Paul. + +"Let's go up to the north end of the island," he said. + +It was a walk of but a few minutes, and Henry, stopping before they +reached the margin of the lake, said: + +"Look up, Paul!" + +Paul did so, and saw many dark objects in the forks of trees about him, or +tied to the boughs. They looked like shapeless bundles, and he did not +know what they were. + +"A burying ground," said Henry, in answer to his inquiring look. + +Paul felt the same weird little shiver that had assailed him the night +before. + +"A burying ground!" + +"Yes, but by some old, old tribe before the Shawnees or Miamis. What you +see are only bundles of sticks and skeletons. No bodies have been left +here in a long time, and the Indians think the island is haunted by the +ghosts of those who died and were left here long, long ago. That is why we +needed to keep no watch last night. I discovered this place on a hunting +trip, and I've always kept it in mind. + +"Let's go back," said Paul, who did not like to look at this burying +ground in the air. + +Henry laughed a little, but he did willingly as Paul requested, and when +they returned to the fire they found that Jim Hart, falling easily into +his natural position, had already cooked the venison. Paul's spirits at +once went up with a bound. The bright fire, the pleasant odor of the +venison, the cheerful faces of his comrades, and assured safety appealed +to his vivid imagination, and made the blood leap in a sparkling torrent +through his veins. + +"Graveyard or no graveyard, I'm glad I'm here," he said energetically. + +They laughed, and Shif'less Sol, who, as usual, had found the softest +place and had stretched himself upon it, said, with drawling emphasis: + +"You're mighty right, Paul, an' I'm a'gin' movin' from here afore cold +weather comes. I'm pow'ful comf'table." + +"If you don't git up an' stir aroun', how do you expect to eat?" said Jim +Hart indignantly. "We ain't got venison enough for more'n ten more meals." + +"Henry an' Tom will shoot it, an' you'll cook it fur me," said Sol +complacently. + +Jim Hart growled, but Henry and Ross were already discussing this question +of a food supply, and Paul listened. + +"The Indians don't come about the lake much," said Henry, "and it will be +easy enough to find deer, but we must hunt at night. We mustn't let the +savages see us, as it might break the island's spell." + +"We'll take the canoe and go out to-night," said Ross. + +"And this lake ought to be full of fish," said Paul. "We might draw on it, +too, for a food supply." + +"Looks likely," said Ross. "But we'd best not try that, either, till +dusk." + +But they worked in the course of the day at the manufacture of their rude +fishing tackle, constructed chiefly of their clothing, the hooks being +nothing more than a rough sort of pin bent to the right shape. This done, +they spent the rest of the day in loafing and lolling about, although Paul +took a half hour for the thorough exploration of the island, which +presented no unusual features beyond those that he had already seen. After +that he came back to the little cove and luxuriated, as the others were +doing. It was the keenest sort of joy now just to rest, to lie at one's +ease, and to feel the freedom from danger. The old burying ground was a +better guard about them than a thousand men. + +But when night came, Henry and Ross took out the canoe again, and Paul +asked to go with them. + +"All right," said Henry, "you come with us, and Sol, you and Jim Hart can +do the fishing and the quarreling, with nobody to bother you." + +"Jest my luck," said Shif'less Sol, "to be left on a desert island with an +ornery cuss like Jim Hart." + +Henry, setting the paddle against the bank, gave the canoe a great shove, +and it shot far out into the lake. Paul looked back. Already their island +was the solid dark blot it had been the night before, while the waters +moved darkly under a light, northern wind. + +"Sit very quiet, Paul," said Henry. "Tom and I will do the paddling." + +Paul was more than content to obey, and he remained very still while the +other two, with long, sweeping strokes, sent the canoe toward a point +where the enclosing bank was lowest. + +"Don't you think we'd better stay in the boat, Henry?" said Ross. + +"Yes; game must be thick hereabouts, and if we wait long enough we're sure +to find a deer coming down to drink." + +They cruised for a while along the shore, keeping well in the darkest +shadow until they reached a point where the keen eyes of Henry Ware saw, +despite the darkness, that many hoofs had trampled. + +"This is a favorite drinking place," he said. "Back us into those bushes, +Tom, and we'll wait." + +Ross pushed the canoe into some bushes until it was hidden, though the +occupants could see through the leaves whatever might come to the water to +drink, and they took up their rifles. They lay a little to the north of +the drinking place, and the wind blew from the south. + +"I don't think we'll have to wait long," said Henry. + +Then they remained absolutely silent, but within fifteen minutes they +heard a heavy trampling in the woods. It steadily grew louder, and was +mingled with snortings and puffings. Whatever animal made it--and it was +undoubtedly a big one--was coming toward them. Paul was filled with +curiosity, but he knew too much to do more just now than breathe. + +A huge bull buffalo stumbled from the trees to the edge of the lake, where +the moonlight had just begun to come. He was a monstrous fellow, and Paul +knew by his snapping red eyes that he was in no good humor. Henry shook +his head to indicate that he was no game for them, and Paul understood. +Whatever they killed they intended to put in the canoe, and then clean and +dress it on the island. The angry monster, an outcast from some herd, was +safe. + +The buffalo drank, puffing and snorting between drinks, and then stamped +his way back into the forest. Still the hunters waited in ambush. Some +other animal, with a long, sinuous body, crept down to the margin and +lapped the water. Paul did not know what it was, and he could not break +the silence to ask the others; but after drinking for a few minutes it +drew its long, lithe body back through the undergrowth, and passed out of +sight. Then nothing came for a while, because this was a ferocious beast +of prey, and to the harmless creatures of the wilderness the air about the +drinking place was filled for a space with poison. + +But as the wind continued to blow lightly from the south, the dread odor +passed away and the air became pure and fresh again. Back in the deeps of +the forest the timid creatures found courage once more, and they crept +down to the water's edge to slake their thirst. But they were small, and +the ambushed marksmen in the boat still waited, silent and motionless. +Paul saw them sometimes, and sometimes he did not. Then his eyes would +wander to the surface of the lake, now pale, heaving silver in the +moonlight, and to the wall of black forest that circled it round. + +A heavier step came again, and a light puff! puff! Paul knew now that a +great animal was approaching, and that the timid little ones would give it +room. He looked with all his eyes, and a magnificent stag stepped into the +moonlight, antlers erect, waiting and listening for a moment before he +bowed his head to drink. Paul almost leaped up in the boat as a rifle +cracked beside him, and he saw the stag spring into the air and fall dead, +with his feet in the water. + +Henry and Ross promptly shoved the boat from the bushes, and the three of +them lifted the body into it, disposing it in the center with infinite +care. Then, with food enough to last for days, they rowed back across the +lake to the haunted island. Shif'less Sol and Jim Hart, with their rude +tackle, had succeeded in catching four fish, of a species unknown to Paul, +but large and to all appearances succulent. + +"We'll eat the fish to-morrow, because they won't keep," said Sol, "but +Jim Hart here kin jerk the venison. It will give him somethin' to do, an' +Jim is a sight better off when he has to work. He ain't got no time fur +foolishness." + +"An' you can tan its hide," growled Jim Hart, "although your own needs +tannin' most." + +A few minutes later the two were amicably dressing the body of the stag, +but Paul was already asleep. He assisted the next morning at a conference, +and then he learned what Henry and Ross intended to do. The powder for +Marlowe, as Paul had surmised, must be left for the present in its hidden +place while they spied upon the great northern confederacy, now being +formed for the destruction of the white settlements, and they would do +what they could to impede it. Henry, Ross, and Sol would leave that night +on an expedition of discovery, while Paul and Jim Hart held the haunted +island. Paul, in this case, did not object to being left behind, because +he had, for the present at least, enough of danger, and he knew that he +was better suited to other tasks than the one on which the three great +woodsmen were now departing. + +Jim Hart was to row them over to the mainland, and they were to signal +their return with three plaintive, long-drawn cries of the whip-poor-will. +They departed at the first coming of the dusk with short good-bys, leaving +Paul alone on the island. He stood near the margin under the foliage of a +great beech and watched them go. The boat, as it left a trailing wake of +melting silver, became a small black dot at the farther shore, and then +vanished. + +Paul turned back toward the center of his island, inexpressibly lonely for +the while. Again he was a solitary being in the vast, encircling +wilderness, and, in feeling at least, no one was nearer than a thousand +miles away. He walked as swiftly as he could to the cove, where the supper +fire still smoldered, and he sought companionship in the light and warmth +that came from the bed of coals. No amount of hardship, no amount of +experience could change Paul's vivid temperament, so responsive to the +influences of time and place. He sat there, his knees drawn up to his +chin, and the ring of darkness came closer and closer; but out of it +presently arose the tread of footsteps, and all the brightness and +cheeriness returned at once to the boy's face. + +Jim Hart walked into the rim of the firelight, and his long, thin, +saplinglike figure looked very consoling to Paul. He doubled into his +usual jackknife formation and, sitting down by the fire, looked into the +coals. + +"Well, Paul," he said, "I've seen 'em off, an' a-tween you and me, I'd +rather be right here on this here haunted islan', a-hobnobbin' with Injun +ghosts an' havin' a good, comfortable, easy time, than be dodgin' braves, +an' feelin' every minute to see ef my scalp is on out thar among the Injun +villages." + +"You don't think they'll be taken?" asked Paul, in some alarm. + +Long Jim Hart laughed scornfully. + +"Them fellers be took?" he said. "Why, they are the best three woodsmen in +North Ameriky, an', fur that, in the hull world. Nobody can take 'em, an' +if they wuz took, nobody could hold 'em. You could have Henry Ware tied to +the stake, with fifty Shawnees holdin' him an' a thousand more standin' +aroun', an' he'd get away, certain sure." + +Paul smiled. It was an extravagant statement, but it restored his +confidence. + +"And meanwhile we are safe here, protected by ghosts," he said. "Do you +believe in ghosts, Jim?" + +Jim Hart looked up at the black rim of the forest, and then edged a little +closer to the fire. + +"No, I don't," he said, "but sometimes I'm afeard of 'em, jest the same." + +Paul laughed. + +"That's about the way I feel, too," he said, "but they're mighty handy +just now, Jim. They're keeping us safe on this island. You won't deny +that?" + +"No, I won't," said Jim; "but at night time I'm goin' to leave 'em all by +themselves in the trees over at their end uv of the island." + +"So am I," said Paul; and ten minutes later both were sound asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A SUDDEN MEETING + + +Paul and queer, long Jim Hart spent a week together on the island, and +they were pleasant days to the boy. He was sure that Henry, Ross, and Sol +could take care of themselves, and he felt little anxiety about them. He +and Hart stayed well in the woods in the day, and they fished and hunted +at night. Hart killed another deer, this time swimming in the water, but +they easily made salvage of the body and took it to land. They also shot a +bear in the edge of the woods, near the south end of the lake, and Hart +quickly tanned both deerskins and the bearskin in a rude fashion. He said +they would need them as covers at night, and as the weather turned a +little colder, Paul found that he could use one of the skins quite +comfortably. + +They built of sticks and brushwood a crude sort of lean-to against one of +the stony sides that enclosed the cove, and when a rain came they were +able to keep quite dry within its shelter. They also found rabbits on the +island, some of which they killed, and thus added further to their +larder. These labors of house-building and housekeeping kept them busy, +and Paul was surprised to find how well content he had become. Hart did +all the cooking, but Paul made amends in other directions, and at night, +when they were not fishing or hunting, they would sit by the little fire +and talk. Once about the noon hour they saw a smoke far to the south, and +both regarded it speculatively. + +"Think likely it's an Injun huntin' party," said Jim Hart, "an' they don't +dream o' any white men bein' about. That's why they are so careless about +their fire, because the different tribes o' these parts are all at peace +with one another." + +"How far away would you say that smoke is?" asked Paul. + +"Three or four miles, anyway, an' I'm pow'ful glad this is a haunted +islan', so they won't come over here." + +"So am I," said Paul devoutly. + +He lay on his back on the soft turf, and watched the smoke rising away in +a thin spire into the heavens. He could picture to himself the savage +party as it sat about the fire, and it gave him a remarkable feeling of +comfort and safety to know that he was so well protected by the ghosts +that haunted the little island. + +The smoke rose there all the morning, but Paul ceased by and by to pay any +attention to it, although he and Jim Hart kept well within the cove, +busying themselves with additions to their lean-to. Paul had found great +strips of bark shed by the trees, and he used these to patch the roof. +More pieces were used for the floor, and, with the bearskin spread over +them, it was quite dry and snug. Then he stood off and regarded it with a +critical and approving eye. + +"You haven't seen a better house than that lately, have you, Jim?" he +said, in a tone of pride. + +"Considerin' the fact that I ain't seen any other uv any kind in a long +time, I kin truthfully say I haven't," replied Jim Hart sardonically. + +"You lack appreciation, Jim," said Paul. "Besides, your imagination is +deficient. Why don't you look at this hut of ours and imagine that it is a +magnificent stone castle?" + +Jim Hart gazed wonderingly at the boy. + +"Paul," he said, "you always wuz a puzzle to me. I can't see no +magnificent stone castle--jest a bark an' brush hut." + +Paul shook his head reprovingly. + +"I am sorry for you, Jim," he said. "I not only see a magnificent stone +castle, but I see a splendid town over there on the mainland." + +"You talk plumb foolish, Paul," said Jim Hart. + +"They are all coming," said Paul. + +But Jim Hart continued to see only the bark and brush hut on the island, +and the vast and unbroken wilderness on the mainland. His eyes roved back, +from the mainland to the hut. + +"Now, ef I had an ax an' a saw," he said regretfully, "I could make that +look like somethin'. I'm a good cook, ef I do say it, Paul, but I'd like +to be a fust-class carpenter. Thar ain't no chance, though, out here, whar +thar ain't nothin' much but cabins, an' every man builds his own hisself." + +"Never mind, Jim," said Paul, "your time will come; and if it doesn't come +to you, it will come to your sons." + +"Paul, you're talkin' foolisher than ever," said Jim indignantly. "You +know that I ain't a married man, an' that I ain't got no sons." + +Paul only smiled. Again he was dreaming, looking far into the future. + +The spire of smoke was still on the horizon line when the twilight came, +but the next morning it was gone, and they did not see it again. Several +days more passed in peace and contentment, and, desiring to secure more +game, Paul and Hart took out the canoe one evening and rowed to the +mainland. + +They watched a while about the mouth of the brook, the favorite drinking +place of the wild animals, but they saw nothing. It seemed likely to Paul +that a warning had been sent to all the tenants of the forest not to drink +there any more, as it was a dangerous place, and he expressed a desire to +go farther into the forest. + +"All right, Paul," said Jim Hart, "but you kain't be too keerful. Don't +git lost out thar in the woods, an' don't furgit your way back to this +spot. I'll wait right here in the boat and watch fur a deer. One may come +yet." + +Paul took his rifle and entered the woods. It was his idea that he might +find game farther up the little stream, and he followed its course, taking +care to make no noise. It was a fine moonlight night, and, keeping well +within the shadow of the trees, he carefully watched the brook. He was so +much absorbed in his task that he forgot the passage of time, and did not +notice how far he had gone. + +Paul had acquired much skill as a hunter, and he was learning to observe +the signs of the forest; but he did not hear a light step behind him, +although he _did_ feel himself seized in a powerful grasp. This particular +warrior was a Miami, and he may have been impelled by pride--that is, a +desire to take a white youth alive, or at least hold him until his +comrades, who were near, could come and secure him. To this circumstance, +and to a fortunate slip of the savage, the boy undoubtedly owed his life. + +Paul was strong, and the grasp of the Indian was like the touch of fire to +him. He made a sudden convulsive effort, far greater than his natural +physical powers, and the arms of the warrior were torn loose. Both +staggered, each away from the other, and while they were yet too close for +Paul to use his rifle, he did, under impulse, what the white man often +does, the red man never. His clenched fist shot out like lightning, and +caught the savage on the point of the jaw. + +The Miami hit the earth with a thud, and lay there stunned. Paul turned +and ran with all his might, and as he ran he heard the war cry behind him, +and then the pattering of feet. But he heard no shots. He judged that the +distance and the darkness kept the savages from firing, and he thanked God +for the night. + +He had sufficient presence of mind to remember the stream, and he kept +closely to its course as he ran back swiftly toward the canoe. + +"Up, Jim, up! The warriors have come!" he shouted, as he ran. + +But Jim Hart, an awkward bean pole of a lion-hearted man, was already +coming to meet him, and fired past him at a dusky, dancing figure that +pursued. The death yell followed, the pursuit wavered for a moment, and +then Jim Hart, turning, ran with Paul to the canoe, into which both leaped +at the same time. But Hart promptly undoubled himself, seized the paddle, +and with one mighty shove sent the boat out into the lake. Paul grasped +the other paddle, and bent to the same task. Their rifles lay at their +feet. + +"Bend low, Paul," said Jim Hart. "We're still within range of the shore." + +Paul almost lay down in the canoe, but he never ceased to make long, +frantic sweeps with the paddle, and he was glad to see the water flashing +behind him. Then he heard a great yell of rage and the crackle of rifles, +and bullets spattered the surface of the lake about them. One chipped a +splinter from the edge of the canoe and whistled by Paul's ear, singing, +as it passed, "Look out! Look out!" But Paul's only reply was to use his +paddle faster, and yet faster. + +The boy did not notice that Jim Hart had turned the course of the canoe, +and that they were running northward, about midway between the island and +the mainland; but the rifle fire ceased presently, and Jim Hart said to +him: + +"You can take it easier now, Paul. We're out uv range, though not uv +sight." + +Paul straightened up, laid his paddle in the boat, and gasped for breath. + +"Look over thar, Paul, ef you want to see a pleasant scene," said Jim Hart +calmly. + +Paul's gaze followed the long man's pointing finger, and he saw at least +twenty warriors gathered on the bank, and regarding them now in dead +silence. + +"Mad!" said Jim Hart. "Mad clean through!" + +"They've chased us on land, and now they are chasing us on water. I wonder +where they will chase us next," said Paul. + +"Not through the air, 'cause they can't fly, nor kin we," said Jim Hart +sagely. + +Paul looked back again at the ferocious band gathered on the shore, and, +while he could not see their faces at the distance, he could imagine the +evil passions pictured there. As he gazed the band broke up, and many of +them came running along the shore. Then Paul noticed that the prow of +their canoe was not turned toward the island, but was bearing steadily +toward the north end of the lake, leaving the island well to the left. He +glanced at Jim Hart, and the long man laughed low, but with deep +satisfaction. + +"Don't you see, Paul," he said, "that we kain't go to the islan' an' show +to them that we've been livin' thar? That might wipe out all the spell uv +the place. We got to let 'em think we're 'fraid uv it, too, an' that we +dassent land thar. We'll paddle up to the head uv the lake, come down on +the other side, an' then, when it's atween us an' them, we'll come across +to our islan'." + +They were still abreast of the island, and yet midway between it and the +mainland. Paul saw the Indians running along the shore, and now and then +taking a shot at the canoe. But the bullets always fell short. + +"Foolish! Plumb foolish," said Jim Hart, "a-wastin' good powder an' good +lead in sech a fashion!" + +"That one struck nearer," said Paul, as a little jet of water spurted up +in the lake. "Keep her off, Jim. A bullet that is not wasted might come +along directly." + +Hart sheered the boat off a little toward the island, and then took a long +look at a warrior who had reached a projecting point of land. + +"That thar feller looks like a chief," he said, "an' I kain't say that his +looks please me a-tall, a-tall. I don't like the set uv his figger one +little bit." + +"What difference does it make?" said Paul. "You can't change it." + +"Wa'al, now, I was a-thinkin' that maybe I could," drawled Jim Hart. +"Hold the boat steady, Paul." + +He laid down his paddle and took up his rifle, which he had reloaded. + +"Them Injuns have guns, but they are not generally ez good ez ours," he +said. "They don't carry ez fur. Now jest watch me change the set uv that +savage's figger. I wouldn't do it, but he's just a-pinin' fur our blood +an' the hair on top uv our heads." + +Up went the long Kentucky rifle, and the moonlight fell clearly along its +polished barrel. Then came the flash, the spurt of smoke, the report +echoing among the hills about the lake, and the chief fell forward with +his face in the water. A yell of rage arose from the others, and again +bullets pattered on the surface of the lake, but all fell short. Jim Hart +calmly reloaded his rifle. + +"That'll teach 'em to be a little more keerful who they're a-follerin'," +he said. "Now, Paul, let's paddle." + +They sent the boat swiftly toward the north end of the lake, and Paul now +and then caught glimpses of the Miamis trying to keep parallel with it, +although out of range; but presently, as they passed the island, and could +swing out into the middle of the lake, the last of them sank permanently +from sight. But the two kept on in the canoe. The moonlight faded a +little, and soon the hills on the shore could be seen only as a black +blur. + +"This is jest too easy, Paul," said Jim Hart, "With them runnin' aroun' +that big outer circle, they couldn't keep up with us even ef they could +see us. Let's rest a while." + +Both put their paddles inside the canoe and drew long breaths. Each had a +feeling of perfect safety, for the time at least, and they let the boat +drift northward under the gentle wind from the south that rippled the +surface of the lake. + +"Water and darkness," said Paul. "They are our friends." + +"The best we could have," said Jim Hart. "Are you rested now, Paul?" + +"I'm fresh again." + +They resumed the paddles, and, curving about, came down on the western +side of the lake until they were opposite the island. Then they paddled +straight for their home, and the word "home," in this case, had its full +meaning for Paul. It gave him a thrill of delight when the prow of the +canoe struck upon the margin of the little island, and the gloom of the +great trees was friendly and protecting. + +"We must hide the canoe good," said Jim Hart. + +They concealed it in a thick clump of bushes, and then Hart carefully +readjusted the bushes so that no one would notice that they had ever been +disturbed, and they took their way to the hut in the glen. They did not +light a fire, but they sat for a little while on the stones, talking. + +"You're sure they won't come over to the Island?" said Paul. + +"They'll never do it," replied Jim Hart confidently. "Besides, they ain't +got the least suspicion that we've come here. Likely, they think we've +landed at the north end uv the lake, an' they'll be prowlin' aroun' thar +three or four days lookin' fur us. Jest think, Paul, uv all the work +they'll hev fur nothin'. I feel like laughin'. I think I _will_ laugh." + +He kept his word and laughed low; but he laughed long, and with the most +intense pleasure. + +"Jest to think, Paul," he continued, "how we're guarded by dead Injuns +theirselves!" + +Presently the two went into the hut, and slept soundly until the next +morning. They did not light a fire then, but ate cold food, and went down +among the trees to watch the lake. They saw nothing. The water rippled and +glowed in alternate gold and silver under the brilliant sunshine, and the +hills about it showed distinctly; but there was no sign of a human being +except themselves. + +"Lookin' fur us among the hills," said Jim Hart. "You an' me will jest +keep close, Paul, an' we won't light no fire." + +The whole day passed without incident, and the following night also, but +about noon the next day, as they watched from the shelter of the trees, +they saw a black dot on the lake, far to the south. + +"A canoe!" said Jim Hart. + +"A canoe? How did they get it?" said Paul--he took it for granted that its +occupants were Miamis. + +"Guess they brought it across country from some river, and thar they are," +replied Jim Hart. "They've shore put a boat on our lake." + +His tone showed traces of anxiety, and Paul, too, felt alarm. The Miamis, +after all, might defy their own superstition and land on the island. +Presently another canoe appeared behind the first, and then a third and a +fourth, until there was a little fleet, which the two watched with silent +apprehension. Had Henry Ware been mistaken? Did the Miamis really believe +it was a haunted island? + +On came the canoes in a straight black file, enough to contain more than a +score of warriors, and the man and the boy nervously fingered their +rifles. If the Indians landed on the island, the result was sure. The two +might make a good fight and slay some of their foes, but in any event +they would certainly be taken or killed. Their lives depended upon the +effect of a superstition. + +The line of canoes lay like a great black arrow across the water. They +were so close together that to the watchers they seemed to blend and +become continuous, and this arrow was headed straight toward the island. +Paul's heart went down with a thump, but a moment later a light leaped +into his eyes. + +"The line is turning!" he exclaimed. "Look, Jim, look! They are afraid of +the island!" + +"Yes," said Jim Hart, "I see! The ghosts are real, an' it's pow'ful lucky +fur us that they are. The Miamis dassent land!" + +It was true. The black arrow suddenly shifted to the right, and the line +of canoes drew into the open water, midway between the island and the +eastern mainland. + +"Lay close, Paul, lay close!" said Jim Hart. "We mustn't let 'em catch a +glimpse uv us, an' they're always pow'ful keen-eyed." + +Both the man and the boy lay flat on their stomachs on the ground, and +peered from the shelter of the bushes. No human eye out on the lake could +have seen them there. The canoes were now abreast of the island, but were +going more slowly, and both could see that the occupants were looking +curiously at their little wooded domain. But they kept at a healthy +distance. + +"I think they're lookin' here because the place is haunted, and not +because we are on it," said Jim Hart. + +It seemed that he spoke the truth, as the Miamis presently swung nearer to +the mainland and began to examine the shores long and critically. + +"I guess they've been huntin' us all through the woods, an' think now we +may be hid somewhar at the edge uv the lake," said Jim Hart. + +It seemed so. The two lay there for hours, watching the little fleet of +canoes as it circled the lake, keeping near the outer rim, and searching +among all the hills and hollows that bordered the shores. Once, when it +was on the western side, the fleet turned its head again toward the +island, and again apprehension arose in the hearts of the boy and the man, +but it was only for a fleeting moment. The line of canoes was quickly +turned away, and bore on down the open water. Paul and Jim Hart were +protected by Manitou. + +The circumnavigation of the lake by the Miamis lasted throughout the +remainder of the day, and when the twilight came, the canoes were lost in +its shade toward the southern end of the sheet of water. + +"We're safe," said Jim Hart, "but we've still got to keep close. They may +hang about here fur days." + +"What about Henry and Ross and Sol?" asked Paul anxiously. "On their way +back they may run right into that wasp's nest." + +"'Tain't likely," replied Jim Hart. "Our boys know what they're a-doin'. +But I wish them Miamis would go away so's I could light a fire an' cook +some fresh meat." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE BELT BEARERS + + +Paul and Jim Hart waited several days, never once venturing from the +protecting shadows of the woods, and they found the burden very great. The +little island was like a cage, and Jim Hart groaned, moreover, because he +could not exercise his skill in the art of cooking. + +"These cold victuals," he said, "besides bein' unpleasant to the inside, +are a disgrace to me. I jest got to cook somethin'." + +Finally, he built up a bed of coals on a very dark night, when it was +impossible for anyone to see either their sheltered glow or the smoke they +sent out, and he broiled juicy steaks from the body of a deer that they +had hung up in a tree. + +"Isn't it fine, Paul?" he said, as they ate hungrily. + +"Fine's no name for it," replied Paul. "It's great, splendid, grand, +magnificent, surpassing, unapproachable! Are those the terms, Jim?" + +"I don't know jest what all uv 'em mean," replied Jim Hart, "but they +shorely sound right to me." + +They saw the Indian canoes on the lake once more, but the Miamis seemed to +be fishing, and did not come anywhere near the island. Paul appreciated +then how great had been their continual need of caution. + +A day or two later there was a magnificent thunder storm, despite the +lateness of the season. The heavenly artillery roared grandly, and lakes, +hills, and forest swam at times in a glare that dazzled Jim Hart. After +that it rained hard, and they clung to the shelter of their hut, which was +fortunately water-tight now. The rain ceased by and by, but the clouds +remained in the sky, and night came very thick and dark. Jim Hart +suggested that it would be a good time to do a little fishing, and Paul +was ready and willing. + +They paddled out silently a short distance from the island, where the +water was not too shallow, and let down the lines. + +They waited some time and received no bites; but as this was nothing +unusual, owing to the crudity of their fishing tackle, they persisted +patiently. The night deepened and darkened, and they could not see the +surface of the lake fifty yards away. The water, moved by a light wind, +bubbled faintly against the sides of the canoe. Neither spoke, but sat in +silence, waiting hopefully for a pull on the lines. + +Presently Paul heard a faint, wailing sound, coming from the mainland, but +at first he paid little attention to it. Then he noticed that Jim Hart had +raised his head and was listening intently. Naturally Paul then listened, +too, with the same eager attention, and the faint wailing sound, +singularly weird and strange in the night, came a second, and presently a +third time. But after that it was not repeated. Long Jim Hart looked at +the boy. + +"You know what that is?" he said. + +"The cry of the whip-poor-will." + +"The cry of the whip-poor-will, given three times! The signal! The boys +are thar, an' we must go fur 'em." + +"Of course," said Paul. "Do we need to return to the island for anything?" + +"No; we have our rifles an' ammunition with us. We got to start right now, +an' Paul, don't you splash any water with your paddle." + +Paul understood as well as Jim Hart the need of extreme caution, as the +Miamis might be abroad, and he made every stroke steady and sure. Jim Hart +emitted the lonesome cry of the whip-poor-will once in return--signal for +signal--and then they cut their way in silence through the dark. + +They laid their course, according to agreement, for the drinking place at +the mouth of the brook, and Paul's heart beat with relief and gladness. +His comrades had come back, safe and sound. It did not occur to him that +any one of them might have fallen in the venture. Half way to the mainland +Jim Hart stopped the canoe, and listened a moment. + +"I thought I heard somethin' down the lake that sounded like a splash," he +said. + +But he did not hear it again, and they resumed their progress. Paul now +saw the loom of the land, a darker outline in the darkness, and his heart, +already beating fast, began to beat faster. Suppose there should be some +trick in the signal! Suppose they should find the Miamis, and not their +comrades, waiting for them! He sought hard to pierce the darkness and see +what might be there on the land before him. + +The outline of the shore rose more distinctly out of the darkness, and the +prow of the boat struck softly on the margin. Then Paul saw a figure rise +from the bushes, and after it another, and then a third, and then no more. +He could not see their faces, but it was the right number, and a vast +relief surged up. The three figures came down confidently to the canoe, +and then the welcome voice of Henry Ware said in a low tone: + +"You are here, Paul! You and Jim are on time to the minute!" + +"An' mighty glad I am, too," said Shif'less Sol, in the same tone. "I wuz +never so tired before in all my life. I think I must have trotted a +thousan' miles, an' now I'm willin' to let Jim Hart paddle me the rest o' +the way in a canoe." + +Tom Ross said nothing, merely showing his white teeth in a smile. + +"The Miamis are about," said Paul. "They have been around the lake, and on +it, for days, looking for something." + +"We know it," said Henry. "In fact, we've seen some of them not so long +since, though none of them saw us. There are big doings afoot, Paul, and +we must have our part in them." + +"Should we go back to the island, then?" + +"For the present, yes. We need a base, and the island is safest and best." + +The five got cautiously into the canoe, disposing their weight carefully, +and Shif'less Sol, who had taken the paddle from Paul, raised it for the +first sweep. But it did not come down into the water. Instead, he stopped +it in its fall, and he and all the others listened. The same splash that +Jim Hart thought he had heard came now to their ears, and it was repeated. +Paul knew that it was made by paddles sweeping through water, and it was +coming nearer. + +"Push back into the bushes," whispered Henry. + +They gently shoved the canoe far among the bushes in the shallow water, +and waited. They were completely hidden, but even if seen they could +spring instantly to the land. They waited, and the splashing steadily grew +louder. Paul felt the pressure of Henry's hand on his arm, and he looked +with all his eyes. The Miami navy was abroad that night! A canoe, a long +one with seven or eight warriors in it, was abreast of them, and behind it +came five others. They were not twenty yards away, and Paul, in fancy at +least, saw the savage eyes and the painted faces. What had brought them +out on the lake, what suspicion or precaution, Paul never knew, but there +they were. All were brave hearts in the hidden canoe, but they held their +breath while that silent file passed by. Then, when the last had gone and +was lost in the darkness, they pushed out a little and listened, with all +the keenness of forest-bred ears. Hearing no splash, they paddled in a +straight course for the haunted island. + +"I think they've gone toward the north end of the lake, and as they are +likely to keep on their way, now is our time," said Henry. + +They pushed farther into the lake, Ross and Shif'less Sol now handling +the paddles with wonderful dexterity. They went very slowly, not wishing +to make the faintest splash, and meanwhile the darkness thickened and +deepened again. It felt very damp to the face, and Paul saw now that fog +from the rain of the day was mingled with it. They could not see the +faintest outline of the island, but held their course from memory. + +They had been out about ten minutes when Ross and Sol, as if by +simultaneous impulse, ceased paddling, and Henry whispered; "Don't anybody +make any noise; it's for our lives!" + +They heard that faint splash, which Paul had learned to hate, coming back. +The Miami navy, from some unknown cause, had turned in its course. How +Paul blessed the thick, fog-charged darkness! + +"It's all chance now," whispered Henry, ever so low, and Paul understood. + +Then they held their breath, and the Miami canoes steadily drew nearer. +Would they come directly upon the white canoe or would they pass? They +passed, but they passed so near that Paul could hear the Indians in the +boats talking to each other. He also heard his heart beating in his body +as the invisible file went by, and the loud beat did not cease until no +more splashing of the paddles was heard. + +"Is all my hair gray?" whispered Shif'less Sol. + +Paul wanted to laugh in a kind of nervous relief, but he did not dare. +Instead he whispered back: + +"I can't see, Sol, but I'm sure mine is." + +Ross and Shif'less Sol took up the paddles again, and now they reached the +island without interruption. The boat was hidden again, and soon all were +in the hut in the sheltered cove. Henry spoke with approval of the +industry and forethought of Paul and Jim in their absence. + +"This hut is a mighty good place on a raw night like this," he said. "Now, +I'm going to sleep, and I'd advise you to do the same, Paul. I'll tell you +to-morrow all that we've done and have seen and know." + +While the others slept, Jim Hart, long-legged and captious, but brave, +faithful, and enduring, watched. He saw the fog and the darkness clear +away, and the moonlight came out, crisp and cold. A light wind blew and +dead leaves fell from the trees, rustling dryly as they fell. Autumn was +waning and cold weather would soon be at hand. When pale dawn showed, Jim +roused his comrades, and they ate breakfast, though no fire was lighted. +Then Henry talked. + +"It's true," he said, "about a great league of all the tribes being formed +to destroy forever the white settlements in Kentucky. They are alarmed +about their hunting grounds, and they think they must all strike together +now, and strike hard. We've spied upon several of their villages, and we +know. Some renegades are with them, pointing the way, and among them is +Braxton Wyatt, the most venomous of them all. I don't see how one who is +born white can do such a thing." + +But Paul had read books, and his mind was always leaping forward to new +knowledge. + +"It is the bad blood of some far-off ancestor showing," he said. "It is +what they call a reversion. You know, Henry, that Braxton was always mean +and sulky. I never saw anybody else so spiteful and jealous as he is, and +maybe he thinks he will be a big man among the Indians." + +"That's so," said Henry. "I can understand why anybody should love a life +in the forest. Ah, it's such a glorious thing!" + +He expanded his chest, and the light leaping into his eyes told that Henry +Ware was living the life he loved. + +"But," he added, "I can't see how anybody could ever turn against his own +people." + +"It's moral perversity," said Paul. + +"Moral perversity," said Jim Hart, stumbling over the syllables. "Them +words sound mighty big, Paul. Would you mind tellin' us what they mean?" + +"They mean, Jim," put in Shif'less Sol, "that you won't be what you ought +to be, an' that you won't, all the time." + +"That's a good enough explanation," laughed Paul. + +"Whatever is the reason," said Tom Ross, who used words as rarely as if +they were precious jewels, "the tribes are comin' together to destroy the +white settlements. Braxton is givin' them all kinds uv useful information, +an' we've got to hinder these doin's, ef we kin." + +The others agreed once more, and talked further of the new league. They +did not go into much detail about their adventures while spying on the +villages, rather looking now to the future. + +"I told you, Paul, we ought to a-put a knife in that Braxton Wyatt when we +had the chance," growled Shif'less Sol. + +"I couldn't do it, Sol," replied Paul. + +Later they held a conference beside a bed of coals that threw out no +smoke, and Paul listened with absorbed attention while Henry stated the +case fully. + +"The Shawnees were somewhat daunted by their repulse at Wareville last +year," he said, "but they hope yet to crush the white settlement before we +grow too strong. They are seeking to draw the Miamis, Wyandottes, and all +the other tribes up here into a league for that purpose, and they want to +have it formed and strike while our people are not expecting it. +Wareville, owing to her victory of last year, thinks she's safe, and it is +not the custom of Indians to raid much in winter. See, cold weather is not +far away." + +Henry looked up, and the eyes of the others followed. The trees were still +clothed in leaves, but the blazing reds and yellows and the dim mist on +the horizon showed that Indian summer was at hand. + +"Any day," continued Henry, "a cold wind may strip off all these leaves, +and winter, which can be very cold up here, will come roaring down. Now, +the Shawnees are more than willing to cross the Ohio again to attack us, +but the Miamis, while ready enough to take white scalps up here, have not +yet made up their minds to go south on the war trail. The Shawnees are +sending war belts to them, because the Miamis are a powerful tribe and +have many warriors. The first thing for us to do is to take the messengers +with the war belts." + +"An' to do that," said Shif'less Sol, "we've got to git off this islan' ez +soon ez we kin, an' shake off the band o' Miamis. Thar is always work fur +a tired man to do." + +Paul laughed at his tone of disgust. The boy's spirits were high now; in +fact, he was exuberant over the safe return of his comrades, and the +entire enterprise appealed with steadily increasing force to him. To +hinder and prevent the Indian alliance until the white settlements were +strong enough to defy all the tribes! This was in truth a deed worth +while! It was foresight, statesmanship, a long step in the founding of a +great state, and he should have a part in it! Already his vivid mind +painted the picture of his comrades and himself triumphant. + +"We must go to-night, if it is dark," said Henry. + +"That's so," said Tom Ross emphatically. + +The three had captured fresh supplies of ammunition while they were gone, +and they replenished the powder-horns and bullet pouches of Paul and Jim +Hart. Moreover, they had taken blankets, of a fine, soft, light but warm +make, probably bought by the Indians from European traders, and they gave +one each to Paul and Jim Hart. + +"It's getting too cold now," said Henry, "to sleep in our clothes only on +the ground in the forest." + +They made up the blankets in tight little rolls, which they fastened on +their backs, and Paul and Jim Hart put in a tanned deerskin with each of +theirs. + +"They're pow'ful light, an' they may come in mighty handy," said Long Jim. + +The night fortunately was dark, as they had hoped, and about eleven +o'clock they embarked in the canoe, paddling straight for the western +shore. Paul looked back with some regret at the island, which at times had +been a snug little home. The ancient, mummified bodies in the trees had +protected them, as if with a circle of steel, and he was grateful to those +dead of long ago. + +They saw no sign of the Indian canoes, and both Henry and Ross were +certain that they were in camp somewhere on the eastern shore. The little +party reached the dense woods on the west without incident whatever, and +there they partly sank the canoe in shallow water among dense bushes. Then +they plunged into the forest, and traveled fast. Shif'less Sol spoke after +a while, and apparently his groaning voice was drawn up from the very +bottom of his chest. + +"Oh, that blessed canoe!" he said. "I wuz so happy when I wuz a-ridin' in +it, an' somebody else wuz a-paddlin'. Now I hev to do all my own work." + +"You wouldn't be truly happy, Sol Hyde," said Jim Hart, "'less you wuz +ridin' in a gilt coach drawed by four white horses, right smack through +the woods here." + +"That's heaven," said the shiftless one, with a deep sigh. "I don't ever +dream o' sech a thing ez that, and please don't call it up to my mind, Jim +Hart; the contras' between that an' footin' it ez I am now is too cruel +an' too great." + +Paul smiled. The little by-play between those two good friends amused and +brightened him, but nothing else was said for a long time. Then it was +Henry who spoke, and he called a halt. + +"The big Miami village is not more than a dozen miles away," he said, "and +the warriors there are expecting messengers from the Shawnees, with war +belts. The messengers will pass near here, and we'll wait for them. The +rest of you will go to sleep, and Tom and I will watch." + +Paul, Jim Hart, and Shif'less Sol rolled themselves in their blankets and +lay down under a tree, the shiftless one murmuring, "Now, this is what I +like," and the others saying nothing. Paul was devoutly grateful for the +blanket, because the air was now quite cold, but in five minutes all +emotions were lost in deep and dreamless sleep. + +When Paul awoke from his slumber he started up in horror. Three powerful, +painted Shawnees stood over him. He was so much overwhelmed by the +catastrophe that he could only utter a kind of gasp. But the blood flowed +back from his heart into his veins when he heard the dry laugh of Long +Jim Hart. + +"Paul," said Jim, "I'd like to introduce you to the three new Shawnee +warriors that you used to know, when they were white, an' that you called +then Henry Ware, Tom Ross, and Sol Hyde." + +"Why, what has happened?" asked Paul, still in the depths of astonishment. + +Then Henry spoke, and he spoke gravely. + +"Sol did not sleep long, Paul," he said, "and when he awoke he joined us. +Then we went to meet the three Shawnee messengers, carrying war belts and +peace belts, for the Miamis to choose. It was not a business for you, +Paul. We met them, there was a fight--well, they will never appear in the +Miami village, and we are here in their place." + +Paul understood, and he shuddered a little at the deadly conflict that +must have raged out there in the forest while he slept. Then he looked +curiously at the three. He never would have known any one of them +anywhere. They were savages in every aspect--painted and garbed like them, +and with their hair drawn up in the defiant scalp lock. + +"What are you going to do?" he asked. + +"Deliver the belts at the Miami village," replied Henry Ware, "but they +will be peace belts, not war belts." + +"It is death," said Paul in protest. + +"It is not death," replied Henry. "We will come back safely, and it is for +a great stake. You and Jim must remain here in the woods, waiting for us +again, and we'll trust to your skill and caution not to be caught. If the +warriors become too thick around here you might retreat to the island. +Anyway, the signal will be as before--three wails of the whip-poor-will." + +Paul was impressed by his words, which were spoken with gravity and +emphasis. + +"Yes, it's in a great cause, Henry," he said, "and we'll wait, expecting +you to come back." + +Five minutes later the three newly made warriors took their path through +the forest, and they never looked back. Yet Henry Ware felt emotion. +Although he regarded Paul Cotter almost as a younger brother, he respected +him as a high type of one kind of being, and they were comrades true as +steel. Moreover, he knew that he and Ross and Sol were engaged upon the +most dangerous of tasks, and the chances were that they would not come +back. Yet he faced them with a high heart and dauntless courage. + +The three walked swiftly and silently in single file, and neither Shawnee +nor Miami eye would have known that they were not Indian. They walked, +toes in, as Indians do, and they had every trick of manner or gesture +that the red men have. All trace of civilization was gone. Henry Ware, +Thomas floss, and Solomon Hyde had disappeared. In their places were Big +Fox, Brown Bear, and The Bat, Shawnee warriors who bore belts to the Miami +village, and who would talk about the war to be made upon the white +intruders far to the south of the Ohio. + +Shortly before noon Big Fox, Brown Bear, and The Bat approached the Miami +village, pitched in a pleasant valley, where wood and water were in +plenty. Then they uttered the long whoop of the Shawnees, and it was +answered from the Miami village; but Big Fox, Brown Bear, and The Bat, +assured of a welcome, never stopped, keeping straight on for the village. +Squaws and children clustered around them, and openly spoke their +admiration of the three stalwart, splendidly proportioned warriors who had +come from the friendly tribe; but Big Fox, Brown Bear, and The Bat, in +accordance with the Indian nature, took no notice. It was only warriors +and chiefs to whom they would condescend to speak, and they were silent +and expressionless until the right moment should come. They passed +straight through the swarm of old men, women, children, and dogs, toward +the center of the village, where a long, low cabin of poles stood. An +ancient and reverend figure stood in the doorway to meet them. It was that +of Gray Beaver, head chief of the Miamis, an old, old man, gray with years +and wise like the beaver, from which he took his name. + +"My Shawnee brethren are welcome to the Council House," he said. "You have +come far, and you shall rest, and the squaws shall bring you food before +we talk." + +"It is sufficient to us to see the great and wise chief, Gray Beaver," +said Henry. "Though we come from a long journey, it makes us strong and +brave again." + +The old chief bowed, but his grave features did not relax. Nevertheless, +he was pleased in his secret soul at the gallant bearing and polite words +of the young warrior who addressed them. He led the way into the Council +House, and a half dozen underchiefs followed them, hiding their interest +beneath their painted masks of faces. + +The Council House was large--fifty warriors could have sat in it--and +robes of the buffalo, beaver, and other animals were spread about. Big +Fox, Brown Bear, and The Bat sat down gravely, each upon a mat of skins, +and were served by the warriors with food and drink, which the squaws had +brought to the door, but beyond which they could not pass. The three +Shawnee belt bearers ate and drank in silence and dignity, and they +appreciated the rest and refreshment so needful to those who had traveled +far. Neither did anyone else speak. The venerable Gray Beaver sat on a +couch of skins a little higher than the others, and his eyes rested +steadily on the belt bearers. The subchiefs, silent and motionless on +their mats of skins, also watched the belt bearers. At one end of the +great room, in a kind of rude chimney, smoldered the council fire, a bed +of coals. + +More than half an hour passed, and when the guests had eaten and drunk +sufficiently, the venerable chief waved his hands, and the remains of the +food and drink were taken away. Then Gray Beaver drew from beneath his +robe a beautifully ornamented pipe, with a curved horn stem and a carven +bowl. He pressed into the bowl a mixture of tobacco and aromatic herbs, +which he also drew from beneath his robe, and lighted it with a coal which +one of the chiefs brought from the fire. Then he took three whiffs and +gravely and silently passed the pipe to the chief of the Shawnee belt +bearers, Big Fox. It was a curious fact, but no one had said that Big Fox +was the chief of the three. Something in his manner made all take it for +granted, and Big Fox, too, unconsciously accepted it as a matter of +course. + +The magnificent young warrior took three whiffs at the pipe of peace, and +passed it to Brown Bear, who, after doing the same, handed it in his turn +to The Bat. Then it was passed on to all the subchiefs, and everyone +smoked it in gravity and silence. The smoke circled up in rings against +the low roof, and every man sat upon his mat of skins, painted, +motionless, and wordless. The young chief, Big Fox, waited. Though his +eyes never turned, he saw every detail of the scene, and he was conscious +of the tense and breathless silence. He was conscious, too, of the immense +dangers that surrounded his comrades and himself, but fear was not in his +heart. + +"My brethren have come to the Miami village with a message from their +friends, the Shawnees," said the ancient chief at last. + +"It is so," said Big Fox. + +"The hearts of the Shawnees are filled with hatred of the white men, who +have come into the hunting grounds beyond the Ohio, and who cut down trees +and build houses there." + +"It is so." + +Big Fox's gaze never wavered. He continued to look straight at the council +fire, and the tense silence came again. Big Fox was conscious that the air +in the Council House was heavy, and that all were watching him with black, +glittering eyes. + +"The Shawnees would destroy the white villages, and would seek the help +of all the tribes that know them," continued Gray Beaver. + +Then Big Fox spoke. + +"It is true," he said gravely and slowly, "that the Shawnees would wish +the white settlements destroyed, every house burned, and every warrior, +squaw, and child killed, that the forest might grow again where they live, +and the deer roam again unafraid." + +Big Fox paused, and for the first time looked away from the council fire. +His piercing gaze swept the circle of the Miamis, and every man among them +drew a deep breath. There was something extraordinary in this belt bearer, +a majesty and magnetism that all of them felt, and they hung upon his +words, listening intently. + +"The Shawnees are warriors," resumed Big Fox, "and they do not fear +battle. They went last year against the white settlements, and they went +alone. The Miamis know that." + +There was a deep murmur of assent. + +"The Shawnees are wise as well as brave," resumed Big Fox. "Their old +chiefs have talked over it long. It is a great war trail upon which we +would go, and he who would travel far and long should prepare well. The +white men are brave. From their wooden walls last year they beat us off, +and many Shawnees fell afterwards in the battle with them in the forest." + +Big Fox paused, and swept the circle again with his glittering eyes. As +before, every man among them drew a deep breath when that hypnotic gaze +fell upon him. But they were hearing words that they had not expected to +hear, and after the tremendous gaze had passed there came a faint murmur +of surprise. But Big Fox did not seem to notice it. Instead he continued: + +"The winter is at hand. Already the dead leaves fall, and soon the bitter +winds will sweep the forests and the prairies. The warrior would go forth +to battle, chilled and stiff. The gun would fall from his frozen hands." + +Again he paused and looked straight at Gray Beaver. The old chief stirred +in his furred robe beneath that piercing gaze. + +"We would not go forth to war until we are ready for war, until the season +is ripe for war," resumed Big Fox. "When we would strike, we would strike +with all the strength of all the allied tribes, that nothing of the white +man might be left. We would send to Canada for more rifles, more powder, +and more bullets, and to do all these things it must be long before we go +on the great war trail. So I bring you, for the present, peace." + +He took from beneath his robe the peace belts, message of the Shawnee +nation, and handed them to the old, old chief, Gray Beaver. The murmur +from the Miamis became deep and long, but Big Fox gazed once more at the +fire, painted, silent, and immovable. + +"It was war when I was in the Shawnee village, a moon ago," said a chief, +Yellow Panther, "and it was war belts that we expected. Why have the +Shawnees changed their minds?" + +Murmurs of approval greeted his words, but Big Fox never stirred. + +"The old men, the wise men of the Shawnees have so decided," he replied. +"It is not for the bearer of the belts to question their wisdom." + +"If the Shawnees wish to wait long to prepare, the Miamis must wait, too," +said the chief, Gray Beaver, in whose veins flowed the cold and languid +blood of old age. + +The younger chiefs murmured again. Big Fox was conscious that a powerful +faction of the Miamis wished to go on a winter war path, and strike the +settlements at once. But Big Fox was still unafraid. He was a forest +diplomatist as well as a forest warrior, and he played for the most +precious of all stakes, the lives of his people. + +"The great chiefs of the Shawnees have lived long," he said. "Their heads +are heavy with age and with wisdom. It is not well to waste our strength +with a blow which will not reach the mark, but it is good to wait until we +can strike true." + +The chief, Yellow Panther, arose. He was a tall and ferocious savage, with +a cunning countenance. + +"The Shawnees change their minds quickly," he said, in tones of subtle and +insulting insinuation. "There is one here who came from their village but +three days since, and then they looked not so kindly upon the peace belts. +It is well to bring him to this council of the Miamis." + +He glanced at Gray Beaver and the ancient chief nodded. Then Yellow +Panther stepped from the Council House. + +The heart of Big Fox stirred within him ever so slightly. What did Yellow +Panther mean by "one who had come but three days since"? A new factor was +entering the terrible game. But he showed no emotion, nor did his +comrades, the other two belt bearers, Brown Bear and The Bat. Neither of +the latter had spoken since he entered the Council House. + +The murmurs ceased, and all sank back on their skin mats. Silence resumed +absolute sway in the long room. The little eddies of smoke still curled +against the roof, and the air was surcharged with suspense. + +The buffalo robe over the entrance was lifted, and Yellow Panther +returned. Behind him came a second figure. + +The eyes of Big Fox turned slowly from the council fire, and looked +straight into those of Braxton Wyatt. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +BRAXTON WYATT'S ORDEAL + + +The blood of Big Fox leaped for a moment in his veins, but it did not show +under the paint of his face. His figure never quivered. He still knew all +the danger, and he knew, moreover, how it had increased since the entrance +of Braxton Wyatt, but he said, in slow, cold tones, full of deadly +meaning: + +"It is the white youth who left his own people to come to our village and +join our people. We have received him, but the eyes of the warriors are +still upon him." + +The insinuation was evident. The renegade could not be trusted. Already, +with the first words spoken, Big Fox was impeaching his character. + +Braxton Wyatt stood with his back to the buffalo robe, which had fallen +again over the entrance, and looked around at the circle of chiefs who had +resumed their seats on the skin mats. Then his eyes met the stern, +accusing gaze of Big Fox, the Shawnee belt bearer, and were held there as +if fascinated. But Braxton Wyatt was not without courage. He wrenched his +eyes away, turned them upon the ancient chief, Gray Beaver, and said: + +"I have been long in the Shawnee lodges, great chief of the Miamis, but I +do not know these belt bearers." + +There was a murmur, and a stir on the skin mats. + +Big Fox scorned to look again at Braxton Wyatt. He gazed steadily at the +council fire, and said in tones of indifference: + +"The white youth who left his own people has been in the lodges, where the +old men and women stay; we have been on the war trail with the warriors. +The day we returned to the village we were chosen to bring the peace belts +to our good friends, the Miamis." + +"The belt bearers are Big Fox, Brown Bear, and The Bat," said Yellow +Panther, looking at Braxton Wyatt. "You have heard of them? The Shawnee +villages are full of their fame." + +"I never saw them, and I never heard of them before," replied Braxton +Wyatt, in a tone of mingled anger and bewilderment, "but I do know that +all the Shawnees wish the Miamis to go south with them at once, on the +great war trail against the white settlements." + +The old chief, Gray Beaver, looked from the belt bearers to Braxton Wyatt +and from Braxton Wyatt to the belt bearers. His aged brain was bewildered +by the conflicting tales, but he put little trust in the white youth. +Already Big Fox had sowed in his mind the seeds of unbelief in the words +of Braxton Wyatt. + +"Scarcely a moon ago the Shawnees, as we all know, wished to go on the +great war trail at once," said Yellow Panther, "but now three come, who +say they are from them, bearing peace belts. Moreover, here is another who +says that the Shawnees would send war belts. What shall the Miamis think?" + +There was another murmur, and then silence. The surcharged air was heavy +in the great lodge. But Big Fox merely shrugged his shoulders slightly, +and answered in tones of lofty indifference: + +"Big Fox, Brown Bear, and The Bat were sent by the old chiefs of the +Shawnees to deliver peace belts to the chiefs of the Miamis, and they have +delivered them." + +Brown Bear and The Bat nodded, but said nothing. Yellow Panther looked at +Braxton Wyatt, who was shaken by varying emotions. As he truly said, he +had long been in the Shawnee villages, but he had never seen or heard of +the three warriors who now sat calmly before him--Big Fox, Brown Bear, +and The Bat. Yet he could not say that no such men existed, because small +parties had roved far and long on the hunt or the war trail. He gazed at +them before answering. He, too, was struck by the splendid figure and pose +of Big Fox, and he was impressed, moreover, by a sense of something +familiar, though he could not name it. It haunted him and troubled him, +but remained a mystery. He collected his shrewd wits and said: + +"As I told you, the warriors who bring the peace belts are strangers to +me. Yet the Shawnees, when I left the head village, but a few days ago, +wished war at once against the white settlements, and the Shawnees do not +change their minds quickly." + +"Is the word of a renegade, of one who would slay his own people, to be +weighed against that of a warrior?" + +Big Fox spoke with lofty contempt, not gazing at Braxton Wyatt, but +straight into the eyes of Gray Beaver. The old chief felt the power of +that look, and wavered under it. + +"It is true," he said, "that the Shawnees, a moon ago, were for war; but +Big Fox, Brown Bear, and The Bat have come, bearing peace belts from them, +and what our eyes see must be true." + +There was a murmur again, but it was very faint now. The authority of +Gray Beaver, in his time a mighty warrior, and now wise with years and +experience, was great, and the under chiefs were impressed--all but Yellow +Panther, whose eyes flashed vindictively at the belt bearers. Angry blood +also flushed Braxton Wyatt's face, and he did not know at the moment what +to say or do. + +"It is true that I was born white," he said, "but I have become one of the +Shawnees, and I shall be faithful to them. I have spoken no lies. The +Shawnees were for war, and I believe they are so yet." + +"The Shawnees from whom I have come," said Big Fox, in his grave tones, +wholly ignoring Braxton Wyatt, "expect peace belts in return. Will the +messengers depart with them to-morrow?" + +He spoke directly to Gray Beaver, and his powerful gaze still rested upon +him. The withered frame of the old chief trembled a little within his +furred robe, and then he yielded to the spell. + +"The Miami messengers will start to-morrow with peace belts for the +Shawnees," he said. + +A thrill of triumph ran through the frame of Big Fox, but he said nothing. +The eyes of both Braxton Wyatt and Yellow Panther flashed vindictively, +but they, too, said nothing. Big Fox judged that they were not yet wholly +beaten, but he had accomplished much; if each tribe received peace belts +from the others, it would take a long time to untangle the snarl, and +unite them for war. Meanwhile, the white settlements were steadily growing +stronger. + +"Our Shawnee brethren, the belt bearers, will stay with us a while," said +the crafty Yellow Panther. "They have traveled far, and they need rest." + +Big Fox knew that it would not do to be too hasty; a desire to depart at +once would only arouse suspicion, and he and his comrades, moreover, had +further work to do in the Miami village. So he gravely accepted the offer +of hospitality, and he and Brown Bear and The Bat were conducted to a +lodge in the center of the village, where they ate again, and reclined +luxuriously upon buffalo robes and deerskins. Yellow Panther followed them +there, and was very solicitous for their comfort. All his attentions they +received with grave courtesy, and when there was nothing more that he +could do or say he withdrew, letting the covering of the lodge door fall +behind him. Then the three belt bearers, putting their ears against the +skin walls of the lodge, listened intently. Nothing was stirring without. +If any person was at hand, or listened there, they would have known it; so +they spoke to each other in low tones. + +"Your plan seems to have worked so far, Henry," said Ross, "even if +Braxton Wyatt did come." + +"Yes--so far," replied Henry Ware; "but Braxton is sure that something is +wrong, and so is that cunning wolf, Yellow Panther. They want to hold us +here in the village until they find out the truth; but we are willing to +stay, that we may checkmate what they do. I can work on old Gray Beaver, +whose age makes him favor caution and peace." + +"An' while you are thinkin' it over," said Shif'less Sol, "jest remember +that I'm a belt bearer who has traveled a long way, an' that I'm pow'ful +tired; so I guess I'll take a nap." + +He rolled over on the softest of the skins, and was as good as his word. +In five minutes he was sound asleep. Tom Ross leaned back against the skin +wall and meditated. Henry Ware arose and walked in the village; but the +moment he stepped from the lodge, all trace of the white youth was gone, +and he was again Big Fox, the chief of the belt bearers from the Shawnees. + +The village was the scene of an active savage life. It had been a season +of plenty. Game and fish abounded, and, according to the Indian nature, +they ate and overate of that plenty, thinking little of the morrow. Hence +this life, besides being active, was also happy in its wild way. Big Fox +noticed the fact, with those keen eyes of his that nothing escaped. + +And all in their turn noticed Big Fox here, as he had been noticed in the +Council House. Old and young alike admired him. They thought that no such +splendid warrior had ever before entered their village. Surely the +Shawnees were a nation of men when they could produce such as he. His +height, his straight, commanding glance, the wonderful, careless strength +and majesty of his figure, all impressed them. He looked to them like one +without fear, and moreover, with such strength and quickness as his, he +seemed one who had little to fear. But as he walked there, Yellow Panther +came again, and spoke to him with sly, insinuating manner: + +"The belt bearer is not weary, though he has traveled far." + +"No," replied Big Fox. "Manitou has been kind to me, and has given me +strong limbs and muscles that do not tire." + +"Did Big Fox, in his journey from the Shawnee village, hear of white men? +It is said that a band of them have been in this region about the lake, +there to the southward. One of our warriors was slain, but we could not +find those whom we pursued." + +Big Fox wondered if it was a chance shot, but he looked straight into the +eyes of Yellow Panther, which fell before the gaze of his, and replied: + +"I came bearing belts, and I thought only of them. If there are white men +in the Miami woods, the Miamis are warriors enough to take them." + + + +Yellow Panther turned aside, but he followed the tall figure with a look +of the most vindictive hate. Like Braxton Wyatt, he felt that something +was wrong, but what it was he did not yet know. Big Fox mingled freely in +the village life throughout the day, and never once did he make a mistake. +All the Indian ways were familiar to him, and when he talked with the +warriors about the Northwestern tribes, he showed full knowledge. Old Gray +Beaver was delighted with him. The deference of this splendid young +warrior was grateful to his heart. + +That night the three belt bearers, calm and unconcerned, lay down in the +great lodge that had been assigned to them, and slept peacefully. Far in +the darkness, Yellow Panther and Braxton Wyatt crept to the side of the +lodge and listened. They heard nothing from within, and at last the Miami +carefully lifted the buffalo hide over the entrance. His sharp eyes, +peering into the shadows, saw the three belt bearers lying upon their +backs and sleeping soundly. Apparently they were men without fear, men +without the cause of fear, and Yellow Panther, letting the tent flap fall +softly back, walked away with Braxton Wyatt, both deeply disappointed. + +They did not know that a pair of hands had lifted the tent flap ever so +little, and that a pair of keen eyes were following them. The wonderful +instinct of Henry Ware had warned him, and he had awakened the moment they +looked in. But his eyes had not opened. He had merely felt their presence +with the swish of cold air on his face, and now, after they had +disappeared among the lodges, he wished to deepen the impression the belt +bearers had made. Then he and his comrades must go back to Paul and Jim +Hart, who lay out there in the forest, patiently waiting. + +The next morning Big Fox, Brown Bear, and The Bat saw three Miami belt +bearers depart with peace belts for the Shawnee village, but as for +themselves, they would remain a while longer, enjoying the Miami +hospitality. + +In an open space just north of the village, Miami boys were practicing +with the bow and arrow, shooting at the bodies of some owls tied on the +low boughs of trees. Warriors were looking on, and the belt bearers, Big +Fox, Brown Bear, and The Bat, joined them. By and by some of the warriors +began to take a share in the sport and practice, using great war bows and +sending the arrows whistling to the mark. At last the chief, Yellow +Panther, himself handled a bow and surpassed all who had preceded him in +skill. Then, turning with a malicious eye to Big Fox, he said: + +"Perhaps the Shawnee belt bearers would like to show how well they can use +the bow. Surely they are not less in skill than the Miamis?" + +His look was full of venom. Shawnees, though armed now with rifles, were +good bowmen, and whatever he suspected might be confirmed by the failure +of the belt bearers to show skill, or not to shoot at all. He held in his +hand the great bow that he had used, and, barring the malice of his eyes, +his gesture was full of politeness. + +Big Fox did not hesitate a moment. He stepped forward, took the bow and +arrow from the hand of Yellow Panther, glanced at the great owl at which +the chief had shot, and then walked back fifteen yards farther from it. A +murmur of applause came from the crowd. He would shoot at a much greater +distance than Yellow Panther had shot, and the chief and Braxton Wyatt, +too, who had drawn near, frowned. + +Big Fox glanced once more at the body of the great owl, and then, fitting +the arrow to the string, he bent the bow. An involuntary cry of admiration +came from a people who valued physical strength and skill when they saw +the ease and grace with which he bent the tough wood. Not in vain had +nature given Big Fox a figure of power and muscles of steel! Not in vain +had nature given him an eye the like of which was not to be found on all +the border! Not in vain had he achieved surpassing skill with the bow in +his life among the Northwestern Indians! + +There was silence as the bow bent and the arrow was drawn back to the +head. Then that silence was broken only by the whizz of the feathered +shaft as it shot through the air. But a universal shout arose as the arrow +struck fairly in the center of the owl, pierced it like a bullet, and flew +far beyond. + +Big Fox turned and handed back the bow to Yellow Panther. + +"Is it enough?" he asked gravely. "Can the Shawnee belt bearers use the +bow and arrow?" + +"It is enough," replied the chief, seeking in vain to hide his chagrin. + +"It wuz great luck," whispered The Bat to Brown Bear, a little later, +"that the challenge to the bow an' arrow should a-been made to perhaps the +only white in all the West who could a-done sech a thing." + +The belt bearers spent a second night in the same lodge, and on the +morning of the third day they announced that they must depart for their +own village. Gray Beaver hospitably, and Yellow Panther craftily, urged +them to stay longer, but Big Fox replied that the Shawnees were going on a +great hunt into the Northwest before the winter came, and the belt bearers +would be needed. Braxton Wyatt knew nothing of the projected hunt, but for +the present he was silent. Throughout the contest he had shown at a +disadvantage against the diplomacy of Big Fox. Now the belt bearers +courteously invited him to return home with them, but he declined, +replying that he would not depart for some days. He did not say it aloud, +but nothing could have induced him to go with the belt bearers. + +Big Fox noticed that neither Yellow Panther nor Braxton Wyatt made any +opposition to their going, and it was a fact that he did not forget, +drawing from it his own inference. His power to read the faces of men was +scarcely inferior to his wonderful skill in reading every sign of the +forest. + +Gray Beaver, and behind him a rabble, accompanied the Shawnee belt bearers +to the edge of the woods, and there the aged chief said graciously to Big +Fox: + +"My son, my heart is warm toward you, and I am glad to have seen you in +the lodges of the Miamis." + +"Farewell, Gray Beaver," said Big Fox. + +Then he and his two comrades turned, and disappeared like phantoms in the +forest, so swiftly they went. + +Autumn had made further advance. The dying leaves were falling fast, and +the wilderness was more open. A crisp wind blew in the faces of the three +belt bearers--now belt bearers no longer, but Henry Ware, Tom Ross, and +Solomon Hyde, white of skin and white of heart. They sped forward on fleet +foot many miles, and it was Shif'less Sol who spoke first. + +"Shall we stop at this spring," he said, "an' wash the paint off our +faces? I want to look like a white man agin, jest ez I am. I don't feel +nat'ral at all ez an Injun." + +"Neither do I," said Tom Ross, "I don't like to change faces, an' right +here I wash mine." + +The three stooped down to the spring, and as they rubbed off the paint +they felt their right natures returning. + +"I'm thankful I wuz born white," said Shif'less Sol. "Why, what is it, +Henry?" + +Henry Ware had raised his head in the attitude of one who listens. His +eyes were intent and nostrils distended like those of a deer that suspects +an enemy. + +"We're followed," he said. "I thought we would be." + +"Yellow Panther, uv course!" said Tom Ross, with emphasis. + +"Of course! And like as not Braxton Wyatt is among those who are with +him." + +Sol Hyde looked at Henry. There was a queer light in the eyes of the +shiftless one. + +"Do we want 'em to ketch us?" he asked. + +"I think we'd better wait and see." + +It was in no tone of boasting that either spoke. Three borderers such as +they could shake off the pursuit of any men who lived. + +"S'pose we lead 'em on a while," said Tom Ross. + +Henry nodded, and the three ran in a sort of easy trot toward the +southeast. They took no trouble to hide their trail, and as the forest at +this point was free from undergrowth, they were visible at a considerable +distance. This easy trot they kept up for hours, and the extraordinary +powers, or intuition, of Henry Ware told him that the Miamis were always +there, a quarter of a mile, perhaps, behind. But the three men were never +troubled. There was no fear in their minds. This was only sport to them. + +They crossed brooks and little creeks, and at last, when they came to one +of the latter a little larger than the others, Henry Ware said: + +"I think it's time to bother 'em now. We'll wade here." + +They entered the creek, which had a hard, pebbly bed, and walked rapidly +against the stream for at least a quarter of a mile. Then they emerged in +dense undergrowth, and turned backward in a course parallel to that by +which they had come. But before going far they sank down in a dense +thicket, and lay quite still. Then they saw the Miami band pass--fifteen +or sixteen warriors, led by Yellow Panther, with Braxton Wyatt trailing at +the rear. "The renegade!" said Shif'less Sol savagely, under his breath. + +The band passed on, but the three borderers did not stir. They knew that +the trail would be lost presently, and some, at least, of the warriors +would come back seeking it. + +Fifteen minutes, a half hour, passed, and then they heard distant +footsteps. Henry Ware, peering above the bushes, saw a face that belonged +to a white youth, and suddenly a daring project formed itself in his mind. +Braxton Wyatt was alone! Other members of the Miami band must be near, but +they were not in sight, and, above all, Braxton Wyatt was for the present +alone! Only a few minutes were needed! + +"Watch what I do!" whispered Henry Ware to his comrades--he knew that +their keen minds would need no other hint. + +Braxton Wyatt came back, looking on the ground, his rifle lying loosely +across his shoulder. He dreamed of no danger. The three suspected belt +bearers must be fleeing fast. Moreover, Yellow Panther and his Miami +friends were near. He walked on, and the fiend he served gave him no +warning. + +He came to a dense clump of bushes, and turned to go around it. There was +a sudden rustling in those bushes, and he looked up. A terrifying form +threw itself upon him and bore him to the ground. A heavy hand was clapped +upon his mouth, and the cry that had risen to his lips died in his throat. +He looked up and saw the face of Henry Ware. Beside him stood two others +whom he knew--Tom Ross and Shif'less Sol. He became blue about the lips, +and expected a quick death. + +"Listen!" said Henry Ware, and every word that he said was burned into +Braxton Wyatt's wretched soul. "You are not to die, not at this time. But +you are to do what we say. Go back there, under those trees by the big +rock, and when Yellow Panther and the other Miamis come up, tell them that +you have lied! We were the belt bearers, and you are to say to Yellow +Panther that you knew us as real Shawnees, but you were so anxious for +the war that you denied us. Tell it as if it were true. Don't tremble! +Don't look once at these bushes! Our three rifles will be aimed at you all +the time, and if you say a single word that will make them suspect, we +fire, and you know that no one of us ever misses. Do as we say!" + +He was released, the heavy hand was taken away from his mouth, and his +captors disappeared so suddenly and silently in the bushes that it was +almost unbelievable. Then Braxton Wyatt rose to his feet and trembled +violently. Though he could not see them now, he must believe. He could +feel that powerful grasp yet upon his arms, and that heavy hand yet upon +his mouth. He knew, too, as well as he knew that he was living, that the +unseen muzzles were there, trained upon him. As Henry Ware truly said, no +one of the three ever missed, and he had no chance. + +He stopped his trembling with an effort of the will and walked to the rock +under the trees, thirty or forty yards away. Already he saw Yellow Panther +and the other Miamis coming, and he rebelled at the deadly menace from the +bushes. But the love of life was strong within him. He looked at Yellow +Panther, who was approaching with five or six warriors, and then he tried +to form a rapid plan. He would talk with the chief, saying at first what +his terrible enemies wished, and then, gradually drawing him away, he +would tell the truth, and thus achieve the destruction of the three whom +he hated and feared so horribly. + +Braxton Wyatt raised one hand and wiped the perspiration from his face. +Then, when a deadly fear struck him, he composed his features. Henry Ware +had said he must tell a tale that seemed true. There must be no suspicion. +The fatal muzzles were trained on him, he well knew, and the sharpest of +eyes and ears were watching. He longed to cast one look at the bushes, +only one, but he dared not for his life. It was forbidden! + +Yellow Panther was at hand now, plainly showing annoyance. The lost trail +could not be found, and wrath possessed him. He looked at the renegade, +and uttered his discontent. + +Braxton Wyatt longed more than ever to tell; they were there so near, it +seemed he must tell; but the deadly rifles held him back. No one of their +bullets would miss! + +"Yellow Panther," he said, and his voice faltered, "let us abandon the +trail and go back." + +Yellow Panther looked at him, astonished by words and manner alike. + +"Go back!" he said. "Did you not tell me that they were false, that there +were no such warriors in the Shawnee village?" + +Braxton Wyatt trembled, and the cold sweat came again on his forehead. If +only those rifles were not there in the thicket! A mighty power seemed to +draw him about for one look, only one! But he did not dare--it was +death!--and with a supreme effort he wrenched himself away. + +"I was wrong," he said. "I was eager for war, eager to see the Shawnees +and Miamis go together against the white settlements in the south--so +eager that I forgot the men. But I remember them now." + +"Have you a crooked tongue?" asked Yellow Panther. + +"No, no!" cried Braxton Wyatt, in mortal terror of the three rifles. "I +had, but I have not now! I am telling you the truth! As I live I am, +Yellow Panther! I was anxious for the war, anxious as you are, and it +brought a cloud before my eyes. I could not remember then, but I remember +now! The men were true Shawnees, and the Shawnee nation does not wish to +go on the great war trail this year." + +Yellow Panther looked at him with indignation and contempt, and hesitated. +Braxton Wyatt trembled once more. Would the chief believe? He must +believe! He must make him believe, or he would die! + +"I wished to tell you before we started, Yellow Panther," he said, "but I +feared then your just anger. Now we have lost the trail, and I must save +you from further trouble. Why should I tell you this now if it is not +true? Why else should I avow that I have spoken false words?" + +Yellow Panther looked at the unhappy figure and face, and believed. + +"It is enough," he said. "We will go back to our own village. Come!" + +He spoke to his warriors, and they returned swiftly on their own tracks to +the Miami village. Braxton Wyatt went with them, and he dared not look +back once at that fateful clump of bushes. + +When they were gone far beyond sight, Henry Ware, Tom Ross, and Shif'less +Sol rose up, looked at each other, and laughed. + +"That wuz well done, Henry," said Shif'less Sol lazily. "I never knowed a +purtier trick to be told. He's clean caught in his own net. If he wuz to +tell the truth now to the chief, Yellow Panther wouldn't believe him." + +"And if he were to believe him, Yellow Panther, in his anger, would +tomahawk him," said Henry Ware, "No, Braxton Wyatt will not dare to +tell." + +"And now we may take it easy," said Tom Ross. "But I wouldn't like to be +in your place, Henry, ef ever you wuz to fall into the hands uv Yellow +Panther an' that renegade." + +"I'll take care that I don't have any such bad luck," said Henry. "And now +we must find Paul and Jim." + +Serenely satisfied, they resumed their journey, but now they went at a +slower gait. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +IN WINTER QUARTERS + + +The three walked slowly on for a long time, curving about gradually to the +region in which Paul and Jim Hart remained hidden. They did not say much, +but Shif'less Sol was slowly swelling with an admiration which was bound +to find a vent some time or other. + +"Henry," he burst out at last, "this whole scheme o' yours has been worked +in the most beautiful way, an' that last trick with Braxton Wyatt wuz the +finest I ever saw." + +"There were three of us," said Henry briefly and modestly. + +"It's a great thing to use your brain," said the shiftless one sagely. +"I'm thinkin' o' doin' it hereafter myself." + +Tom Ross laughed deeply and said: + +"I'd make a beginning before it wuz too late, ef I wuz you, Sol." + +"How long do you think it will take the Shawnees an' the Miamis to +straighten out that tangle about the great war trail?" asked the +shiftless one of Henry. + +"Not before snow flies," replied the youth; "and then there will be so +much mutual anger and disgust that they will not be able to get together +for months. But we must stop up here, Sol, and watch, and egg on the +misunderstanding. Don't you think so, Tom?" + +"Of course!" replied Ross briefly, but with emphasis. "We've got to hang +on the Injun flanks." + +Late in the afternoon they reached familiar ground, or at least it was so +to the sharp eyes of these three, although they had seen it but once. Here +they had left Paul and Jim Hart, and they knew that they must be somewhere +near. Henry gave forth the whip-poor-will cry--the long, wailing note, +inexpressibly plaintive and echoing far through the autumn woods. It was +repeated once and twice, and presently came the answering note. + +The three walked with confidence toward the point from which the answer +had come, and soon they saw Paul and Jim Hart advancing joyously to meet +them. + +Paul listened with amazement to the story of their wonderful adventure, +told in a few brief phrases. Not many words were needed for him. His vivid +imagination at once pictured it all--the deadly play of words in the +Council House, the ambushing of Braxton Wyatt, and the triumphant result. + +"That was diplomacy, statesmanship, Henry," he said. + +"We're going to stay up here a while longer, Paul," said Henry. "We think +our presence is needed in these parts." + +"I'm willing," said Paul, wishing to have assurances, "but what about the +powder for Marlowe, and what will our people at Wareville think has become +of us?" + +"As long as we can keep back these tribes, Marlowe will not need the +powder, and some of the buffalo hunters have taken word to Wareville that +we have come into the North." + +"I purpose," said Shif'less Sol, "that so long ez we're goin' to stay in +these parts that we go back to the haunted islan' in the lake. It's in the +heart o' the Injun country, but it's the safest spot within five hundred +miles o' us." + +"I think with Sol," said Henry. "We can prepare there for winter quarters. +In fact, we've got a hut already." + +"An' I won't have nothin' to do," said the shiftless one, "but lay aroun' +an' hev Jim Hart cook fur me." + +"You'll hev to be runnin' through the frozen woods all the time fur game +fur me to cook, that's what you'll hev to do, Sol Hyde," retorted Jim +Hart. + +The idea of going into winter quarters on the island appealed to Paul. He +had grown attached to the little hollow in which he and Jim Hart had built +the hut, and he thought they could be very snug and warm. So he favored +Sol's proposition with ardor, and about twilight they brought the hidden +canoe again from the bushes, paddling boldly across the lake for the +island. The place did not now have an uncanny look to Paul. Instead, it +bore certain aspects of home, and he forgot all about the mummies in the +trees, which were their protection from invasion. + +"It's good to get back again," he said. + +They landed on the island, hid the canoe, and went straight to the hollow, +finding everything there absolutely undisturbed. + +"We'll sleep to-night," said Henry, "and in the morning we'll plan." + +Paul noticed, when he rose early the next day, that the whole earth was +silver with frost, and he felt they were particularly fortunate in having +found some sort of shelter. The others shared his satisfaction, and they +worked all day, enlarging the hut, and strengthening it against the wind +and cold with more bark and brush. At night Henry and Ross took the canoe, +went to the mainland, and came back with a deer. The next day Jim Hart and +Shif'less Sol were busy drying the venison, and Paul spent his time +fishing with considerable success. + +Several days passed thus, and they accumulated more meat and more skins. +The latter were particularly valuable for warmth. Paul draped them about +their hut, arranging them with an artistic eye, while Jim Hart and +Shif'less Sol, with a similar satisfaction, watched their larder grow. + +"This is the finest winter camp in all the wilderness," said Shif'less +Sol. + +"You couldn't beat it," said Jim Hart. + +These were happy days to Paul. Knowing now that a message had been sent +hack to Wareville, he was released from worry over the possible anxiety of +his people on his account, and he was living a life brimful of interest. +Everyone fell almost unconsciously into his place. Henry Ware, Ross, and +Shif'less Sol scouted and hunted far and wide, and Paul and Jim Hart were +fishermen, house builders, and, as Paul called it, "decorators." + +The hut in the hollow began to have a cozy look. Henry and Ross brought in +three buffalo skins, which Jim promptly tanned, and which Paul then used +as wall coverings. Wolfskins, deerskins, and one beautiful panther hide +were spread upon the floor. This floor was made mainly of boughs, broken +up fine, and dead leaves, but it did not admit water, and the furs and +skins were warm. In one corner of the place grew up a store of dried +venison and buffalo meat, over which Jim Hart watched jealously. + +All of the cooking was done at night, but in the open, in a kind of rude +oven that Jim Hart built of loose stones, and never did food taste better +in the mouth of a hungry youth than it did in that of Paul. The air was +growing much colder. Paul, who was in the habit of taking a dip in the +lake every night, found the waters so chill now that he could not stay in +long, although the bath was wonderfully invigorating. Whenever the wind +blew the dead leaves fell in showers, and Paul knew he would soon be +deeply thankful they had the hut as a retreat. + +About ten days after their return Henry came back from a scout around the +Miami village, and he brought news of interest. + +"Braxton Wyatt is still there," he said, "and he is so mixed up that he +does not know just what to do for the present. After saying one thing and +then denying himself, he is in the bad graces of both parties of the +Miamis. For the same reason he doesn't dare to go back for a while to the +Shawnees, so he is waiting for things to straighten themselves out, which +they won't do for a long time. The Miami belt bearers have not yet +returned from the Shawnee village, and then belts will have to go back and +forth a dozen times each before either tribe can find out what the other +means." + +"An' if we kin keep 'em misunderstandin' each other," said Shif'less Sol, +"they can't make any attack on the white settlements until away next +spring, an' by that time a lot more white people will arrive from over the +mountains. We'll be at least twice ez strong then." + +"That's so," said Henry; "and the greatest work we five can do is to stay +here and put as many spokes as we can in the Indian alliance." + +"And I am glad to be here with all of you," said Paul earnestly. It seemed +to him the greatest work in the world, this holding back of the tribes +until their intended victim should acquire strength to beat them off, and +his eyes shone. Besides the mere physical happiness that he felt, there +was a great mental exhilaration, an exaltation, even, and he looked +forward to the winter of a warrior and a statesman. + +Paul's body flourished apace in the cold, nipping air and the wild life. +There were discomforts, it is true, but he did not think of them. He +looked only at the comforts and the joys. He knew that his muscles were +growing and hardening, that eye, ear, all the five senses, in truth, were +growing keener, and he felt within him a courage that could dare anything. + +Henry made another expedition, to discover, if he could, whether the +Miamis suspected that the haunted island harbored their foes. They did not +ask him what means he used, how he disguised himself anew, or whether he +disguised himself at all, but he returned with the news that they had no +suspicion. The island was still sacred to the spirits--a place where they +dare not land. This was satisfying news to all, and they rested for a +while. + +Three or four days after Henry's return a strong wind stripped the last +leaves from the trees. All the reds and yellows and browns were gone, and +the gusts whistled fiercely among the gray branches. The surface of the +lake was broken into cold waves, that chased each other until they died +away at the shore. + +The next day heavy rolling clouds were drawn across the sky, and all the +world was somber and dark. Paul stood at the entrance to the hut, and now, +indeed, he was thankful that they had that shelter, and that they had furs +and skins to reinforce their clothing. As he looked, something cold and +wet came out of the sky and struck him upon the face. Another came, and +then another, and in a few moments the air was full of flakes whirled by +the wind. + +"The first snow," said Paul. + +"Yes," said Henry, "and let us pray for snows--many, hard, and deep. The +fiercer the winter the easier it will be to hold back the allied tribes." + +It was not a heavy snow, but it gave an earnest of what might come. The +bare boughs were whipped about in the gale, and creaked dismally. The +ground was covered with white to the depth of about two inches, and dark, +rolling waves, looking very chill, chased one another across the lake. Jim +Hart and Paul had managed to build of stones, in one corner of their hut, +a rude oven or furnace, with an exterior vent. They had plastered the +stones together with mud, which hardened into a sort of cement, and in +this furnace they kindled a little fire. They did not dare to make it +large, because of the smoke, but they had enough coals to give out a warm +and pleasant glow. + +All of them retreated for a while to the "mansion," as Paul rather proudly +called it, and Henry. Ross, and Shif'less Sol busied themselves with +making new and stout moccasins of deerskin, fastened with sinews and +lined with fur. Shif'less Sol was especially skillful at this work; in +fact, the shiftless one was a wonderfully handy man at any sort of task, +and with only his hunting knife, a wooden needle of his own manufacture, +and deer sinews, he actually made Paul a fur-lined hunting shirt, which +seemed to the boy's imaginative fancy about the finest garment ever worn +in the wilderness. All of them also put fur flaps on their raccoon-skin +caps, and Shif'less Sol even managed to fashion an imitation of gloves out +of deerskin. + +"I wouldn't advise you to try to use your hands much with these gloves +on," he said; "leastways, not to shoot at anything till you took 'em off; +but I do say that so long ez your hands are idle, they'll be pow'ful +warmin' to the fingers." + +"We don't have to go out very much just now," said Paul, "and if we only +had two or three books here, we could pass the time very pleasantly." + +"That's so," said Shif'less Sol musingly. "You an' me, Paul, wuz intended +to be eddicated men. Ez fur Jim Hart here, he's that dull he'd take more +pride in cookin' in a stone furnace than in writin' the finest book in the +world." + +"When I cook I git's somethin' that I kin see," said Jim Hart. "I never +read but one book in my life, an' I didn't find it very sustainin'. I +guess if you wuz starvin' to death here in the wilderness, you'd ruther +hev a hot hoe cake than all the books in the world." + +"'Tain't worth while, Paul, to talk to Jim Hart," said Shif'less Sol +sadly. "He ain't got no soul above a hoe cake. I've allus told you, Paul, +that you an' me wuz superior to our surroundings. Ef Jim Hart wuz locked +up in a schoolhouse all his life he'd never be an eddicated man, while ez +fur me, I'm one without ever gittin' a chance, jest because it's in my +natur'." + +Paul laughed at them both, and drew a little closer to the bed of red +coals. The warmth within and the cold without appealed to all the elements +of his vivid and imaginative nature. Not for worlds would he have missed +being on this great adventure with these daring men. + +"I'm a-thinkin'," said Ross, as he lifted the buffalo robe over their door +and looked out, "that ez soon ez the wind dies the lake will freeze over." + +"An' it will be harder than ever then," said Paul, "to catch fish." + +"I guess we kin do about ez well through holes in the ice," said Ross. + +Ross's prediction soon came true. When they awoke on the morning two days +afterwards the lake curved about them in a white and glittering sheet, +reflecting back a brilliant sun in a million dazzling rays. + +"I'm glad all of our party are here on the island together," said Henry, +"because the ice isn't thick enough to support a man's weight, and it +isn't thin enough to let a canoe be pushed through it. We're clean cut off +from the world for a little while." + +"An' this is whar poor old Long Jim becomes the most vallyble uv us all," +said Jim Hart. "It's a lucky thing that I've got a kind uv stove an' +buffalo meat an' venison an' other kinds uv game. I'm jest willin' to bet +that you four hulkin' fellers will want to lay aroun' an' eat all the +time." + +"I wouldn't be surprised, Jim, if we didn't get hungry once in a while," +said Henry, with a smile. + +Two more days passed, and the ice on the lake neither melted nor grew +thicker, and they were as well shut in and others were as well shut out as +if they had been on a lone island in the Pacific Ocean. Once they saw a +thin column of smoke, only a faint blue spire very far away, which Henry +said rose from an Indian camp fire. + +"It's several miles from here," he said, "and it's just chance that they +are there. They don't dream that we are here." + +Nevertheless, they did not light the fire in their furnace again for two +days. Then, when the skies grew too dark and somber for a faint smoke to +show against its background, they kindled it up again, and once more +enjoyed warm food. + +"Ef I jest had a little coffee, an' somethin' to b'il it in, I'd be +pow'ful happy," said Jim Hart. "I'd jest enjoy b'ilin' a gallon or two +apiece fur you fellers an' me." + +"Wa'al, ez you ain't got any coffee an' you ain't got anythin' to b'il it +in, I reckon we'll hev to be jest ez happy without it," said Shif'less +Sol. + +The night after this conversation Paul was awakened by a patter upon their +skin and thatch roof. It must have been two or three o'clock in the +morning, and he had been sleeping very comfortably. He lay on furs, and +the soft side of a buffalo robe was wrapped close about him. He could not +remember any time in his life when he felt snugger, and he wanted to go +back to sleep, but that patter upon the roof was insistent. He raised +himself up a little, and he heard along with the patter the breathing of +his four comrades. But it was pitch dark in the hut, and, rolling over to +the doorway, he pulled aside a few inches the stout buffalo hide that +covered it. Something hard and white struck him in the face and stung like +shot. + +It was hailing, pouring hard and driven fiercely by the wind. Moreover, it +was bitterly cold, and Paul quickly shut down the buffalo flap, fastening +it tightly. "We're snowed in and hailed in, too," he murmured to himself. +Then he drew his buffalo robe around his body more closely than ever, and +went back to sleep. The next morning it rained on top of the hail for +about an hour, but after that it quickly froze again, the air turning +intensely cold. Then Paul beheld the whole world sheathed in glittering +ice. The sight was so dazzling that his eyes were almost blinded, but it +was wonderfully beautiful, too. The frozen surface of the lake threw back +the light in myriads of golden sheaves, and every tree, down to the last +twig, gleamed in a silvery polished sheath. + +"It 'pears to me," said Shif'less Sol lazily, "that we ain't on an islan' +no longer. The Superior Powers hev built a drawbridge, on which anything +can pass." + +"That's so," said Paul. "The ice must be thick enough now to bear a war +party." + +"Ef that war party didn't slip up an' break its neck," said Shif less Sol. +"All that meltin' stuff froze hard, an' it's like glass now. Jest you try +it, Paul." + +Paul went out in the hollow, and at his very first step his feet flew from +under him and he landed on his back. Everywhere it was the same way--ice +like glass, that no one could tread on and yet feel secure. + +"We have our drawbridge," said Paul, "but it doesn't seem to me to be very +safe walking on it." + +Nevertheless, Henry and Ross slipped away two nights later, and were gone +all the next day and another night. When they returned they reported that +the Miami village was pretty well snowed up, and that the hunters even +were not out. Braxton Wyatt was still there, and they believed he would +soon be up to some sort of mischief--it was impossible for him to remain +quiet and behave himself very long. + +"Meanwhile what are we to do?" asked Paul. + +"Just stay quiet," said Henry. "We'll wait for Braxton and his savages to +act first." + +But the ice did not remain long, all melting away as the fickle +northwestern weather turned comparatively warm again, and the five once +more began to move about freely. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +WORK AND PLAY + + +Henry and Ross were gone to the mainland, and Paul, Shif'less Sol, and Jim +Hart were left on the island. Shif'less Sol stood at the edge of the +hollow, hands on hips, admiring the hut. + +"Paul," he said, "I think that thar house is jest about the finest I ever +built." + +"You built!" exclaimed Jim Hart indignantly. "Mighty little you had to do +with it, Sol Hyde, but eat in it an' sleep in it, which two things you are +willin' enough to do any time! It's me an' Paul who have reared that gran' +structure." + +"It appeals to my instincts as an eddicated man," went on Sol, calmly +disregarding Jim. "We've got up the house without sp'ilin' the +surroundin's. It jest blends with rock an' bush, an' we've helped natur' +without tryin' to improve it." + +"I believe you've got the truth of it, Sol," said Paul. "I'm getting fond +of this place. How long do you think we'll stay here, Sol?" + +Shif'less Sol cocked up his weather eye, and a look of surpassing wisdom +came over his face. + +"When the ground hog come out o' his hole in the fall an' saw his shadder, +he went right back ag'in," he replied, "an' that means a hard winter. +Besides, we're pretty far north, an' all the hunters say they have lot o' +snow hereabouts. We're goin' to have cold an' snow right along. That's the +opinion o' me, Solomon Hyde. Jim Hart may say somethin' else, but he ain't +worth listenin' to." + +"I said this mornin' that it wuz goin' to be a hard winter," growled Jim +Hart. "You heard me sayin' so, an' that's the reason you're sayin' so +now." + +"Oh, Jim, Jim! Whatever will become o' you?" exclaimed Shif'less Sol +sadly. "An' I've always tried to teach you that the truth wuz the right +thing." + +Paul laughed. + +"Sol," he asked, "did you ever see a game of chess?" + +"Chess? What's that? Is it a mark you shoot at?" + +"No; you play it on a board with little figures made of wood, if you +haven't got anything else. My father has a set of chessmen, and he plays +often with Mr. Pennypacker, our school teacher. He's played with me, too, +and I can show you how to make the things and to play." + +A look of interest came into Sol's eyes. + +"We've got lots o' time," he said. "S'pose you do it, Paul. I know I kin +learn. I ain't so sure o' Jim Hart thar." + +Jim was also interested, so much so that he forgot to reply to Shif'less +Sol. + +"How'll you do it?" he asked. + +Paul's reply was to begin at once. He cut a big square piece of white +fanned deerskin, and upon this he marked the little squares with +coal-black. Then the three of them went to work with their sharp hunting +knives, carving out the wooden figures. The results were crude, but they +had enough shape for identification, and then Paul began to teach the game +itself. + +Sol and Jim were really men of strong intellect, and they had plenty of +patience. Paul was surprised at their progress. They were soon thinking +for themselves, and when Paul himself did not want to play, the two would +fight it out over the deerskin. + +"It's a slow game, but good," said Shif'less Sol. "It 'pears to me that a +man to be at the head o' 'em all in this would hev to do nothin' else all +his life." + +"That is so," said Paul. + +"Jim, thar ain't no earthly chance for you," said Shif'less Sol. + +"I guess I've got you this time, anyhow," said Jim, with a deep chuckle of +satisfaction. "Jest look at that thar board, Sol Hyde. Ef you ain't druv +into a corner so you can't move this way nor that, then you can hev the +huntin' shirt right off my back." + +Shif'less Sol examined the deerskin square attentively. + +"Blamed ef it ain't so," he said in a tone of deep disgust. "It wuz an +accident, nuthin' but an accident, or else I've been talkin' too much." + +"That's what you're always doin', Sol Hyde--talkin' too much." + +"Then we'll jest try it over ag'in, an' I'll show you what it is to play +ag'inst a real smart man." + +They were deep in a fresh game a few moments later, and Paul went outside. +He was glad to see them so interested, because he knew that otherwise the +curse of dullness might fall upon them. + +The air was raw and chill, and, although the snow and ice were gone, the +lake and the hills beyond looked singularly cold. But Paul was neither +uncomfortable nor unhappy. He was clothed warmly, and he had food in +abundance and variety. Trusty comrades, too, surrounded him. Life at +present seemed very pleasant. + +He strolled up the island toward the trees that contained the Indian +bodies, and after a while returned toward the home in the hollow. A warm, +mellow light gleamed from its rude window, and Paul's heart throbbed with +something of the feeling that one has only toward "home." + +He opened the door and entered, just in time to hear Shif'less Sol's cry +of triumph: + +"Thar, Jim Hart, ef that don't settle you, I'd like to know what will! +Now, who's doin' too much talkin'?" + +"I can't see jest how it happened," said Jim Hart ruefully. + +"No, an' you never will. Them things are too deep fur you. It's only +eddicated men, like me an' Paul, that kin see to the bottom o' 'em." + +"You're even, as it's game and game," said Paul, "so let's rest now. Henry +and Tom ought to be coming pretty soon." + +"An' they'll be ez hungry ez a hull pack uv wolves," said Jim Hart, "so I +guess I'd better be cookin'. Here, Sol, give me them strips uv deer meat +an' buffalo." + +"I shorely will," said Shif'less Sol. "Thar is one thing, ef it is only +one, that you kin do well, Jim Hart, an' it's cook." + +The two, in the most friendly fashion, went about preparing the supper. +They had many kinds of game to choose from, and once Ross had brought a +bag of ground corn, perhaps taken by stealth from an Indian village, and +now and then Jim made from it a kind of bread. He was to bake some +to-night, in honor of the returning two, and soon the place was filled +with pleasant odors. + +Twilight was deepening, the supper was almost ready, and Paul went forth +to see if Henry and Tom were yet in sight. Presently he saw them +coming--two black figures against the setting sun, with the body of a deer +that they had killed and dressed. He hastened to meet them and give them a +helping hand, and together they approached the house. + +First they swung the body of the deer from a bough, and then they opened +the door. Deep silence reigned within. No friendly voice greeted them. The +heads of Jim Hart and Shif'less Sol almost touched over a square of +deerskin, at which both were looking intently. With the supper ready, and +nothing else to do, they had got out the chessmen, and were playing the +rubber. So absorbed were they that they neither heard nor saw. + +"Now what under the sun is this?" exclaimed Tom Ross. + +"It's a game I taught 'em while you and Henry were gone," explained Paul. +"It's called chess." + +Shif'less Sol and Jim sprang up, but Sol quickly recovered his presence of +mind. + +"I jest about had him cornered, an' your comin' saved him," he said. + +"Cornered!" said Jim Hart. "He ain't even seed the day when he kin beat +me!" + +The chessmen were put aside for the time, and five hungry beings ate as +only borderers could eat. Then Tom Ross demanded a look at the game. After +the look he asked for instruction. + +"I saw a set uv them fellers once when I wuz at Fort Pitt," he said, "but +I never thought the time would come when I'd play with 'em. Push up the +fire thar a little, will you, Jim, so I kin see better." + +Paul and Henry looked at each other and smiled. Soon Tom himself, the +senior of the party, was absorbed in the new game, and it was a happy +thought of Paul's to introduce it, even with the rude figures which were +the best that they could make. + +Paul brought up again the next morning the subject of their weather +prospects, and Tom and Henry agreed with the others in predicting a great +deal of snow and cold. + +"All signs show it," said Henry. "The rabbits are burrowing deeper than +usual under the bushes, and I notice that the birds have built their nests +uncommonly thick. I don't understand how they know what's coming, but they +do." + +"Instinct," said Paul. + +"We know that a hound kin follow by smell the track of a man who has +passed hours before," said Shif'less Sol, "when no man in the world kin +smell anything at all o' that track. So it ain't any more strange that +birds an' beasts kin feel in their bones what's comin' when we can't." + +"Ef you'll imitate them squirrels an' rabbits an' birds an' things," said +Jim Hart, "an' lay up lots uv things good to eat fur the winter, it'll +give me pleasure to cook it ez it's needed." + +"I've noticed something besides the forethought of the animals," added +Henry. "The moss on the north side of the trees seems to me to be thicker +than usual. I suppose that nature, too, is getting ready for a long, hard +winter." + +"When nature and the animals concur," said Paul, "it is not left to man to +doubt; so we'd better be providing the things Jim promises to cook so +well." + +They had learned the border habit of acting promptly, and Henry Ross and +Sol were to depart the very next morning for the mainland on a hunt for +deer, while Long Jim was to keep house. Paul otherwise would have been +anxious to go with the hunters, but he had an idea of his own, and when +Henry suggested that he accompany them, he replied that he expected to +make a contribution of a different kind. + +All these plans were made in the evening, and then every member of the +five, wrapping himself in his buffalo robe, fell asleep. The fire in Jim +Hart's furnace had been permitted to die down to a bed of coals, and the +glow from them barely disclosed the five figures lying, dark and silent, +on the floor. They slept, clean in conscience and without fear. + +Henry, Shif'less Sol, and Ross were off at dawn, and Paul, using a rude +wooden needle that he had shaped with his own pocketknife, and the tendon +of a deer as thread, made a large bag of buckskin. Then he threw it +triumphantly over his shoulder. + +"Now what under the sun, Paul, are you goin' to do with that?" asked Jim +Hart. + +"I'm going to add variety to our winter store. Just you wait, Jim Hart, +and see." + +Bearing the bag, he left the house and took his way to the north end of +the island. He had not been above learning more than one thing from the +squirrels, and he had recalled a grove of great hickory trees growing +almost to the water's edge. Now the ground was thickly covered with the +nuts which had fallen when the severe frosts and the snow and ice came. +There were several varieties, including large ones two inches long, and +the fine little ones known to boys throughout the Mississippi Valley as +the scaly bark. Paul procured two stones, and, cracking several of them, +found them delicious to the taste. Already in his Kentucky home he had +become familiar with them all. The hogs of the settlers, running through +the forest and fattening upon these nuts and acorns, known collectively as +"mast," acquired a delicious flavor. Boys and grown people loved the nuts, +too. + +The nuts lay about in great quantities, and the thick, barky coverings, +known to the boys as "hulls," almost fell off at a touch. Soon the ground +was littered with these hulls, while the big buckskin bag was filled with +the clean nuts. Then, lifting it to his shoulder, Paul marched off proudly +to the house. + +"Now, why didn't I think uv that?" said Jim Hart, as Paul threw down the +bag before him and disclosed its contents. "An' all them hick'ry nuts jest +layin' thar on the ground an' waitin' fur me." + +"It's because you had so much else to do, Jim," said Paul; "and as I'm +idle a good deal of the time, the thought occurred to me." + +"You shorely do have the gift uv sayin' nice things, an' makin' a feller +feel good, Paul," said Jim admiringly. + +Paul laughed. Jim's words pleased him. + +"I told nothing but the truth," he said. "Now, Jim, I'm going back for +more, and I'd like to do this job all by myself. I think I can gather at +least six bagfuls, and we'll heap them here by the wall." + +"An' mighty good seas'nin' they'll be to deer an' buffalo an' b'ar meat," +said Jim Hart. "It wuz a good thought uv yours, Paul." + +Paul worked the whole morning, and when he had gathered all the nuts in +the house he estimated the quantity at several bushels. Although he sought +to conceal his pride, he cast more than one triumphant look at the great +heap by the wall. + +He and Jim went forth together in the afternoon with rude spades, made of +wood and hardened at the edges in the fire, to dig for Indian turnip. + +"It ain't much of a veg'table," said Jim, "but we might find it useful to +give a new taste to our meat, or it might be uv some help doctorin', in +case any uv us fell sick." + +They found two or three of the roots, and the remainder of the afternoon +they devoted to strengthening their house. They did this with huge slabs +of bark lying everywhere on the ground, fallen in former seasons. Some +they put on the roof, thatching in between with dry grass and leaves, and +others they fastened on the sides. + +"It ain't purty," said Jim, "but it turns rain an' snow, an' that's what +we're after." + +"I take another view," said Paul. "It does look well. It blends with the +wilderness, and so it has a beauty of its own." + +The three hunters were not to return that night, and Paul and Jim kept +house. Jim slept lightly, and just before the dawn he rolled over in his +buffalo robe and pushed Paul's shoulder. + +Paul awoke instantly, and sat up. + +"What is it, Jim?" he asked anxiously. It was his natural thought that +some danger threatened, and it was so dark in the cabin that he could not +see Jim's face. + +"Do you hear that hoo-hooing sound?" asked Jim Hart. + +Paul listened and heard faintly a low, mellow note. + +"What is it, Jim?" he asked. + +"The call of the wild turkey." + +"What, Indians again?" + +"No, it's the real bird, talkin'. An old gobbler is tellin' his hens that +day is comin'. It's a plumb waste on his part, because they know it +theirselves, but he must jest let 'em know what a smart bird he is. An' +it's that pride uv his that will be his ruin. Git up, Paul; we must have +him an' one uv his hens to eat." + +"Where do you think they are?" asked Paul. + +"In the hick'ry grove. I guess they lighted thar fur the night, when +flyin' 'cross the lake." + +The two hurried on their clothes, took their rifles, and stole out. A +faint tinge of light was just showing under the horizon in the east, but +the air was not yet gray. It was very cold at that early hour, and Paul +shivered, but he soon forgot it in the ardor of the chase. + +"Slip along softer nor a cat, Paul," said Jim. "We don't want to give old +Mr. Gobbler any warnin' that his time hez come. Thar, hear him? The tarnal +fool! He's jest bound to show us where he is." + +The mellow call arose again, very clear and distinct in the silent air, +and as they approached the edge of the hickory grove, Jim pointed upward. + +"See him thar on the limb," he said, "the big feller with the feathers all +shinin' an' glistenin'? That's the gobbler, an' the littler ones with the +gray feathers are the hens. I'm goin' to take the gobbler. He may be old, +but he's so fat he's bound to be tender; an' s'pose, Paul, you take that +hen next to him. When I say 'Now,' fire." + +The two raised their guns, took careful aim, and Jim said "Now." They +fired together, aiming at the necks or heads. The big gobbler fell like a +stone from the bough and lay still. The hen fell, too, but she fluttered +about on the ground. The rest flew away on whirring wings. Paul ran +forward and finished his bird with a stick, but Jim lifted the great +gobbler and looked at him with admiring eyes. + +"Did you ever see a finer turkey?" he said. "He must weigh all uv forty +pounds, an' he's as fat as he can be with the good food uv the wilderness. +An' he's a beauty, too! Jest look at them glossy blue-black feathers. No +wonder so many hens wuz in love with him. I could be pop'lar with the +women folks, too, ef I wuz ez handsome ez Mr. Gobbler here." + +They picked and cleaned the turkeys, and then hung the dressed bodies from +the boughs of a tree near the hut, where they would be frozen, and thus +keep. + +The hunters returned that afternoon with two deer, and were delighted with +Jim and Paul's zeal and success. + +"Ef things go on this swimmin' way," said Shif'less Sol, "we'd be able to +feed an army this winter, ef it wuz needed." + +It was very cold that evening, and they built the fire higher than usual. +Great mellow rays of heat fell over all the five, and lighted up the whole +interior of the cabin with its rich store of skins and nuts and dressed +meats, and other spoil of the wilderness. The five, though no one of them +ever for a moment forgot their great mission of saving Kentucky, had a +feeling of content. Affairs were going well. + +"Paul," said Shif'less Sol, "you've read books. Tell us about some o' them +old fellers that lived a long time ago. I like to hear about the big +ones." + +"Well," said Paul, "there was Alexander. Did you ever hear of him, Sol?" + +Shif'less Sol shook his head and sighed. + +"I can't truly call myself an eddicated man," he replied, "though I have +the instincks o' one. But I ain't had the proper chance. No, Paul, me an' +Alexander is strangers." + +"Then I'll make you acquainted," said Paul. He settled himself more +comfortably before the fire, and the others did likewise. + +"Alexander lived a long, long time ago," said Paul. "He was a Greek--that +is, he was a Macedonian with Greek blood in him--I suppose it comes to the +same thing--and he led the Greeks and Macedonians over into Asia, and +whipped the Persians every time, though the Persians were always twenty to +one." + +"Who writ the accounts o' them thar battles?" asked Shif'less Sol. + +"Why, the Greeks, of course." + +"I thought so. Why, Jim Hart here must be a Greek, then. To hear him tell +it, he's always whippin' twenty men at a time. But it ain't in natur' for +one man to whip twenty." + +"I never said once in my life that I whipped twenty men at a time," +protested Jim Hart. + +"We'll let it pass," said Paul, "and Sol may be right about the Greeks +piling it up for themselves; but so they wrote it, and so we have to take +it. Well, Alexander, although he wasn't much more than a boy, kept on +whipping the Persians until at last their king, Darius, ran away with his +wives." + +Shif'less Sol whistled. + +"Do you mean to tell me, Paul," he said, "that any white man ever had more +than one wife! I thought only Injun chiefs had 'em?" + +"Why, it was common a long time ago," replied Paul. + +"What a waste!" said Shif'less Sol. "One man havin' a lot uv wives, an' +Jim Hart here ain't ever been able to get a single one." + +"An' you ain't, either, Sol Hyde," said Jim Hart. + +"Oh, me!" replied Shif'less Sol carelessly. "I'm too young to marry." + +"Let him go on about Alexander, the fightin' feller," interrupted Tom +Ross. + +"Alexander conquered all Asia," resumed Paul, "but it didn't agree with +him. The more he conquered the more he wanted to conquer." + +"Jest like a little boy eatin' turkey," said Shif'less Sol. "Can't hold +enough to suit him. Stummick ain't ez big ez his appetite, an' he hez to +cry about it. I don't think your Alexander wuz such a big man, after all." + +"He was not, from one point of view, Sol, but he was certainly a general. +After conquering all the world, he fell to drinking too much, and +quarreling with his best friends. One day he got raging drunk, which made +him hot all over, and he jumped into an icy river to cool off. That gave +him a fever, and he died right away. He was only thirty-two." + +Shif'less Sol sniffed in disgust. + +"Dead at thirty-two!" he said. "Now, I call him a plumb failure. With +fightin' goin' on all the time, an' fevers layin' aroun' fur you, I call +it somethin' jest to live, an' I mean to stay in these parts till I'm a +hundred. Why, that Alexander never had time, Paul, to think over what he'd +done. I wouldn't change places with him, I think I'm a heap sight better +off." + +"I agrees with Sol ag'in," said Tom Ross, who had been in deep thought. +"In dang'rous times it's doin' a heap jest to live, an' a man who dies +off at thirty-two, all through his own foolishness, ain't much to brag +about." + +Henry laughed. + +"Paul," he said, "you'll have to bring out better examples of greatness to +satisfy Sol and Tom." + +Paul laughed, too. + +"I just tell things as they are," he said. "Maybe they are right." + +Henry went to the door and looked out. The air was full of raw chill, and +he heard the leafless boughs rustling in the winter wind. All around him +was the dark wilderness, and, natural hunter and warrior though he was, he +was glad to have the shelter, the fire, and his comrades. He turned back +and closed the door tightly, in order to shut out any stray gust that +might be of an unusually penetrating quality. + +"I'm thinking that we'd better start away hunting again very early in the +morning," he said. "The big snows are bound to come soon. That first +little one was only a taste of what we're going to get." + +They were off again at daybreak, and this time Paul went with them. The +party turned to the southward, in order to avoid the chance of meeting +Shawnees or Miamis, and soon had the luck to run into a small buffalo +herd. They killed only what they could carry, and then returned with it +toward the island. Henry continually watched the skies as they traveled, +and he uttered an exclamation of relief when they landed. The heavens all +the while had been leaden and somber, and there was no wind stirring. + +"See," he said, "the great snow comes!" + +The sullen skies opened, and big white flakes dropped down as they hurried +with their fresh supplies to the cabin. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +NOEL + + +The snow fell three days and nights without ceasing, and they rejoiced +greatly over their foresight in preparing so well for it, because it was a +big snow, a very big snow. "It ain't jest snowin'," said Shif'less Sol; +"the bottom o' the sky hez dropped out, an' all the snow's tumblin' down." + +The great flakes never ceased for a moment to fall. The sun did not get a +single chance to shine, and as fast as one cloud was emptied, another, +huge and black, was drawn in its place across the sky. The island ceased +to be an island, because the snow heaped up on the frozen surface of the +lake, and it was impossible to tell where land ended and water began. The +boughs of the trees bent and cracked beneath their load, and some fell to +the ground. At times the sound of snapping boughs was like stray rifle +shots. + +Paul watched the snow deepen before their door. First an inch, then two, +then four, then six, and on and on. The roof began to strain and creak +ominously beneath the great weight. All rushed forth at once into the +storm, and with poles and their rude shovels they thrust the great mass of +accumulated snow from the roof. This task they repeated at intervals +throughout the three days, but they had little else to do, except cook, +eat, and sleep. They had recourse again to the chessmen and Paul's +stories, and they reverted often to their friends and relatives at +Wareville. + +"At any rate," said Henry, "Kentucky is safe so long as this great snow +lasts. What holds us holds the Shawnees and the Miamis, too; they can't go +south through it." + +"That's so," said Paul, with intense satisfaction, as he ran over all the +chances of success or failure in their great task. + +At the end of the third day the snow ceased. It lay three feet deep on the +level, and deeper in the hollows and gullies. Then all the clouds floated +away, the sun came out, and the whole world was a dazzling globe of white, +so intense that it hurt Paul's eyes. + +"We've got to guard against snow-blindness," said Shif'less Sol, "an' I'm +thinkin' o' a plan that'll keep us from sufferin'." + +He procured small pieces of wood, and fitted them together so there would +be only a narrow slit between. These were placed over the eyes like +spectacles, and fastened with deerskin string, tied behind the head. The +range of vision was then very narrow, but all the glare from the snow was +shut out. Shif'less Sol unconsciously had imitated a device employed by +the Esquimaux of the far north to protect their eyesight. Sets were made +for all, and they used them a few days until their eyes grew accustomed to +the glare. + +All had a great sense of coziness and warmth. The snow pushed from the +roof had gone to reinforce that on the ground, and it now lay heaped up +beside the house to a depth of five or six feet, adding to the snugness +and security of their walls. They had gathered an ample supply of +firewood, and a deep bed of coals always threw out a mellow and satisfying +glow. + +They did not spend their time in idleness. The narrow confines of their +house would soon grow irksome to five able-bodied boys and men, and every +one of them knew it. They went forth with rude wooden shovels, and began +to clear paths in the snow--one to a point among the trees where the +fallen brushwood lay thickest, another to the edge of the lake, where they +broke holes in the ice and caught pickerel, and two or three more to +various points around their little domain. This task gave them healthy +occupation for two or three days, and on the fourth day, while Henry, +Ross, and Jim Hart were fishing, Paul and Shif'less Sol sat together in +the house. + +"This snow is goin' to last a long time, Paul," said Sol, "an' we've got +to stay here till at least most o' it's gone. The warriors won't be +movin', nor will we. While we're idlin', I wish we had three or four o' +them books that your father an' Mr. Pennypacker brought over the mountains +with 'em." + +"So do I," said Paul, with a sigh. He was thinking of an interminable +romance, translated from the French of a certain Mademoiselle de Scudéry, +which his teacher, Mr. Pennypacker, had among his possessions, and which +he had once secretly shown to Paul, who was his favorite pupil. But he +added, resignedly: "You'd never find a book in all this region up here, +Sol. We'd better make up our minds to some monotonous days." + +Shif'less Sol had been leaning lazily against a heap of firewood, and +suddenly he sat up with a look of interest in his eyes. His acute ear had +detected a sound on the hill above them--a faint crunching in the snow. + +"It's one o' the boys, I s'pose," he said. "Now, I wonder what he wants +to be tramping around in the deep snow up thar fur." + +"Yes, I hear him," said Paul, "and he's lumbering about queerly." + +"He's comin' down toward the house," said Shif'less Sol. "Now, what in +thunder is that?" + +There was the sound of an angry "snuff!" a sudden, wild threshing in the +snow, and the next instant a tremendous weight struck the roof of their +house. A rending of bark and thatch followed, and a massive black form +shot down into the center of the room and lay there a moment, stunned. +Paul, too, was dizzy. He had been struck a glancing blow on the shoulder +by the big black body in its fall, and hurled into a heap of furs. +Shif'less Sol had been sent spinning in another direction. + +When both rose to their feet the big black body also rose, growling +savagely and extending long, powerful paws, armed with cruel claws. A +bear, prowling in the snow, had fallen through the roof of their house, +and it was furiously angry. + +"Jump back, Paul, jump back!" shouted Shif'less Sol, "an' get to the door, +ef you kin!" + +Paul obeyed a part of his command instinctively and sprang away, just in +time to escape the cruel claws. But he was compelled to press against the +wall. The enraged animal was between him and the door. Shif'less Sol +himself was darting here and there in an effort to keep out of the way. +Both Paul's rifle and Shif'less Sol's stood in a corner far from reach. + +The bear, blind with rage, fright, and astonishment, whirled around +ripping into the air with his long claws. The man and the boy not able to +reach the door, hopped about like jumping jacks, and the cold air poured +down upon them from the huge hole in their damaged roof. The bear suddenly +ran into Jim Hart's furnace and uttered a roar of pain. He stopped for a +moment to lick his singed flank, and Shif'less Sol, seizing the +opportunity, leaped for his rifle. He grasped it, and the next instant the +cabin roared with the rifle shot. The great bear uttered a whining cry, +plucked once or twice at his breast, and then stretched himself out in +front of Jim Hart's furnace, quite dead. Paul stopped dancing to and fro, +and uttered a gasp of relief. + +"You got that rifle just in time, Sol," he said. + +"We shorely did need a gun," Shif'less Sol said. "I guess nobody ever had +a more sudden or unwelcome visitor than you an' me did, Paul. But I +believe that thar b'ar wuz ez bad skeered ez we wuz." + +"And just look at our house," said Paul ruefully. "Half the roof smashed +in, our furs and our food supplies thrown in every direction, and a big +bear stretched out in front of our fire." + +They heard the patter of swift footsteps outside, and the three fishing at +the lake, who had heard the shot, came in, running. + +"It's nothin', boys," said Shif'less Sol carelessly. "A gentleman livin' +in these parts, but a stranger to us, came into our house uninvited. He +wouldn't go away when we axed him to, most earnest, so we've jest put him +to sleep." + +Ross pushed the bear with his foot. + +"He's fat yet," he said, "an' he ought to be in winter quarters right now. +Somethin' must have driv him out uv his hole an' have sent him wanderin' +across the lake on the ice an' snow. That's what anybody gits fur not +stayin' whar he belongs." + +"An' ef Jim Hart had stayed whar he belongs--that is, right here in this +house, cookin'--he'd have got that b'ar on his back, an' not me," said +Shif'less Sol, rubbing the bruised place. + +"That's once I wuz luckier than you wuz, Sol Hyde," said Jim Hart, +chuckling. + +"We've got a lot of fresh bear steak," said Henry Ware, "but we'll have to +clean up all this mess, and rebuild our house, just as soon as we can." + +They set to work at once. All, through forest life, had become skillful in +such tasks, and it did not take them long to rethatch the roof. But they +made it stronger than ever with cross-poles. Ingenious Sol cut up the bear +hide, and made of it stout leggings for them all, which would serve in the +place of boots for wading in the deep snow. + +Then the camp returned to its wonted calm. But a few days later, Shif'less +Sol, who had been unusually grave, called Paul aside and asked him to walk +with him up the path to the hickory trees. When they arrived there, far +out of hearing of the others, Shif'less Sol said: + +"Do you know what day this is, Paul?" + +"Why, no, Sol," replied Paul. "What does it matter?" + +"It matters a heap," said Shif'less Sol, not departing one whit from his +grave manner. "I know what day it is. I've kept count. See here!" + +He pointed to a hickory tree. Clear and smooth was gash after gash, cut in +the bark, one above another, by Sol with his stout knife. + +"Every one o' them is a day," said Shif'less Sol, "an' to-day is the 24th +of December. Now, what is to-morrow, Paul Cotter?" + +"The 25th of December--Christmas Day." + +"An' oughtn't we to hev Christmas, too, even ef we are up here in the wild +woods, all by ourselves? Don't this look like Christmas?" + +Paul looked around at the glittering and magnificent expanse of white +wilderness. There was snow, snow everywhere. The trees were robed in it, +unstained. It was a world of peace and beauty, and it _did_ look like +Christmas. They were preparing for it at Wareville at this very +moment--the settlers were a religious people, and from the first they +celebrated the great religious festival. + +"Yes, Sol," he replied, "it does look like Christmas, and we ought to +celebrate it, too." + +"I'm glad you think ez I do," said Sol, in a tone of relief. "I wanted to +hear what you thought o' it, Paul, afore I broached it to the other boys. +We've got a lot to be glad about. We're all here, sound an' well, an' +though we've been through a power o' dangers, we ain't sufferin' now." + +"That's so," said Paul. + +"Then we'll tell the boys right now." + +They walked back to the cabin, and Shif'less Sol announced the date to the +others, who agreed at once that Christmas should be celebrated by them +there on their little island in the wilderness. All were touched in a way +by the solemnity of the event, and they began to feel how strong was the +tie that united them. + +"We must have a big Christmas dinner," said Jim Hart, "an' I'll cook it." + +"An' I'll help you," said Shif'less Sol. + +"And I," added Paul. + +That evening they sat around the fire, talking in the mellow glow; but +their talk was not of the Indians, nor of the chase, nor of themselves, +but of those behind at Wareville. Paul shut his eyes and looked dreamily +into the fire. He could see the people at the settlement getting ready for +the great festival, preparing little gifts, and the children crawling +reluctantly into their homemade trundle, or box beds. He felt at that +moment a deep kindness toward all things. + +They covered up the ashes after a while, and then, in the darkness, every +one in his turn laid out some little gift for the others--a clasp knife, a +powderhorn, a prized deerskin, or something else that counted among his +possessions. But no one was to look until the morning, and soon all fell +asleep. + +They were up the next day at the first sight of dawn, and compared their +gifts with great rejoicings. Shif'less Sol had presented to Jim Hart a +splendid clasp knife, a valuable possession in the wilderness, as a token +of his great friendship and exceeding high regard, and Jim was like a +child in his delight. In fact, there was something of the child, or rather +of the child's simplicity, in all of them. + +The Christmas dinner was a signal triumph in Jim Hart's life. Capably +assisted by Paul and Shif'less Sol, he labored on it most of the day, and +at last they sat down to a magnificent wilderness table of buffalo hump, +venison, squirrel, rabbit, fish, wild turkey, and other kinds of game, +flanked by bread baked of the Indian meal, and finished off with the nuts +Paul had gathered. Forest and lake had yielded bounteously, and they ate +long and happily. + +"Why anybody wants to live back thar in the East in the towns is more'n I +can understand," said Shif'less Sol. "You've got room to breathe here, an' +the fat game is runnin' roun' in the woods, jest beggin' you to stick a +knife in its back an' eat it." + +Paul laughed. + +"How about the danger from the Indians, Sol?" asked Paul. + +"You don't expect to have a perfect world here below, do you, Paul?" +replied Shif'less Sol. "Thar ain't never nothin' without a thorn in it, +but our thorn is about ez little a one ez you could think of. The Injuns +give us a kind o' excitin' variety, an' don't we always get away from +'em?" + +No more work was done that day, and in the evening they went to sleep +earlier than usual, and slept very soundly. A moon of pure silver came +out, and bathed all the vast wilderness in its light. A huge, yellow +panther, lean and fierce with hunger, wandered in the snow across the +frozen lake, and put foot upon the island. There the pleasant odor of food +came to his nostrils, and he lifted up his ears. As the pleasant odor came +again his tawny eyes became more ferocious, and the lips curled back from +the rows of cruel, white teeth. He drew his long, lithe body over the +snow, and came to one of the paths. He might have turned back because the +path was strong with the odor of a strange and perhaps powerful creature; +but he was a very hungry, a very large, and a very bold panther, and he +went on. + +The path led straight to the cabin, and the panther trod it on noiseless +pads, his eyes glowing, and hunger attacking him all the more fiercely +because, mingled with the strange, new odor now came many odors that he +knew, and all pleasant--odor of buffalo and deer and others--and he was +very, very hungry. + +He went down the path to the door of the cabin, and halted a moment there. +A red gleam, a glow from the bed of coals, came through a chink beside the +door, and it filled his heart with terror. He shivered, and fear drew a +low growl from him. + +One of the five sleepers inside stirred and sat up. He listened and heard +a heavy breathing at the door. Then he arose, took a brand from the fire, +stepped noiselessly to the door, and, opening it, rushed out, waving the +burning brand in front of him. The panther, stricken with frightful panic, +fled down the path, and then over the lake into the woods on the mainland. +Henry Ware, laughing silently, returned to the cabin and lay down to sleep +again beside his comrades, who had slept on, undisturbed. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +FOOTPRINTS IN THE SNOW + + +The singular existence of the five in the little hollow in the haunted +island endured much longer. The great cold had come early, and it held the +earth fast in its grasp. The ice grew thicker on the lake beneath the +snow, and winds that would freeze one to the marrow swept over its +surface. Fortunately, there was plenty of fallen wood on the island, and +they never allowed the fire in Hart's furnace to go out. They never built +it up high, but a bed of coals was always smoldering there, sending out +grateful light and heat. + +Henry and Ross scouted at intervals, but only as a matter of habit rather +than necessary precaution. They knew that the danger of an attack at such +a time had decreased to the vanishing point. Now Paul became for a while +the central figure of what he called their little colony. His mental +resources were in great demand, and for the sake of his comrades he drew +willingly upon his stores of learning. In the evening, when they were all +sitting before the coals, and could just see one another's faces in the +faint light, Paul would tell what he had read about other times and other +lands. He knew the outlines of ancient history, and the victories of +Hannibal, Alexander, and Cæsar suffered nothing at his hands, though +Alexander, as before, was condemned by Shif'less Sol and Ross. Paul, +moreover, had both the dramatic and poetic sense, and he made these +far-away heroes, of whom Jim Hart had never heard before, actually live in +the little cabin. + +"It 'pears to me," said Shif'less Sol reflectively, "that that feller +Hannibal wuz jest about the finest fighter o' them all. Ef, ez you say, +Paul, he had to hire all kinds o' strangers an' barbarians, too, like the +red Injuns out thar in the woods, an' lead sech a mixed lot up ag'in the +Romans, who were no slouches in a fracas, an' whip 'em over an' over +ag'in, on thar own groun', too, then I call him about the smartest o' all +them old fellers. But he shore had the luck ag'in' him, an' I admire the +man who kin stan' up an' fight the odds." + +"He has my sympathy," said Paul. + +"What did them old-time fellers eat?" asked Jim Hart. + +"Mostly vegetables and grain," replied Paul. + +"No wonder they're dead," said Jim Hart solemnly. "I can't fight an' I +can't march good on anything but buffalo steak an' venison an' things uv +that kind. I has to have meat." + +Then Jim rose gravely, and looked at what he called his kitchen. + +"'Nough to last three or four weeks," he said. "We'll shorely get fat an' +lazy layin' roun' here an' doin' nothin' but eatin' an' sleepin' an' +listenin' to Paul's tales." + +"You ought to appreciate your chance, Jim Hart," said Shif'less Sol. "Ef +me an' Paul wuz to work on you about a hundred years, maybe we might make +you into a sort o' imitation o' a eddicated man. But I reckon we'd have to +work all the time." + +"You an eddicated man!" said Jim Hart indignantly. "Why, readin' a book is +harder work to you than choppin' wood, an' they say you won't chop wood +'less two big, strong men stand by you an' make you." + +"Never min'," said Shif'less Sol complacently; "I know I ain't had much +chances to become eddicated, but I hev the natur' o' an eddicated man. My +mind jest glows at the idea uv learnin', an' I respecks eddication with a +deep an' lastin' respeck." + +Then both stopped to hear Paul begin the story of Troy for the second +time, but when he came to the death of Hector he would have to stop to let +Shif'less Sol utter what he called a "few cuss words." Hector, like +Hannibal, had the sympathy of everyone, and Sol spoke for them all when he +said: "'Twa'n't fair o' that air goddess Minerver hoppin' in an' helpin' +A-Killus when Hector might hev a-slew him in a fair battle. Women ain't +got no business mixin' in a fight. Whenever they do they allus help the +wrong feller. I've no doubt that ef me an' Jim Hart was a-hittin' an' +a-wrastlin', an' hevin' the terriblest fight you ever heard on, ef any +woman wuz to come along she'd pull me off the ornery, long-legged, +knock-kneed, ugly Jim Hart--an' me a handsome man, too." + +"I wonder all the ice on the lake don't melt when it sees your face, Sol +Hyde," retorted Jim Hart scornfully. + +"I don't think much uv them old Greeks an' Trojans," said Tom Ross, who +seldom delivered himself at length. "'Pears to me they had pow'ful cur'us +ways uv fightin'. Think uv a feller, when he feels like takin' a scalp, +comin' out before the hull army an' beatin' a big brass shield till it +rattled like a tin pan, an' then, when he got 'em all to lookin' an' +listenin', hollerin' at the top uv his voice, 'I'm A-Killus, Defyer uv the +Lightnin', Slayer uv the Trojans, the terriblest fighter the world ever +seed! I pick up a ship in my right ban', an' throw it, with all the +sailors in it, over a hill! When I look at the sun, it goes out, skeered +to death! I've made more widders an' orphans than any other ten thousan' +men that ever lived.' 'Pears to me them wuz the pow'fullest boasters that +ever wuz born. Why, what they said wuz mostly lies. 'Twas bound to be so, +an' their ways uv fightin' wuz plumb foolishness. Why, ef A-Killus wuz to +come along nowadays, beatin' his brass shield in the face an' hollerin' +out his big words, some Shawnee layin' behind a rock would send a bullet +through his head, jest ez easy ez knockin' over a rabbit, an' thet would +be the end uv Mr. A-Killus, an' a good thing fur all, too." + +"But there were no Shawnees and no rifles on the plains of Troy, Tom," +said Paul. + +"What uv it?" exclaimed Ross in hot indignation. "They didn't fight fair, +anyway. It's jest ez Sol sez--whut did all them women goddesses mean by +interferin' an' allus sp'ilin' a good stan'-up fight? Now, ez Paul tells +it, Ole Jupe, a-settin' up on his golden throne, wuz willin' to tote fair +an' let the Greeks an' Trojans fight it out among theirselves, but the +women critters, whut had more power than wuz good fur 'em, couldn't keep +their hands off. Every one uv 'em hed a fav'rite either among the Greeks +or the Trojans, an' she had to go snoopin' 'roun', makin' his enemy see +double, or throwin' a cloud over him so he couldn't see at all, or +pumpin' all the blood out uv his veins an' fillin' 'em full uv water in +the place. Why, there ain't a Shawnee or Miami in all these woods thet +would he mean enough to take sech an' advantage ez askin' to be helped out +by a squaw thet knowed witchcraft. Ez fur thet Paris feller, he wouldn't +a-lived a week down in Kain-tuck-ee!" + +"But all this happened a long, long time ago, Tom, when ways were +different," said Paul. + +Henry always listened with attention to these stories, and the sight of +Paul's flushed face and vivid eyes, as he talked, would please him. He +understood Paul. He knew that his comrade's mind ranged over not only the +wilderness in which they dwelt, but over the whole world, and far into +past and future times. Hence he respected Paul with a deep respect. + +Presently the cold abated a little--just enough to let the surface of the +ice and snow soften a bit, and make walking easier. Then Henry and Ross +crossed once more to the mainland, partly to scout and partly to hunt. +They easily killed a large deer which was half-imbedded in a snowdrift, +and might have taken a fine cow buffalo in the same way; but, as the deer +was enough, they spared her. They dressed the body of the deer where it +had fallen, and, carrying it between them, started back. With instinctive +caution they kept to the thickest part of the forest, wishing to be hidden +as much as possible by the tree trunks, and they plodded along in silence, +carrying their burden easily, because the two were very, very strong. Near +the edge of the lake, but still in dense forest, Henry paused and looked +down. Tom Ross also paused and looked down, his glance following Henry's. +It was never necessary for these two to say much to each other. They did +not talk about things, they saw them. + +"Tracks of two Indians and one white," said Henry. + +"Yes," said Tom Ross. "White is Braxton Wyatt, uv course. He's still +hangin' about the Miami village." + +"And perhaps suspecting that we are yet in these parts." + +"Uv course. An' maybe thar will be trouble." + +They said no more, but each understood. Their own trail would be left in +the snow, and the sight of it would confirm all the suspicions of Wyatt +and the savages. Some such chance as this they had always expected, and +now they prepared to deal with it. They turned back into the forest, +carrying with them the body of the deer, as they were resolved not to +abandon it. Both had noticed that the slight abatement of the cold was +not lasting. In an hour or two it would be as chill as ever, and once more +the surface of the snow would be icy. + +They stayed several hours in a dense clump of trees and bushes, and then, +half walking, half sliding, they resumed their journey, but now they left +no trail. Each also had every sense alert, and nothing could come within +sound or sight and not be perceived first by these two wonderful trailers, +masters of their craft. They reached the edge of the lake in the twilight, +and then they sped swiftly over the ice to their island home. + +"I'm thinking," said Henry Ware, at a council a little later, "that +Braxton Wyatt suspects we're here. He, of course, does not believe in the +Indian superstitions, and maybe he'll persuade them to search the island." + +"An' since they kin come over the ice, we can't beat 'em off ez easy ez we +could ef they came in canoes in the water," said Shif'less Sol. "I see +trouble ahead fur a tired man." + +Paul had been saying nothing, only sitting in a corner of the hut and +listening intently to the others. Now his face flushed and his eyes +sparkled with light, as they would always do whenever a great idea +suddenly came to him. + +"If Braxton Wyatt undertakes to persuade them there are no ghosts," he +said, "it is for us to persuade them that there are." + +"What do you mean, Paul?" asked Henry. + +"We must show the ghosts to them." + +Silence for a half minute followed. Then Shif'less Sol spoke up. + +"Meanin' ourselves?" he said. + +"Yes," said Paul. + +The others looked at his glowing face, and they were impressed. + +"Just how?" said Henry. + +"If the Miamis come at all, they will come in the night, and that is when +ghosts should appear. I'll be a ghost and Jim Hart will be another. The +rest of you can lay hidden, ready to use the rifles if they are needed." + +"Well planned!" said Henry Ware. "We'll do it." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +WHAT THE WARRIORS SAW + + +A few nights later a strong band of warriors left the Miami village, led +by the bold chief, Yellow Panther, and the renegade, Braxton Wyatt. The +party was about thirty in number, and it included the most daring spirits +among them. They were going against the wishes of the aged Gray Beaver, +who foresaw only disaster from such a desecration; but Yellow Panther +favored the venture, and Braxton Wyatt had urged it for a long time. + +Wyatt was no coward, and he did not believe in spirits. They had seen +tracks, white tracks, in the snow, and the sight confirmed him in his +suspicion that those whom he hated were hiding on the island in the lake. +He burned for revenge upon Henry Ware and his friends, but he had to fight +all the influence of Gray Beaver and the power of Indian superstition. He +was about to despair of moving them when they saw the tracks--tracks that +led almost to the edge of the water. He considered this proof of his +theory, and he urged it incessantly. He called attention to the encounter +in the woods near the lake, and the later affair with the belt bearers. +The latter had particular weight, as enough messengers had now passed +between the Miamis and Shawnees to show that both had been the victims of +a clever and daring trick. Wyatt, therefore, was reinstated in the good +graces of the savages, and his words had meaning to them. At last, with +the aid of Yellow Panther and the more daring spirits among the younger +warriors, he prevailed, and the expedition started. + +It was a really formidable war party, thirty warriors or more, all well +armed with rifles and ammunition bought from the Canadian traders, all +hideous with paint, and all skilled in the lore and devices of the +wilderness. Braxton Wyatt had talked to them so much, he had told them so +often that their superstitions were mere moonshine, that they began to +believe, and they thrilled, moreover, with the hope of securing white +scalps. + +The cold was intense, and the frozen surface of the snow was very smooth; +but the warriors, in thick moccasins of buffalo hide, with the hair +underneath, sped with sure step toward the lake. As Henry and Ross had +done, they kept in the thickest of the forest, passing from tree trunk to +tree trunk, because the Indian loves a surprise, an easy victory being +the greatest of triumphs to him. It was such that they expected now, and +the blood of every one of them was inflamed by the logic and eloquence of +Braxton Wyatt and Yellow Panther. + +They reached the shores of the lake when the twilight had merged into the +night and the darkness was deep. They had foreseen that it would be such a +night, otherwise they would have waited; but all seemed admirably suited +now to their purpose. They paused on the bank, and gathered in a close +group. Across the white gleam of the snow they could barely see the dusky +outline of the island, and, despite the courageous frame of mind into +which they had lashed themselves, despite the boldness of their leaders, +they felt a tremor. The savage mind is prone to superstitions, and it is +not easy to cure it of them. That dim, dark outline out there in the +middle of the lake, now that they beheld it again with their own eyes, +still had its unknown and mysterious terrors for them. + +But Braxton Wyatt and Yellow Panther knew too well to let them hesitate at +the very margin of their great exploit. They urged them forward, and the +two themselves led the way, stepping upon the frozen surface of the lake, +and advancing directly toward the island. Then the warriors came after +them in a close cluster, their fur-shod feet making no sound, and their +forms invisible thirty yards away. Before them the black bulk of the +island, with its great trees, now loomed more distinctly, and they +gathered courage as nothing happened. + +All knew that the ancient burying ground was on the north end of the +island, and so Braxton Wyatt and Yellow Panther led the way to the south +end, intending to make a gradual approach to the other portion. + +Braxton Wyatt half expected, as he came near, that he might see a light +among the trees. In weather so cold one must have a fire, and, relying +upon the ghostly protection, Henry Ware and his band would light it. But +he saw nothing, and he began to fear that he might be mistaken. If there +was nobody on the island his credit with the Indians would be shaken, and +he was anxious to establish his power among his red friends. But he and +Yellow Panther pressed boldly on, and they could now see dimly the +outlines of individual tree trunks standing up in rows. + +The low shores of the island rose before them only thirty yards away, then +twenty, then ten, then they were there. But another moment of hesitation +came. Not in a generation had a Miami or any other Indian, so far as they +knew, set foot upon this haunted island, and the beliefs of many years +are not to be swept away in a breath. + +It was Braxton Wyatt who took the lead again, and he boldly stepped upon +the haunted soil. Then a terrible thing happened. Every warrior all at +once saw two white figures perched upon the low bough of an oak. They were +shaped like men, but the outlines of arms and legs could not be seen. +Rather they were the bodies of warriors completely enclosed in buffalo +robes or deerskins for the grave, and these figures, swaying back and +forth in the moonlight, and bearing all the aspects of supernatural +visitors, filled the superstitious hearts of the Miamis with the terrors +of the unknown and invincible. The two shapes showed a ghostly white in +the pale rays, and the Miamis, in fancy at least, saw fiery and accusing +eyes looking down at the sacrilegious men who had presumed to put foot on +the island dedicated to Manitou and the departed. + +A gentle wind brought a low groan to the ears of every man among them. + +The blood of the warriors chilled quickly in their veins. All their +superstitions, all the inherited beliefs of many generations, all the lore +of the old squaws, told about innumerable camp fires, came crashing back +upon them as those two ghostly white shapes, hovering there in the +darkness, continued to transfix them with an accusing gaze. There was an +involuntary shudder, a sudden clustering together of the whole party, and +then, with a simultaneous cry of horror, they broke and fled in a wild +pellmell far out upon the icy surface of the lake, and then on, bearing +with them in the rout both Yellow Panther and Braxton Wyatt. Nor did they +dare to look back, because they knew that the terrible eyes of the long +departed, upon whose territory they had intended to commit sacrilege, were +boring into their backs. The island was haunted, and would remain so for +many a year, despite all that Braxton Wyatt and Yellow Panther had said. + +About the time the Miamis reached the mainland, and darted among the trees +in the race for their own village, Paul Cotter and Long Jim Hart leaped +lightly from the low bough of the oak, took off the enfolding robes of +white tanned deerskin, with holes for the eyes. + +"Jehoshaphat!" said Long Jim, as he threw the robes on the ground, "I'm +glad that's over. Bein' a ghost jest about a minute is enough fur me. I +wuz scared to death lest I didn't groan good an' horrible." + +"But you never did a better job in your life, Jim," said Henry, as he came +from behind a tree. "You and Paul were the finest ghosts I ever saw, and +no Indian will dare to set foot on this island in the next hundred years." + +"It shorely was a sight to see them braves run," said Shif'less Sol. +"Thar's many a tired man in that lot now. I think some o' 'em didn't hit +the ice an' snow more'n twice between here an' the lan'." + +"Paul's made the islan' ez safe fur us ez a stone fort ez long ez we want +to stay," said Tom Ross. + +"It was a great plan, well done," said Henry. + +Paul's face shone with the most intense delight. His imagination, leaping +forward to meet a crisis, had served them all greatly, and he was happy. +He had fought not with rifle and knife, but with the weapon of the +intellect. + +"Now that this job is over, an' we're the big winners," said Shif'less +Sol, "I'm goin' to do what a tired man ought to do: go to sleep, wrapped +up in buffalo robes, an' sleep about forty hours." + +"We'll all sleep," said Henry. "As Tom says, we're as safe as if we were +in a stone fort, and we don't need any guard." + +An hour later all of the valiant five were slumbering peacefully within +their warm walls, and when they ate a good hot breakfast the next morning, +cooked in Jim Hart's best fashion, they laughed heartily and often over +the night's great event. + +"I guess Mr. Braxton Wyatt will hev to work hard ag'in to prove to them +savages that he's real smart," said Shif'less Sol. "This is another time +that he's led 'em right out o' the little end o' the horn." + +They luxuriated that day, resting most of the time In the hut, but on the +following day Henry and Ross went on a longer scouting expedition than +usual, this time in the direction of the Shawnee villages. The three who +were left behind broke fresh holes in the thick ice, and by the use of +much patience succeeded in catching several fine fish, which made a +pleasant addition to their daily diet. + +Henry and Ross were gone nearly a week, but their comrades did not become +alarmed over their long absence. When they returned they brought with them +a budget of news from the Shawnee villages. Braxton Wyatt had returned to +the Shawnees, much disgusted with his stay among the Miamis, but still +resolved to form the great Indian alliance, and send it in the spring +against the white settlements in Kentucky. + +"It's too late for them to do anything this winter," said Henry, and a +little exultation showed in his tone, "we've put that spoke in their +wheel; but they mean to hit us a terrible blow on the flank when warm +weather comes." + +"What do you mean by 'on the flank'?" asked Paul. + +"They've learned in some manner, maybe by way of Canada, that a big wagon +train is coming up through the Wilderness Road in the spring, to join our +settlements. If it gets there it will double our strength, but the Indians +mean to make a great curve to the south and east and strike it just as it +leaves the mountains." + +"They're smart in that," said Shif'less Sol. "They'd be sure to hit them +wagons when they ain't expected." + +"Yes," said Henry Ware, "if the train is not warned." + +Paul looked at him and saw that his eyes were full of meaning. + +"Then we are to warn that train," said Paul. + +"Yes, when the time comes." + +"It's the greatest work that we can do," said Paul, with emphasis, and the +others nodded their agreement. It was all that was needed to bind the five +together in the mighty task that they had begun. + +Nothing more was said upon the subject for days, but Paul's mind was full +of it. His comrades and he had impeded the making of the great war trail, +and now they were to see that reënforcements safely reached their own. It +was a continuing task, and it appealed powerfully to the statesman so +strong in Paul. + +A very cold winter moved slowly along, and they remained on the island, +though Henry and Ross ranged far and wide. On one of these expeditions the +two scouts met a wandering trapper, by whom they sent word again to their +people in the south that they were safe. + +Henry and Ross also learned that Yellow Panther would lead the Miamis, Red +Eagle the Shawnees, and there would be detachments of Wyandots and others. +They would fall like a thunderbolt upon the wagon train, and destroy it +utterly. + +"And Braxton Wyatt will be with them?" said Paul indignantly. + +"Of course," replied Henry. + +"Henry, we've got to save that wagon train, if every one of us dies +trying!" exclaimed Paul, with the greatest possible emphasis. + +"Of course," said Henry again, quietly, but with the stern determination +that meant with him do or die. + +"It's a part o' our job," drawled Shif'less Sol, "but it must be nigh a +thousand miles to the place whar the Wilderness Road comes out o' the +mountains. I see a terrible long journey ahead fur a tired man." + +Henry smiled. They all knew that none would be more zealous on the march, +none more lion-hearted in battle, than this same Solomon Hyde, nicknamed +the shiftless one. + +"When do we start?" asked Jim Hart. + +"Not before the cold weather passes," replied Henry. "It wouldn't be worth +while. The emigrant train won't come through the mountains until spring, +and we can do better work here, watching the savages." + +So they abode long in the hut on the haunted island, and had food and +warmth in plenty. But in the Indian villages there was the stir of +preparation for the great war trail in the spring, and also the sense of +mystery and oppression. Yellow Panther, the Miami, and Red Eagle, the +Shawnee, both felt in some strange, unaccountable way that they were +watched. Half-lost tracks of unknown feet were seen in the snow; strange +trails that ended nowhere were struck; three warriors, every one at a +different time, claimed to have seen a gigantic figure speeding in a pale +moonlight through the leafless forest; one of the bravest of the Shawnee +warriors was found dead, his head cleft so deep that they knew a mighty +hand, one of almost marvelous strength, had wielded the tomahawk. There +were signs of a terrible struggle in the snow, but who had attacked and +who defended they did not know, and the trail of the survivor was soon +lost. A mysterious dread filled both Shawnees and Miamis. + +Braxton Wyatt raged at heart in the Shawnee village, and had theories of +his own, but he dared not tell them. It was known there that it was he who +had led the Miamis into the sacrilegious invasion of the haunted island, +and it would take his credit some time to recover from such a blow. To +reestablish himself thoroughly he must do valuable work for his red +friends on the coming great war trail. So he remained discreetly silent +about the haunted island, and told all he knew of the white settlements, +the Wilderness Road, and the way to trap the emigrant train. Here he could +really be of great assistance to the alliance, and he told the chiefs all +about the emigrants, how they marched, and how they would be encumbered +with women and children. + +Meanwhile, the five never ceased their vigilance. Henry and Ross bought a +large quantity of ammunition from a Canadian trader whom they met on a +trip far to the north, and however much they used in the winter, they were +now assured of an abundance when they started southeast in the spring. + +The winter was long and very cold. One snow fell upon another; one freeze +after another thickened the ice upon the lake; and when the wind blew, it +had the edge of a knife. But this could not last forever. One day the wind +shifted around and blew from the south. Paul, who was outside the hut +helping Jim Hart, felt a soft, warm breath on his face. + +"Why, Jim!" he said, "the cold seems to be going away." + +"So it is," said Jim Hart, "or at least it's gittin' ready. Spring ain't +far off, an' I'm glad, Paul. I'm tired uv winter, an' I want to be +strikin' out on the great war trail." + +"So do I," said Paul. + +"Wa'al, fur the matter o' that," said Shif'less Sol, "we've been on the +great war trail fur three or four months now. There ain't to be no change +except in the shiftin' o' the trail." + +The warm wind continued to blow for days, the surface of the ice on the +lake softened, and the snow began to melt. Still it blew, and the melted +snow ran in rivers, the ice broke up into great sheets and chunks, and +these, too, rapidly dissolved. Then a warm rain came, pouring for a day +and a night, and the ice and snow were swept away entirely. But the whole +earth ran water. Lakes stood in the forest, and every brook and creek, +rushing in torrents, leaped its banks. + +The five had remained in their hut when the rain came down, but two days +later Henry and Ross were rowed over in the canoe, and went away to spy +out the country. When they returned they said that the great war party of +the allied tribes would soon be in motion, and it was time for the five to +take their flight. + +A warm sun had been shining for days, and the earth had dried again. The +turbulent brooks and creeks had withdrawn to their accustomed beds, and +faint touches of green were beginning to show in the wilderness. + +"We'll leave our house just as we have built it," said Henry. + +"Unless a white man should come wandering here, and that isn't likely, it +won't be disturbed. It's been a good place for us." + +"Yes," said Paul, "it has been a good home to us. I've spent a happy +winter here, and I want to see it again." + +But they had little time for sentiment. They were making the fast touches +of preparation for the second stage of the great war trail--arranging +clothing, light supplies of food, and, above all, ammunition. Then they +left at night in their canoe. As they approached the mainland, all, as if +by involuntary impulse, looked back at the haunted island, looming darkly +in the night. + +"It was no haunted island for us," said Paul. + +"No," said Henry. + +They landed, hid the canoe, and then, plunging into the forest, sped far +to the south and east on tireless feet. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE WARNING + + +Meanwhile war belts were passing through all the forest, from tribe to +tribe, to Shawnee, Miami, Ottawa, Wyandot--to every band, large or small. +Another great effort would be made to drive back the thin white vanguard +that was now entering the finest hunting ground savages had ever +known--the vast green wilderness of the Mississippi Valley, where the +warriors had roamed and killed game for unknown generations. Northern and +southern tribes had often met and fought in _Kain-tuck-ee_, but always +each retreated after the conflict to north or to south, leaving +_Kain-tuck-ee_ as it was before--a land of forest and canebrake, inhabited +only by the wild beast. + +Now, every warrior felt that the coming of the white stream over the +mountains, however slender it might be at first, threatened a change, +great and disastrous to them, unless checked at once. These white men cut +down the forest, built houses that were meant to stay in one place--houses +of logs--and plowed up the fields where the forest had been. They felt in +some dim, but none the less certain, way that not only their favorite +hunting grounds, but they and their own existence, were threatened. + +They had failed the year before in a direct attack upon the new +settlements, but these little oases in the wilderness must in time perish +unless the white stream coming over the mountains still reached them, +nourishing them with fresh bone and sinew, and making them grow. A great +wagon train was coming, and this they would strike, surprising it in the +vast, dark wilderness when it was not dreaming that even a single warrior +was near. + +A great defeat they had suffered at Wareville the year before still stung, +and the spur of revenge was added to the spur of need. What they felt they +ought to do was exactly what they wanted to do, and they were full of +hope. They did not know that the stream flowing over the mountains, now so +small, was propelled by a tremendous force behind it, the great white race +always moving onward, and they expected nothing less than a complete +triumph. + +Active warriors passed through the deep woods, bearing belts and messages. +Their faces were eager, and always they urged war. A long journey lay +before them, but the blow would be a master stroke. They were received +everywhere with joy and approval. The tomahawks were dug up, the war +dances were danced, the war songs sung, and the men began to paint their +faces and bodies for battle. A hum and a murmur ran through the +northwestern forests, the hum and murmur of preparation and hope. Only the +five, on their little island in the lake, yet heard this hum and murmur, +so ominous to the border, but they were ready to carry the message through +the wilderness to those to whom the warning meant the most. + + * * * * * + +The largest wagon train that had yet crossed the mountains into +_Kain-tuck-ee_ toiled slowly along the Wilderness Road among the +foothills, bearing steadily toward the Northwest. The line of canvas +covers stretched away more than a hundred in number, and contained five +hundred souls, of whom, perhaps, half were men and boys capable of bearing +arms, the rest women and children. + +They looked upon mountain, hill and forest, river and brook, with much the +same eyes as those with which Henry and Paul had beheld them not so very +long before, but they were not seeking at random in the wilderness as the +Wareville people had done. No, they moved forward now to a certain mark. +They were to join their brethren at Wareville and Marlowe, and double the +strength of the settlements. Word had come to them over the mountains +that the little outposts in the vast wilderness lived and flourished, and +the country was good. Moreover, they and their strength were needed. +Wareville and Marlowe looked for them as eagerly as they looked for +Wareville and Marlowe. + +Spring was deepening, and already had drawn its robe of green over all the +earth, but Daniel Poe, the commander of the wagon train, paid little +attention to its beauty. He was nearly sixty years of age, but in the very +prime of his strength--a great, square-shouldered man, his head and face +covered with thick, black beard. His eyes had their habitual look of +watchful care. They had seen no Indian sign as they crossed the mountains, +but he knew now that they were on the Dark and Bloody Ground, and the +lives of five hundred human beings were a heavy responsibility. + +"You are sure the country is entirely safe?" he said to Dick Salter, one +of his guides. + +"I don't know no reason to doubt it," replied Salter. "The savages don't +often get down here. The villages uv the northwestern tribes must be close +on to a thousand miles from here, an' besides they were beat off last +year, an' beat badly, when they tried to rush Wareville." + +"That is so," said Daniel Poe thoughtfully; "we had word of it. But, +Dick, we can't afford to take all these people into danger here in the +woods. Look at the women and children." + +They had just begun to stop for the night, and to draw the wagons into a +circle in a convenient, slightly hollowed, open place. The women and +children were trooping about upon the grass, and the air was filled with +the sound of merry voices. All were browned by the sun, but they were +healthy and joyous, and they looked forward with keen delight to meeting +kin who had gone on before at Wareville. They had no fear of the mighty +forests, when more than two hundred pairs of strong arms fenced them +about. + +"That is shorely a pleasant sight," said Dick Salter. "I've seed the same +many evenin's, an' I hope to see it many more evenin's. We'll get 'em +through, Mr. Poe, we'll get 'em through!" + +"I hope so," said Daniel Poe earnestly. + +They had begun to light the evening fires, and in the west a great red sun +blazed just above the hills. Daniel Poe suddenly put his hand upon Dick +Salter's arm. + +"Dick, what is that?" he said, pointing with a long forefinger. + +A black silhouette had appeared on the crest of a hill in the very eye of +the sun, and Dick Salter, shading his brow with his hand, gazed long and +anxiously. + +"It's a man," he said at last, "an' ef I'm any judge uv a human bein' it's +about the finest specimen uv a man that ever trod green grass. Look, Mr. +Poe!" + +The figure, outlined against its brilliant background, seemed to grow and +come nearer. Others had seen now, and the whole wagon train gazed with +intent and curious eyes. They saw in the blazing light every detail of an +erect and splendid figure, evidently that of a youth, but tall beyond the +average of men. He was clad in forest garb--fringed hunting shirt and +leggings and raccoon-skin cap. He stood erect, but easily, holding by the +muzzle a long, slender-barreled rifle, which rested, stock upon the +ground. Seen there in all the gorgeous redness of the evening sunlight, +there was something majestic, something perhaps weird and unreal, in the +grand and silent figure. + +"He's white, that's shore!" said Dick Salter. + +"He looks like a wilderness god," murmured Daniel Poe, in his beard. + +"Look!" exclaimed Dick Salter. "There's another!" + +A second figure appeared suddenly beside the first, that of a youth, also, +not so tall as the first; but he, too, stood erect, silent and +motionless, gazing at the wagon train. + +"And a third!" exclaimed Daniel Poe. + +"And a fourth and fifth!" added Dick Salter. "See, there are five uv 'em!" + +Three other figures had appeared, seeming to arise in the sunlight as if +by Arabian magic; and now all five stood there in a row, side by side, +everyone silent and motionless, and everyone holding by the muzzle a long, +slender-barreled rifle, its stock upon the ground, as he gazed at the +train. + +A deep breath ran through the crowd of emigrants, and all--men, women, and +children--moved forward for a better look. There was something mysterious +and uncanny in this sudden apparition of the five there in the blazing +light of the setting sun, which outlined their figures in every detail and +raised them to gigantic proportions. On those hills only was light; +everywhere else the mighty curving wilderness, full of unknown terrors, +was already dark with the coming night. + +"It is our omen of danger. I feel it, I feel it In every bone of me," +murmured Daniel Poe into his great black beard. + +"We must find out what this means, that's shore," said Dick Salter. + +But as he spoke, the first figure, that of the great, splendid youth, +stepped right out of the eye of the sun, and he was followed in single +file by the four others, all stepping in unison. They came down the hill, +and directly toward the travelers. Again that deep breath ran through the +crowd of emigrants, and the chief note of it was admiration, mingled with +an intense curiosity. + +All the five figures were strange and wild, sinewy, powerful, almost as +dark as Indians, their eyes watchful and wary and roving from side to +side, their clothing wholly of skins and furs, singular and picturesque. +They seemed almost to have come from another world. But Daniel Poe was +never lacking either in the qualities of hospitality or leadership. + +"Friends," he said, "as white men--for such I take you to be--you are +welcome to our camp." + +The first of the five, the great, tall youth with the magnificent +shoulders, smiled, and it seemed to Daniel Poe that the smile was +wonderfully frank and winning. + +"Yes, we are white, though we may not look it," he said in a clear, deep +voice, "and we have come near a thousand miles to meet you." + +"To meet us?" repeated Daniel Poe, in surprise, while Dick Salter, beside +him, was saying to himself, as he looked at one of the five: "Ef that +ain't Tom Ross, then I'll eat my cap." + +"Yes," repeated Henry Ware, with the most convincing emphasis, "it's you +that we've come to meet. We belong at Wareville, although we've been far +in the North throughout the winter. My name is Henry Ware, this is Paul +Cotter, and these are Tom Ross, Sol Hyde, and Jim Hart. We must have a +word with you at once, where the others cannot hear." + +Tom Ross and Dick Salter, old friends, were already shaking hands. Henry +Ware glanced at the emigrants pressing forward in a great crowd, and +sympathy and tenderness showed in his eyes as he looked at the eager, +childish faces so numerous among them. + +"Will you keep them back?" he said to Daniel Poe. "I must speak to you +where none of those can hear." + +Daniel Poe waved away the crowd, and then took a step forward. + +"We have come," said Henry Ware, in low, intense tones, "to warn you that +you are going to be attacked by a great force of warriors, furnished by +the league of the northwestern tribes. They mean that you shall never +reach Wareville or Marlowe, to double the strength of those settlements. +They would have laid an ambush for you, but we have been among them and we +know their plans." + +A shiver ran through the stalwart frame of Daniel Poe--a shiver of +apprehension, not for himself, but for the five hundred human lives +intrusted to his care. Then he steadied himself. + +"We can fight," he said, "and I thank you for your warning; I cannot doubt +its truth." + +"We will stay with you," said Henry Ware. "We know the signs of the +forest, and we can help in the battle that is sure to come, and also +before and after." + +His voice was full of confidence and courage, and it sent an electric +thrill through the veins of Daniel Poe. Henry Ware was one of those +extraordinary human beings whose very presence seems to communicate +strength to others. + +"We'll beat 'em off," said Daniel Poe sanguinely. + +"Yes, we'll beat 'em off," said Henry Ware. Then he continued: "You must +tell all the men, and of course the women and children will hear of if, +but it's best to let the news spread gradually." + +Daniel Poe went back with the messengers to the wagons, and soon it was +known to everybody that the Indians were laying an ambush for them all. +Some wails broke forth from the women, but they were quickly suppressed, +and all labored together to put the camp in posture of defense. The +strangers were among them, cheering them, and predicting victory if +battle should come. Paul, in particular, quickly endeared himself to them. +He was so hearty, so full of jests, and he quoted all sorts of scraps of +old history bearing particularly upon their case, and showing that they +must win if attacked. + +"There was a race of very valiant people living a very long, long time +ago," he said, "who always made their armies intrench at night. Nobody +could take a Roman camp, and we've got to imitate those old fellows." + +Under the guidance of Paul and his friends, the Roman principle was +followed, at least in part. The wagons were drawn up in a great circle in +an open space, where they could not be reached by a rifle shot from the +trees, and then more than two hundred men, using pick and spade, speedily +threw up an earthwork three feet high that inclosed the wagons. Henry Ware +regarded it with the greatest satisfaction. + +"I don't know any Indian force," he said, "that will rush such a barrier +in the face of two or three hundred rifles. Now, Mr. Poe, you post guards +at convenient intervals, and the rest of you can take it easy inside." + +The guards were stationed, but inside the ring of wagons many fires burned +brightly, and around them was a crowd that talked much, but talked low. +The women could not sleep, nor could the children, whose curiosity was +intensely aroused by the coming of these extraordinary-looking strangers. +The larger of the children understood the danger, but the smaller did not, +and their spirits were not dampened at all. + +The night came down, a great blanket of darkness, in the center of which +the camp fires were now fused together into a cone of light. A few stars +came out in the dusky heavens, and twinkled feebly. The spring wind sighed +gently among the new leaves of the forest. The voices of women and +children gradually died. Some slept in blankets before the fires, and +others in the wagons, whose stout oak sides would turn any bullet. + +Daniel Poe walked just outside the circle of the wagons, and his heart was +heavy with care. Yet he was upborne by the magnetic personality of Henry +Ware, who walked beside him. + +"How far from us do you think they are now?" he asked. + +"Fifty miles, perhaps, and they are at least a thousand strong. It was +their object to fall suddenly upon you in the dark, but when their scouts +find that you fortify every night, they will wait to ambush you on the +day's march." + +"Undoubtedly," said Daniel Poe, "and we've got to guard against it as best +we can." + +"But my comrades and I and Dick Salter will be your eyes," said Henry. +"We'll be around you in the woods, watching all the time." + +"Thank God that you have come," said Daniel Poe devoutly. "I think that +Providence must have sent you and your friends to save us. Think what +might have happened if you had not come." + +He shuddered. Before him came a swift vision of red slaughter--women and +children massacred in the darkness. Then his brave heart swelled to meet +the coming danger. The night passed without alarm, but Henry, Ross, and +Shif'less Sol, roaming far in the forest, saw signs that told them +infallibly where warriors had passed. + +"The attack will come," said Henry. + +"As sure as night follows day," said Ross, "an' it's our business to know +when it's about to come." + +Henry nodded, and the three sped on in their great circle about the camp, +not coming in until a little before day, when they slept briefly before +one of the fires. When the people arose and found that nothing had +happened, they were light-hearted. Nothing had happened, so nothing would +happen, they said to themselves; they were too strong for the danger that +had threatened, and it would pass them by. Day was so much more cheerful +than night. + +They ate breakfast, their appetites brisk in the crisp morning air, and +resumed the march. But they advanced slowly, the wagons in a close, triple +file, with riflemen on either side. But Daniel Poe knew that their chief +reliance now was the eyes of the five strangers, who were in the forest on +either side and in front. They had made a deep impression upon him, as +they had upon every other person with whom they came into contact. He had +the most implicit confidence in their courage, skill, and faith. + +The wagons went slowly on through the virgin wilderness, Daniel Poe and +Dick Salter at their head, the riflemen all along the flanks. + +"We'll strike a river some time to-morrow," said Salter. "It's narrow and +deep, and the ford will be hard." + +"I wish we were safely on the other side," said Daniel Poe. + +"So do I," said Dick Salter, and his tone was full of meaning. + +Yet the day passed as the night had passed, and nothing happened. They had +safely crossed the mountains, and before them were gentle, rolling hills +and open forest. The country steadily grew more fertile, and often game +sprang up from the way, showing that man trod there but little. The day +was of unrivaled beauty, a cloudless blue sky overhead, green grass under +foot, and a warm, gentle wind always blowing from the south. How could +danger be threatening under such a smiling guise? But the "eyes" of the +train, which nothing escaped, the five who watched on every side, saw the +Indian sign again and again, and always their faces were grave. + +"The train carries many brave men," said Henry, "but it will need every +one of them." + +"Yes," said Tom Ross; "an' ef the women, too, kin shoot, so much the +better." + +That night they encamped again in one of the openings so numerous +throughout the country, and, as before, they fortified; but the women and +children were getting over their fear. They were too strong. The Indians +would not dare to attack a train defended by three hundred marksmen--two +hundred and fifty men and at least fifty women who could and would shoot +well. So their voices were no longer subdued, and jest and laughter passed +within the circle of the wagons. + +Paul remained by one of the fires, Henry and Shif'less Sol suggesting that +he do so because he was already a huge favorite with everybody. He was +sitting comfortably before the coals, leaning against a wagon wheel, and +at least a score of little boys and girls were gathered about him. They +wanted to know about the great wilderness, and the fights of himself and +his comrades with the red warriors. Paul, though modest, had the gift of +vivid narrative. He described Wareville, that snug nest there in the +forest, and the great battle before its wooden walls; how the women, led +by a girl, had gone forth for water; how the savages had been beaten off, +and the dreadful combat afterward in the forest through the darkness and +the rain. He told how he had been struck down by a bullet, only to be +carried off and saved by his comrade, Henry Ware--the bravest, the most +skillful, and the strongest hunter, scout, and warrior in all the West. +Then he told them something of their life in the winter just closed, +although he kept the secret of the haunted island, which was to remain the +property of his comrades and himself. + +The children hung upon his words. They liked this boy with the brilliant +eyes, the vivid imagination, and the wonderful gift of narrative, that +could make everything he told pass before their very eyes. + +"And now that's enough," said Paul at last. "You must all go to sleep, as +you are to start on your journey again early in the morning. Now, off with +you, every one of you!" + +He rose, despite their protests, this prince of story tellers, and, +bidding them good-night, strolled with affected carelessness outside the +circle of wagons. The night was dark, like the one preceding, but the +riflemen were on guard within the shadows of the wagons. + +"Do you see anything?" Paul asked of one. + +"Nothing but the forest," he replied. + +Paul strolled farther, and saw a dark figure among the trees. As he +approached he recognized Shif'less Sol. + +"Any news, Sol?" he asked. + +"Yes," replied the shiftless one, "we've crossed trails of bands three +times, but the main force ain't come up yet. I guess it means to wait a +little, Paul. I'm awful glad we've come to help out these poor women an' +children." + +"So am I," said Paul, glancing at the black forest. "They've got to go +through a terrible thing, Sol." + +"Yes, an' it's comin' fast," said the shiftless one. + +But nothing happened that night, at least so far as the camp was +concerned. The sentinels walked up and down outside, and were not +disturbed. The women and children slept peacefully in the wagons, or in +their blankets before the fires, and the clear dawn came, silver at first +and then gold under a sky of blue. + +The "eyes" of the train had come in as before, and taken their nap, and +now were up and watching once more. Breakfast over, the drivers swung +their whips, called cheerfully to their horses, and the wagons, again in +three close files, resumed the march. + +"We'll strike the ford about noon to-day," said Dick Salter to Daniel Poe. + +"I wish we were safely on the other side," said Daniel Poe, in the exact +words of the day before. + +"So do I," repeated Dick Salter. + +The wagons moved forward undisturbed, their wheels rolling easily over the +soft turf, and some of the women, forgetting their alarms, softly sang +songs of their old homes in the East. The children, eager to see +everything in this mighty, unknown land, called to each other; but all the +time, as they marched through the pleasant greenwood, danger was coming +closer and closer. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE TERRIBLE FORD + + +"The ford ain't much more than an hour's march farther on," said Dick +Salter to Daniel Poe, "an' the way to it leads over purty smooth groun'." + +"And we have not seen anything of the warriors yet, except the trails of +small bands," said Daniel Poe hopefully. "It may be that our new friends +are mistaken." + +Dick Salter shook his head. + +"Tom Ross never makes a mistake in matters uv that kind," he said, "an' +that boy, Henry Ware, couldn't ef he tried. He's wonderful, Mr. Poe." + +"Yes," said Daniel Poe. "Nobody else ever made such an impression upon me. +And the one they call Paul is a fine fellow, too. I wish I had a son like +that." + +"He's the most popular fellow in the train already," said Dick Salter. + +Both looked admiringly at Paul, who was walking near the head of the line, +a group of lithe, strong-limbed boys and girls surrounding him and +begging him for stories of the wilderness. Paul remained with the train by +arrangement. It was his business to cheer, invigorate, and hearten for a +great task, while his comrades roamed the forest and looked for the danger +that they knew would surely come. Never did youth succeed better at his +chosen task, as confidence spread from him like a contagion. + +Paul presently quickened his steps, and came quite to the head of the +line, where Daniel Poe and Dick Salter were walking, both circling the +forest ahead of them with anxious eyes. They and Paul at the same time saw +a figure emerge from the woods in front. It was Henry, and he was coming +on swift foot. In an instant he was before them, and Paul knew by his look +that he had news. + +"They are waiting?" said Paul. + +"Yes," replied Henry. "They are in the thickets at the ford, less than two +miles ahead." + +Daniel Poe shuddered again--for the five hundred lives in his charge--and +then his heart rose. The waiting, the terrible suspense, were over, and it +was battle now. The fact contained relief. + +"Shall we halt?" he said to Henry. Unconsciously, he, too, was submitting +to the generalship of this king of forest runners. + +"No," replied Henry; "we've got to go on some time or other, and they can +wait as long as we can. We must force the passage of the ford. We can do +it." + +He spoke with confidence, and courage seemed to leap like sparks from him +and set fire to the others. + +"Then it's go ahead," said Daniel Poe grimly. "We'll force the passage." + +"Put all the little children, and all the women who don't fight, in the +wagons, and make them lie down," said Henry. "The men must swarm on either +flank. My comrades will remain in the front, watching until we reach the +river." + +Then a great bustle and the chatter of many voices arose; but it soon died +away before stern commands and equally stern preparations, because they +were preparing to run as terrible a gantlet as human beings ever face, +these dauntless pioneers of the wilderness. The children were quickly +loaded in the wagons, and all the weaker of the women; but with the men on +the flanks marched at least two-score grim Amazons, rifle in hand. + +Then the train resumed its slow march, and nothing was heard but the +rolling of the wheels and the low cluck of the drivers to their horses. +The way still led through an open, parklike country, and the road was +easy. Soon those in front saw a faint streak cutting across the forest. +The streak was silvery at first, and then blue, and it curved away to +north and south among low hills. + +"The river!" said Daniel Poe, and he shut his teeth hard. + +All the men and the Amazons drew a long, deep breath, like a sigh; but +they said nothing, and continued to march steadily forward. The river +broadened, the blue of its waters deepened, and from the high ground on +which they marched they could see the low banks on the farther shore, +crowned by clustering thickets. + +Three men emerged from the undergrowth. They were Tom Ross, Shif'less Sol, +and Long Jim Hart. The shiftless one looked lazy and careless, and Jim +Hart, stretching himself, looked longer and thinner than ever. + +"We found it, Henry," said Ross. "Little more'n a mile to the south, men +wadin' to the waist kin cross." + +"Good!" said Henry. "We're lucky!" + +He began to give rapid, incisive commands, and everyone obeyed as a matter +of course, and without jealousy. Daniel Poe was the leader of the wagon +train, but Henry Ware, whom they had known but a few days, was its leader +in battle. + +"Take fifty men," he said to Ross, "the best marksmen and the stanchest +fighters, and cross there. Then come silently among the thickets up the +bank, to strike them when they strike us." + +Paul listened with admiration. He knew Henry's genius for battle, and, +like the others, he was inspired by his comrade's confidence. The fifty +men were quickly told off behind the wagons, and, headed by Tom Ross and +Jim Hart, they disappeared at once in the woods. Shif'less Sol remained +with Henry and Paul. + +"Now, forward!" said Henry Ware, and the terrible, grim march was begun +again. There was the river, growing broader and broader and bluer and +bluer as they came closer. The children and women--except the Amazons--saw +nothing because they were crouched upon the floors of the wagon beds, but +the drivers, every one of whom had a rifle lying upon the seat beside him, +were at that moment the bravest of them all, because they faced the +greatest danger. + +"Slowly!" said Henry, to the leading wagons. "We must give Sol and his men +time for their circuit." + +He noted with deep joy that the ford was wide. At least five wagons could +enter it abreast, and he made them advance in five close lines. + +"When you reach the water," he said to the drivers, "lie down behind the +front of the wagon beds, and drive any way you can. Now, Sol, you and I +and Dick Salter must rouse them from the thickets." + +The three crept forward, and looked at the peaceful river under the +peaceful sky. So far as the ordinary eye could see, there was no human +being on its shores. The bushes waved a little in the gentle wind, and the +water broke in brilliant bubbles on the shallows. + +But Henry Ware's eyes were not ordinary. There was not a keener pair on +the continent, and among the thickets on the farther bank he saw a stir +that was not natural. The wind blew north, and now and then a bush would +bend a little toward the south. He crept closer, and at last he saw a +coppery face here and there, and savage, gleaming eyes staring through the +bushes. + +"Tell the wagons to come on boldly," he said to Shif'less Sol, and the +shiftless one obeyed. + +"Now, Sol," he said, when the man returned, "take fifty more riflemen, and +hide in that thicket, at the highest part of the bank. Stay there. You +will know what else to do." + +"I think I will," said the shiftless one, and every trace of indifference +or laziness was gone from him. He was the forester, alert and +indomitable--a fit second to Henry Ware. Then Henry and Jim Hart alone +were left near the river's brink. Henry did not look back. + +"Are the wagons coming fast?" he asked. + +"Yes," said Jim Hart, "but I'm beckonin' to 'em to come still faster. +They'll be in the water in three minutes. Listen! The drivers are whippin' +up the horses!" + +The loud cracking of whips arose, and the horses advanced at a trot toward +the ford. At the same instant Henry Ware raised his rifle, and fired like +a flash of lightning at one of the coppery faces in the thicket on the +opposite shore. The death cry of the savage rose, but far above it rose +the taunting shout of the white youth, louder and more terrible than their +own. The savages, surprised, abandoned their ambush. The leading wagons +dashed into the water, and down upon them dashed the picked power of the +allied western tribes. + +In an instant the far edge of the water was swarming with coppery bodies +and savage faces, and the war whoop, given again and again, echoed far up +and down the stream, and through the thickets and forest. Rifles cracked +rapidly, and then blazed into volleys. Bullets sighed as they struck on +human flesh or the wood of wagons, and now and then they spattered on the +water. Cries of pain or shouts of defiance rose, and the furious conflict +between white man and red rapidly thickened and deepened, becoming a +confused and terrible medley. + +Henry Ware and Jim Hart ran down into the stream by the side of the +leading wagons, and loaded and fired swiftly into the dense brown mass +before them. Nor did they send a bullet amiss. Henry Ware was conscious at +that moment of a fierce desire to see the face of Braxton Wyatt amid the +brown horde. He knew he was there, somewhere, and in the rage of conflict +he would gladly have sent a bullet through the renegade's black heart. He +did not see him, but the dauntless youth pressed steadily forward, +continually shouting encouragement and showing the boldest example of them +all. + +A bank of blue and white smoke arose over the stream, shot through by the +flashes of the rifle firing, and out of this bank came the defiant shouts +of the combatants. Suddenly, from the high bank, on the shore that they +had just left, burst a tremendous volley--fifty rifles fired at once. A +yell of pain and rage burst from the savages. Those rifles had mowed a +perfect swath of death among them. + +"Good old Sol! Good old Sol!" exclaimed Henry, twice through his shut +teeth. "On, men, on! Trample them down! Drive the wagons into them!" + +A second time the unexpected volley burst from the hill, and a storm of +bullets beat upon the packed mass of the savages at the edge of the water. +Henry Ware had been a true general that day. Shif'less Sol and his men, +from their height and hid among the bushes, poured volley after volley +into the savages below, spurred on by their own success and the +desperation of the cause. + +The front wagons advanced deeper into the water and the smoke bank, and +the others came, closely packed behind in a huddle. Unearthly screams +arose--the cries of wounded or dying horses, shot by the savages. + +"Cut them loose from the gear," cried Henry, "and on! always on!" + +Swift and skillful hands obeyed him, and some of the wagons, in the wild +energy of the moment, were carried on, partly by a single horse and partly +by the weight of those behind them. The shouts of the savages never +ceased, but above them rose the cry of the dauntless soul that now led the +wagon train. More than one savage fired at the splendid figure, never more +splendid than when in battle; but always the circling smoke or the hand of +Providence protected him, and he still led on, unhurt. They were now near +the middle of the river, and Shif'less Sol and his men never ceased to +pour their fire over their heads and into the red ranks. + +"Now! Now!" muttered Henry, through his shut teeth. He was praying for Tom +Ross and the first fifty, and as he prayed his prayer was answered. + +A great burst of fire came from the thickets on their own side of the +river, and the savages were smitten on the flanks, as if by a bolt of +lightning. It seemed to them at the same moment as if the fire of the men +with the wagon train, and of those on the high bluff, doubled. They +recoiled. They gave back and they shivered as that terrible fire smote +them a second and a third time on the flank. The soul of Shawnee, Miami, +and Wyandot alike filled with dread. In vain Yellow Panther and Red Eagle, +great war chiefs, raged back and forth, and encouraged their warriors to +go on. In vain they risked their lives again and again. The great bulk of +the wagons bore steadily down upon them, and they were continually lashed +by an unerring fire from three points. Well for the people of the wagon +train that a born leader had planned their crossing and had led them that +day! + +"They give, they give!" shouted Henry Ware. "We win, we win!" + +"They give, they give! We win, we win!" shouted the brave riflemen, and +they pressed forward more strongly than ever. By their side waded the bold +Amazons, fighting with the best. + +The wagons themselves offered great shelter for the pioneers. As Henry had +foreseen, they were driven forward in a mass, which was carried partly by +its own impetus. If the Indians had thought to fire chiefly upon the +horses they would have accomplished more, but the few of these that were +slain did not check the progress of the others. Meanwhile, the riflemen +lurked amid the wheels and behind the wagon beds, incessantly pouring +their deadly hail of bullets upon the exposed savages, and the drivers +from sheltered places did the same. The train became a moving fort, +belching forth fire and death upon its enemies. + +The defenders did not advance without loss. Now and then a man sank and +died in the stream, many others suffered wounds, and even the women and +children did not escape; but through it all, through all the roar and +tumult, all the shouting and cries, the train drew steadily closer to the +western bank. + +"Now, boys," shouted Shif'less Sol to his faithful fifty, "they're about +to run! Pour it into 'em!" + +At the same time Tom Ross was giving a similar command to his own equally +faithful fifty, and they closed up on the flank of the allied tribes, and +stung and stung. Henry Ware, through the drifting clouds of smoke and +vapor, saw the savages waver again, and, shouting to the boldest to +follow, he rushed forward. Then Shawnees, Miamis, and Wyandots, despite +the fierce commands of Yellow Panther and Red Eagle, broke and fled from +the water to the shore. There Tom Ross stung them more fiercely than ever +on the flank, and the fire of Shif'less Sol from the high bluff reached +them with deadly aim. They broke again, and, filled with superstitious +terror at their awful losses, fled, a panic horde, into the woods. + +"On, on!" shouted Henry Ware, in tremendous tones. "They run, they run!" + +The whole train seemed to heave forward, as if by one convulsive but +triumphant movement. Shif'less Sol and his men came down from the bluff +and dashed into the water behind them; Ross and his fifty came forward +from the thicket to meet them; and thus, dripping with water, smoke, +blood, and sweat, the whole train passed up the western bank. The terrible +ford had been won! + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE FLIGHT OF LONG JIM + + +Although the terrible ford had been won, Henry Ware knew that the danger +was far from over. The savages, caught on the flank and shot down from +above, had yielded to momentary panic, but they would come again. To any +souls less daring than this band of pioneers, the situation would have +been truly appalling. They were in the vast and unknown wilderness, +surrounded everywhere by the black forest, with the horde, hungry for +slaughter, still hanging upon their flanks; but among them all, scarce one +woman or child showed a craven heart. + +Led by Henry Ware, the wagons filed into an open space--a plain or little +prairie--about a quarter of a mile beyond the ford, and there, still +following his instructions, they drew up in a circle. He considered this +open space a godsend, as no marksmen hidden in the woods could reach them +there with a bullet. As soon as the circle was completed, the women and +children poured forth from the wagons, and began to join the men in +fortifying. There was mingled joy for victory and grief for loss. They had +left dead behind in the river, and they had brought more with them; of +wounds, except those that threatened to be mortal, they took little count. +Even as they worked, scattering shots were fired from the forest, but they +paid no heed to them, as all the bullets fell short. + +Right in the center of the circle, inclosed by the wagons, a half dozen +chosen spademen dug a deep hole, and then the dead were brought forth, +ready for burial. A minister prayed and the women sang. Overhead, the late +sun burned brilliant and red, and from the forest, as a kind of stern +chorus, came the pattering rifle shots. But the last ceremony, all the +more solemn and impressive because of these sights and sounds, went on +unbroken. The dead were buried deep, then covered over, and the ground +trodden that none might disturb their rest. Then all turned to the living +need. + +The five, barring slight scratches suffered by Ross and Shif'less Sol, had +escaped unhurt, and now they labored with the others to throw up the wall +of earth about the wagons. A spring took its rise in the center of the +plain, and flowed down to the river. This spring was within the circle of +the wagons, and they were assured of plenty of water. + +Henry Ware looked over the crowd, and he rejoiced at their spirits, which +had not been dampened by the sight of their dead. They had fought +magnificently, and they were ready to fight again. Already fires were +burning within the circle of the wagons, and the women were cooking +supper. The pleasant odor of food arose, and men began to eat. Daniel Poe, +as usual, turned to Henry. + +"You are sure that they will make a new attack?" he said. + +"Yes," replied Henry. "They have not come so far to retire after one +repulse. We outflanked them there at the river, but they think that they +will certainly get us, burdened as we are with the women and children. +It's still a long road to Wareville." + +"We can never repay the debt we owe to you and your comrades," said Daniel +Poe. + +"Don't think of it. It's the thing that we were bound to do." + +Daniel Poe looked at the setting sun, now red like blood. Far over the +western forest twilight shadows were coming. + +"I wish this night was over," he said. + +"If they attack we'll beat them off," said Henry confidently. + +"But the cost, the cost!" murmured Daniel Poe. + +Paul meanwhile was within the circle of wagons, in his great role of +sustainer. He had fought like a paladin in the battle, and now he was +telling what a great fight they had made, and what a greater one they +could make, if need be. High spirits seemed to flow spontaneously from +him, and the others caught the infection. More than one Amazon looked at +him affectionately, as she would have looked at a son. Shif'less Sol +joined him as he stood by one of the fires. + +"I've been workin' out thar with a spade more'n an hour," said the +shiftless one in a tone of deep disgust, "an' I'm tired plumb to death. +I'll lay down before that fire an' sleep till mornin', ef every one uv you +will promise not to say a word an' won't disturb me." + +A laugh arose. + +"Why, Mr. Hyde," exclaimed one of the Amazons, "they say there was not a +more industrious man in the battle than you." + +"Wa'al," said Shif'less Sol, slowly and reflectively, "a man, ef he's +crowded into a corner, will fight ef his life depends on it, but I kin +come purty near to livin' without work." + +"You deserve your sleep, Mr. Hyde," said the woman. "Just stretch out +there before the fire." + +"I'll stretch out, but I won't sleep," said the shiftless one. + +He was as good as his word, and admiring hands brought him food, which he +ate contentedly. Presently he said in a low voice to Paul: + +"That's right, Paul, hearten 'em up. They've got a lot to stand yet, an' +it's courage that counts." + +Paul knew this truth full well, and he went back and forth in the circle, +ever performing his chosen task, while Henry outside planned and labored +incessantly for the defense against a new attack. Fifty men, sharp of eye +and ear, were selected to watch through half the night, when fifty more, +also sharp of eye and ear, were to take their places. All the others were +to sleep, if they could, in order that they might be strong and fresh for +what the next day would bring forth. + +The scattering fire from the forest ceased, and everything there became +silent. No dusky forms were visible to the defenders. The sun dropped +behind the hills, and night, thick and dark, came over the earth. The +peace of the world was strange and solemn, and those in the beleaguered +camp felt oppressed by the darkness and the mystery. They could not see +any enemies or hear any, and after a while they began to argue that since +the savages could no longer be seen or heard, they must have gone away. +But Henry Ware only laughed as they told him so. + +"They have not gone," he said to Daniel Poe, "nor will they go to-night +nor to-morrow nor the next night. This train, when it starts in the +morning, must be a moving fort." + +Daniel Poe sighed. As always, he believed what Henry Ware said, and the +prospect did not invite. + +The darkness and the silence endured. The keenest of the watchers saw and +heard nothing. The moon came out and the earth lightened, then darkened +again as clouds rolled across the heavens; the camp fires sank, and, +despite their alarms, many slept. The wounded, all of whom had received +the rude but effective surgery of the border, were quiet, and the whole +camp bore the aspect of peace. Paul slipped from the circle, and joined +Henry outside the earthwork. + +"Do you see anything, Henry?" he said. + +"No, but I've heard," replied Henry, who had just come out of the +darkness. "The Shawnees are before us, the Miamis behind us, and the +warriors of the smaller tribes on either side. The night may pass without +anything happening, or it may not. But we have good watchers." + +Paul stayed with him a little while, but, at Henry's urgent request, he +went back inside the circle, wrapped himself in a blanket and lay down, +his face upturned to the cloudy skies which he did not see. He did not +think he could sleep. His brain throbbed with excitement, and his vivid +imagination was wide awake. Despite the danger, he rejoiced to be there; +rejoiced that he and his comrades should help in the saving of all these +people. The spiritual exaltation that he felt at times swept over him. +Nevertheless, all the pictures faded, his excited nerves sank to rest, +and, with his face still upturned to the cloudy skies, he slept. + +Far after midnight a sudden ring of fire burst from the dark forest, and +women and children leaped up at the crash of many rifles. Shouting their +war whoop, the tribesmen rushed upon the camp; but the fifty sentinels, +sheltered by the earthwork, met them with a fire more deadly than their +own, and in a moment the fifty became more than two hundred. + +Red Eagle and Yellow Panther had hoped for a surprise, but when the +unerring volleys met them, they sank back again into the forest, carrying +their dead with them. + +"You were right," said Daniel Poe to Henry Ware; "they will not leave us." + +"Not while they think there is a chance to overpower us. But we've shown +'em they can't count on a surprise." + +The camp, except the watchers, went back to sleep, and the night passed +away without a second alarm. Dawn came, gray and cloudy, and the people +of the train awoke to their needs, which they faced bravely. Breakfast was +cooked and eaten, and then the wagons, in a file of four, took up their +march, a cloud of keen-eyed and brave skirmishers on every side. The train +had truly become what Henry said it must be, a moving fort; and, though +the savages opened fire in the woods, they dared not attack in force, so +resolute and sure-eyed were the skirmishers and so strong a defense were +the heavy wagons. + +All day long this terrible march proceeded, the women and children +sheltered in the wagons, and the savages, from the shelter of the forest, +keeping up an irregular but unceasing fire on the flanks. The white +skirmishers replied often with deadly effect, but it grew galling, almost +unbearable. The Indians, who were accustomed either to rapid success or +rapid retreat, showed an extraordinary persistence, and Henry suspected +that Braxton Wyatt was urging them on. As he thought of the effect of +these continued attacks upon the train, he grew anxious. The bravest +spirit could be worn down by them, and he sought in vain for a remedy. + +They camped the second night in an open place, and fortified, as before, +with a circular earthwork; but they were harried throughout all the hours +of darkness by irregular firing and occasional war whoops. Fewer people +slept that night than had slept the night before. Nerves were raw and +suffering, and Paul found his chosen task a hard one. But he worked +faithfully, going up and down within the fortified circle, cheering, +heartening, and predicting a better day for the morrow. + +That day came, cloudless and brilliant above, but to the accompaniment of +shouts, shots, and alarms below. Once more the terrible march was resumed, +and the savages still hung mercilessly on their flanks. Henry, with +anxious heart, noticed a waning of spirit, though not of courage, in the +train. The raw nerves grew rawer. This incessant marching forward between +the very walls of death could not be endured forever. Again he sought a +way out. Such a way they must have, and at last he believed that he had +found it. But he said nothing at present, and the train, edged on either +side with fire and smoke, went on through the woods. + +A third time they camped in an open space, a third time they fortified; +but now, after the supper was over, Henry called a council of the leaders. + +"We cannot go on as we have been going," he said. "The savages hang to us +with uncommon tenacity, and there are limits to human endurance." + +Daniel Poe shook his head sadly. The awful lacerating process had never +ceased. More men were wounded, and the spirits of all grew heavier and +heavier. Paul still walked among the fires, seeking to cheer and inspire, +but he could do little. Dread oppressed the women and children, and they +sat mostly in silence. Outside, an occasional whoop came from the depths +of the forest, and now and then a rifle was fired. The night was coming +on, thick and ominous. The air had been heavy all the day, and now somber +clouds were rolling across the sky. At intervals flashes of lightning +flared low down on the black forest. Heavy and somber, like the skies, +were the spirits of all the people. A wounded horse neighed shrilly, and +in an almost human voice, as he died. + +"We must take a new step," said Henry; "things cannot go on this way. It +is yet a hundred and fifty miles, perhaps, to Wareville, and if the +savages continue to hang on, we can never reach it." + +"What do you propose?" asked Daniel Poe. + +Henry Ware stood erect. The light of the council fire flared upon his +splendid, indomitable face. All relied upon him, and he knew it. + +"I have a plan," he said. "To-morrow we can reach an unforested hill that +I know of, with a spring flowing out of the side. It is easy to hold, and +we shall have plenty of water. We will stop there and make our stand. +Meanwhile, we will send to Wareville for help. The messenger must leave +to-night. Jim Hart, are you ready?" + +Jim Hart had been sitting on a fallen tree, all humped together. Now he +unfolded himself and stood up, stretched out to his complete length, six +feet four inches of long, slim man, knotted and jointed, but as tough as +wire--the swiftest runner in all the West. Long Jim, ugly, honest, and +brave, said nothing, but his movement showed that he was ready. + +"Jim Hart was made for speed," continued Henry. "At his best he is like +the wind, and he can run all the way to Wareville. He'll leave in a half +hour, before the moon has a chance to rise." + +"He'll never get through!" exclaimed Daniel Poe. + +"Oh, yes, he will!" said Henry confidently. "Bring all the men Wareville +can spare, Jim, and fall upon them while they are besieging us at the +Table Rock." + +Little more was said. Had the train afforded paint, they would have +stained Jim's face in the Indian way; but the utmost that they could do +was to draw up his hair and tie it in a scalp lock, like those of the +Shawnees. Fortunately, his hair was dark, and his face was so thoroughly +tanned by weather that it might be mistaken in the night for an Indian's. +Then Long Jim was ready. He merely shook the hands of his four comrades +and of Daniel Poe, and without another word went forth. + +The night was at its darkest when Jim Hart slipped under one of the wagons +and crept across the open space. The heavy clouds had grown heavier, and +now and then low thunder muttered on the horizon. The fitful lightning +ceased, and this was occasion for thanks. + +Jim Hart crept about twenty yards from the circle of the wagons, and then +he lay flat upon the earth. He could see nothing in the surrounding rim of +forest, nor could he hear anything. A light hum from the camp behind him +was all that came to his ears. He slipped forward again in a stooping +position, stopped a moment when he heard a rifle shot from the other side +of the camp, and then resumed his shambling, but swift, journey. Now he +passed the open space and gained the edge of the woods. Here the danger +lay, but the brave soul of Long Jim never faltered. + +He plunged into the gloom of the bushes and trees, slipping silently among +them. Two warriors glanced curiously at him in the dark, but in a moment +he was gone; a third farther on spoke to him, but he shook his head +impatiently, as if he bore some message, and only walked the faster. Now +his keen eyes saw savages all around him, some talking, others standing or +lying down, quite silent. He was sorry now that he was so tall, as his was +a figure that would cause remark anywhere; but he stooped over, trying to +hide his great height as much as possible. He passed one group, then two, +then three, and now he was a full four hundred yards from the camp. His +curving flight presently brought him near three men who were talking +earnestly together. They noticed Hart at the same time, and one of them +beckoned to him. Long Jim pretended not to see, and went on. Then one of +them called to him angrily, and Jim recognized the voice of Braxton Wyatt. + +Long Jim stopped a moment, uncertain what to do at that critical juncture, +and Braxton Wyatt, stepping forward, seized him by the arm. It was dark in +the woods, but the renegade, looking up, recognized the face and figure. + +"Jim Hart!" he cried. + +Long Jim's right hand was grasping the stock of his rifle, but his left +suddenly flashed out and smote Braxton Wyatt full in the face. The +renegade gasped and went down unconscious, and then Long Jim turned, and +ran with all the speed that was in him, leaping over the low bushes and +racing among the tree trunks more like a phantom than a human being. A +shout arose behind him, and a dozen rifle shots were fired. He felt a +sting in his arm, and then blood dripped down; but it was only a flesh +wound, and he was spurred to greater speed. + +A terrible yell arose, and many warriors, trained runners of the forest, +with muscles of steel and a spirit that never tired, darted after him. But +Long Jim, bending his head a little lower, raced on through the dark, his +strength growing with every leap and his brain on fire with energy. He +passed two or three savages--far-flung outposts--but before they could +recover from their surprise he was by them and gone. Bullets sang past +him, but the long, slim figure cut the air like an arrow in the wind. +After him came the savages, but now he was beyond the last outposts, and +the footsteps of his pursuers were growing fainter behind. Now he opened +his mouth, and emitted a long, quavering, defiant yell--answer to their +own. After that he was silent, and sped on, never relaxing, tireless like +some powerful machine. The pursuit died away behind him, and though some +might hang on his trail, none could ever overtake him. + +The low thunder still muttered, and the fitful lightning began to flare +again. Now and then there were gusts of rain, swept by the wind; but +through all the hours of rain and dark the runner sped on, mile upon +mile. + +Day dawns and finds him still flitting! But now there is full need of thy +speed, Jim Hart! Five hundred lives hang upon it! + +Speed ye, Long Jim, speed ye! + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE LAST STAND + + +Henry Ware and the others, listening at the circle of the wagons, heard +the flare of shots, and then, a little later, a lone but long and defiant +cry, that seemed to be an answer to the others. + +"That's Jim Hart, and he's through!" exclaimed Henry exultantly. "Now +he'll fairly eat up the ground between here and Wareville." + +That night another attack, or rather feint, was made upon the train; but +it was easily beaten off, and then morning came, raw and wet. The woods +and grass were dripping with the showers, and a sodden, gray sky chilled +and discouraged. The fires were lighted with difficulty and burned weakly. +The women and children ate but little, casting fearful glances at the +rain-soaked forest that circled about them. But Paul, as usual, with his +bright face and brighter words, walked among them, and he told them a good +tale. Long Jim Hart, with muscles and a soul of steel, had gone forth that +night, and he would bring help. They were to march to a place called the +Table Rock, where they would stay until the relief came. Gradually +downcast heads were lifted and sunken spirits rose. + +The gantlet began in the usual fashion an hour later, and throughout all +that long, dismal morning it was a continual skirmish. The savages pressed +closer than ever, and all the vigilance and accuracy of the riflemen were +needed to drive them off. One man was killed and several were wounded, but +the borderers merely shut their teeth down the harder and marched on. + +Toward noon they saw a flat-topped hill, with a stony surface, a little +stream running down its side, and Henry uttered a cheerful shout. + +"The Table Rock!" he said. "Here we can hold off all the savages in the +West!" + +The train increased its slow gait, and all hearts grew lighter. The +savages, as if determined that the wagons should not gain the shelter, +pressed forward, but after a short but fierce combat were driven off, and +the train circled triumphantly up the slope. + +It was indeed all that Henry had claimed for it--an ideal place for a +protected camp, easy to defend, difficult to take. Not all the surface was +stone, and there was abundant grazing ground for the horses. The spring +that gushed from the side of the hill was inside the lines, and neither +horse nor man lacked for pure water. + +Now they fortified more strongly than ever, throwing up earthworks higher +than before and doubling the sentinels. Fallen wood was plentiful, and at +Henry's direction the fires were built high and large in order that they +might drive away discouragement. Then a semblance of cheerfulness made its +appearance, and the women and children began to talk once more. + +"Long Jim will go through if any mortal man can," said Henry Ware to +Daniel Poe. + +"Pray God that he succeeds," said Daniel Poe. "Surely, no wagon train ever +before ran the deadly gantlet that ours has run." + +Shif'less Sol strolled into the circle of fires, and sat down with Paul. + +"Now, this is what I call true comfort fur a tired man," he said. "Here we +are with nuthin' to do but set here an' rest, until somebody comes an' +takes us to Wareville. Them savages out thar might save theirselves a heap +o' trouble by goin' peacefully away. Makes me think o' that siege o' Troy +you wuz talkin' about, Paul, only we won't let any wooden horse in." + +"Maybe there is some likeness," said Paul. + +"Maybe thar is," continued Shif'less Sol, in his cheerful tones; "but Tom +Ross wuz right when he said the way them Greeks an' Trojans fought was +plumb foolish. Do you think that me, Sol Hyde, is goin' to take a tin pan +an' go beatin' on it down thar among the bushes, an' callin' on the +biggest boaster o' all the savages to come out an' fight me? No, sir; I +wouldn't go fifty yards before I'd tumble over, with a bullet through me." + +Most of the people laughed, and the shiftless one continued with random, +cheery talk, helping Paul to hearten them. The two succeeded to a great +degree. There was mourning for the dead, but it was usually silent. The +borderers were too much accustomed to hardship and death to grieve long +over the past. They turned themselves to present needs. + +The night was rainy, and unusually cold for that time of the year, and +Henry Ware rejoiced because of it. The savages in the thickets, despite +their hardiness, would suffer more than the emigrants in the shelter of +the wagons. Henry himself, although he caught little naps here and there, +seemed to the others able to do without sleep. He kept up an incessant +watch, and his vigilance defeated two attempts of the warriors to creep up +in the darkness and pour a fire into the train. + +A second day came, and then a third, and the savages resumed their +continuous skirmishing. A single warrior would creep up, fire a shot, and +then spring away. They did little damage, but they showed that no one was +safe for a moment outside the circle of wagons. If help did not come, they +would never leave their rock. + +Time wore on, and the beleaguered camp became again a prey to gloom. Women +and children fell sick, and the hearts of the men were heavy. The ring of +savages drew closer, and more than once bullets fell inside the circle of +the wagons. It was hard work now for Paul and Shif'less Sol to keep up the +spirits of the women and children, and once, at a council, some one talked +of surrender. They might at least get good treatment. + +"Never think of such a thing!" said Henry Ware. "All the men would be +killed, tortured to death, and all the women and children would be taken +away into slavery. Hold on! Jim Hart will surely get through." + +But the warriors steadily grew bolder. They seemed to be animated by the +certainty of triumph. Often through the day and night they uttered +taunting shouts, and now and then, in the day time, they would appear at +the edge of the woods and make derisive gestures. Daniel Poe grew gloomy, +and sadly shook his head. + +"Help must come soon," he said, "or our people will not have spirit to +beat back the savages the next time they try to rush the camp." + +"It will come, it will surely come!" said Henry confidently. + +The worst night of all arrived. More of the women and children fell sick, +and they did not have the energy to build up bright fires. It was to Ross +and Shif'less Sol that this task fell; but, though they kept the fires +high, they accomplished little else. Paul lay down about midnight and +slept several hours, but it was a troubled night. The savages did not +rest. They were continually flitting about among the trees at the foot of +the hill, and firing at the sentinels. Little flashes of flame burst out +here and there in the undergrowth, and the crackle of the Indian rifles +vexed continually. + +Paul rose at the first coming of the dawn, pale, unrested, and anxious. He +walked to the earthwork, and saw Henry there, watching as always, +seemingly tireless. The sun was just shooting above the hills, and Paul +knew that a brilliant day was at hand. + +"At any rate, Henry," Paul said, "I prefer the day to the night while we +are here." + +Henry did not reply. A sudden light had leaped into his eye, and he was +bent slightly forward, in the attitude of one who listens intently. + +"What is it, Henry?" asked Paul. + +Henry lifted his hand for silence. His attitude did not change. Every +nerve was strained, but the light remained in his eye. + +"Paul," he cried, "don't you hear them? Rifle shots, far away and very +faint, but they are coming toward us! Long Jim is here, and Wareville with +him!" + +Then Paul heard it--the faint, distant patter, as welcome sounds as ever +reached human ears. He could not mistake it now, as he was too much used +to the crackle of rifle shots to take it for anything else. His face was +transfigured, his eyes shone with vivid light. He sprang upon the +earthwork, and cried in tones that rang through all the camp: + +"Up, up, men! Long Jim and the Wareville riflemen are coming!" + +The train blazed into action. Forth poured the hardy borderers in scores, +surcharged now with courage and energy. The firing in front of them had +risen into a furious battle, and above the roar and the tumult rose the +cheering of white men. + +"Long Jim has surprised them, and he is half way through already!" cried +Henry exultantly. "Now, men, we'll smite 'em on the flank!" + +In a moment the whole force of the train, the Amazons included, were into +the very thick of it, while Long Jim and two hundred riflemen, dealing +out death on every side, were coming to meet them. The battle was short. +Surprised, caught on both flanks, the savages gave way. There was a +tremendous firing, a medley of shouts and cries for a few minutes, and +then the warriors of the allied tribes fled deep into the woods, not to +stop this time until they were on the other side of the Ohio River. + +Forth from the smoke and flame burst a tall, gaunt frame. + +"Long Jim!" cried Henry, seizing his hand. "It's you that's saved us, +Jim!" + +After him came a fine, ascetic face--the Reverend Silas Pennypacker--and +he fairly threw himself upon his beloved pupil, Paul. And then the brave +men from Wareville pressed forward, and some from Marlowe, too, welcoming +these new people, whom they needed so badly, and who had needed them. But +Daniel Poe said solemnly, in the presence of all: + +"It is these who saved us in the first instance!" + +He indicated the valiant five--Henry Ware, Paul Cotter, Tom Ross, +Shif'less Sol Hyde, and Long Jim Hart. And the whole camp, seeing and +hearing him, burst into a roar of applause. + +The next morning the train resumed its march in peace and safety. + + * * * * * + +It was a month later, and spring had fully come. Once more the vast +wilderness was in deep green, and little wild flowers sprang up here and +there where the sun could reach them. Two youths, unusually alert in face +and figure, were loading pack horses with heavy brown sacks filled to +bursting. + +"This powder has kept dry and good all through the winter," said the +larger of the youths. + +"Yes, Henry," replied the other, "and we are lucky to come back here and +be able to take it into Marlowe, after all." + +Henry Ware laughed. It was a low, satisfied laugh. + +"We have certainly been through many trials, Paul," he said; "but, with +Tom, Sol, and Jim, we bore our part in turning the allied tribes back from +the great war trail." + +Paul Cotter's face was illumined. + +"Kentucky is saved," he said, "and I shall be happy all my life because of +the knowledge that we helped." + +"It is surely a pleasant thought," said Henry. + +Then they whistled to their loaded horses, and marched away through the +greenwood, this time to reach Marlowe in safety. + + +THE END + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Forest Runners, by Joseph A. 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Altsheler. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + img {border: 0;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Forest Runners, by Joseph A. Altsheler + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Forest Runners + A Story of the Great War Trail in Early Kentucky + +Author: Joseph A. Altsheler + +Release Date: February 2, 2005 [EBook #14876] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FOREST RUNNERS *** + + + + +Produced by Kentuckiana Digital Library, David Garcia, Emmy and the +PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<h1><i>The</i> FOREST RUNNERS</h1> + + +<p class="figcenter"><a href="./images/1.jpg"><img src="./images/1-tb.jpg" alt=""A massive black form shot down into the center of the room."" title=""A massive black form shot down into the center of the room."" /></a></p><p class="figcenter">"A massive black form shot down into the center of the room." [<a href="#Page_277"><b>Page 277.</b></a>]</p> + + + +<h1><i>The</i> FOREST RUNNERS</h1> + +<h2>A STORY OF THE GREAT WAR</h2> +<h2>TRAIL IN EARLY KENTUCKY</h2> + +<h3>BY</h3> +<h2>JOSEPH A. ALTSHELER</h2> +<p class="center">AUTHOR OF "THE YOUNG TRAILERS"</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><img src="./images/emblem.jpg" alt="Emblem" title="Emblem" /></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p class="center">D. APPLETON-CENTURY COMPANY<br /> +INCORPORATED</p> + +<p class="center">NEW YORK LONDON<br /> +1936</p> + + +<p class="center">1908, BY<br /> +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY</p> + + + +<p class="center">1935, BY EQUITABLE TRUST CO<br /> +Printed in the United States of America +</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><b>BOOKS BY JOSEPH A. ALTSHELER</b></span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR SERIES</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Hunters of the Hills</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Rulers of the Lakes</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Lords of the Wild</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Shadow of the North</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Masters of the Peaks</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Sun of Quebec</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">THE YOUNG TRAILERS SERIES</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Young Trailers</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Forest Runners</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Keepers of the Trail</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Eyes of the Woods</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Free Rangers</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Riflemen of the Ohio</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Scouts of the Valley</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Border Watch</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">THE TEXAN SERIES</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Texan Star</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Texan Scouts</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Texan Triumph</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">THE CIVIL WAR SERIES</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Guns of Bull Run</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Guns of Shiloh</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Scouts of Stonewall</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Sword of Antietam</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Star of Gettysburg</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Rock of Chickamauga</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Shades of the Wilderness</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Tree of Appomattox</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">THE GREAT WEST SERIES</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Lost Hunters</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Great Sioux Trail</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">THE WORLD WAR SERIES</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Guns of Europe</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Forest of Swords</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Hosts of the Air</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">BOOKS NOT IN SERIES</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Apache Gold</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Quest of the Four</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Last of the Chiefs</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">In Circling Camps</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Last Rebel</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">A Soldier of Manhattan</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Sun of Saratoga</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">A Herald of the West</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Wilderness Road</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">My Captive</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Candidate</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p class="center">D. APPLETON AND COMPANY<br /> New York London</p> + + + +<div class="blockquot"><p>This story, while independent in itself, continues the fortunes + of the two boys who were the central characters of "The Young + Trailers."</p></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td align='right'> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I"><b>I.</b></a></td><td align='left'>PAUL</td> +<td align='right'>1</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_II"><b>II.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>IN THE RIVER</td> +<td align='right'>17</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_III"><b>III.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>THE LONE CABIN</td> +<td align='right'>36</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><b>IV.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>THE SIEGE</td> +<td align='right'>59</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_V"><b>V.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>THE FLIGHT</td> +<td align='right'>72</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><b>VI.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>THE BATTLE ON THE HILL</td> +<td align='right'>91</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_VII"><b>VII.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>WHAT HAPPENED IN THE DARK</td> +<td align='right'>108</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII"><b>VIII.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>AT THE RIVER BANK</td> +<td align='right'>125</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_IX"><b>IX.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>A CHANGE OF PLACES</td> +<td align='right'>142</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_X"><b>X.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>THE ISLAND IN THE LAKE</td> +<td align='right'>157</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XI"><b>XI.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>A SUDDEN MEETING</td> +<td align='right'>176</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XII"><b>XII.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>THE BELT BEARERS</td> +<td align='right'>192</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII"><b>XIII.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>BRAXTON WYATT'S ORDEAL</td> +<td align='right'>217</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV"><b>XIV.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>IN WINTER QUARTERS</td> +<td align='right'>239</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XV"><b>XV.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>WORK AND PLAY</td> +<td align='right'>254</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI"><b>XVI.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>NOEL</td> +<td align='right'>273</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII"><b>XVII.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>FOOTPRINTS IN THE SNOW</td> +<td align='right'>283</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII"><b>XVIII.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>WHAT THE WARRIOR SAW</td> +<td align='right'>295</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX"><b>XIX.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>THE WARNING</td> +<td align='right'>310</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XX"><b>XX.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>THE TERRIBLE FORD</td> +<td align='right'>328</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI"><b>XXI.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>THE FLIGHT OF LONG JIM</td><td align='right'>340</td> +</tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII"><b>XXII.</b></a> +</td><td align='left'>THE LAST STAND</td> +<td align='right'>355</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE FOREST RUNNERS</h2> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I" />CHAPTER I</h2> + +<p>PAUL</p> + + +<p>Paul stopped in a little open space, and looked around all the circle of +the forest. Everywhere it was the same—just the curving wall of red and +brown, and beyond, the blue sky, flecked with tiny clouds of white. The +wilderness was full of beauty, charged with the glory of peace and +silence, and there was naught to indicate that man had ever come. The +leaves rippled a little in the gentle west wind, and the crisping grass +bowed before it; but Paul saw no living being, save himself, in the vast, +empty world.</p> + +<p>The boy was troubled and, despite his life in the woods, he had full right +to be. This was the great haunted forest of <i>Kain-tuck-ee</i>, where the red +man made his most desperate stand, and none ever knew when or whence +danger would come. Moreover, he was lost, and the forest told him nothing; +he was not like his friend, Henry Ware, born to the forest, the heir to +all the primeval instincts, alive to every sight and sound, and able to +read the slightest warning the wilderness might give. Paul Cotter was a +student, a lover of books, and a coming statesman. Fate, it seemed, had +chosen that he and Henry Ware should go hand in hand, but for different +tasks.</p> + +<p>Paul gazed once more around the circle of the glowing forest, and the +shadow in his eyes deepened. Henry and the horses, loaded with powder for +the needy settlement, must be somewhere near, but whether to right or left +he could not tell. He had gone to look for water, and when he undertook to +return he merely went deeper and deeper into the forest. Now the boughs, +as they nodded before the gentle breeze, seemed to nod to him in derision. +He felt shame as well as alarm. Henry would not laugh at him, but the born +scholar would be worth, for the time, at least, far less than the born +trailer.</p> + +<p>Yet no observer, had there been any, would have condemned Paul as he +condemned himself. He stood there, a tall, slender boy, with a broad, high +brow, white like a girl's above the line of his cap, blue eyes, dark and +full, with the width between that indicates the mind behind, and the firm, +pointed chin that belongs so often to people of intellect.</p> + +<p>Paul and Henry were on their way from Wareville, their home, with horses +hearing powder for Marlowe, the nearest settlement, nearly a hundred miles +away. The secret of making powder from the nitre dust on the floors of the +great caves of Kentucky had been discovered by the people of Wareville, +and now they wished to share their unfailing supply with others, in order +that the infant colony might be able to withstand Indian attacks. Henry +Ware, once a captive in a far Northwestern tribe, and noted for his great +strength and skill, had been chosen, with Paul Cotter, his comrade, to +carry it. Both rejoiced in the great task, which to them meant the saving +of Kentucky.</p> + +<p>Paul's eyes were apt at times to have a dreamy look, as if he were +thinking of things far away, whether of time or place; but now they were +alive to the present, and to the forest about him. He listened intently. +At last he lay down and put his ear to the earth, as he had seen Henry do; +but he heard nothing save a soft, sighing sound, which he knew to be only +the note of the wilderness. He might have fired his rifle. The sharp, +lashing report would go far, carried farther by its own echoes; but it was +more likely to bring foe than friend, and he refrained.</p> + +<p>But he must try, if not one thing, then another. He looked up at the +heavens and studied the great, red globe of the sun, now going slowly +down the western arch in circles of crimson and orange light, and then he +looked hack at the earth. If he had not judged the position of the sun +wrong, their little camp lay to the right, and he would choose that +course. He turned at once and walked swiftly among the trees.</p> + +<p>Paul stopped now and then to listen. He would have uttered the long forest +shout, as a signal to his comrade, but even that was forbidden. Henry had +seen signs in the forest that indicated more than once to his infallible +eye the presence of roving warriors from the north, and no risk must be +taken. But, as usual, it was only the note of the wilderness that came to +his ears. He stopped also once or twice, not to listen, but to look at the +splendid country, and to think what a great land it would surely be.</p> + +<p>He walked steadily on for miles, but the region about him remained +unfamiliar. No smoke from the little camp-fire rose among the trees, and +no welcome sight of Henry or the horses came to his eyes. For all he knew, +he might be going farther from the camp at every step. Putting aside +caution, he made a trumpet of his two hands, and uttered the long, +quavering cry that serves as a signal in the forest. It came back in a +somber echo from the darkening wilderness, and Paul saw, with a little +shiver, that the sun was now going down behind the trees. The breeze rose, +and the leaves rustled together with a soft hiss, like a warning. Chill +came into the air. The sensitive mind of the boy, so much alive to +abstract impressions, felt the omens of coming danger, and he stopped +again, not knowing what to do. He called himself afraid, but he was not. +It was the greater tribute to his courage that he remained resolute where +another might well have been in despair.</p> + +<p>The sun went down behind the black forest like a cannon shot into the sea, +and darkness swept over the wilderness. Paul uttered the long cry again +and again, but, as before, no answer came back; once he fired his rifle, +and the sharp note seemed to run for miles, but still no answer.</p> + +<p>Then he decided to take counsel of prudence, and sleep where he was. If he +walked on, he might go farther and farther away from the camp, but if he +stopped now, while he might not find Henry, Henry would certainly find +him. Any wilderness trail was an open road to his comrade.</p> + +<p>He hunted a soft place under one of the trees, and, despising the dew, +stretched himself between two giant roots, his rifle by his side. He was +tired and hungry, and he lay for a while staring at the blank +undergrowth, but by and by all his troubles and doubts floated away. The +note of the wind was soothing, and the huge roots sheltered him. His +eyelids drooped, a singular feeling of peace and ease crept over him, and +he was asleep.</p> + +<p>It was yet the intense darkness of early night, and the outline of his +figure was lost between the giant roots, but after a while a silver moon +brought a gray tint to the skies, and the black bank over the forest began +to thin and lighten. Then two figures, hideous in paint, crept from the +undergrowth, and stared at the sleeping boy with pitiless eyes.</p> + +<p>Paul slept on, and mercifully knew nothing of his danger; yet it would +have been hard to find in the world two pairs of eyes that contained more +savagery than those now gazing upon him. Their owners crept nearer, +looking with fierce joy through the darkness at the sleeping boy who was +so certainly their prey. Their code contained nothing that taught them to +spare a foe, and this youth. In the van of the white invasion, was the +worst of foes.</p> + +<p>The boy still slept, and his slumber was deep, sweet, and dreamless. No +warning came to him while the savage eyes, bright with cruel fire, crept +closer and closer, and the merciful darkness, coming again, tried to close +down and hide the approaching tragedy of the forest.</p> + +<p>Paul returned with a jerk from his peaceful heaven. Hands and feet were +seized suddenly and pinned to the earth so tightly that he could not move, +and he gazed up at two hideous, painted faces, very near to his own, and +full of menace. The boy's heart turned for a moment to water. He saw at +once, through his vivid and powerful imagination, all the terrors of his +position, and in the same instant he leaped forward also to the future, +and to the agony it had in store for him. But in a moment his courage came +back, the strong will once more took command of the body and the spirit, +and he looked up with stoical eyes at his captors. He knew that resistance +now would be in vain, and, relaxing his muscles, he saved his strength.</p> + +<p>The warriors laughed a little, a soundless laugh that was full of menace, +and bound him securely with strips of buckskin cut from his own garments. +Then they stood up, and Paul, too, rose to a sitting position, gazing +intently at his captors. They were powerful men, apparently warriors of +middle age, and Paul knew enough of costume and paint to tell that they +were of the Shawnee nation, bitterly hostile to him and his kind.</p> + +<p>His terrors came back upon him in full sweep. He loved life, and, scholar +though he was, he loved his life in the young wilderness of Kentucky, +where he was at the beginnings of things. Every detail of what they would +do to him, every incident of the torture was already photographed upon his +sensitive mind, but again the brave lad called up all his courage, and +again he triumphed, keeping his body still and his face without +expression. He merely looked up at them, as if placidly waiting their +will.</p> + +<p>The two warriors talked together a little, and then, seeming to change +their minds, they unbound the boy's feet. One touched him on the shoulder, +and, pointing to the north, started in that direction. Paul understood, +and, rising to his feet, followed. The second warrior came close behind, +and Paul was as securely a prisoner as if he were in the midst of a band +of a hundred. Once or twice he looked around at the silent woods and +thought of running, but it would have been the wildest folly. His hands +tied, he could have been quickly overtaken, or, if not that, a bullet. He +sternly put down the temptation, and plodded steadily on between the +warriors, the broad, brown back of the one in front of him always leading +the way.</p> + +<p>It seemed to him that they sought the densest part of the undergrowth, +where the night shadows lay thickest, and he was wise enough to know that +they did it to hide their trail from possible pursuit. Then he thought of +Henry, his comrade, the prince of trailers! He might come! He would come! +Paul's blood leaped at the thought, and his head lifted with hope.</p> + +<p>Clouds swept up, the moon died, and in the darkness Paul had little idea +of direction. He only knew that they were still traveling fast amid the +thick bushes, and that when he made too much noise in passing one or other +of the brown savages would prod him with the muzzle of a gun as a hint to +be more careful. His face became bruised and his feet weary, but at last +they stopped in an opening among the trees, by the side of a little brook +that trickled over shining pebbles.</p> + +<p>The warriors wasted little time. They rebound Paul's feet in such tight +fashion that he could scarcely move, and then, lying down near him, went +to sleep so quickly that it seemed to Paul they accomplished the feat by +some sort of a mechanical arrangement. Tired as he was, he could not close +his own eyes yet, and he longed for his comrade. Would he come?</p> + +<p>Paul's sensitive nerves were again keenly alive to every phase of his +cruel situation. The warriors, lying almost at his feet, were monsters, +not men, and this wilderness, which in its finer aspects he loved, was +bristling in the darkness with terrors known and unknown. Yet his clogged +and weary brain slept at last, and when he awoke again it was day—a +beautiful day of white and gold light, with the autumnal tints of the +forest all about him, and the leaves rustling in a gentle wind.</p> + +<p>But his heart sank to the uttermost depths when he looked at the warriors. +By day they seemed more brutal and pitiless than at night. From their +long, narrow eyes shone no ray of mercy, and the ghastly paint on their +high cheek bones deepened their look of ferocity. It was not the +appearance of the warriors alone, it was more the deed for which they were +preparing that appalled Paul. They were raking dead leaves and fallen +brushwood of last year around a small but stout sapling, and they went on +with their task in a methodical way.</p> + +<p>Paul knew well, too well. Hideous tales of such doings had come now and +then to his ears, but he had never dreamed that he, Paul Cotter, in his +own person would be such a victim. Even now it seemed incredible in the +face of this beautiful young world that stretched away from him, so quiet +and so peaceful. He, who already in his boyhood was planning great things +for this splendid land, to die such a death!</p> + +<p>The warriors did not cease until their task was finished. It was but a +brief one after all, for Paul had made no mistake in his guess. There was +not time, perhaps, to take a prisoner beyond the Ohio, and they could not +forego a savage pleasure. They dragged the hoy to the sapling, stood him +erect against the slim trunk, and hound him fast with green withes. Then +they piled the dead leaves and brushwood high about him above his knees, +and, this done, stood a little way off and looked at their work.</p> + +<p>The warriors spoke together for the first time since Paul had awakened, +and their black eyes lighted up with a hideous glow of anticipation. Paul +saw it, and an icy chill ran through all his veins. Had not the green +withes held him, he would have fallen to the ground. Once more his active +mind, foreseeing all that would come, had dissolved his strength for the +moment; but, as always, his will brought his courage back, and he shut his +eyes to put away the hateful sight of the gloating savages.</p> + +<p>He had never asked in any way for mercy, he had never uttered a word of +protest, and he resolved that he would not cry out if he could help it. +They should not rejoice too much at his sufferings; he would die as they +were taught to die, and he would show to them that the mind of a white boy +could supply the place of a red man's physical fortitude. But Henry might +come! Would he come? Oh, would he come? Resigned to death, Paul yet hoped +for life.</p> + +<p>He opened his eyes, and the warriors were still standing there, looking at +him; but in a moment one approached, and, bending down, began to strike +flint and steel amid the dry leaves at the boy's feet. Again, despite +himself, the shivering chill ran through Paul's veins. Would Henry come? +If he came at all, he must now come quickly, as only a few minutes were +left.</p> + +<p>The leaves were obstinate; sparks flew from the flint and steel, but there +was no blaze. Paul looked down at the head of the warrior who worked +patiently at his task. The second warrior stood on one side, watching, and +when Paul glanced at him he saw the savage move ever so little, but as if +driven by a sudden impulse, and then raise his head in the attitude of one +who listened intently. Heat replaced the ice in Paul's veins. Had +something moved in the forest? Was it Henry? Would he come?</p> + +<p>The standing warrior uttered a low sound, and he who knelt with the flint +and steel raised his head. Something had moved in the forest! It might be +Henry. For Paul, the emotions of a life were concentrated in a single +moment. Fear and hope tripped over each other, and the wilderness grew +dim to his sight. A myriad of little black specks danced before his eyes, +and the blood was beating a quick march in his ears.</p> + +<p>The two savages were motionless, as if carved of brown marble, and over +all the wilderness hung silence. Then out of the silence came a sharp +report, and the warrior who stood erect, rifle in hand, fell to the earth, +stricken by instant death. Henry had come! His faithful comrade had not +failed him! Paul shouted aloud in his tremendous relief and joy, forgetful +of the second warrior.</p> + +<p>The kneeling savage sprang to his feet, but he had made a fatal mistake. +To light the fire for the torture, he had left his rifle leaning against +the trunk of a tree twenty feet away, and before he could regain it a +terrible figure bounded from the bushes, the figure of a great youth, clad +in buckskin, his face transformed with anger and his eyes alight. Before +the savage could reach his weapon he went down, slain by a single blow of +a clubbed rifle, and the next moment Henry was cutting Paul loose with a +few swift slashes of his keen hunting knife.</p> + +<p>"I knew you would come! I knew it!" exclaimed Paul joyously and wildly, as +he stood forth free. "Nobody in the world but you could have done it, +Henry!"</p> + +<p>"I don't know about that, Paul," said Henry, "but I'd have had you back +sooner if it hadn't been for the dark. I followed you all night the best +way I could, but I couldn't come up to you until day, and they began work +then."</p> + +<p>He glanced significantly at the leaves and brushwood, and then, handing +Paul's rifle to him, looked at those belonging to the savages.</p> + +<p>"We'll take 'em," he said. "It's likely we'll need 'em, and their powder +and bullets will be more than welcome, too."</p> + +<p>Paul was rubbing his wrists and ankles, where the blood flowed painfully +as the circulation was restored, but to him the whole affair was ended. +His life had been saved at the last moment, and the world was more +brilliant and beautiful than ever. His imagination went quickly to the +other extreme. There was no more danger.</p> + +<p>But Henry Ware did not lose his eager, wary look. It did not take him more +than a minute to transfer the ammunition of the warriors to the pouches +and powder-horns of Paul and himself. Then he searched the forest with +keen, suspicious glances.</p> + +<p>"Come, Paul," he said, "we must run. The woods are full of the savages. +I've found out that there's a great war party between us and Marlowe, and +I've hid the powder in a cave. I turned the horses loose, hoping that +we'll get 'em some time later; but just now you and I have to save +ourselves."</p> + +<p>Paul came back to earth. Danger still threatened! But he was free for the +time, and he was with his comrade!</p> + +<p>"You lead the way, Henry," he said. "I'll follow, and do whatever you +say."</p> + +<p>Henry Ware made no reply, but bent his ear again, in the attitude of one +who listens. Paul watched his face attentively, seeking to read his +knowledge there.</p> + +<p>"The big war band is not far away," said Henry, "and it's likely that +they've heard my shot. It would carry far on such a still, clear morning +as this. I didn't want them to hear it."</p> + +<p>"But I'm glad you did shoot," said Paul. "It was a mighty welcome sound to +me."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Henry, with grim humor, "it was the right thing at the right +time. Hark to that!" A single note, very faint and very far, rose and was +quickly gone, like the dying echo of music. Only the trained ranger of the +wilderness would have noticed it at all, but Henry Ware knew.</p> + +<p>"Yes, they've heard," he said, "and they're telling it to each other. They +are also telling it to us. They're between us and Marlowe, and they are +between us and Wareville, so we must run to the north, and run as fast as +we can."</p> + +<p>He led the way with swift, light footsteps through the forest, and Paul +followed close behind, each boy carrying on his shoulder two rifles and at +his waist a double stock of bullets and powder.</p> + +<p>Paul scarcely felt any fear now for the future. The revulsion from the +stake and torture was so great that it did not seem to him that he could +be taken again. Moreover, they had seized him the first time when he was +asleep. They had taken an unfair advantage.</p> + +<p>The sun rose higher, gilding the brown forest with fine filmy gold, like a +veil, and the boys ran silently on among the trees and the undergrowth. +Behind them, and spread out like a fan, came many warriors, fierce for +their lives. Amid such scenes was the Great West won.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II" />CHAPTER II</h2> + +<p>IN THE RIVER</p> + + +<p>Paul, while not the equal of Henry in the woods, was a strong and enduring +youth. His muscles were like wire, and there were few better runners west +of the mountains. Although the weight of the second rifle might tell after +a while, he did not yet feel it, and with springy step he sped after +Henry, leaving the choice of course and all that pertained to it to his +comrade. After a while they heard a second cry—a wailing note—and Henry +raised his head a little.</p> + +<p>"They've come to the two who fell," he said.</p> + +<p>But after the single lament, the warriors were silent, and Paul heard +nothing more in the woods but their own light footsteps and his own long +breathing. Little birds flitted through the boughs of the trees, and now +and then a hare hopped up and ran from their path. The silence became +terrible, full of omens and presages, like the stillness before coming +thunder.</p> + +<p>"It means something," said Henry; "I think we've stumbled into a regular +nest of those Shawnees, and they're likely to be all about us."</p> + +<p>As if confirming his words, the far, faint note came from their right, and +then, in reply, from their left. Henry stopped so quickly that Paul almost +ran into him.</p> + +<p>"I was afraid it would be that way," he said. "They're certainly all +around us except in front, and maybe there, too."</p> + +<p>Visions of the torture rose before Paul again.</p> + +<p>"What are we to do?" he said.</p> + +<p>"We must hide."</p> + +<p>"Hide I Why, they could find us in the forest, as I would find a man in an +open field."</p> + +<p>"I don't mean hide here," said Henry; "the river is just ahead, and I +think that if we reach it in time we can find a place. Come, Paul, we must +run as we never ran before."</p> + +<p>The two boys sped with long, swift bounds through the forest as only those +who run for their lives can run. Now the voices of the pursuit became +frequent, and began to multiply. Henry, with his instinctive skill in the +forest, read their meaning. The pursuers were sure of triumph. But Henry +shut his lips tightly, and resolved that he and Paul should yet elude +them.</p> + +<p>"The river is not more than a half mile ahead," he said. "Come, Paul, +faster! A little faster, if you can!"</p> + +<p>Paul obeyed, and the two, bending their heads lower, sped on with +astonishing speed. Trees and bushes slid behind them. Before them appeared +a blue streak, that broadened swiftly and became a river.</p> + +<p>"We must not let them see us," said Henry. "Bend as low as you can, and be +as quiet as you can!"</p> + +<p>Paul obeyed, and in a few more minutes they were at the river's edge.</p> + +<p>"Fasten your bullets and powder around your neck," said Henry, "and keep +the rifle on your shoulder."</p> + +<p>Paul did so, following Henry's quick example, and the two stepped into the +water, which soon reached to their waists. Henry had been along this river +before, and at this crisis in the lives of his comrade and himself he +remembered. Dense woods lined both banks of the stream, which was narrow +here for miles, and a year or two before a hurricane had cut down the +trees as a reaper mows the wheat. The surface of the water was covered +with fallen trunks and boughs, and for a half mile at least they had +become matted together like a great raft, out of which grass and weeds +already were growing. But Paul did not know it, and suddenly he stopped.</p> + +<p>"Why, what has become of the river?" he exclaimed, pointing ahead.</p> + +<p>The stream seemed to stop against a bank of logs and foliage.</p> + +<p>Henry laughed softly.</p> + +<p>"It is the great natural raft," he said. "There is where we are to hide."</p> + +<p>He hastened his steps, wading as rapidly as he could, and Paul kept by his +side. He comprehended Henry's plan, their last and desperate chance. In a +few moments more they were at the great raft, and in the bank, amid a +dense, almost impenetrable mass of foliage, they hid their rifles and +ammunition. Henry uttered a deep sigh as he did it.</p> + +<p>"I hate like everything to leave them," he said, "but if we come to close +quarters with any of those fellows, we must trust to our knives and +hatchets."</p> + +<p>Then he turned reluctantly away. It was not a deep river, nowhere above +their necks, and he pushed a way amid the trees and foliage that were +packed upon the surface, Paul, as usual, following closely. Now and then +he dived under a big log, and came up on the other side, his head well +hidden among upthrust boughs and among the weeds and grass that had grown +in the soil formed by the silt of the river. And Paul always carefully +imitated him.</p> + +<p>When they were about thirty yards into the mass Paul felt Henry's hand on +his shoulder. "Look back, Paul," was whispered in his ear, "but be sure +not to move a single bough." Paul slowly and cautiously turned his head, +and saw a sight that made him quiver.</p> + +<p>Running swiftly, savage warriors were coming into view on either bank of +the river—tall men, dark with paint, and, as he well knew, hot with the +desire to take life.</p> + +<p>"I thank God that this place is here!" breathed Paul.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it was just made for us," said Henry, and he laughed ever so little. +"Come, Paul, we must get farther into it. But be sure you don't shake any +boughs."</p> + +<p>They waded on, only their heads above the current, and these always hidden +by the interlacing trunks and branches. A great shout, fierce with +triumph, rose behind them.</p> + +<p>"They've found where our trail entered the water, and they think they've +got us," whispered Henry. "Now, be still, Paul; we'll hide here."</p> + +<p>They pushed themselves into a mass of debris, where logs and boughs, swept +by the current, formed a little arch over the stream. There they stood up +to their chins in water, with their heads covered by the arch. Through +the slits between the trunks and boughs they could see their pursuers.</p> + +<p>It was a numerous band—thirty or forty men—and they divided now into +several parties. Some ran along the banks of the stream and others sprang +from log to log over the raft, searching everywhere, with keen, black eyes +trained to note every movement of the wilderness.</p> + +<p>Paul felt Henry's hand again on his shoulder, but neither boy spoke. Both +felt as if they were in a little cage, with the fiercest of all wild +animals around it and reaching long paws through the bars at them. Each +sank a little deeper into the water, barely leaving room to breathe, and +watched their enemies still searching, searching everywhere. They heard +the patter of moccasins on the logs, and now and then they saw brown, +muscular legs passing by. Two warriors stopped within ten feet of them and +exchanged comment. Henry, who understood their language, knew that they +were puzzled and angry. But Paul, without knowing a word that they said, +understood, too. His imagination supplied the place of knowledge. They +were full of wrath because they had lost the trail of the two whom they +had regarded as certainly theirs, and to seek them in the vast maze of +logs and brush was like looking for one dead leaf among the millions.</p> + +<p>The two warriors stood still for a full minute, and then moved on out of +sight. Paul drew a deep breath of relief, like a sigh, and Henry's hand +was pressed once more upon his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Not a sound yet, not a sound, Paul!" he whispered ever so softly. "They +will hunt here a long time."</p> + +<p>More warriors, treading on the logs, showed that his caution was not +misplaced. They poked now and then in the water, amid the great mass of +debris, and one stood on a log so near to the two lads that they could +have reached out and touched his moccasined feet. But their covert was too +close to be suspected, and soon the man passed on.</p> + +<p>Presently all of them were out of sight; but Henry, a true son of caution +and the wilderness, would not yet let Paul stir.</p> + +<p>"They will come back this way," he said. "We risk nothing by waiting, and +we may save much."</p> + +<p>Paul made no protest, but he was growing cold. The chill from the water of +the river was creeping into his veins, and he longed for the dry land and +a chance to stir about. Yet he clenched his teeth and resolved to endure. +He would not move until Henry gave the word.</p> + +<p>He saw what a wise precaution it was, when, a half hour later, seven or +eight warriors came walking back on the logs, and thrust with sticks into +the little patches of open water between them. Henry and Paul crouched +closer in their covert, and the warriors stalked back and forth, still +searching.</p> + +<p>Henry knew that the Shawnees, failing to find a place beyond the debris +where the fugitives had emerged upon the bank, would believe that they +might be hidden under the logs, and would not give up the hunt there. If +they should happen to find the rifles and ammunition, they would certainly +be confirmed in the conclusion, but so far they had not found them. Henry, +looking between the logs, saw them pass near the place of concealment, but +they did not stop, and were soon near the other bank. It would have +bitterly hurt his pride if they had found the rifles, even had he and Paul +escaped.</p> + +<p>An hour more they waited, and then the last warrior was out of sight, gone +up the river.</p> + +<p>"I think we may crawl out now," whispered Henry; "but we've still got to +be mighty careful about it."</p> + +<p>Pad took a step and fell over in the water. His legs were stiff with the +wet and cold; but Henry dragged him up, and before trying it again he +stretched first one leg and then the other, many times.</p> + +<p>"We must make our way back through the logs and brush to the rifles," +whispered Henry, "and then take to the woods once more."</p> + +<p>"I think I've lived in a river long enough to last me the rest of my +life," Paul said.</p> + +<p>Henry laughed. He, too, was stiff and cold; but, a born woodsman, he now +dismissed their long hiding in the water as only an incident. The two +reached the precious rifles and ammunition, drew them forth from +concealment, and stepped upon the bank, rivulets pouring from their +clothing, and even their hair.</p> + +<p>"I think we'd better go back on our own trail now," said Henry. "The war +party has passed on, and is still looking for us far ahead."</p> + +<p>"We've got to dry ourselves, and somehow or other get that powder to +Marlowe," said Paul.</p> + +<p>"That's so," said Henry. "We came to do it, and we will do it."</p> + +<p>He spoke with quiet emphasis, but Paul knew that he meant to perform what +he had set out to do, come what might, and Paul was willing to go with him +through anything. Neither would abandon the great task of helping to save +Kentucky. But they were still in a most serious position. They had been +many hours in water which was not now warmed by summer heat, and they were +bound to feel the effect of it soon in every bone. Henry glanced up at +the heavens. It was far past noon, and the golden sun was gliding down the +western arch.</p> + +<p>"I think," said Henry, "that it would be best for us to walk, as fast as +we can on the back track, and then try to dry out our clothing a little."</p> + +<p>He started at once, and Paul walked swiftly by his side. The rivulets that +ran from their clothing decreased to tiny streams, and then only drops +fell. The sinking sun shot sheaves of brilliant beams upon them, and soon +Paul felt a grateful warmth, driving for the time the chill from his +bones. He swung his arms as he walked, as much as the rifles would allow, +and nearly every muscle in his frame felt the touch of vigorous exercise. +His clothing dried rapidly.</p> + +<p>Two hours and three hours passed, and they heard no more the cries of the +warriors calling to each other. Silence again hung over the wilderness. +Rabbits sprang up from the thickets. A deer, frightened by the sound of +the boys' footsteps, held up his head, listened a moment, and then fled +away among the trees. Henry took his presence as a sign that no other +human being had passed that way in the last hour.</p> + +<p>The sun sank, the twilight came and died, and darkness clothed the +wilderness. Then Henry stopped.</p> + +<p>"Paul," he said, "I've got some venison in my knapsack, but you and I +ought to have a fire. While our clothes are drying outside they are still +wet inside and we can't afford to have a chill, or be so stiff that we +can't run. You know we may have another run or two yet."</p> + +<p>"But do we dare make a fire?" asked Paul.</p> + +<p>"I think so. I can hide the blaze, and the night is so dark that the smoke +won't show."</p> + +<p>He plunged deeper into the thickets, and came to a rocky place, full of +gullies and cavelike hollows. It was so dark that Paul could see only his +dim form ahead. Presently their course led downward, and Henry stopped in +one of the sheltered depressions.</p> + +<p>"Now we'll make our fire," he said.</p> + +<p>It was pitchy black where they stood. The walls of the hollow rose far +above their heads, and its crest was lined on every side with giant trees +and dense undergrowth.</p> + +<p>The two boys dragged up dead leaves and brushwood, and Henry patiently +ignited the heap with his flint and steel. A tiny blaze arose, but he did +not permit it to grow into a flame. Heavier logs were placed upon the top, +and the fire only burned beneath, amid the small boughs. Smoke arose, but +it was lost in the black heavens. The fire, thus confined, burned +fiercely and rapidly within its narrow limits, and a fine bed of coals +soon formed. It was time! The night had come on cold, and the chill +returned to Paul's veins. Before the fire was lighted he had begun to +shiver, but when the deep bed of coals was formed, he sat before it and +basked in the grateful and glowing heat.</p> + +<p>"I think we'd better take off our clothing and dry it," said Henry, and +both promptly did so. They hung part of their garments before the fire, on +a stick thrust in the ground, until they were dry, and then, putting them +on again, replaced them with the remainder, to dry in their turn. +Meanwhile they ate of the venison that Henry carried in his knapsack, and +felt very happy. It was a wonderful experience for Paul. This was comfort +and safety. They were only a pin point in the wilderness, but for the +present the stony hollow fenced them about, and the hidden fire gave forth +warmth and pleasure.</p> + +<p>"Do you think you could sleep, Paul?" asked Henry, when they had put on +again the last of the dried clothing.</p> + +<p>Paul laughed.</p> + +<p>"Could I sleep?" he said. "Would a hungry wolf eat? Will water run down +hill? I don't think I could do anything else just now."</p> + +<p>"Then try it," said Henry. "After a while I'll wake you up for your +watch, and take a turn at it myself."</p> + +<p>Paul said not another word, but sank back on the grass and leaves, with +his feet to the great bed of coals. He saw their glow for a moment or two, +then his eyelids shut down, and he was wafted away on a magic carpet to a +dreamless region of happy peace. Henry's eyes, grown used to the dark, +looked at him for a moment or two, and then the larger boy smiled. Paul, +his faithful comrade, filled a great place in his heart—they liked each +other all the better because they were so unlike—and he was silently, but +none the less devoutly thankful that he had come.</p> + +<p>Henry was warm and dry, and as he tested his muscles he found them supple +and strong. Now he took precautions, thinking he had let the fire burn as +long as was safe. He scattered the coals with a stick, and then softly +crushed out each under the stout heel of his moccasin. With the minute +patience that he had learned from his forest life, he persisted in his +task until not a single spark was left anywhere. Then he sat down in +Turkish fashion, with his rifle lying across his lap and the other rifles +near, listening, always listening, with the wonderful ear that noted every +sound of the forest, and piercing the thickets with eyes whose keenness +those of no savage could surpass. He knew that they were in the danger +zone, that the Shawnees were on a great man-hunt, and regarded the two +boys as stilt within their net, although they could not yet put their +hands upon them. That was why he listened and watched so closely, and that +was why he would break his word to Paul and not waken him, keeping the +nightlong vigil himself.</p> + +<p>The night advanced, the darkness shredded away a little before a half +moon, and Henry was very glad that he had put out the last remnant of the +fire. Yet the trees still enclosed the hollow like a black wall, and he +did not think a foe had one chance in a thousand of finding them there +while the night lasted. But he never ceased to watch—a silent, powerful +figure, with the rifle lying across his lap, ready to be used at a +moment's notice. His stillness was something marvelous. Even had it been +light, an ordinary observer would not have seen him move a hair's breadth. +He was a part of the silent wilderness.</p> + +<p>Midnight, and then the long hours. Faint noises arose in the thickets, bet +the ear of the gray statue was alive, and he knew. The rabbits were +hopping about, at play, perhaps, in the moonlight; a deer was passing; +perhaps a panther stirred somewhere; but these were things that neither he +nor Paul feared; it was only man that they dreaded. After a while a +faint, clear note rose, far to the east, and to it came three replies like +it, and also far away. Henry laughed low. They were the familiar signals, +but he and Paul were well hidden, and they would escape through the lines +before morning. They might easily go back to Wareville, too, but he was +resolved not to abandon either the horses or the powder. The powder was +needed at Marlowe, and it would be a bitter humiliation not to take it +there.</p> + +<p>Two hours more passed, and then Henry heard the signals again, but now +closer. By chance, perhaps, the Shawnees had formed their ring about the +right place, and it was time to act. Paul had slept well and was rested, +so Henry leaned over and shook him. Paul opened his eyes, and any question +that he might have wished to ask was cut short at his lips by Henry's low, +but commanding,</p> + +<p>"Caution! Caution!"</p> + +<p>"It is far after midnight, and we must move, Paul," said Henry. "They may +have blundered on our trail before it was dark, and they are still looking +for us. I think they are coming this way."</p> + +<p>Paul understood in a moment, but he asked no question; if Henry said so, +it was true, it did not matter how he knew. He rose, imitating Henry, +taking his two rifles, and they stole silently away from the little cove +that had been so full of comfort for both.</p> + +<p>"We'll go toward the south now," said Henry, "and on your life, Paul, +don't stumble!"</p> + +<p>Paul knew the worth of this advice, and he was woodsman enough to avoid +tripping on the vines and bushes, despite the darkness. One mile dropped +behind them, then two, then three, and Henry suddenly put his hand upon +the shoulder of Paul, who, understanding the signal, sank down at once +beside his comrade.</p> + +<p>The bushes were thick there, but Paul soon saw the danger, of which +Henry's ear had already warned him. A dozen warriors marched in a silent +file through the undergrowth. Well for the two that they were some +distance away, and that the bushes grew thick and long! And well for them, +too, that it was night! The warriors looked keenly on every side as they +passed, apparently seeking out the last little leaf and twig; but, acute +as were their eyes, they did not see the boys in the bushes. And perhaps +it was well for some of them that they did not find what they sought, as +the wilderness furnished no more formidable antagonist than Henry Ware, +and Paul Cotter, too, was both brave and skillful.</p> + +<p>But the warriors passed, and the black wilderness hid them. Henry watched +a little bush that one had brushed against, swinging in the moonlight +with short jerks that became shorter until it grew quite still again. But +he did not yet go. He and Paul knew that they must not move for many +minutes. A warrior might turn on his track, see their risen forms, and +with his cry bring the whole band back again. They yet lay motionless and +still, while the moonlight filtered through the leaves and the silence of +the forest endured. Henry rose at last, and led the way again.</p> + +<p>"They are certainly beating up the woods for us," said he, "and I think +that party will stumble right upon the little hollow where we rested. It +was well we moved."</p> + +<p>They increased their southward pace, and when it was scarcely two hours to +the dawn Henry said:</p> + +<p>"I know of a good place in which to rest, and a still better place in +which to fight if they should find us."</p> + +<p>"Where?"</p> + +<p>"Holt's lone cabin. It's less than half a mile from here. I've had it in +mind."</p> + +<p>Paul did not know what he meant by Holt's lone cabin, but he was always +willing to trust Henry without questions. His imagination, flowering at +once into splendor, depicted it as some kind of an impregnable fortress.</p> + +<p>"Come, we mustn't lose time!" said Henry, and he suddenly increased his +speed, running so fast that Paul had much to do to keep pace with him. +Paul looked up, and he saw why Henry hastened. The black curtain was +rolled back a little in the east, and a splendid bar of gray appeared just +at the horizon's edge. As Paul looked, it broadened and turned to silver, +and then gold. Paul thought it a very phantasy of fate that the coming of +day, which is like life, should bring such terrors.</p> + +<p>They reached a clearing—a high, stony piece of ground—and in its center +Paul saw a little old log cabin, with a heavy open door that sagged on +rude wooden hinges.</p> + +<p>"Come," said Henry, and they crossed the clearing to the cabin, pushing +open the door. Paul looked around at the narrow place, and the protecting +walls gave him much comfort. Evidently it had been abandoned in great +haste. In one corner lay a tiny moccasin that had been a baby's shoe, and +no one had disturbed it. On a hook on the wall hung a woman's apron, and +two or three rude domestic utensils lay on the floor. The sight had Its +pathos for Paul, but he was glad that the Holts had gone in time. He was +glad, too, that they had left their house behind that he and Henry might +use it when they needed it most, because he began to be conscious now of +a great weakness, both of body and spirit.</p> + +<p>Hooks and a stout wooden bar still remained, and as Henry closed the door +and dropped the bar into place, he exclaimed exultantly:</p> + +<p>"They may get us, Paul, but they'll pay a full price before they do it."</p> + +<p>"I'd rather they wouldn't get us at all," said Paul.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless his imagination, leaping back to the other extreme, made the +lone cabin the great fortress that he wished. And a fortress it was in +more senses than one. Built of heavy logs, securely chinked, the single +window and the single door closed with heavy oaken shutters, no bullet +could reach them there. Paul sat down on a puncheon bench, and breathed +laboriously, but joyously. Then he looked with inquiry at Henry.</p> + +<p>"It was built by a man named Holt," said Henry. "He was either a great +fool or a very brave man to come out here and settle alone. But a month +ago, after the Indian wars began, he either became wiser or less brave, +and he went into Marlowe with his family, leaving the place just as it +is."</p> + +<p>"He left in time," said Paul.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III" />CHAPTER III</h2> + +<p>THE LONE CABIN</p> + + +<p>Henry was deeply thankful for this shelter because he knew how badly it +was needed. He went to the single little window, which sagged half open on +hinges made of the skin of the buffalo. He pushed it back in place, and +fastened it, too, with a smaller bar, which he was lucky enough to find +lying on the floor.</p> + +<p>"Well, Paul, we are here," he said.</p> + +<p>As he spoke he looked keenly and anxiously at his comrade.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Henry," Paul replied. "Here we are, and mighty glad am I. It's good +to be in a house again after that river."</p> + +<p>Henry noticed at once that his voice was thinner and weaker than usual, +and he saw also that the color on Paul's face was high—the rest and the +little fire in the forest had not been enough. Again he was deeply +grateful for the presence of the cabin. He looked around, with inquiring +eyes that could see everything. It was dusky in the cabin with both door +and window closed, but he observed with especial pleasure, among the +abandoned articles, a small iron pot, suitable for cooking purposes, and a +large water bowl. When he summed up all, it seemed to this resourceful son +of the wilderness that Fortune had been very kind to them. Then he looked +at Paul and distinctly saw a tremor pass over his frame.</p> + +<p>"Paul," he said, "are you cold?"</p> + +<p>"A little," replied Paul reluctantly. It hurt his pride to confess that he +felt on the verge of physical collapse.</p> + +<p>"Then we must have a fire, and I'm going to build it now."</p> + +<p>"Won't it be dangerous?" asked Paul. "Won't it be seen?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no," replied Henry lightly. "We are alone in the forest now."</p> + +<p>His tone was convincing to Paul, but Henry himself was aware that they +were taking great risks. Yet they must be taken.</p> + +<p>"Now, Paul," he said cheerfully, "you keep a good watch while I bring in +deadwood. But first we will rake clean the welcoming hearth of our good +friends who departed so quickly."</p> + +<p>Ashes and dead coals were lying in the fireplace, and he raked them +carefully to one side. Then he unbarred the door. The crisp October air +rushed into the close, confined space, and it felt very welcome to Henry, +but Paul shivered again.</p> + +<p>"Sit down in one of those chairs and rest, Paul," he said, as he pointed +to two homemade chairs that stood by the wall. "I'll be back in a minute +or two."</p> + +<p>Then he shut the door behind him.</p> + +<p>"I must take the risk," he murmured. It was characteristic of Henry Ware, +that in this emergency not even a vague thought of deserting his comrade +entered his mind. And faithful as he was to Paul, Paul would have been as +faithful to him. Both meant to finish together their great errand.</p> + +<p>Henry looked around. The settler had made but little impression upon the +surrounding forest. The trees had been cut away for a distance of fifteen +or twenty paces on every side, but the wilderness still curved in solid +array about the lone cabin, as if it would soon reclaim its own and blot +out the sole sign of man's intrusion. Everywhere the foliage glowed with +the deep reds and yellows and browns of October, and afar hung a faint +bluish haze, like an early sign of Indian summer. The slight wind among +the leaves had a soothing note, and breathed of nothing but peace. Peace +Henry Ware devoutly hoped that it would be.</p> + +<p>His task was easy. The forest all about was littered with the fallen and +dead wood of preceding years, and in a few moments he gathered up an +armful, with which he returned to the house. Then he brought in dry +leaves, and heaped leaves and wood together in the chimney-place. He +glanced at Paul and saw him trembling. As if by chance he touched his +comrade's hand, and it felt ice-cold. But he did not depart one jot from +his cheerful manner, all his words showing confidence.</p> + +<p>"Now, Paul," he said, "In less than a minute you'll see burning before you +the finest, warmest, glowingest and most comfortable fire in all the +West."</p> + +<p>Paul's eyes glistened.</p> + +<p>Henry drew forth flint and steel, and with a few strokes sent out the +vivifying spark. The dry leaves caught, a light flame formed, the wood +caught in its turn, and then the blaze, leaping high, roared up the +chimney. In a moment the hearth was glowing, and presently a bed of deep +red coals began to grow.</p> + +<p>Paul uttered a low laugh of joy, and spread out his hands to the flames. +The red light glowed across the delicately cut but strong face of the boy, +and Henry noticed now that all his color was gone, leaving his features +white and drawn.</p> + +<p>"Sit a little closer, Paul, a little closer," he said, still in tones of +high, good cheer. "Isn't it the most beautiful fire you ever saw?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Paul, "it is. It looks mighty good, but it's curious that it +doesn't warm me more."</p> + +<p>Henry had closed the door, and it was already very hot in the cabin; but +he decided now on another step—one that would take more time, but it must +be taken.</p> + +<p>"Paul," he said, "I'm going out in the woods to look for something, and I +may be gone at least half an hour. Take good care of our house while I'm +away."</p> + +<p>"All right," said Paul. But as he spoke his teeth struck together.</p> + +<p>Henry closed the door once more, with himself on the outside. Then he +walked to the edge of the clearing, and looked back at the cabin. He had +been careful to choose the kind of wood that would give out the least +smoke, and only a thin column rose from the chimney. The wind caught it +before it rose far, and it was lost among the great trees of the +wilderness. It seemed again to Henry Ware that Fortune was kind to them.</p> + +<p>The single look sufficed, and then, drawing his long-bladed hunting knife +from its sheath, he began to search the forest. Henry Ware had been long a +captive among the Northwestern Indians, and he had learned their lore. He +had gained from the medicine men and old squaws a knowledge of herbs, and +now he was to put it to use. He sought first for the bitter root called +Indian turnip, and after looking more than twenty minutes found it. He dug +it up with his sharp knife, and then, with another search of a quarter of +an hour, he found the leaves of wild sage, already dried in the autumn +air. A third quarter of an hour and he added to his collection two more +herbs, only the Indian names of which were known to him. Then he returned +to the house, to find that the icy torrent in Paul's blood had now become +hot.</p> + +<p>"I can't stand this, Henry," he said. "We've got the door and window +closed and a big fire burning, and I'm just roasting hot."</p> + +<p>"Only a little while longer," said Henry. "The truth is, Paul, you've had +a big chill, and now the fever's come on you. But I'm Dr. Ware, and I'm +going to cure you. When I was up there among the Indians, I learned their +herb remedies, and mighty good some of 'em are, too. They're particularly +strong with chills and fever, and I'm going to make you a tea that'll just +lay hold of you and drive all the fever out of your veins. What you want +to do, Paul, is to sweat, and to sweat gallons."</p> + +<p>He spoke in rapid, cheerful tones, wishing to keep up Paul's spirits, in +which effort he succeeded, as Paul's eyes sparkled, and a gleam of humor +lighted up his face.</p> + +<p>"Well, Dr. Ware," he said, "I'm mighty glad to know what's the matter with +me. Somehow you always feel better when you know, and I'll trust to your +tea."</p> + +<p>He meant what he said. He knew Henry too well to doubt him. Any assertion +of his inspired him with supreme confidence.</p> + +<p>"Now, Paul," Henry resumed, "you keep house again, and I'll find where our +unknown friend got his drinking water."</p> + +<p>He took the iron pot that he had noticed and went forth into the forest. +It was an instinctive matter with one bred in the wilderness like Henry +Ware to go straight to the spring. The slope of the land led him, and he +found it under the lee of a little hill, near the base of a great oak. +Here a stream, six inches broad, an inch deep, but as clear as burnished +silver, flowed from beneath a stony outcrop in the soil, and then trickled +away, in a baby stream, down a little ravine. There was a strain of +primitive poetry, the love of the wild, in Henry's nature, and he paused +to admire.</p> + +<p>He saw that human hands had scraped out at the source a little fountain, +where one might dip up pails of water, and looking down into the clear +depths he beheld his own face reflected back in every detail. It seemed to +Henry Ware, who knew and loved only the wilderness, that the cabin, with +its spring and game at its very doors, would have made a wonderfully snug +home in the forest. Had it been his own, he certainly would have +undertaken to defend it against any foe who might come.</p> + +<p>But all these thoughts passed in a second, treading upon one another's +heels. Henry was at the fountain scarcely a moment before he had filled +the pot and was on the way back to the cabin. Then he cast in the herbs, +put it upon a bed of red coals, and soon a steam arose. He found an old, +broken-sided gourd among the abandoned utensils, and was able to dip up +with it a half dozen drinks of the powerful decoction. He induced his +comrade to swallow these one after another, although they were very +bitter, and Paul made a wry face. Then he drew from the corner the rude +bedstead of the departed settler, and made Paul lie upon it beside the +fire.</p> + +<p>"Now go to sleep," he said, "while I watch here."</p> + +<p>Paul was a boy of great sense, and he obeyed without question, although it +was very hot before the fire. But it was not a dry, burning heat that +seemed to be in the blood; it was a moist, heavy heat that filled the +pores. He began to feel languid and drowsy, and a singular peace stole +over him. It did not matter to him what happened. He was at rest, and +there was his faithful comrade on guard, the comrade who never failed. The +coals glowed deep red, and the sportive flames danced before him. Happy +visions passed through his brain, and then his eyes closed. The red coals +passed away and the sportive flames ceased to dance. Paul was asleep.</p> + +<p>Henry Ware sat in silence on one of the chairs at the corner of the +hearth, and when Paul's breathing became long, deep, and regular, he saw +that he had achieved the happy result. He rose soundlessly, and put his +hand upon Paul's forehead. It came back damp. Paul was in a profuse +perspiration, and his fever was sinking rapidly. Henry knew now that it +was only a matter of time, but he knew equally well that in the +Indian-haunted wilderness time was perhaps the most difficult of all +things to obtain.</p> + +<p>No uneasiness showed in his manner. Now the lad, born to be a king of the +wilderness, endowed with all the physical qualities, all the acute senses +of a great, primitive age, was seen at his best. He was of one type and +his comrade of another, but they were knitted together with threads of +steel. It had fallen to his lot to do a duty in which he could excel, and +he would shirk no detail of it.</p> + +<p>He brought in fresh wood and piled it on the hearth. At a corner of the +cabin stood an old rain barrel half full of water. He emptied the barrel +and brought it inside. Then, by means of many trips to the little spring +with the iron pot, he filled it with fresh water. All the while he moved +soundlessly, and Paul's deep, peaceful slumber was not disturbed. He took +on for the time many of the qualities that he had learned from his Indian +captors. Every sense was alert, attuned to hear the slightest sound that +might come from the forest, to feel, in fact, any alien presence as it +drew near.</p> + +<p>When the store of water was secure he looked at their provisions. They had +enough venison in their knapsacks to last a day or two, but he believed +that Paul would need better and tenderer food. The question, however, must +wait a while.</p> + +<p>The day was now almost gone. Great shadows hovered over the eastern +forest, and in the west the sun glowed in its deepest red as it prepared +to go. Henry put his hand upon Paul's forehead again. The perspiration was +still coming, but the fever was now wholly gone. Then he took his rifle +and went to the door. He stood there a moment, a black figure in the red +light of the setting sun. Then he slid noiselessly into the forest. The +twilight had deepened, the red sun had set, and only a red cloud in the +sky marked its going. But Henry Ware's eyes pierced the shadows, and none +in the forest could have keener ears than his. He made a wide circle +around the cabin, and found only silence and peace. Here and there were +tracks and traces of wild animals, but they would not disturb; it was for +something else that he looked, and he rejoiced that he could not find it. +When he returned to the cabin the last fringe of the red cloud was gone +from the sky, and black darkness was sweeping down over the earth. He +secured the door, looked again to the fastenings of the window, and then +sat down before the fire, his rifle between his knees.</p> + +<p>Paul's slumber and exhaustion alike were so deep that he would not be +likely to waken before morning, so Henry judged, and presently he took out +a little of the dried venison and ate it. He would boil some of it in the +pot in the morning for Paul's breakfast, but for himself it was good +enough as it now was. His strong white teeth closed down upon it, and a +deep feeling of satisfaction came over him. He, too, was resting from +great labors, and from a task well done. He realized now, for the first +time, how great a strain had been put upon him, both mind and body.</p> + +<p>The night was sharp and chill, but it was very warm and comfortable in the +little cabin. Paul slept on, his breathing as regular as the ticking of a +clock, healthy color coming back into his pale face as he slept. Henry's +own eyes began to waver. A deep sense of peace and rest soothed him, heart +and brain. He had meant to watch the night through, but even he had +reached the limit of endurance. The faint moaning of the wind outside, +like the soft, sweet note of a violin, came to his ears, and lulled him to +slumber. The fire floated far away, and, still sitting in his chair with +his rifle between his knees, he slept.</p> + +<p>Outside the darkness thickened and deepened. The forest was a solid black, +circling wall, and the cabin itself stood in deepest shadow. Inside a +fresh piece of wood caught, and the blaze burned brighter and higher. It +threw a glow across the faces of the two boys, who slept, the one lying +upon the bed and the other sitting in the chair, with the rifle between +his knees. It was a scene possible only in the great wilderness of +<i>Kain-tuck-ee</i>.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile word was sent by unknown code through the surrounding forest to +all its inhabitants that a great and portentous event had occurred. Not +long before they had welcomed the departure of the strange intruder, who +had come and cut down the forest and built the house. Then, with the +instinct that leaped into the future, they saw the forest and themselves +claiming their own again; the clearing would soon be choked with weeds and +bushes, the trees would grow up once more, the cabin would rot and its +roof fall, and perhaps the bear or the panther would find a cozy lair +among its timbers.</p> + +<p>Now the strange intruders had come again. The fox, creeping to the edge of +the clearing, saw with his needlelike eyes a red gleam through the chinks +of the cabin. The red gleam smote him with terror, and he slunk away. The +wolf, the rabbit, and the deer came; they, too, saw the red gleam, and +fled, with the same terror striking at their hearts. All, after the single +look, sank back into the shadows, and the forest was silent and deserted. +Paul and Henry, as they slept, were guarded by a single gleam of fire from +all enemies save human kind.</p> + +<p>But as the night thickened there had been a whirring in the air not far +away. An hour earlier the twilight had been deepened by something that +looked like a great cloud coming before the sun. It was a cloud that moved +swiftly, and it was made of a myriad of motes, closely blended. It +resolved itself soon into a vast flock of wild pigeons, millions and +millions flying southward to escape the coming winter.</p> + +<p>Presently they settled down upon the forest for the night, and all the +trees were filled with the chattering multitude. Often the bough bent +almost to the ground beneath the weight of birds, clustered so thick that +they could scarcely find a footing. The fox and the wolf that had looked +at the lone cabin came back now to seek, an easier prey.</p> + +<p>Henry Ware slept until far after midnight, and then he awoke easily, +without jerk or start. The fire had burned down, and a deep bed of coals +lay on the hearth. Paul still slept, and when Henry touched him he found +that he had ceased to perspire. No trace of the fever was left. Yet he +would be very weak when he awoke, and he would need nourishing food. It +was his comrade's task to get it. Henry took his rifle and went outside. +The moon was shining now, and threw a dusky silver light over all the +forest. He might find game, and, if so, he resolved to risk a shot. The +chances were that no human being save himself would hear it. He felt +rather than saw that nothing had happened while he slept. No enemy to be +feared had come, while all his own strength and elasticity had returned to +him. Never had he felt stronger or more perfectly attuned in body and +mind.</p> + +<p>He moved again in a circuit about the cabin, watching carefully, and now +and then looking up among the trees. Perhaps an opossum might be hanging +from a bough! But he saw nothing until he widened his circuit, and then he +ran directly into the myriads of wild pigeons. Here was food for an army, +and he quickly secured plenty of it. The danger of the rifle report was +gone, as he had nothing to do but take a stick and knock off a bough as +many of the pigeons as he wished. Then he hastened back to the cabin with +his welcome burden. Paul still slept, and it pleased Henry to give him a +surprise. He kindled the fire afresh, cleaned two of the youngest, +fattest, and tenderest of the pigeons, and began to boil them in the pot.</p> + +<p>When the water simmered and pleasant odors arose, he was afraid that Paul +would awake, as he turned once or twice on his bed and spoke a few +incoherent words. But he continued to sleep, nevertheless, and at last the +pigeon stew was ready, throwing out a savory odor.</p> + +<p>The day was now coming, and Henry opened the window. The forest, wet with +morning dew, was rising up into the light, and afar in the east shone the +golden glory of the sun. He drew a deep breath of the fresh, good air, and +decided to leave the window open. Then he filled the broken gourd with the +grateful stew, and, holding it in his right hand, shook Paul violently +with his left. Paul, who had now slept his fill, sat up suddenly and +opened his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Here, Paul, open your mouth," said Henry commandingly, "and take this +fine stew. Dr. Ware has prepared it for you specially, and it is sure to +bring hack your strength and spirits. And there's plenty more of it."</p> + +<p>Paul sniffed hungrily, and his eyes opened wider and wider.</p> + +<p>"Why—why, Henry!" he exclaimed. "How long have I slept, and where did you +get this?"</p> + +<p>"You've slept about twenty hours, more or less," replied Henry, laughing +with satisfaction, "and this is wild pigeon stew. Fifteen or twenty +millions roosted out there in the forest last night, and they won't miss +the dozen or so that I've taken. Here, hurry up; I'm hungry, and it's my +turn next."</p> + +<p>Paul said no more, but, thankful enough, took the stew and ate it. Then, +by turns, they used the broken gourd and ate prodigiously, varied by +drinks from the water barrel. They had fasted long, they had undergone +great exertions, and it took much to remove the sharp edge from their +appetites. But it was done at last, and they rested content.</p> + +<p>"Henry," said Paul, upon whose mind the fortunate advent of the wild +pigeons made a deep impression, "while we have had great mischances, it +seems to me also that we have been much favored by Providence. Our +finding of this cabin was just in time, and then came the pigeons as if +specially for us. You remember in the Bible how the Lord sent the manna in +the wilderness for the Israelites; it seems to me that He's doing the same +thing for us."</p> + +<p>"It looks so," replied Henry reverently. "The Indians with whom I once +lived think that the Great Spirit often helps us when we need it most, and +I suppose that their Great Spirit—or Manitou, as they call Him—is just +the same as our God."</p> + +<p>Both boys were now silent for a while. They had been reared by devout +parents. Life in the forest deepens religious belief, and it seemed to +them that there had been a special interposition in their favor.</p> + +<p>"What are we going to do now?" asked Paul at length.</p> + +<p>"We can't take up our journey again for a day or two," replied Henry. +"We've got to get that powder to Marlowe some time or other. Wareville +sent us to do the job, and we'll do it; but you are yet too weak, Paul, to +start again. You don't know how really weak you are. Just you get up and +walk about a little."</p> + +<p>Paul rose and walked back and forth across the room, but in a few moments +he became dizzy and had to sit down. Then he uttered an impatient little +cry.</p> + +<p>"You're right, Henry," he said, "and I can't help it. Find the horses and +take the powder to Marlowe by yourself. I guess I can get back to +Wareville, or come on later to Marlowe."</p> + +<p>Henry laughed.</p> + +<p>"You know I wouldn't dream of doing such a thing, Paul," he said. +"Besides, I don't think they need to be in any hurry at Marlowe for that +powder. We'll rest here two or three days, and then take a fresh start."</p> + +<p>Paul said no more. It would have been a terrible blow to him to have no +further share in the enterprise, but he had forced himself nevertheless to +make the offer. Now he leaned back luxuriously, and was content to wait.</p> + +<p>"Of course," said Henry judicially, "we run risks here. You know that, +Paul"</p> + +<p>"Everybody who lives in Kentucky runs risks, and big ones," said Paul.</p> + +<p>"Then we'll sit here for the present and watch the forest. I don't like to +keep still, but it's a fine country to look at, isn't it, Paul?"</p> + +<p>The love of the wilderness was upon Henry, and his eyes glowed as he +looked at the vast surrounding forest, the circling wall of deep-toned, +vivid colors. For him, danger, if absent, did not exist, and there was +inspiration in the crisp breeze that came over a thousand miles of +untenanted woods. He sat in the doorway, the door now open, and stretched +his long legs luxuriously. He was happy; while he might be anxious to go +on with the powder, he pined for neither Wareville nor Marlowe for their +own sakes.</p> + +<p>Paul looked at his comrade with understanding and sympathy. The forest +made its appeal to him also, but in another way; and since Henry was +content, he would be content, too. Used as he was to hardships and narrow +quarters, the little cabin would not be a bad place in which to pass two +or three days. He turned back to the fire and held out his hands before +the mellow blaze.</p> + +<p>Henry examined the forest again, widening his circle, and saw no traces of +an enemy. He judged that they had passed either to east or west, and that +he and Paul would not be molested just yet, although he had no confidence +in their permanent security. He saw a deer, but in view of their bountiful +supply of pigeons he did not risk a shot, and returned before noon, to +find Paul rapidly regaining his strength. He cooked two more of the +pigeons in their precious iron pot, and then they rested.</p> + +<p>They left both door and window open now, and they could see forest and +sky. Henry called attention to a slight paleness in the western heavens, +and then noted that the air felt damp.</p> + +<p>"It will rain to-night, Paul," he said, "and it is a good thing for you, +in your weakened condition, that we have a roof."</p> + +<p>They ate pigeon again for supper, and their wilderness appetites were too +sharp to complain of sameness. They had barred window and door, and let +the fire die down to a bed of glowing coals, and while they ate, Paul +heard the first big drops of rain strike on the board roof. Other drops +came down the chimney, fell in the coals, and hissed as they died. Paul +shivered, and then felt very good indeed in the dry little cabin.</p> + +<p>"You were a real prophet, Henry," he said. "Here's your storm."</p> + +<p>"Not a storm," said Henry, "but a long, cold, steady rain. Even an Indian +would not want to be out in it, and bear and panther will hunt their +holes."</p> + +<p>The drops came faster, and then settled into a continuous pour. Paul, +after a while, opened the window and looked out. Cold, wet air struck his +face, and darkness, almost pitchy, enveloped the cabin. Moon and stars +were gone, and could not see the circling wail of the forest. The rain +beat with a low, throbbing sound on the board roof, and, with a kind of +long sigh, on the ground outside. It seemed to Paul a very cold and a very +wet rain indeed, one that would be too much for any sort of human beings, +white or red.</p> + +<p>"I think, we're safe to-night, Henry," he said, as he closed and fastened +the window.</p> + +<p>"Yes, to-night," replied Henry.</p> + +<p>Paul slept a dreamless sleep, lulled by the steady pour of the rain on the +roof, and when he awoke in the morning the sun was shining brightly, +without a cloud in the sky. But the forest dripped with rain. He was +strong enough now to help in preparing the breakfast, and Henry spoke with +confidence of their departure the next morning.</p> + +<p>The hours passed without event, but when Henry went as usual through the +forest that afternoon, he came upon a footprint. He followed it and found +two or three more, and then they were lost on rocky ground. The discovery +was full of significance to him, and he thought once of hurrying back to +the cabin, and of leaving with Paul at once. But he quickly changed his +mind. In the forest they would be without defense save their own strong +arms, while the cabin was made of stout logs. And perhaps the danger would +pass after all. Already the twilight was coming, and in the darkness his +own footprints would not be seen.</p> + +<p>Paul was at the door when Henry returned, and he did not notice anything +unusual in his comrade's face, but Henry advised that they stay inside +now. Then he looked very carefully to the bars of the door and the window, +and Paul understood. The danger flashed instantly on his mind, but his +strong will prepared him to meet it.</p> + +<p>"You think we are likely to be besieged?" he said.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Henry.</p> + +<p>Paul did not ask why Henry knew. It was sufficient that he did know, and +he examined his arms carefully. Then began that long period of waiting so +terrible to a lad of his type. It seemed that the hours would never pass. +The coals on the hearth were dead now, and there was no light at all in +the cabin. But his eyes grew used to the dusk, and he saw his comrade +sitting on one of the benches, one rifle across his lap and the other +near, always listening.</p> + +<p>Paul listened, too. The night before the rain had fallen on the board roof +with a soothing sound, but now he could hear nothing, not even the wind +among the trees. He began to long for something that would break this +ominous, deadly silence, be it ever so slight—the sound of a falling nut +from a tree, or of a wild animal stirring in the undergrowth—but nothing +came. The same stillness, heavy with omens and presages, reigned in all +the forest.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV" />CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<p>THE SIEGE</p> + + +<p>The whole night passed without event and the day came. Paul saw the light +grow deeper and deeper, but nothing stirred in the forest. It stretched +before him, a living curve of glowing red and yellow and brown, but it was +now like a sea of dangerous depths, and the little cabin was their sole +island of safety.</p> + +<p>"It's a good thing we brought the extra rifles with us," said Henry. "They +look like good weapons, and they may save us in case of a rush. Ah, there +they come!"</p> + +<p>Paul had noticed nothing, but Henry had seen the bushes at the edge of the +forest quiver, and then move contrary to the wind. His eye did not rest +upon any brown body, but he knew as well as if they had cried out that the +warriors were there. How many? That was the question that concerned him +most. If a great war party, they might hang on a long time; but if only a +small one, he and Paul might beat them off as often as they came. They +had four rifles, plenty of ammunition, enough food to last several days, +and he thanked God for the providential presence of the rain barrel.</p> + +<p>These were but brief passing thoughts, and he never ceased to watch the +forest. Still no sign of a face, but now and then the unnatural quiver of +the bushes, and above them the sun spinning a fine golden, veil over all +the great wilderness.</p> + +<p>"Our guests have come, Paul," said he, "but from safe cover they are +inspecting our front yard."</p> + +<p>"And they don't know yet whether or not they would like to disport +themselves on our lawn."</p> + +<p>"That is just it. They have doubts about their welcome."</p> + +<p>"That being so," said Paul, in the light, jesting spirit that he loved, +"I'll just wait until they knock at our door. Meanwhile I'll take a drink +from that lucky cistern of ours."</p> + +<p>He bent his head into the barrel, and as he drank he felt fresh strength +and courage rushing into his veins.</p> + +<p>"It was great luck, wasn't it, to find this barrel?" he said.</p> + +<p>"It certainly was," replied Henry, and his words came from the bottom of +his heart. "Now you watch while I take a drink."</p> + +<p>Paul did so, but he noticed nothing unusual in the woods. The faint signs +that Henry read with such an unerring eye were hidden from him. But his +skill was sufficient to cover all the cleared space. No warrior could pass +there unseen by him. Henry rejoined him.</p> + +<p>"You watch from one side and I'll take the other," he said.</p> + +<p>They did so, but the single room of the cabin was so small that they were +only a few feet from each other, and could talk together in low tones.</p> + +<p>"It will be a trial of patience," said Henry. "The Indian always has more +time than anybody else in the world, and he is willing to make the most of +it."</p> + +<p>Paul, too, knew that Shawnees, no matter what their numbers, would not yet +risk a headlong attack on the cabin, and now his curiosity as to what they +would do was aroused. It was surprise that Henry and he must guard +against. What was to be expected? His sense of curiosity was as keenly +aroused as his sense of danger.</p> + +<p>Over an hour dragged slowly by, minute by minute. The sun blazed +brilliantly over the wilderness, and the shut little cabin grew close and +hot. No fresh air came except by the loopholes, and it was not enough for +coolness. Paul's forehead grew damp, and his eyes ached from continual +watching at the loophole. Curiosity now began to give way to anger. If +they were going to do anything, why didn't they do it? He watched the +forest so much and so intently that he began to create images there for +himself. A tall stump was distorted into the figure of an Indian warrior, +a clump of bushes took the shape of an entire group of Shawnees, and many +savage, black eyes looked from the leaves. Paul's reason told him that he +beheld nothing, but his fancy put them there, nevertheless. He saw +presently a little jet of smoke, rising like a white feather; he heard a +report, and then the sound of a bullet burying itself with a soft sigh in +a log of the cabin. He laughed at the futility of it, but Henry said:</p> + +<p>"They're just trying us a little—skirmishing, so to speak. Be careful +there, Paul! A chance bullet might catch you in the eye at the loophole."</p> + +<p>More lead came from the forest, and there was a sharp crackle of rifle +fire. Bullets thudded into the stout walls of the cabin, and Paul's soul +swelled with derision. His vivid mind pictured himself as safe from the +warriors as if they were a thousand miles away. He was attracted suddenly +by a slight, gurgling sound, and then a cry of dismay from Henry. He +wheeled in alarm. Henry had sprung to the water barrel, the precious +contents of which were oozing from a little round hole in the side, about +two thirds of the way up. A bullet had entered one of the loopholes and +struck the barrel. It was an unfortunate chance, one in a thousand, and +had not Henry's acute ear detected at once the sound of flowing water, it +might have proved a terrible loss.</p> + +<p>But Henry was rapidly stuffing a piece of buckskin, torn from his hunting +shirt, into the little round hole, and he waved Paul back to the wall.</p> + +<p>"You stay there and watch, Paul," he said. "I'll fix this."</p> + +<p>The buckskin stopped all the flow but a slight drip. Then, with his strong +hunting knife, he cut a piece of wood from the bench, whittled it into +shape, and drove it tightly into the bullet hole.</p> + +<p>"That's all secure," he said, with a sigh of relief. "Now I must get it +out of range."</p> + +<p>He wheeled it to a point in the cabin at which no chance bullet could +reach it, and then resumed the watch with Paul.</p> + +<p>"Aren't you glad, Paul," said Henry, "that you were not in the place of +the water barrel?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Paul lightly, "because a piece of buckskin and a round +stick wouldn't have healed the damage so quickly."</p> + +<p>He spoke lightly because he was still full of confidence. The little cabin +was yet an impregnable castle to him. The crackle of rifle fire died, the +last plume of white smoke rose over the forest, drifted away, and was lost +in the brilliant sunshine. Silence and desolation again held the +wilderness.</p> + +<p>"Nothing will happen for some hours now," said Henry cheerfully, "so the +best thing that we can do, Paul, is to have dinner."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Paul, with his quick fancy. "We can dine sumptuously—venison +and pigeon and spring water."</p> + +<p>"And lucky we are to have them," said Henry.</p> + +<p>They ate of the venison and pigeon, and they drank from the barrel. They +were not creatures of luxury and ease, and they had no complaint to make. +When they finished, Henry said:</p> + +<p>"Paul, you ought to take a nap, and then you'll be fresh for to-night, +when things will be happening."</p> + +<p>Paul at first was indignant at the idea that he should go to sleep with +the enemy all about them, but Henry soon persuaded him what a wise thing +it would be. Besides, the air was all the time growing closer and warmer +in the little cabin, and he certainly needed sleep. His head grew heavy +and his eyelids drooped. He lay down on the bed, and in a surprisingly +quick time was slumbering soundly.</p> + +<p>Henry looked at the sleeping lad, and his look was a compound of great +friendship and admiration. He knew that Paul was not, like himself, born +to the wilderness, and he respected the courage and skill that could +triumph nevertheless. But it was only a fleeting look. His eyes turned +back to the forest, where he watched lazily; lazily, because he knew with +the certainty of divination that they would not attempt anything until +dark, and he knew with equal certainty that they would attempt something +then.</p> + +<p>He awakened Paul in two hours, and took his place on the bench. He had not +slept at all the night before, when they were expecting a foe who had not +yet come, and he, too, must be fresh when the conflict was at hand.</p> + +<p>"When you see shadows in the clearing, wake me, without fail, Paul," he +said.</p> + +<p>Then he closed his eyes, and like Paul slept almost at once. Neither the +weary waiting nor the danger could upset his nerves so much that sleep +would not come, and his slumber was dreamless.</p> + +<p>The afternoon waned. Paul, peeping from the loophole, saw the sun, red +like fire, seeking its bed in the west, but the shadows were not yet over +the clearing. Refreshed by his sleep, and his nerves steadied, he no +longer saw imaginary figures in the wilderness. It was just a wall of red +and yellow and brown, and it was hard to believe that men seeking his +life lay there. By and by the east began to turn gray, and over the +clearing fell the long shadows of coming twilight. Then Paul awakened +Henry, and the two watched together.</p> + +<p>The shadows lengthened and deepened, a light wind arose and moaned among +the oaks and beeches, a heavy, dark veil was drawn across the sky, and the +forest melted into a black blur. Now Henry looked with all his eyes and +listened with all his ears, because he knew that what the warriors wanted, +the covering veil of the night, had come.</p> + +<p>It was a very thick and black night, too, and that was against him and +Paul, as the objects in the clearing were hidden almost as well now as +anything in the forest. Hence he trusted more to ear than to eye. But he +could yet hear nothing, save the wind stirring the leaves and the grass. +Inside the little cabin it grew dark, too, but their trained eyes, +becoming used to the gloom, were able to see each other well enough for +all the needs of the defense.</p> + +<p>Time passed slowly on, and to Paul every moment was tense and vivid. The +darkness was far more suggestive of danger than the day had been. He took +his eyes now and then from the loophole, for a moment, to glance at +Henry's face, and about the third or fourth time he saw a sudden light +leap into the eyes of his comrade. The next instant Henry thrust his +rifle into the loophole and, taking quick aim, fired.</p> + +<p>A long, quavering cry arose, and after that came a silence that lay very +still and deadly upon Paul's soul. Henry had seen in the shadow a deeper +shadow quiver, and he had fired instantly but with deadly aim. Paul, +looking through the loophole on his own side of the cabin, could see +nothing for a little space, but presently arose a patter of feet, and many +forms darted through the dusk toward the cabin. He quickly fired one +rifle, and then the other, but whether his bullets hit he could not tell. +Then heavy forms thudded against the log walls of the hut, and through the +loophole he heard deep breathing.</p> + +<p>"They've gained the side of the cabin," said Henry, "and we can't reach +'em with our rifles now."</p> + +<p>"I did my best, Henry," said Paul ruefully. Conflict did not appeal to +him, but the wilderness left no choice.</p> + +<p>"Of course, Paul," said Henry, with every appearance of cheerfulness, +"it's not your fault. In such darkness as this they were bound to get +there. But they are not inside yet by a long sight. Be sure you don't get +in front of any of the loopholes."</p> + +<p>There came a heavy push at the door, but neither it nor the bar showed the +slightest sign of giving way. Henry laughed low.</p> + +<p>"They can't get enough warriors against that door to push it in," he said.</p> + +<p>The two boys rapidly reloaded the empty rifles, and now each crouched +against the wall, where no chance bullet through a loophole could reach +him. An eye unused to the darkness could have seen nothing there. Their +figures were blended against the logs, and they did not speak, but each, +listening intently, could hear what was going on outside. Paul's fancy, as +usual, added to the reality. He heard men moving cautiously, soft +footfalls going pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat around the cabin, and it seemed to +him a stray word of advice or caution now and then.</p> + +<p>The silence was broken suddenly by a blaze of fire that seemed to come +through the wall, a report that roared like a cannon in the cabin. A spurt +of smoke entered at one of the holes, and a bullet burled itself in the +opposite wall. A savage had boldly thrust the muzzle of his rifle into a +loophole and fired.</p> + +<p>"Be still, Paul," whispered Henry. "They can't hit us, and they are +wasting their ammunition."</p> + +<p>A second shot was tried by the besiegers, but the result was only the +roaring, echoing report, the smoke and the flame, and the bullet that +found a vain target of wood. But to Paul, with an imagination fed by +stories of mighty battles, it was like a cannonade. Great guns were +trained upon Henry and himself. A thin, fine smoke from the two shots had +entered the cabin, and it floated about, tickling his nostrils, and +adding, with its savor, to the fever that began to rise in his blood. He +dropped to his knees, and was creeping, rifle ready, toward one of the +loopholes, eager with the desire to fire back, when Henry's strong hand +fell upon his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"I understand what you want, Paul," he whispered. "I, too, feel it, but it +pays us to wait. Let 'em waste their lead."</p> + +<p>Paul stopped, ashamed of himself, and his blood grew cooler. He was not +one to wish anybody's life, and again his mind rebelled at the necessity +of conflict.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Henry," he said, and resumed his place by the wall.</p> + +<p>No more shots were fired. The warriors could not know whether or not their +bullets had hit a human mark, and Henry inferred that they would wait a +while, crouched against the cabin. He reckoned that when they did move +they would attack the door, and he noiselessly made an additional prop for +it with the heavy wooden bench. But the faint sound of footsteps suddenly +ceased, and Henry, listening intently, could hear nothing save the rising +wind. He looked through one of the loopholes, but he could not see +anything of the savages. Either they were still crouching against the +wall, or had slipped back to the forest. But he saw enough to tell him +that the night was growing cloudy, and that the air was damp.</p> + +<p>Presently rain fell in a slow drizzle, but Henry still watched at the +loophole, and soon he caught a glimpse of two parallel rows of men bearing +something heavy, and approaching the cabin. They had secured a tree trunk, +and would batter down the door; but they must come within range, and Henry +smiled to himself. Then he beckoned to Paul to come to his side.</p> + +<p>"Bring me your two rifles," he whispered. "This is the only place from +which we can reach them now, and I want you to pass me the loaded guns as +fast as I can fire them."</p> + +<p>Paul came and stood ready, although his mind rebelled once more at the +need to shoot. Henry looked again, and saw the brown files approaching. He +thrust the muzzle of the rifle through the hole and fired at a row of +brown legs, and then, with only a second between, he discharged another +bullet at the same target. Cries of pain and rage arose, there was a thud +as the heavy log was dropped to the ground, and Henry had time to send a +third shot after the fleeing warriors as they ran for the forest.</p> + +<p>"They won't try that again," said Henry. "They cannot approach the door +without coming within range of the loophole, and they'll rest a while now +to think up some new trick."</p> + +<p>"What will be the end of it?" asked Paul.</p> + +<p>"Nobody can say," replied the great youth calmly. "Indians don't stick to +a thing as white men do; they may get tired and go away after a while, but +not yet, and it's for you and me, Paul, to watch and fight."</p> + +<p>A certain fierce resolve showed in his tone, and Paul knew that Henry felt +himself a match for anything.</p> + +<p>"Better eat and drink a little more, Paul," said Henry. "Take the half of +a pigeon. We'll need all our strength."</p> + +<p>Paul thought the advice good, and followed it. Then came another period of +that terrible waiting.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V" />CHAPTER V</h2> + +<p>THE FLIGHT</p> + + +<p>Paul was half reclining against the wall, when he suddenly saw Henry look +up. Paul's eyes followed his comrade's, and then he heard a soft, faint +sound over their heads. He understood at once. Danger had come from a new +quarter. The Shawnees were upon the board roof, through which a rifle +bullet could easily pass. The menace was serious, but the men up there +could not see their targets below, and they themselves were in a +precarious position.</p> + +<p>Henry once pointed his rifle toward a portion of the roof from which a +slight sound came, but for a reason that he did not give he withheld his +fire. Then came a dead stillness, to be broken a few moments later by +fierce war cries all around the cabin and a crash of rapid shots. It +seemed to Paul that an attack in great force was being made from every +side, and, thrusting his rifle through the loophole, he fired quickly at +what he took to be the flitting form of a foe. The next moment he became +aware of a terrible struggle in the cabin itself. He heard a thud, the +roar of a rifle shot within the confined space, a fall, and then, in the +half darkness, he saw two powerful figures writhing to and fro. One was +Henry and the other a mighty Shawnee warrior, naked to the waist, and +striving to use a tomahawk that he held in a hand whose wrist was clenched +in the iron grasp of his foe. Lying almost at their feet was the body of +another warrior, stark and dead.</p> + +<p>Paul sprang forward, his second and loaded rifle in his hand.</p> + +<p>"No, no, Paul!" cried Henry. "The chimney! Look to the chimney!"</p> + +<p>Paul whirled about, and he was just in time. A savage warrior dropped down +the great wide chimney that all the log cabins had, and fell lightly on +his feet among the dead embers of a month ago. His face was distorted +horribly with ferocity, and Paul, all the rage of battle upon him now that +battle had come, fired squarely at the red forehead, the rifle muzzle only +three feet away. The savage fell back and lay still among the cinders. The +next instant the deep, long-drawn sigh of a life departing came from +behind, and Paul whirled about again, his heart full of sickening fear.</p> + +<p>But it was Henry who stood erect. He had wrenched the warrior's own +tomahawk from him, and had slain him with it. His face was flushed with a +victorious glow, but he stood there only a moment. Then he seized his own +second and loaded rifle, and ran to the chimney. But nothing more came +down it, and there were no more sounds of warriors walking on the roof. +The three who had come had been daring men, but they had paid the price. +The shots and shouts around continued for a little space, forms dashed +heavily against the door, and then, as suddenly as it began, the tumult +ceased.</p> + +<p>Paul felt a chill of horror creeping through his bones. It was all so +ghastly. The dead warriors lay, each upon his back, one among the dead +coals, and Paul could hear nothing but his own and Henry's heavy +breathing.</p> + +<p>"It was a daring thing to do," said Henry at last, "to come down the +chimney that way; but it has been done before in Kentucky."</p> + +<p>Then they reloaded their rifles, but Paul was like one in a dream. It +seemed to him now that he could not endure the long hours in the cabin +with those dead faces on the floor staring at him with their dead eyes.</p> + +<p>"Henry," he said, "we can't keep them here."</p> + +<p>"No," replied Henry, "we can't; but we must wait a little."</p> + +<p>Paul sat down on the bench. He felt for a moment faint and sick. The +little cabin was full of rifle smoke, and it lay heavy in his nostrils and +upon his lungs. He felt as if he were breathing poisoned air. But the +smoke gradually drifted away up the chimney, and the thick, clogging +feeling departed from his lungs and nostrils. Strength and spirit came +back.</p> + +<p>"How are we to get rid of them?" he asked, nodding toward the dead +warriors.</p> + +<p>"Let's wait an hour at least, and I'll show you," replied Henry.</p> + +<p>The hour passed, but to Paul it seemed two. Then Henry took the largest of +the warriors and dragged him to the wall just beneath the window. The +second and third he did the same way.</p> + +<p>"Now, Paul," he said, "you must take down the bar and open the window. +Then I'll pitch them out. The besiegers will be surprised, and they won't +have time to get at us."</p> + +<p>Paul accepted his part of the task eagerly. There might be danger, but +better that than having the dead men lying on the floor and staring at him +with dead eyes. He took down the bar and quickly held the window open. +Henry heaved up the bodies of the warriors and cast them out, one by one, +each falling with a dull, heavy sound to the ground below. Then Paul +slammed back the window and shot the bar into place. As he did so three +or four rifles flashed from the forest, and the bullets pattered upon the +heavy oaken shutter.</p> + +<p>"Too late," said Henry, "We took 'em by surprise, as I thought we should."</p> + +<p>Paul drew a long and deep breath. The cabin had taken on a brighter +aspect.</p> + +<p>"I'm mighty glad that's done," he said.</p> + +<p>"If you'll listen carefully, I think you'll hear something later," said +Henry.</p> + +<p>Henry was right. In about half an hour they heard soft, shuffling noises +beside the cabin, just under the window.</p> + +<p>"They're taking away the dead warriors," said Henry.</p> + +<p>"I don't want to fire on them while they're doing it," said Paul.</p> + +<p>"Nor I," said Henry. "We might reach 'em, but I'm glad they're doing what +they are."</p> + +<p>The slight, sliding noises continued for a little while, and then they +heard only the light sweep of the rain. On the roof it became a patter, +and here and there a drop made its way between the boards and fell on the +floor. It was soothing to Paul after the excitement of those terrible +moments, and he felt a queer, pleasant languor. His eyes half closed, but +his vague look fell on somber, dark spots on the floor, and the sight was +repellent to him. He went to the hearth, heaped up the whole of the embers +and ashes, and sprinkled them carefully over the spots, which would have +been red in the light, but which were black in the night and gloom of the +cabin. Henry watched him do it, but said nothing. He understood Paul, and +gave him his sympathy.</p> + +<p>Paul sat down again on the floor, and leaned against the wall. The +pleasant, languorous feeling came once more, but he was roused suddenly by +scattered rifle shots, and sprang up. Henry laughed.</p> + +<p>"They're not attacking," he said. "It was only a volley, fired from the +wood, to show how angry they are. I don't think we need expect anything +more to-night. You might really go to sleep, Paul, if you feel like it."</p> + +<p>"No, I will not!" exclaimed Paul with energy. "I won't do all the +sleeping, and let you do all the watching. Besides, I couldn't sleep, +anyhow; my nerves wouldn't let me. I looked sleepy just because I was +tired, it's your time."</p> + +<p>"All right," said Henry. "Now, you watch good, Paul."</p> + +<p>Then Henry lay down upon the floor and closed his eyes. He might not have +done so, but he felt sure that nothing more would be attempted that +night; and if, by any chance, they should attack again, Paul would be +sure to waken him in time. The rain grew harder on the roof, and its +steady patter was like the rocking of a cradle to a child. His nerves were +of steel, and the mechanism of his body and brain were not upset at all. +The half-dropped lids dropped down entirely, and he slept, breathing +peacefully.</p> + +<p>Paul watched, his brief lethargy gone; but his accustomed eyes could see +little now through the loopholes, only the dim forest and the rain, +falling slowly but steadily. He and Henry seemed to be alone in the world. +Outside all the wilderness was in gloom, but in the little cabin it was +dry and warm. The few drops that came through the boards now and then, and +fell with a little pat on the floor, were nothing. He and Henry were dry +and safe, and it seemed to him that so far, at least, they had all the +better of the battle. The glow of triumph came again.</p> + +<p>Paul watched until dawn, and saw the sun spring up over the eastern +forests. Then he awakened Henry, and the great youth, stretching himself, +uttered a long sigh.</p> + +<p>"That was fine, Paul!" he said, "fine! Now, what are our friends outside +doing?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing that I can see. There are only stumps in the clearing, and trees +and hushes in the forest. I see no warrior."</p> + +<p>Henry laughed, and his laugh had a most cheerful tone.</p> + +<p>"They are not far away," he said. "It is likely they'll try to starve us +out, or rather conquer us with thirst. They don't know anything about our +barrel of water."</p> + +<p>"Blessed barrel!" ejaculated Paul.</p> + +<p>It seemed that Henry was right in his prediction. As long hours passed, +the sun rose higher and higher, and it grew very close in the little +cabin. Paul thought the warriors must have gone away, disgusted with their +losses, but Henry cautioned him against savage patience. Toward noon they +ate a little more of their pigeon and dried venison, and Paul looked with +some dismay at the small portions that were left.</p> + +<p>"Henry," he exclaimed, "there is enough for supper, and no more."</p> + +<p>"Just so," said Henry, "and our enemies remain on guard. They'll wait for +us."</p> + +<p>He thought it best to put the case plainly and in all its hideous phases +to Paul. While savages sometimes abandoned a siege very soon, they did not +show signs of ceasing now. Perhaps they relied on starving out the +besieged, and if they only knew the state of affairs within the cabin +theirs was a good reliance.</p> + +<p>Their brief dinner over, the two boys sat down on the floor, and from the +loopholes on either side watched the forest. To Paul the whole air and +atmosphere of the cabin had now become intolerably oppressive. At first it +had been such a strong, snug place of refuge that he rejoiced, but at last +his sensitive spirit was weighed down by the long delay, the gloom, and +the silence. The sight of their limited rations brought to him all the +future—the vigilant enemy on guard, the last little piece of food gone, +then slow starvation, or a rush on the savage bullets and sure death. As +usual, his uncommon imagination was depicting everything in vivid colors, +far in advance.</p> + +<p>But he said nothing, nor did Henry. They had already exhausted all +subjects for talk, and they waited—Henry with real, and Paul with assumed +patience. Fully two hours passed in silence, but after that time it was +naturally Paul who spoke first.</p> + +<p>"Henry," he said in a tone that indicated unbelief in his own words, +"don't you think that they must have got tired and gone away?"</p> + +<p>"No, they are surely in the forest about us; but since they won't go, +Paul, you and I must leave to-night."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" Paul's words expressed the greatest surprise.</p> + +<p>Henry stood up, and figure, face, and words alike showed the greatest +decision.</p> + +<p>"Paul," he said, "our last piece of venison will soon be gone, and the +Shawnees, I think, will stay, expecting to starve us out, which they can +do; but the night shows all the signs of being very dark, and you and I +must slip through their lines some way or other. Are you ready to try it?"</p> + +<p>It was like a signal to Paul, those words, "Are you ready to try it?" He +was ready to try anything now, as a release from the cabin, and a fine +flare of color mounted to his cheeks as he replied:</p> + +<p>"I'll follow you anywhere, Henry."</p> + +<p>Henry said nothing more; Paul's reply was sufficient; but he resumed his +position at the loophole, and attentively watched the heavens. Somber +clouds were rolling up from the southwest and the air was growing cooler, +but heavy with damp. Already the sun, so bright and pitiless in the +morning, was obscured, and mists and vapors hung over the forest. He +judged that it would be a dark night, with flurries of mist and rain, just +suited to his purpose, and he felt a sensation of relief.</p> + +<p>"Paul," he said, after a while, "I think we'd better take the two captured +rifles with us again. If we come face to face with 'em, a couple of extra +shots might save us."</p> + +<p>"Whatever you say, Henry," replied Paul.</p> + +<p>The afternoon passed slowly away, and the night came on thick and dark, as +Henry had hoped. The rain fell again in intermittent showers, and it was +carried in gusts by the wind. The two boys drank deeply from the barrel, +and ate what was left of the venison.</p> + +<p>"Be sure your powder horns are stopped up tight, Paul," said Henry. "We've +got to keep our powder dry. The sooner we go the better, because the +Shawnees won't be expecting us to come out so soon."</p> + +<p>The darkness was now rolling up so thick and black that to Paul it seemed +like a great sable curtain dropping its folds over them. It enveloped the +forest, then the clearing, then the hut, and those within it. The inky sky +was without a star. The puffs of rain rattled dismally on the roof of the +old cabin. But all this somberness of nature brought comfort and lightness +of heart to the besieged. Paul's spirits rose with the blackness of the +night and the wildness of the rain.</p> + +<p>"Are you all ready, Paul?" asked Henry.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Paul cheerfully.</p> + +<p>Accustomed as they were to the darkness of the cabin, they could not see +each other's faces now, only the merest outlines of their figures.</p> + +<p>"We must keep close together," said Henry. "It won't do to lose sight of +each other."</p> + +<p>He slipped to the door, lifted the bar and put it soundlessly on one side, +and he and Paul stood together in the open space, just a moment, waiting +and listening.</p> + +<p>The rush of air and raindrops on Paul's face felt wonderfully cool and +invigorating. His chest expanded and his spirits rose to the top. It was +like leaving a prison behind.</p> + +<p>"Step more lightly than you ever did before in your life," said Henry, and +he and Paul put foot together on mother earth. The very pressure of the +damp earth felt good to Paul all the way through his moccasins. A step or +two from the door they paused again, waiting and listening. The forest was +invisible, and so were the stumps in the clearing. But nothing stirred. +Henry's acute ear told him that.</p> + +<p>"We'll follow the wall around to the other side of the cabin," he +whispered to Paul. "They don't know yet that we've come out, and naturally +they'll watch the door closest. Be careful where you put your feet."</p> + +<p>But the very dampness prevented any rustle in the weeds and grass, and +they passed to the other side of the cabin without an alarm coming from +the forest. There they paused again, and once more Henry whispered his +instructions.</p> + +<p>"I think we'd better get down and crawl," he said. "It's a hard thing to +do with two rifles each, but we must do it until we get to the woods."</p> + +<p>It was difficult, as Henry had said, and Paul felt, too, a sense of +humiliation; but then one's life was at stake, and without hesitation he +dropped to his knees, crawling slowly after the dark figure of his +comrade. Henry made no sound and Paul but a little, not enough to be heard +ten feet away. Henry stopped now and then, as if he would listen intently +a moment or two, and Paul, of course, stopped just behind him. Fortune +seemed to favor their daring. The great silence lasted, broken only by +puffs of wind and rain, and the wet leaves of the forest rubbing softly +against each other. Paul looked back once. The cabin was already melting +into a blur, although not twenty yards distant, and in as many yards more +it would be lost completely in the surrounding darkness.</p> + +<p>Now the forest was only a few yards away, but to Paul it seemed very far. +His knees and wrists began to ache, and the two rifles became awkward for +him to carry. He wondered how Henry could go forward with so much ease, +but he resolved to persist as long as his comrade led the way.</p> + +<p>The dark outline of the wood slowly came nearer, then nearer yet, and then +they entered it, pressing silently among the hushes and the black shadows +of the lofty trees. Here Henry rose to his feet and Paul imitated him, +thankful to rest his aching knees and wrists, and to stand up in the form +and spirit of a man.</p> + +<p>"We may slip through unseen and unheard," whispered Henry, "and then again +we may not. Come on; we'll need all our caution now."</p> + +<p>But as they took the first step erect, a cry arose behind them, a cry so +full of ferocity and chagrin that Paul absolutely shuddered from head to +foot. It came from the clearing, near the hut, and Paul, without the +telling of it, knew what had happened.</p> + +<p>"They've tried the door of the cabin, only to find it open and the place +empty," whispered Henry. "Now, we must not go too fast, Paul. In this +pitchy darkness not even a Shawnee could see us ten feet away, but he +could hear us. No noise, Paul!"</p> + +<p>They stole forward, one close behind the other, going but slowly, seeking +with sedulous care to avoid any noise that would bring the savages upon +them. The rain, which had grown steadier, was a Godsend. It and the wind +together kept up a low, moaning sound that hid the faint pressure of +Paul's footsteps. The cry behind them at the cabin was repeated once, +echoing away through the black and dripping forest. After that Paul heard +nothing, but to the keener ears of Henry came now and then the soft, +sliding sound of rapid footsteps, a word or two uttered low, and the faint +swish of bushes, swinging back into place after a body passed. He knew +that the warriors were now seeking eagerly for them, but with the aid of +the intense darkness he hoped that he and Paul would steal safely through +their lines. They went slowly forward for perhaps half an hour, stopping +often and listening. Once Henry's hand on Paul's shoulder, they sank a +little lower in the bushes, and Henry, but not Paul, saw the shadowy +outline of a figure passing near.</p> + +<p>Fortunately the forest was very dense, but unfortunately the clouds began +to thicken, and a rumble dull and low came from the far horizon. Then the +clouds parted, cut squarely down the middle by a flash of lightning, and +for a moment a dazzling glow of light played over the dripping forest. +Everything was revealed by it, every twig and leaf stood out in startling +distinctness, and Paul, by impulse, sank lower to hide himself among the +bushes.</p> + +<p>The glow vanished and Henry had seen nothing; he was sure, too, that no +one had seen them, but he knew that it was only luck; another flash might +reveal them, and he and Paul must now hasten, taking the chances of +discovery by noise. He spoke a word to his comrade, and they plunged more +rapidly through the undergrowth. The thunder kept up an unceasing and +threatening murmur on the far horizon, and the lightning flared fitfully +now and then, but they were still unseen, and Henry hoped that they had +now passed the ring of savages in the forest and the dusk.</p> + +<p>Paul had dropped back from Henry's side, but was following closely behind +him. He was deeply impressed by a situation so extraordinary for one of +his type. The thunder, the lightning, the darkness and the danger +contained for him all the elements of awe and mystery.</p> + +<p>"I think we've shaken them off," said Henry presently, "and unless the +lightning shows us to some stray member of the band they can't pick up our +trail again before morning."</p> + +<p>Paul was grateful for the assurance, and he noticed, too, that the danger +of the lightning's revelation was decreasing, as the flashes were becoming +less frequent and vivid. His breathing now grew easier and his spirits +rose. Much of the gloom departed from the forest. The thunder that had +kept up a continuous low rolling, like a dirge, died away, and the +lightning, after a few more weak and ineffectual flashes, ceased.</p> + +<p>"We won't have any further trouble to-night, that's sure," said Henry. +"They could not possibly find our trail before day, and I think we'd +better push on, as nearly as we can, in the direction of our hidden +powder. You know we still mean to do what we started out to do."</p> + +<p>They traveled all night, with brief periods of rest, through rough and +densely wooded country. Toward morning the rain ceased, and the clouds all +floated away. The stars came out in a clear sky, and a warm wind blew over +the wet forest. Henry looked more than once at Paul, and his look was +always full of sympathy. Paul's face was pale, but his expression was set +in firm resolve, and Henry knew that he would never yield.</p> + +<p>After a while the dark began to lighten, and Henry stopped short in +surprise. Paul was walking in such automatic fashion that he almost ran +against him before he stopped. Henry pointed with a long forefinger to a +red spot deep in the forest.</p> + +<p>"See that?" he said.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I guess it's the sun rising," said Paul, who was staggering a +little, and who saw through a cloud, as it were.</p> + +<p>Henry looked at him and laughed.</p> + +<p>"The sun!" he said. "Well, Paul, it's the first time I ever knew the sun +to rise in the west."</p> + +<p>"The sun's likely to do anything out here where we are," rejoined Paul.</p> + +<p>"That's a fire, a camp fire, Paul," said Henry, "and I'm thinking it must +be made by white men."</p> + +<p>"White men! Friends!" exclaimed Paul. He stood up straight, and his eyes +grew brighter. An hour or two ago it had scarcely seemed possible to him +that they should ever see white faces again.</p> + +<p>"It's only my belief," said Henry. "We've got to make sure. Now, you wait +here, Paul, and I'll do a little bit of scouting. Sit down among those +bushes there and I'll be back soon."</p> + +<p>Paul was fully content to do what Henry said. He found a good place in a +thick clump of underbrush, and sank down easily. He would have been quite +willing to lie down, because he was terribly tired and sleepy, but with an +effort he held himself to a sitting posture and watched Henry. He was +conscious of a vague admiration as the tall form of his comrade went +forward swiftly, making no noise and hiding itself so quickly in the +forest that he could not tell where it had gone.</p> + +<p>Then Paul was conscious of a great peace, and a heavy tugging at his +eyelids. Never in his life before was he so tired and sleepy. The last +raindrop was gone, and the bushes and grass were drying in the gentle +wind. A fine golden sun was bringing with it a silver dawn, and a pleasant +warmth stole all through him. His head sank back a little more and his +elbow found a soft place in the turf.</p> + +<p>The boy, with his half-closed eyes and pale face, was not alone as he lay +there among the bushes. Little neighbors came and looked at the newcomer. +A hare gazed solemnly at him for a moment or two, and then hopped solemnly +away. A bluebird flew down to the very tip of a bough, surveyed him at +leisure, and then flew off in search of food. Neither hare nor bird was +scared. Tiny creeping things scuttled through the grass, but the boy did +not move, and they scuttled on undisturbed.</p> + +<p>Paul was just sinking away into a pleasant unknown land when a shout +brought him back to earth. He sprang to his feet, and there was Henry +returning through the forest.</p> + +<p>"Friends, Paul! Old friends!" he cried. "Up with you and we'll pay 'em a +surprise visit!"</p> + +<p>Paul shook his head to clear his thoughts, and followed Henry. Henry +walked swiftly now, not seeming to care whether or not he made noise, and +Paul followed him toward the fire, which now rapidly grew larger.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI" />CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<p>THE BATTLE ON THE HILL</p> + + +<p>Six men were sitting around a camp fire, and they showed every sign of +comfort and cheerfulness. It was a big fire, a glowing fire, a warm fire, +and it took all trace of damp from the rain or cold of the autumn morning. +They were just having breakfast, and their food was buffalo hump, very +tender as it came from beneath a huge bed of red-hot embers.</p> + +<p>The men seemed to have no fear of an enemy, perhaps because their fire was +in an open space, too far from the forest for the rifle shot of an +ambushed foe to reach them. Perhaps, too, they felt security in their +numbers and valor, because they were certainly a formidable-looking party. +All were stalwart, dressed in wilderness fashion—that is, in tanned +deerskin—and every one carried the long, slender-barreled Kentucky rifle, +with knife and hatchet at his belt. There was Tom Ross, the guide, of +middle years, with a powerful figure and stern, quiet face, and near him +lounged a younger man in an attitude of the most luxurious and indolent +ease, Shif'less Sol Hyde, who had attained a great reputation for laziness +by incessantly claiming it for himself, but who was nevertheless a hunter +and scout of extraordinary skill. Jim Hart, a man of singular height and +thinness, whom Sol disrespectfully called the "Saplin'"—that is, the +sapling, a slim young tree—was doing the cooking. The others were typical +frontiersmen—lean, big of build, and strong.</p> + +<p>The shiftless one curled himself into an easier position against a log, +and regarded with interest a particularly juicy piece of the buffalo hump +that lay on the grass some distance from him.</p> + +<p>"Say, Saplin'," he drawled, "I wish you'd bring me that piece o' hump. I +think it would just suit my teeth."</p> + +<p>"Git it yourself," replied Saplin' indignantly. "Do you think I'm goin' to +cook for a lazy bag o' bones like you, an' then wait on you, too?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I think you might," said Shif'less Sol sorrowfully. "I'm pow'ful +tired."</p> + +<p>"If I wuz to wait on you when you wuz tired, I'd wait on you all my life."</p> + +<p>"Which 'ud he puttin' yourself to a mighty good use," said Sol tolerantly. +"But if you won't bring it to me, I reckon I'll have to go after it."</p> + +<p>He rose, with every appearance of reluctance, and secured the buffalo +meat. But he stood with it in his hand and regarded the forest to the +east, from which two figures were coming. Ross had already seen them, but +he had said nothing. The keen eyes of the shiftless one were not at fault +for a moment.</p> + +<p>"Paul Cotter an' Henry Ware," he said.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Tom Ross.</p> + +<p>"And Paul's just about done up."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Tom Ross.</p> + +<p>"Looks like they've had a big fight or a big run, one or t'other or both."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Tom Ross.</p> + +<p>Then all went forward to meet the two boys, so well known to them. Paul +was staggering a little, and there was a high color, as of fever, in his +face, but Henry showed signs of neither fatigue nor excitement.</p> + +<p>"We're glad to find you," said Henry briefly.</p> + +<p>"We're glad, awful glad!" began Paul, with more fervor; but he suddenly +reeled, and everything grew dim about him. Shif'less Sol caught him.</p> + +<p>"Here, Paul," he said, "stand up. You're a heavy weight for a tired man to +hold."</p> + +<p>His words were rough, but his tone was kindly. Paul, all his pride +aroused, made a great effort and stood straight again. Slowly the world +about him swam back, into its proper position.</p> + +<p>"Who said I wasn't standing up?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Nobody," replied Shif'less Sol; "but if I'd been through what I reckon +you've been through, I'd fall flop on the ground, an' Jim Hart would have +to come an' feed me or I'd starve to death right before his eyes."</p> + +<p>Paul laughed, and then he felt more like himself. Ross, too, had been +regarding him with sympathy, but he glanced inquiringly at Henry.</p> + +<p>"You've had it hot an' hard?" he said.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied the boy laconically; "we've run against Shawnees, and about +everything that could has happened to us."</p> + +<p>"Then it's fire, warmth, meat, rest, an' sleep for Paul right away," said +Ross.</p> + +<p>Henry nodded.</p> + +<p>Paul was looking at the fire, which seemed to him the most glorious one +ever built, and he did not notice anything more until he was lying beside +it, stretched on a blanket, and eating the very piece of tender buffalo +meat that Shif'less Sol had coveted for himself. Despite his relaxed and +half-dreamy condition, his imagination leaped up at once to magnificent +heights. All danger and hardship were gone. He was surrounded by a ring +of dauntless friends, and the fire glowed splendidly.</p> + +<p>Shif'less Sol sat down near him, and regarded him with the deepest +sympathy, mingled with a certain amount of envy.</p> + +<p>"Paul," he said, "I wish I wuz in your place for an hour or two. They've +jest got to wait on you. Nobody ever believes me when I say I'm sick, +though I'm took pow'ful bad sometimes, an' they don't care whether I'm +tired or not. Now, Paul, take all the advantages o' your position. Don't +you reach your hand for a thing. Make 'em bring it to you. Ef I can't get +waited on myself, I like to see another fellow waited on. Here, Saplin', +some more o' that buffalo steak for Paul, who is mighty hungry."</p> + +<p>Saplin' cast a look of scorn upon Shif'less Sol, but he brought the steak, +and Paul ate again, for he was voraciously hungry. But one cannot eat +always, and by and by he had enough. Then his restful, dreamy feeling +grew. He saw Henry and the men talking, but he either did not hear what +they said or he was not interested. Soon the whole world faded out, and he +slept soundly. And as he slept the touch of fever left him. Shif'less Sol +looked down at him kindly.</p> + +<p>"I'm tired, too," he said, "but I suppose if I wuz to go to sleep some o' +you 'ud be mean enough to shove me in the side with his foot."</p> + +<p>"I'd try to be the first," said Jim Hart, "an' I'd shove pow'ful hard."</p> + +<p>"It 'ud be jest like you," said Shif'less Sol, "but I suppose you can't +any more help bein' mean, Jim, than I can help bein' tired."</p> + +<p>Jim shrugged his shoulders and returned to his cooking, his tall, lean +form bent over like a hoop. Paul slept peacefully on the blanket, but the +others talked much and earnestly. Henry, as he ate of the buffalo meat, +told them all that had happened to him and Paul in that brief period which +yet looked so long. That the band would pick up the trail, daylight now +come, and follow on, he did not doubt. There he stopped, and left the +conclusion to the others. Shif'less Sol was the first to speak.</p> + +<p>"This gang," he said, "come out to hunt buffalo, an', accordin' to what +Henry says, a war party—he don't know how big—is comin' this way huntin' +him an' Paul. Well, ef it keeps on huntin' him an' Paul, it's bound to run +up agin us, because Paul an' Henry are now a part o' our gang. Ez fur me, +I've done a lot o' trampin' after buffalo, an' I feel too tired to run, I +jest do."</p> + +<p>"I ain't seen no better place for cookin' than this," said Jim Hart, +undoubling himself, "an' I like the looks o' the country round here +pow'ful well. I'd hate to leave it before I got ready,"</p> + +<p>"'Tain't healthy to run afore you're ready," said Ike Stebbins, a short, +extremely thick man. "It ain't good for the stomach. Pumps the blood right +up to the heart, an' I ain't feelin' very good just now, noway. Can't +afford to take no more risks to my health."</p> + +<p>A slight smile passed over the stern, bronzed face of Tom Ross.</p> + +<p>"I expected to hear you talk that way, boys," he said, "it's in your +blood; but thar's a better reason still for our not goin'. If this war +band stays around here, it'll be pickin' off settlers, an' it's fur us to +stop it. Now, them Shawnees are comin' a-huntin' us. I jest wish to say +that we don't mean to be the hunted; we're to be the hunters ourselves."</p> + +<p>Sharp exclamations of approval broke from all these fierce spirits of the +border. But the deepest and most dangerous gleam of all was in the eyes of +Henry Ware. All his primeval instincts were alive, and foremost among them +was the desire to fight. He was tired of running, of seeking to escape, +and his warlike blood was up and leaping. Two more men who had been out +ranging the woods for buffalo, or any other worthy game that might happen +in their way, came in presently, and the little army, with the addition +of the two boys, was now raised to the number of ten. And a real little +army it was, fortified with indomitable hearts and all the skill and +knowledge of the wilderness.</p> + +<p>When Paul awoke beneath the pressure of Henry's hand on his shoulder, the +sun was much higher, and the forest swam in limpid light. He noticed at +once that the fire was out, trampled under strong heels, and that all the +men looked as if ready for instant conflict. He rubbed his eyes and sprang +to his feet, half in shame that he should have slept while others watched. +It was Shif'less Sol who came to his rescue.</p> + +<p>"It's all right, Paul," he drawled. "We all know you were pow'ful tired, +an' I'd have slept, too, ef them fellows hadn't been mean enough to keep +me from it. You wuz just nacherally overpowered, an' you had to do it."</p> + +<p>Paul looked around at the little group, and he read the meaning in the eye +of every man.</p> + +<p>"You are going to fight that war band?" he said.</p> + +<p>"It 'pears to me that it's a sight less tirin' than runnin' away," replied +Shif'less Sol, "though we hate to drag you, Paul, into such a fracas."</p> + +<p>The blood flushed into Paul's face.</p> + +<p>"I'm ready for it!" he exclaimed. "I'm as ready as any of you! Do you +think I want to run away?"</p> + +<p>"We know, Paul, that you've got ez much grit ez anybody in the world," +said Tom Ross kindly; "but Sol maybe didn't think a boy that's a big +scholar, an' that kin read an' understand anything, would he as much +interested in a real hair-raisin' fight as the rest o' us."</p> + +<p>Paul was mollified. He knew their minds now, and in a way it was an +unconscious tribute that these wild borderers paid to him.</p> + +<p>"I'm with you to the end of it," he said. And they, too, were satisfied. +Then the entire party moved forward into the deep woods, watching and +listening for the slightest sign of the Shawnee advance. Tom Ross +naturally took command, but Henry Ware, as always, was first scout. No +other eye was so keen as his, nor any other ear. All knew it, and all +admitted it willingly. His form expanded again, and fierce joy surged up +in his heart. As Ross truly said, the hunted had turned into the hunter.</p> + +<p>It was the purpose of the men to circle to the east, and to strike the war +party on the Hank. They knew that the Shawnees had already discovered the +junction of the fugitives with a larger force, but the warriors could not +yet know that the new party intended to stand and fight. Ross, therefore, +like the general of a great army going into battle, intended to seek the +best possible position for his force.</p> + +<p>They traveled in a half circle for perhaps two hours, and then Henry +struck a trail, calling at once to Ross. They examined it carefully, and +judged that it had been made by a force of about twenty warriors, +undoubtedly the band that was following Henry and Paul.</p> + +<p>"We're behind 'em now," said Henry.</p> + +<p>"But they'll soon be coming back on our trail," said Ross. "They know that +they are more than two to one, and they will follow hard."</p> + +<p>"I'm gittin' mighty tired ag'in," said Shif'less Sol. "It 'pears to me +thar's a pow'ful good place fur us to rest over thar among all them big +trees on that little hill."</p> + +<p>Ross and Henry examined the hill, which was not very high, but small, and +crowned with mighty beeches. The great tree-trunks would offer admirable +cover for the wilderness fighter.</p> + +<p>"It does kinder invite us," said Ross meaningly, "so we'll jest go over +thar, Sol, an' set a while longer."</p> + +<p>A few minutes later they were on the hill, each man lying behind a tree of +his own selection. Shif'less Sol had chosen a particularly large one, and +luckily there was some soft turf growing over its roots. He stretched +himself out luxuriously.</p> + +<p>"Now, this jest suits an easy-goin' man like me," he said. "I could lay +here all day jest a-dreamin', never disturbin' nobody, an' nobody +disturbin' me. Paul, you and me ain't got no business here. We wuz cut out +fur scholars, we wuz."</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, lazy and luxurious as he looked, Shif'less Sol watched the +forest with eyes that missed nothing. His rifle lay in such a position +that he could take aim almost instantly.</p> + +<p>There was a long and tense silence, full of strangeness to Paul. He could +never get used to these extraordinary situations. When preparing for +combat, as well as in it, the world seemed unreal to him. He did not see +why men should fly at each other's throats; but the fact was before him, +and he could not escape it.</p> + +<p>The little hill was so situated that they could see to a considerable +distance at all points of the compass, but they yet saw nothing. Shif'less +Sol stretched himself in a new position and grumbled.</p> + +<p>"The wust thing about this bed o' mine here," he said to Paul, "is that +sooner or later I'll be disturbed in it. A fellow never kin make people +let him alone. It's the way here, an' it's the way back in the East, too, +I reckon. Now, I'm only occupyin' a place six feet by two, with the land +rollin' away thousands o' miles on every side; but it's this very spot, +six feet by two, that the Shawnees are a-lookin' fur."</p> + +<p>Paul laughed at the shiftless one's complaint, and the laugh greatly +relieved his tension. Fortunately his tree was very close to Sol's, and +they could carry on a whispered conversation.</p> + +<p>"Do you think the Shawnees will really come?" asked Paul, who was always +incredulous when the forest was so silent.</p> + +<p>"Come! Of course they will!" replied Shif'less Sol. "If for no other +reason, they'll do it jest to make me trouble. I ought to be back thar in +the East, teachin' school or makin' laws fur somebody."</p> + +<p>Paul's eyes wandered from Sol to his comrade, and he saw Henry suddenly +move, ever so little, then fix his gaze on a point in the forest, three or +four hundred yards away. Paul looked, too, and saw nothing, but he knew +well enough that Henry's keener gaze had detected an alien presence in the +bushes.</p> + +<p>Henry whispered something to Ross, who followed his glance and then nodded +in assent. The others, too, soon looked at the same point, Jim Hart +craning his long neck until it arched like a bow. Presently from a dense +clump of bushes came a little puff of white smoke, and then the stillness +was broken by the report of a rifle. A bullet buried itself in one of the +trees on the hill, and Shif'less Sol turned over with a sniff of contempt.</p> + +<p>"If they don't shoot better'n that," he said, "I might ez well go to +sleep."</p> + +<p>But the forest duel had begun, and it was a contest of skill against +skill, of craft against craft. Every device of wilderness warfare known to +the red men was practiced, too, by the white men who confronted them.</p> + +<p>Paul at first felt an intense excitement, but it was soothed by the calm +words of Shif'less Sol.</p> + +<p>"I'd be easy about it, Paul," said the shiftless one. "That wuz jest a +feeler. They've found out that we're ready for 'em. There ain't no chance +of a surprise, an' they shot that bullet merely as a sort o' way o' +tellin' us that they had come. Things won't be movin' fur some time yet."</p> + +<p>Paul found that Shif'less Sol was right. The long waiting customary in +such forest combats endured, but he was now becoming more of a stoic, and +he used the time, at least in part, for rest, although every nerve and +muscle was keyed to attention. It was fully an hour later when a shot came +from behind a tree much nearer to them, and a bullet cut a fragment of +bark from the gigantic beech that sheltered Shif'less Sol. There was a +second report before the sound of the first had died away, and a Shawnee, +uttering a smothered cry, fell forward from his shelter, and lay upon the +ground, quite still. Paul could see the brown figure, and he knew that the +man was dead.</p> + +<p>"It was Tom Ross who did that," said Shif'less Sol. "The savage leaned too +fur forward when he fired at me, an' exposed hisself. Served him right fur +tryin' to hurt me."</p> + +<p>Then Sol, who had raised himself up a little, lay down again in his +comfortable position. He did not seem disturbed at all, but Paul kept +gazing at the figure of the dead warrior. Once more his spirit recoiled at +the need of taking life. Presently came a spatter of rifle fire—a dozen +shots, perhaps—and bullets clipped turf and trees. The Shawnees had crept +much nearer, and were in a wide semicircle, hoping thus to uncover their +foes, at least in part, and they had a little success, as one man, named +Brewer, was hit in the fleshy part of the arm.</p> + +<p>Paul saw nothing but the smoke and the flashes of fire, and he was wise +enough to save his own ammunition—he had long since learned the border +maxim, never to shoot until you saw something to shoot at.</p> + +<p>But the enemy was creeping closer, hiding among rocks and bushes, and a +second and longer spatter of rifle fire began. One man was hit badly, and +then the borderers began to seek targets of their own. Their long, +slender-barreled rifles flashed again and again, and more than one bullet +went straight to the mark. The plumes of white smoke grew more numerous, +united sometimes, and floated away in little clouds among the trees.</p> + +<p>Paul saw that his comrades were firing slowly, but with terrible effect, +as five or six still, brown figures now lay in the open. Shif'less Sol, at +the next tree, only four feet away, was stretched almost perfectly flat on +his face on the ground, and every movement he made seemed to be slow and +deliberate. Yet no one was firing faster or with surer aim than he, and +faint gleams of satisfaction showed now and then in his eyes. Paul could +not restrain speech.</p> + +<p>"It seems to me, Sol, that you are not tired as you said you were," he +said.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not," replied Sol slowly, "but I will be."</p> + +<p>The savages suddenly began to shout, and kept up a ferocious yelling, as +if they would confuse and terrify their opponents. The woods echoed with +the din, the long-drawn, whining cry, like that of a wolf, and despite +all the efforts of a strong will, Paul shuddered as he had not shuddered +at the sound of the rifle fire.</p> + +<p>"'Tain't no singin' school," said Shif'less Sol, in a clear voice that +Paul could hear above the uproar, "but, then, yellin' don't hurt nobody, +either. I'd be pow'ful tired ef I used my mouth that way. But jest you +remember, Paul, that noise ain't bullets."</p> + +<p>It seemed to Paul that the Shawnees had come to the same conclusion, +because all the yelling suddenly ceased, and with it the firing. Brown +forms that had been flitting about disappeared, too, and all at once there +was silence in the wilderness, and nothing to be seen save the hunters and +the still, brown figures among the rocks and bushes. To Paul it was +wonderful, this melting away of the battle, and this disappearance of the +foe, all in a flash. He rubbed his eyes, and could scarcely believe that +it was real. But there were the still, brown figures, and by a tree near +him lay another still figure, in hunting shirt and leggings, with his face +upturned to the sky. One of the hunters had been shot through the heart, +and had died instantly and without noise. Three others had been wounded, +but they were not complaining.</p> + +<p>Presently a little hum of talk arose, and Shif'less Sol once more moved +comfortably.</p> + +<p>"Bit off more'n they could chaw," he said reflectively. "Will wait a +while before takin' another bite. Guess I'll rest now."</p> + +<p>He stretched himself luxuriously, took out a piece of venison and began to +eat it, at the same time handing a piece to Paul.</p> + +<p>"Atween fights I allus eat," he said. "Better do the same, Paul."</p> + +<p>But Paul had no appetite. He crawled over to Henry, and asked him what he +expected to happen next.</p> + +<p>"They won't give up," replied Henry, "that is sure. They know that they +outnumber us two or three to one, and I've an idea that this is a band of +picked warriors."</p> + +<p>"You think, too, they'll want to revenge their losses?"</p> + +<p>"Of course. And they're likely to attack again before night. It's not noon +yet, and they have lots of time."</p> + +<p>Paul crawled back to his tree, and, knowing that he would have to wait +again, forced himself to eat the venison that Shif'less Sol had given to +him.</p> + +<p>The Shawnees remained silent and hidden in the forest, and the white men, +voiceless, too, lay waiting behind the trees. Between them stretched the +fallen, their brown faces upturned to the red sun, which sailed peacefully +on in a sky of cloudless blue.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII" />CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<p>WHAT HAPPENED IN THE DARK</p> + + +<p>Shif'less Sol rose to a sitting position, and carefully cracked his +joints, one by one.</p> + +<p>"I wuz a bit afeard, Paul," he said, "that I had jest petrified, layin' +thar so long. A tired man likes to rest, but thar ain't no sense in +turnin' hisself into a stone image."</p> + +<p>Sol seemed so careless and easy that Paul drew an inference from his +manner.</p> + +<p>"You are not expecting anything more from them just now, Sol?"</p> + +<p>His nod toward the forest indicated the "them."</p> + +<p>"No, not yet a while," replied Shif'less Sol. "I guess they'll lay by +until night."</p> + +<p>His face showed some apprehension as he spoke of night, but it was gone +quickly. Shif'less Sol was not a man who took troubles to heart, else he +never would have earned his name.</p> + +<p>"We'll jest chaw a little more venison, Paul," he said. "I know you think +a drink o' water would go pow'ful well with it, an' so do I; but since it +ain't to be had, we'll jest do without it and say no more."</p> + +<p>The remainder of the day passed undisturbed, but as the first wan shade of +twilight appeared the men began to look closely to their arms. Horns were +held up to the light in order that the powder line might show, bullets +were counted, and flints examined. Paul knew what it all meant. The +Shawnees would attack in the darkness, and there would be all the +confusion of a midnight battle, when one might not be able to tell friend +from friend nor foe from foe. The sense of weirdness and awe overcame him +again. They were but the tiniest of atoms in that vast wilderness, which +would be just the same to-morrow and the next day, no matter who won.</p> + +<p>But Paul had in him the stuff of which heroes are made, and his strong +will brought his mind back to present needs. He, too, measured his powder +and counted his bullets, while he strove also to forget the hot thirst +that tormented him.</p> + +<p>The sun sank in the forest, the wan twilight deepened into shadow, and the +shadow darkened into night. The trees where the Shawnees lay hidden were +gone in the dusk, which hung so close that Paul could see but the nearest +of his comrades. Only the murmur of night insects and the faint rustle of +leaves came to his ears. The feeling of awe returned, and his blood grew +chill. Then it was a relief to him to know that he had a comrade in this +sensation.</p> + +<p>"Ef an owl would only hoot once or twice now," whispered Shif'less Sol, "I +think I'd jump right out o' my huntin' shirt."</p> + +<p>Paul laughed and felt better.</p> + +<p>"Now, Paul," continued Shif'less Sol, very gravely this time, "lemme give +you a piece o' mighty good advice. When the muss comes on, don't move +about much. Lay close. Stick to me an' Henry, an' then thar ain't so much +chance to git mixed up with them that's lookin' fur you here."</p> + +<p>"I'll remember what you say, Sol," replied Paul earnestly, as he girded +his spirit for action. He knew that the attack would come very soon, as +the Indians would choose the darkest period before the moon rose. Nor was +he wrong. The battle in the night began only a half hour later.</p> + +<p>Paul first saw a pink point appear in the darkness, but he knew that it +was the flame from a rifle shot. It came from a place not far away, to +which some Shawnee had crawled; but the hunters paid no attention to it, +nor to a second, nor to a third, as all the bullets flew wild. Paul, +forgetting for the moment that those bullets were sent to kill, became +engrossed in the spectacle of the fireworks. He was always wondering where +the next spurt of blue or pink flame would break through the darkness, +and the popping of the shots formed a not unpleasant sound in the night.</p> + +<p>"Comin' closer, comin' closer, Paul!" whispered Shif'less Sol. "One o' +them bullets flyin' in the dark may hit somethin' putty soon."</p> + +<p>Sol was a prophet. A hunter not far away uttered a low cry. He was struck +in the shoulder, but after the single cry he was silent. Henry was the +first to see one of the creeping brown bodies and fired, and after that +the shots on either side increased fast. It was all confused and terrible +to Paul. The darkness, instead of thinning to accustomed eyes, seemed to +him to grow heavier. The pin points of light from the rifle fire +multiplied themselves into hundreds, and the front of the foe shifted +about, as if they were trying to curve around the defenders.</p> + +<p>Paul could not definitely say that he saw a single savage, but he fired +now and then at the flashes of light, and also tried to obey Sol's +injunction about sticking close to him and Henry. But he was not always +sure that the figures near him were theirs, the darkness remaining so +intense. He heard occasional low cries, the light impact of bullets, and +the shuffling sound of feet, but he was fast losing any ordered view of +the battle. He knew now that the savages were very close, that the combat +was almost hand to hand, but he knew little else. The night enclosed all +the furious border conflict, and hid the loss or gain of either side from +all but the keenest eyes.</p> + +<p>Paul could never tell how long this lasted, but he felt confident that the +area of conflict was shifting. Having first faced one side, they were now +facing another, as the savages wheeled about them. He rose to his feet in +order to keep with his friends. He had been loading and firing more +rapidly than he knew, and the barrel of his rifle was hot to his touch. He +stood a moment listening for the savages, and then turned to two +indistinct figures near him.</p> + +<p>"Sol," he said, "can you and Henry see them?"</p> + +<p>The two indistinct figures suddenly became distinct, and sprang upon him. +He was seized in a powerful grasp and hurled down so violently that he +became unconscious for a little while. Why he was not killed he did not +know that night, nor ever after—probably they wished to show a trophy. +When he gathered his scattered senses he was being dragged away, and his +hands were bound. He was too dazed to cry aloud for rescue, but he +remembered afterwards that the battle behind him was waning at the time.</p> + +<p>He was dragged deeper into the forest, and the shots on the hill became +fainter and fewer. His sight cleared, but the darkness was so great that +he could yet see little except the warrior who pulled him along. Paul made +an effort and gained a better footing. It hurt his pride to be dragged, +and now he walked on in the path that the warrior indicated.</p> + +<p>They stopped after a while in an open space in the forest. The moon was +clearing a little, and Paul saw other warriors standing about. Nearly all +were wounded. Hideous and painted they were, with savage eyes filled with +rage and disappointment, and the looks they gave Paul made him consider +himself as one dead.</p> + +<p>As the moon cleared, more warriors drifted back into the glade. Some of +these, too, bore wounds, and Paul's heart leaped up with fierce joy as he +saw that they had been defeated. The firing had ceased and the wilderness +was returning to silence, broken only by the low words of the savages and +the soft sound of their moccasins on the earth.</p> + +<p>Paul was still in a sort of daze. The warriors were grouped about him, +their sole visible trophy of the battle, and they regarded him with +vengeful eyes. But he had passed through so much that he was not afraid. +His only feeling was that of dull stupefaction, and mingled with it a sort +of lingering pride that his comrades had been the victors, although he +himself was a prisoner. He did not know whether they would kill him or +take him with them, and at that moment his mind was so dulled that he felt +little curiosity about the question.</p> + +<p>A thin, sharp-faced warrior of middle years seemed to be the leader of the +band, and he talked briefly to the others. They nodded toward Paul, and +then, with a warrior on each side of the prisoner, they started northward. +Paul, his brain clearing, judged that they were taking him as a trophy, as +a prize to show in their village before putting him to death.</p> + +<p>They marched silently through the forest, curving far to the left of the +battlefield. The warriors were about a score in number, and Paul thought +they must have lost at least half as many in battle. Their hideous paint +and their savage faces filled him with repulsion. Their wild life and the +mystery of wild nature did not appeal to him as they had once appealed to +Henry in a similar position. To Paul, the chief thing about the wilderness +was the magnificent home it would make in the future for a great white +race. Spared for the present, he expected to live. Henry had saved him +once, and he and his comrades would come again to the rescue.</p> + +<p>He stumbled at first in their rapid flight from weakness, and the warrior +next to him struck him a blow as a reminder. Paul would have struck back, +but his hands were tied, and he could only guard himself against another +stumble. Pride sustained him.</p> + +<p>They did not stop until nearly dawn, when they camped by the bank of a +creek and ate. Paul's arms were unbound, and the hatchet-faced chief +tossed him a piece of venison, which he ate greedily because he was very +hungry. Then, as the warriors seemed in no hurry to move, he sagged slowly +over on his side and went to sleep. Despite his terrible situation, he was +so thoroughly worn out that he could not hold up his head any longer.</p> + +<p>When Paul awoke the sun was high, and he was lying where he had sunk down. +The warriors were about him, some sitting on the grass or lying full +length, but the party seemed more numerous than it was the night before. +He looked again. It was certainly more numerous, and there, too, sitting +near him, was a white youth of nearly his own age. Paul rose up, inspired +with a feeling of sympathy, and perhaps of comradeship, and then, to his +utter amazement, he saw that the youth was Braxton Wyatt, one of the boys +who had come over the mountains with the group that had settled Wareville.</p> + +<p>Braxton Wyatt, a year or two older than Paul, had always been disliked at +Wareville. Of a sarcastic, sneering, unpleasant temperament, he habitually +made enemies, and did not seem to care. Paul disliked him heartily, but in +this moment of sudden meeting he felt only sympathy and fellowship. They +were captives together, and all feeling of hostility was swept from his +mind.</p> + +<p>"Braxton!" he exclaimed. "Have they got you, too?"</p> + +<p>Wyatt rose up, came to Paul, and took his hand in the friendliest manner.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Paul," he said. "I was out hunting, thinking that there were no +savages south of the Ohio, and I was taken last night by a band which +joined yours this morning while you slept."</p> + +<p>"Why haven't they killed us?" asked Paul.</p> + +<p>"I suppose they'd rather show us to the tribe first, or maybe they think +they can adopt us, as Henry Ware was once. They haven't treated me badly."</p> + +<p>"That may be because you were taken without any loss to them," said Paul. +"We've had a big fight, and I'm the only one they got. Henry Ware, Tom +Ross, Shif'less Sol, and the others beat them off."</p> + +<p>"That was grand fighting!" said Braxton. "Tell me about it."</p> + +<p>Wyatt's fellowship and sympathy greatly cheered Paul, and he told in +detail about the battle with the band, and all that preceded it. Braxton +Wyatt listened with attention, but more than once expressed surprise.</p> + +<p>"How many did you say were left back there on the hill?" he asked at last.</p> + +<p>"We were ten when we began the fighting," replied Paul. "One that I know +of was killed, and it is likely that one or two more were. Then I'm gone. +Not more than six or seven can be left, but they are the best men in all +these woods. Twice their number of Indians cannot whip them."</p> + +<p>Paul said the last words proudly, and then he added:</p> + +<p>"Henry and Ross and Shif'less Sol will come for me. They'll be sure to do +it. And they'll rescue you, too."</p> + +<p>Braxton Wyatt looked thoughtful.</p> + +<p>"I think you're right," he said; "but it'll be a very risky thing for +them, especially if the Shawnees expect it. Be sure you don't let the +Indians think you are dreaming of such a thing."</p> + +<p>"Of course not," said Paul.</p> + +<p>The sharp-faced chief now came up, and said something to Wyatt. Braxton +replied in the Indian tongue.</p> + +<p>"I didn't know that you understood any Shawnee," said Paul in surprise, as +the chief turned away.</p> + +<p>"I've picked it up, a word here and a word there," replied Wyatt, "and I +find it very useful now. The Chief—Red Eagle is his name—says that if +you'll give 'em no trouble, he won't bind your hands again, for the +present, anyway. I've followed that plan, and I've found it a heap easier +for myself."</p> + +<p>Paul pondered a little. Braxton Wyatt's advice certainly seemed good, and +he did not wish to be bound again. It would be better to go along in +docile fashion.</p> + +<p>"All right, Braxton," he said, "I'll do as you suggest. We won't make them +any trouble now, but after a while we'll escape."</p> + +<p>"That's the best way," said Wyatt.</p> + +<p>Red Eagle and another warrior, who seemed to be his lieutenant, were +talking earnestly. The chief presently beckoned to Wyatt, who went over to +him and replied to several questions. But Wyatt came back in a few +moments, and took his seat again beside Paul.</p> + +<p>A half hour later they resumed the march, and Paul knew by the sun that +they were going northward. Hence he inferred that they would make no +further attack upon the white hunters, and were bound for what they +called home. Refreshed by his rest and sleep, and relieved by the removal +of the bandages from his wrists, he walked beside Wyatt with a springy +step, and his outlook upon life was fairly cheerful. It was wonderful what +the comradeship of one of his own kind did for him! After all, he had +probably been deceived about Braxton Wyatt. Merely because his ways were +not the ways of Henry and Paul was not proof that he was not the right +kind of fellow. Now he was sympathetic and helpful enough, when sympathy +and help were needed.</p> + +<p>The march northward was leisurely. The Shawnees seemed to have no further +expectation of meeting a foe, and they were not so vigilant. Paul and +Braxton Wyatt were kept in the center of the group, but they were +permitted to talk as much as they pleased, and Paul was not annoyed by any +blow or kick.</p> + +<p>"Have you any idea how far it is to their village, Braxton?" Paul asked.</p> + +<p>"A long distance," replied Wyatt. "We shall not be there under two weeks, +and as the party may turn aside for hunting or something else, it may be +much longer."</p> + +<p>"It will give Henry and Ross and the others more time to rescue us," said +Paul.</p> + +<p>Braxton Wyatt shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't put much hope in that if I were you, Paul," he said. "This +band is very strong. Since the two parties joined it numbers forty +warriors, and our friends could do nothing. We must pretend to like them, +to fall in with their ways, and to behave as if we liked the wild life as +well as that back in the settlements, and in time would like it better."</p> + +<p>"I could never do that," said Paul. "All kinds of savages repel me."</p> + +<p>Braxton Wyatt shrugged his shoulders again.</p> + +<p>"One must do the best he can," he said briefly.</p> + +<p>The leisurely march proceeded, and they camped the next afternoon in the +midst of a magnificent forest of beech, oak, and hickory, building a great +fire, and lounging about it in apparently careless fashion. But Paul was +enough of a woodsman to know that some of the warriors were on watch, and +he and Braxton, as usual, were compelled to sit in the center of the +group, where there was no shadow of a chance to escape.</p> + +<p>Hunters whom they had sent out presently brought in the bodies of two +deer, and then they had a great feast. The venison was half cooked in +strips and chunks over the coals, and the warriors ate it voraciously, +chattering to each other, meanwhile, as Paul did not know that Indians +ever talked.</p> + +<p>"What are they saying, Braxton?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I can't catch it very well," replied Wyatt, "but I think they are talking +about a stay near the Ohio—for hunting, I suppose. That ought to be a +good thing for us, because they certainly will not decide about our fate +until we get back to their village, and the more they are used to us the +less likely they are to put us to death."</p> + +<p>Paul watched the warriors eating, and they were more repellent to him than +ever. Savages they were, and nothing could make them anything else. His +ways could never become their ways. But the fresh deer meat looked very +good, and the pleasant aroma filled his nostrils. Braxton Wyatt noticed +his face.</p> + +<p>"Are you hungry, Paul?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"No, not hungry; merely starving to death."</p> + +<p>Wyatt laughed.</p> + +<p>"I'm in the same condition," he said, "but I can soon change it."</p> + +<p>He spoke to Red Eagle, and the thin-faced chief nodded. Then Braxton +picked up two sharpened sticks that the savages had used, and also two +large pieces of venison. One stick and one piece he handed to Paul.</p> + +<p>"Now we also will cook and dine," he said.</p> + +<p>Paul's heart warmed toward Braxton Wyatt. Certainly he had done him wrong +in his thoughts when they lived at Wareville. But he was thinking the +next moment about the pleasant odor of the deer meat as he fried it over +the coals. Then he ate hungrily, and with a full stomach came peace for +the present, and confidence in the future. He slept heavily that night, +stretched on the ground before the fire, near Braxton Wyatt, and he did +not awaken until late the next morning.</p> + +<p>The Indians were very slow and leisurely about departing, and Paul +realized now that, vigilant and wonderful as they were in action, they +were slothful and careless when not on the war path, or busy with the +chase. He saw, also, that the band was entirely too strong to be attacked +by Henry and his friends.</p> + +<p>They marched northward several days more, at the same dawdling pace, and +then they stopped a week at one place for the hunting. Half the warriors +would go into the forest, and the next day the other half would go, the +first remaining. They brought in an abundance of game, and Paul never +before saw men eat as they ate. It seemed to him that they must be trying +to atone for a fast of at least six months, and those who were not hunting +that day would lie around the fire for hours like animals digesting their +food. He and Braxton Wyatt were still treated well, and their hands +remained unbound, although they were never allowed to leave the group of +warriors.</p> + +<p>Paul was glad enough of the rest and delay, but the life of the Shawnees +did not please him. He was too fastidious by nature to like their +alternate fits of laziness and energy, their gluttony and lethargy +afterwards, but he took care not to show his repulsion. He acted upon +Wyatt's advice, and behaved in the friendliest manner that he could assume +toward his captors. Wyatt once spoke his approval. "The Chief, Red Eagle, +thinks of adopting you, if you should fall into their ways," said Wyatt.</p> + +<p>"He may adopt me, but I'll never adopt him," replied Paul sturdily.</p> + +<p>But Wyatt only laughed and shrugged his shoulders, after his fashion.</p> + +<p>A few days later they reached the Ohio. It was running bankful, and where +Paul saw it the stream was a mile wide, a magnificent river, cutting off +the unknown south from the unknown north, and bearing on its yellow bosom +silt from lands hundreds of miles away. The warriors took hidden canoes +from the forest at the shore, and Paul thought they would cross at once +and continue their journey northward, but they did not do so. Instead, +they dawdled about in the thick forest that clothed the southern bank, and +ate more venison and buffalo meat, although they did not kindle any fire. +A day or two passed thus amid glorious sunshine, and Paul still could not +understand why they waited.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile he still clung tenaciously to his great hope. He might escape, +he might be rescued, and then Henry and he would resume their task which +would help so much to save Kentucky. No matter what happened, Paul would +never lose sight of this end.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII" />CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<p>AT THE RIVER BANK</p> + + +<p>The days dragged into a week, and the Shawnees still clung to the banks of +the great river, occasionally hunting, but more often idling away their +time in the deep woods near the shore. Paul's wonder at their actions +increased. He could not see any purpose in it, and he spoke several times +to Braxton Wyatt about it. But Wyatt always shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"I do not know," he said. "It is true they build no camp fires, at least +no big ones, and they do not seem to be much interested in hunting; but I +cannot guess what they are about, and I should not dare to ask Red Eagle."</p> + +<p>Paul noticed that Red Eagle himself often went down to the bank of the +river, and would watch its surface with the keenest attention. But Paul +observed also that he always looked eastward—that is, up the stream—and +never down it.</p> + +<p>Paul and Wyatt were allowed an increasing amount of liberty, but they were +held nevertheless within a ring through which they could not break; Paul +was shrewd enough to perceive it, and for the present he made no effort, +thinking it a wise thing to appear contented with his situation, or at +least to be making the best of it. Braxton Wyatt commended his policy more +than once.</p> + +<p>On the morning of the seventh day the chief went down to the bank of the +river once more, and began to watch its surface attentively and long, +always looking up the stream. Paul and Braxton Wyatt and some of the +warriors stood among the trees, not fifty feet away. They also could see +the surface of the river for a long distance, and Paul's eyes followed +those of the chief, Red Eagle.</p> + +<p>The Ohio was a great yellow river, flowing slowly on in its wide channel, +the surface breaking into little waves, that crumpled and broke and rose +again. Paul could see the stream for miles, apparently becoming narrower +and narrower, until it ended in a yellow thread under the horizon. Either +shore was overhung with heavy forest red with autumn's touch. Wild fowl +occasionally flew over the current. It was inexpressibly weird and lonely +to Paul, seemingly a silent river flowing on forever through silent +shades.</p> + +<p>He saw nothing on the stream, and his eyes came back to the thin, +hatchet-faced chief, who stood upon the bank looking so intently. Red +Eagle had begun to interest him greatly. He impressed Paul as being a +thorough savage of savages, fairly breathing cruelty and cunning, and Paul +saw now a note of expectation, of cruel expectation, in the fierce black +eyes of the Shawnee. And as he looked, a sudden change came over the face +of the chief. A gleam appeared in the black eyes, and the tall, thin +figure seemed to raise itself a little higher. Paul again looked up the +stream, and lo! a tiny dark spot appeared upon its surface. He watched it +as the chief watched it, and it grew, coming steadily down the river. But +he did not yet know what it was.</p> + +<p>Now the spirit of action descended quickly upon the whole band. The chief +left the shore and gave quick, low orders to the men, who sank back into +the forest, taking Paul and Braxton Wyatt with them. Two warriors, having +Paul between them, crouched in a dense thicket, and one of them tapped the +unarmed boy meaningly with his tomahawk. Paul did not see Braxton Wyatt, +but he supposed that he was held similarly by other warriors, somewhere +near. In truth, he did not see any of the savages except the two who were +with him. All the rest had melted away with the extraordinary facility +that they had for hiding themselves, but Paul knew that they were about +him, pressed close to the earth, blurred with the foliage or sheltered by +tree trunks.</p> + +<p>The boy's eyes turned back to the river, and the black blot floating on +its surface. That blot, he knew, had caused this sudden disappearance of a +whole band of Shawnees, and he wanted to know more. The black blot came +down the stream and grew into shape and outline, and the shape and outline +were those of a boat. An Indian canoe? No; it rapidly grew beyond the size +of any canoe used by the savages, and began to stand up from the water in +broad and stiff fashion. Then Paul's heart thumped, because all at once he +knew. It was a flatboat, and it was certainly loaded with emigrants coming +down the Ohio, women and children as well as men, and the Shawnees had +laid an ambush. This was what the crafty Red Eagle had been waiting for so +long.</p> + +<p>It was the final touch of savagery, and the boy's generous and noble heart +rebelled within him. He started up, propelled by the impulse to warn; but +the two warriors pulled him violently back, one of them again touching him +significantly with his tomahawk. Paul knew that it was useless. Any +movement or cry of his would cause his own death, and would not be +sufficient to warn those on the boat. He sank back again, trembling in +every nerve, not for himself but for the unsuspecting travelers on the +river.</p> + +<p>The boat came steadily on, Paul saw a number of men, some walking about +and others at the huge sweeps with which it was controlled. And—yes, +there was a woman and a child, too; a little girl with long, yellow curls, +who played on the rude deck. Paul put his hand to his face, and it came +back wet.</p> + +<p>Then he remembered, and his heart leaped up. The river was a mile wide, +and the boat was keeping near the middle of the stream. No bullet from the +savages could reach it. Then what was the use of this ambush? It had +merely been a chance hope of the savages that the boat would come near +enough for them to fire into it, but instead it would go steadily on! Paul +looked exultantly at the two warriors beside him, but they were intently +watching the boat, which would soon be opposite them.</p> + +<p>Then a ghastly and horrible thing occurred. A white face suddenly appeared +upon the shore in front of Paul—the face of a white youth whom he knew. +The figure was in rags, the clothing torn and tattered by thorns and +bushes, and the hair hung in wild locks about the white face. Face and +figure alike were the picture of desolation and despair.</p> + +<p>The white youth staggered to the very edge of the water, and, lifting up +a tremulous, weeping voice, cried out to those on the boat:</p> + +<p>"Save me! Save me! In God's name, save me! Don't leave me here to starve +in these dark woods!"</p> + +<p>It was a sight to move all on the boat who saw and heard—this spectacle +of the worn wanderer, alone in that vast wilderness, appealing to +unexpected rescue. Fear, agony, and despair alike were expressed in the +tones of Braxton Wyatt's voice, which carried far over the yellow stream +and was heard distinctly by the emigrants. To hear was also to heed, and +the great flatboat, coming about awkwardly and sluggishly, turned her +square prow toward the southern shore, where the refugee stood.</p> + +<p>Braxton Wyatt never ceased to cry out for help. His voice now ran the +gamut of entreaty, hope, despair, and then hope again. He called upon them +by all sacred names to help him, and he also called down blessings upon +them as the big boat bore steadily toward the land where two score fierce +savages lay among the bushes, ready to slay the moment they came within +reach.</p> + +<p>Paul was dazed at first by what he saw and heard. He could not believe +that it was Braxton Wyatt who was doing this terrible and treacherous +thing. He rubbed away what he thought might be a deceptive film before +his eyes, but it was still Braxton Wyatt. It was the face of the youth +whom he had known so long, and it was his voice that begged and blessed. +And there, too, came the boat, not thirty yards from the land now! In two +more minutes it would be at the bank, and its decks were crowded now with +men, women, and children, regarding with curiosity and pity alike this +lone wanderer in the wilderness whom they had found in such a terrible +case. Paul heard around him a rustling like that of coiled snakes, the +slight movement of the savages preparing to spring. The boat was only ten +yards from the shore! Now the film passed away from his eyes, and his +dazed brain cleared. He sprang up to his full height, reckless of his own +life, and shouted in a voice that was heard far over the yellow waters:</p> + +<p>"Keep off! Keep off, for your lives! It is a renegade who is calling you +into an ambush! Keep off! Keep off!"</p> + +<p>Paul saw a sudden confusion on the boat, a running to and fro of people, +and a bucking of the sweeps. Then he heard a spatter of rifle shots, all +this passing in an instant, and the next moment he felt a heavy +concussion. Fire flashed before his eyes, and he sank away into a darkness +that quickly engulfed him.</p> + +<p>When Paul came back to himself he was lying among the trees where he had +fallen, and his head ached violently. He started to put up his hand to +soothe it, but the hand would not move, and then he realized that both +hands were bound to his side. His whole memory came back in a flash, and +he looked toward the river. Far down the stream, and near the middle of +it, was a black dot that, even as he looked, became smaller, and +disappeared. It was the flatboat with its living freight, and Paul's +heart, despite his own desperate position, leaped up with joy.</p> + +<p>From the river he glanced back at the Indian faces near him, and so far as +he could tell they bore no signs of triumph. Nor could he see any of those +hideous trophies they would have been sure to carry in case the ambush had +been a success. No! the triumph had been his, not theirs. He rolled into +an easier position, shut his eyes again to relieve his head, and when he +opened them once more, Braxton Wyatt stood beside him. At the sight, all +the wrath and indignation in Paul's indomitable nature flared up.</p> + +<p>"You scoundrel! you awful scoundrel! You renegade!" he cried. "Don't you +ever speak to me again! Don't you come near me!"</p> + +<p>Braxton Wyatt did not turn back when those words, surcharged with +passion, met him full in the face, but wore a sad and downcast look.</p> + +<p>"I don't blame you, Paul," he said gently, "for speaking that way when you +don't understand. I'm not a renegade, Paul. I did what I did to save our +lives—yours as well as mine, Paul. The chief, Red Eagle, threatened to +put us both to the most awful tortures at once if I didn't do it."</p> + +<p>"Liar, as well as scoundrel and renegade!" exclaimed Paul fiercely.</p> + +<p>But Braxton Wyatt went on in his gentle, persuading, unabashed manner:</p> + +<p>"It is as true as I stand here. I could not take you, too, Paul, to +torture and death, and all the while I was hoping that the people on the +boat would see, or suspect, and that they would turn back in time. If you +had not cried out—and it was a wonderfully brave thing to do!—I think +that at the last moment I myself should have done so."</p> + +<p>"Liar!" said Paul again, and he turned his back to Braxton Wyatt.</p> + +<p>Wyatt looked fixedly at the bound boy, shrugged his shoulders a little, +and said:</p> + +<p>"I never took you for a fool before, Paul."</p> + +<p>But Paul was silent, and Braxton Wyatt went away. An hour or two later Red +Eagle came to Paul, unbound his arms, and gave him something to eat. As +Paul ate the venison, Braxton Wyatt returned to him and said:</p> + +<p>"It is my influence with the chief, Paul, that has secured you this good +treatment in spite of their rage against you. It is better to pretend to +fall in with their ways, if we are to retain life, and ever to secure +freedom."</p> + +<p>But Paul only turned his back again and remained silent. Yet with the food +and rest the ache died out of his head, and he was permitted to wash off +the blood caused by the heavy blow from the flat of a tomahawk. Then he +crossed the Ohio with the band.</p> + +<p>Paul was in a canoe with Red Eagle and two other warriors, and Braxton +Wyatt was in another canoe not far away. But Paul resolutely ignored him, +and looked only at the great river, and the thick forest on either shore. +He was now more lonely than ever, and the Ohio that he was crossing seemed +to him to be the boundary between the known and the unknown. Below it was +Wareville and Marlowe, tiny settlements in the vast surrounding +wilderness, it was true, but the abodes of white people, nevertheless. +North of it, and he was going northward, stretched the forest that savages +alone haunted. The crossing of the river was to Paul like passing over a +great wall that would divide him forever from his own. All his vivid +imagination was alive, and it painted the picture in its darkest and most +somber colors.</p> + +<p>They reached the northern shore without difficulty, hid the canoes for +future use, and resumed their leisurely journey northward. Braxton Wyatt, +who seemed to Paul to have much freedom, resumed his advances toward a +renewal of the old friendship, but Paul was resolute. He could not +overcome his repulsion, Braxton Wyatt might plead, and make excuses, and +talk about the terror of torture and death, but Paul remained unconvinced. +He himself had not flinched at the crucial moment to undo what Wyatt was +doing, and in his heart he could find no forgiveness for the one whom he +called a renegade.</p> + +<p>Wyatt refused to take offense. He said, and Paul could not but hear, that +Paul some day would be grateful for what he was doing, and that it was +necessary in the forest to meet craft with craft, guile with guile.</p> + +<p>The days passed in hunting, eating, resting, and marching, and Paul lost +count of time, distance, and direction. He had not Henry's wonderful +instinct in the wilderness, and he could not now tell at what point of the +compass Wareville lay. But he kept a brave heart and a brave face, and if +at times he felt despair, he did not let anyone see it.</p> + +<p>They came at last to a place where the forest thinned out, and then broke +away, leaving a little prairie. The warriors, who had previously been +painting themselves in more hideous colors than ever, broke into a long, +loud, wailing chant. It was answered in similar fashion from a point +beyond a swell in the prairie, and Paul knew that they had come to the +Indian village. The wailing chant was a sign that they had returned after +disaster, and now all the old squaws were taking it up in reply. Paul was +filled with curiosity, and he watched everything.</p> + +<p>The warriors emerged from the last fringe of the forest, their faces +blackened, the hideous chant for their lost rising and falling, but never +ceasing. Forward to meet them poured a mongrel throng—old men, old +squaws, children, mangy curs, and a few warriors. Paul was with Red Eagle, +and when the old squaws saw him, they stopped their plaintive howl and +sent up a sudden shrill note of triumph. In a moment Paul was in a ring of +ghastly old faces, in every one of which snapped a pair of cruel black +eyes. Then the old women began to push him about, to pinch him, and to +strike him, and they showed incredible activity.</p> + +<p>Thoroughly angry and in much pain, Paul struck at the hideous hags; but +they leaped away, jabbered and laughed, and returned to the attack. While +he was occupied with those in front of him, others slipped up behind him, +jabbed him in the back, or violently twitched the hair on his neck. Tears +of pain and rage stood in Paul's eyes, and he wheeled about, only to have +the jeering throng wheel with him and continue their torture. At last he +caught one of them a half blow, and she reeled and fell. The others +shouted uproariously, and the warriors standing by joined in their mirth.</p> + +<p>One of the hags finally struck Paul a resounding smack in the face, and as +he turned to pursue her another from behind seized a wisp of hair and +tried to tear it out by the roots. Paul whirled in a frenzy, and so +quickly that she could not escape him. He seized her withered old throat +in both his hands, and then and there he would have choked her to death, +but the warriors interfered, and pulled his hands loose. But they also +drove the old women away, and Paul was let alone for the time. As he stood +on one side, gasping as much with anger as with pain, Braxton Wyatt, who +had not been persecuted at all, came to him again with ironic words and +derisive gesture.</p> + +<p>"It was just as I told you, Paul," he said. "I gave you good advice. If +you had taken it, they would have spared you. What you have just got is +only a taste to what you may suffer."</p> + +<p>Paul felt a dreadful inclination to shudder, but he managed to control +himself.</p> + +<p>"I'd rather die under the torture than do what you have done, you +renegade!" he said.</p> + +<p>This was the first time since they crossed the Ohio that he had replied to +Braxton, but even now he would say no more, and Wyatt, following his +custom, shrugged his shoulders and walked away. Then all, mingled in one +great throng, went forward to the village. Paul saw an irregular +collection of buffalo-skin and deer-skin tepees, and a few pole wigwams, +with some rudely cultivated fields of maize about them. A fine brook +flowed through the village, and the site, on the whole, was well chosen, +well watered, and sheltered by the little hills from cold winds. It was +too far away from those hills to be reached by a marksman in ambush, and +all about hung signs of plenty—drying venison and buffalo meat, and skins +of many kinds.</p> + +<p>When they came within the circle of huts and tents, Paul was again +regarded by many curious eyes, and there might have been more attempts to +persecute him, but the chief, Red Eagle, kept them off. Red Eagle was able +to speak a little English, but Paul was too proud to ask him about his own +fate. Not a stoic by nature, the boy nevertheless had a will that could +control his impulses.</p> + +<p>He was thrust into a small pole hut, and when the door was tightly +fastened he was left alone there. The place was not more than six feet +square, and only a little higher than Paul's head when he stood erect. In +one corner was a couch of skins, but that was its whole equipment. Some of +the poles did not fit closely together, leaving cracks of a quarter of an +inch or so, through which came welcome fresh air, and also the subdued hum +of the village noises. He heard indistinctly the barking of dogs, and the +chatter of old squaws scolding, but he paid little heed to them because he +felt now the sudden rush of a terrible despair.</p> + +<p>The Ohio had been the great wall between Paul and his kind, and with the +steady march northward, through the forests and over the little prairies, +still another wall, equally great, had been reared. It seemed to Paul that +Henry and Shif'less Sol and his other friends could never reach him here, +and whatever fate the Shawnees had in store for him, it would be a hard +one. Wild life he liked in its due proportion, but he had no wish to +become a wild man all his days. He wanted to see the settlements grow and +prosper, and become the basis of a mighty civilization. This was what +appealed to him most. His great task of helping to save Kentucky +continually appealed to him, and now his chance of sharing in it seemed +slender and remote—too slender and remote to be considered.</p> + +<p>The boy lay long on his couch of skins. The hum of the village life still +came to his ears, but he paid little heed to it. Gradually his courage +came back, or rather his will brought it back, and he became conscious +that the day was waning, also that he was growing hungry. Then the door +was opened, and Red Eagle entered. Behind him came a weazened old warrior +and a weazened old squaw, hideous to behold. Red Eagle stepped to one +side, and the old squaw fell on Paul's neck, murmuring words of +endearment. Paul, startled and horrified, pushed her off, but she returned +to the charge. Then Paul pushed her back again with more force. Red Eagle +stepped forward, and lifted a restraining hand.</p> + +<p>"They would adopt you in place of the son they have lost," he said in his +scant and broken English.</p> + +<p>Paul looked at Red Eagle. It seemed to him that he saw on the face of the +chief the trace of a sardonic grin. Then he looked at the weazened and +repulsive old pair.</p> + +<p>"Put me to the torture," he said.</p> + +<p>Now the sardonic grin was unmistakable on die face of the chief.</p> + +<p>"Not yet," he said, "but maybe later."</p> + +<p>Then he and the old pair left the hut, and presently food was brought to +Paul, who, worn out by his trials, ceased to think about his future. When +he had finished eating he threw himself on the couch again, and slept +heavily until the next day.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX" />CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<p>A CHANGE OF PLACES</p> + + +<p>Now came a time which Paul did not wholly understand, but which seemed to +him a period of test. The repulse of the old couple was not permanent. +They came back again and again, inviting him to be their son, and +patiently endured all his rebuffs until he began to feel a kind of pity +for them. After that he was always gentle to them, but he remained firm in +his resolve that he would not become a savage, either in reality or +pretense.</p> + +<p>After a week he was allowed to walk in the village and to look upon +barbaric life, but he saw not the remotest chance of escape. The place +contained perhaps five hundred souls—men, women, children, and +papooses—and at least fifty mangy curs, every one of whom, including the +papooses and curs, seemed to Paul to be watching him. Black eyes followed +him everywhere. Nothing that he did escaped their attention. Every step +was noted, and he knew that if he went a yard beyond the village he would +bring a throng of warriors, squaws, and dogs upon him. But he was grateful +for this bit of freedom, the escape from the confinement of close walls, +and the forest about them, glowing with autumnal foliage, looked cool and +inviting. He saw nothing of Braxton Wyatt, but Red Eagle told him one day +that he had gone northward with a band, hunting. "He good boy," said Red +Eagle. Paul shuddered with disgust.</p> + +<p>More than two weeks passed thus, and it seemed to Paul that he was not +only lost to his own world, but forgotten by it. Kentucky and all his +friends had dipped down under the horizon, and would never reappear. Henry +and Ross and Shif'less Sol would certainly have come for him if they +could, but perhaps they had fallen, slain in the night battle. His heart +stood still at the thought, but he resolutely put it away. It did not seem +to him that one of such strength and skill as Henry Ware could be killed.</p> + +<p>Paul sat on a rock about the twilight hour one day, and watched the sun +sinking into the dark forest. He was inexpressibly lonely, as if forsaken +of men. Savage life still left him untouched. It made no appeal to him +anywhere, and he longed for Wareville, and his kind, which he was now sure +he would never see again. Behind him rose the usual hum of the +village—the barking of dogs, the chatter of squaws, and the occasional +grunt of a warrior. In their way, these people were cheerful. Unlike Paul, +they were living the only life they knew and liked, and had no thoughts of +a better.</p> + +<p>The lonely boy rose from the rock and walked back toward the pole hut, in +which they fastened him every night. It had become a habit with him now, +and he knew that it saved useless resistance and a lot of trouble. Had he +taken a single step toward the forest instead of his own prison hut, a +score of watchful eyes would have been upon him.</p> + +<p>The twilight melted into the dark, and fires gleamed here and there in the +village. Dusky figures passed before and behind the fires—those of squaws +cooking the suppers. Paul's eyes wandered, idle and unobserving, over the +savage scene, and then he uttered a little cry of impatience as a hulking +warrior lurched against him. The man seemed to have tripped upon a root, +an unusual thing for these sure-footed sons of the forest, and Paul drew +back from him. But the savage recovered himself, and in a low voice said:</p> + +<p>"Paul!"</p> + +<p>Paul Cotter started violently. It was the first word in good English that +he had heard in a time that seemed to be eternity—save those of Braxton +Wyatt, whom he hated—and the effect upon him was overpowering. It was +like a voice of hope coming suddenly from another world.</p> + +<p>"Paul," continued the voice, now warningly, "don't speak. Go on to your +hut. Friends are by."</p> + +<p>Then the hulking and savage figure walked away, and Paul knew enough to +take no apparent notice, but to continue on as if that welcome voice Had +not come out of the darkness. Yet a thousand little pulses within him were +throbbing, throbbing with joy and hope.</p> + +<p>But whose was the voice? In his excitement he had not noticed the tone +except to note that it was a white man's. He glanced back and saw the +hulking form near the outskirts of the village, but the light was too dim +to disclose anything. Henry? No, it was not Henry's figure. Then who was +it? A friend, that was certain, and he had said that other friends were +by.</p> + +<p>Paul walked with a light step to his prison hut, sedulously seeking to +hide the exultation in his face. He was not forgotten in his world! His +friends were ready to risk their lives for him! His heart was leaping as +he looked through the dusk at the smoking camp fires, the dim huts and +tepees, and the shadowy figures that passed and repassed. He would soon be +leaving all that savage life. He never doubted it.</p> + +<p>He came to his prison hut, went calmly inside, and a few minutes later, +the regular time being at hand, the door was fastened on the outside by +Red Eagle or some of his people. He might perhaps have forced the door in +the night, but he had not considered himself a skillful enough woodsman to +slip from the village unobserved, and accordingly he had waited. Now he +was very glad of his restraint.</p> + +<p>Paul lay down on the couch of skins, but he was not seeking sleep. Instead +he was waiting patiently, with something of Indian stoicism. He saw +through the cracks in his hut the Indian fires, yet burning and smoking, +and the dim figures still passing and repassing. There was also the faint +hum to tell him that savage life did not yet sleep, and now and then a +mongrel cur barked. But all things end in time, and after a while these +noises ceased; even the cure barked no more, and the smoking fires sank +low.</p> + +<p>The Indian village lay at peace, but Paul's heart throbbed with +expectation. Nor did it throb in vain. A muffled sound appeared in time at +his door. It was some one at work on the fastenings, and Paul listened +with every nerve a-quiver. Presently the noise ceased, a shaft of pale +night light showed, and then was gone. But the door had been opened, and +then closed, and some one was inside.</p> + +<p>Paul waited without fear. He could barely see a dark, shapeless outline +within the dimness of his hut, but he was sure it was the figure of the +slouching warrior who had bumped against him. The man stood a moment or +two, seeking to pierce the dusk with his own eyes, and then he said in a +low voice:</p> + +<p>"Paul! Paul! Is it you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Paul, in the same guarded tone, "but I don't know who you +are."</p> + +<p>The figure swayed a little and laughed low, but with much amusement.</p> + +<p>"It 'pears to me that we are forgot purty soon," it said. "An' I've worked +hard fur a tired man."</p> + +<p>Then Paul knew the familiar, whimsical tone. The light had burst upon him +all at once.</p> + +<p>"Shif'less Sol!" he exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"Jest me," said Sol; "an' ain't I about the purtiest Shawnee warrior you +ever saw? Why, Paul, I'm so good at playin' a loafin' savage from some +other village that nary a Shawnee o' them all has dreamed that I am what I +ain't. If ever I go back thar in the East, I'm goin' to be a play-actor, +Paul."</p> + +<p>"You can be anything on earth you want to be, Sol!" said Paul jubilantly. +"It was mighty good of you to come."</p> + +<p>"You'd a-thought Henry would a-come," whispered Sol; "but we decided that +he was too tall an' somehow too strikin'-lookin' to come in here ez a +common, everyday Injun, so it fell to me to loaf in, me bein' a +tired-lookin' sort o' feller, anyway. But they're out thar in the woods +a-waitin', Henry an' Tom Ross an' that ornery cuss, Jim Hart."</p> + +<p>"I knew that you fellows would never desert me!" exclaimed Paul.</p> + +<p>"Why, o' course not!" said Sol. "We never dreamed o' leavin' you. Now, +Paul, we've got to git through this village somehow or other. Lucky it's +purty dark, an' you'll have to do your best to walk an' look like a Red. +Maybe we kin git fur enough to make a good run fur it, and then, with the +woods an' the night helpin' us, we may give them the slip. Here, take +this."</p> + +<p>He pressed something cold and hard into Paul's hand, and Paul slipped the +pistol into his belt, standing erect and feeling himself much of a man.</p> + +<p>"It's time to be goin'," said Shif'less Sol.</p> + +<p>"I'm ready," said Paul.</p> + +<p>But neither took more than a single step forward, stopping together as +they heard a light noise at the door.</p> + +<p>"Thunder an' lightnin'!" said Shif'less Sol, under his breath. "Somebody's +suspectin'."</p> + +<p>"It looks like it," breathed Paul.</p> + +<p>"Lay down on the skins and pretend to be asleep," said Shif'less Sol.</p> + +<p>Paul lay down on the couch at once, in the attitude of one who slumbers, +and closed his eyes—all but a little. Shif'less Sol shoved himself into +the corner, and blotted out his figure against the wall.</p> + +<p>The door opened and Braxton Wyatt stepped in. What decree of fate had +caused him to be spying about that night, and what had caused him to find +the door of Paul's prison hut unfastened? He stood a few moments, trying +to accustom his eyes to the dark, and he plainly heard the regular +breathing of Paul on the bed of skins. Presently he saw the dim, recumbent +figure also. But he was still suspicious, and he took a step nearer. Then +a big form, projected somewhere from the dark, hurled itself upon him, and +he was thrown headlong to the earthen floor. Strong fingers compressed his +throat, and he gasped for breath.</p> + +<p>"Here, Paul," said Sol, "tear off a piece o' that skin an' stuff it into +his mouth."</p> + +<p>Paul, who had leaped to his feet, obeyed at once.</p> + +<p>"An' cut off some stout strips o' the same with this knife o' mine," said +Shif'less Sol.</p> + +<p>Paul again obeyed at once, and in three minutes Braxton Wyatt lay bound +and gagged on the earthen floor. Shif'less Sol Hyde and Paul Cotter stood +over him, and looked down at him, and even in the dark they saw the terror +of all things in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"The Lord has been good to us to-night, Paul," said Shif'less Sol, with a +certain solemnity, "an' He wuz best o' all when He sent this hound here +a-spyin'."</p> + +<p>"You know what he is?" said Paul.</p> + +<p>"Ef I don't know, I've guessed."</p> + +<p>Then the two stood silent for a little space, still gazing down at Braxton +Wyatt, bound and gagged. Paul had never before seen such stark dread in +the eyes of any one, and he shuddered. Despite himself, he felt a certain +amount of pity.</p> + +<p>"He would have lured a boat-load of our people into the hands of the +savages," he said.</p> + +<p>"I'll put this knife in his foul heart, Paul," said Shif'less Sol.</p> + +<p>The bound figure quivered in its bonds, and the eyes became wild and +appealing.</p> + +<p>"No, not that," replied Paul; "I couldn't bear to see anyone helpless put +to death."</p> + +<p>"It was just the thought uv a moment," said Shif'less Sol. "We've got a +better use fur him. It's the one that the Lord sent him here fur. Now, +Paul, help me strip off his huntin' shirt."</p> + +<p>They took off Braxton Wyatt's hunting shirt, leggins, and cap, and Paul +put them on, his own taking their place on the form of the gagged youth.</p> + +<p>"Now, Paul," said Shif'less Sol, "you're Braxton Wyatt—for a little +while, at least, you've got to stand it—an' he's you. Help me roll him up +thar on your bed o' skins, an' he kin sleep in calm an' peace until they +bring him his breakfast in the mornin'."</p> + +<p>They put Wyatt on the couch, and his eyes glared fiercely at them. He +struggled to speak, but they did not care to hear him. Sol took the +weapons from his belt and gave them to Paul.</p> + +<p>"Good-night, Braxton," said Shif'less Sol pleasantly. "Fine dreams to you. +We're glad you came. You happened in jest in time."</p> + +<p>Wyatt quivered convulsively on his bed of skins. Paul was filled with +repugnance, but he would not exult. His nature would not permit him. +Shif'less Sol opened the door, and the two stepped out into the open air +and a dark night. No one was about, and the shiftless one deliberately +fastened the doors on the outside in the usual manner. Then he and Paul +strolled away through the village.</p> + +<p>"Remember that you are Braxton Wyatt," whispered Shif'less Sol. "Walk ez +near like him ez you kin. You've seen him often enough to know."</p> + +<p>The two sauntered lazily forward. An old squaw, crouched by a low and +smoking fire, gave one glance at them, but no more. She went on dreaming +of the days when she was young, and when the braves fought for her. A +mangy cur barked once, and then lay down again at the foot of a deer-skin +lodge. A warrior, smoking a pipe in his own doorway, looked up, but saw +nothing unusual, and then looked down again.</p> + +<p>The coolness of Shif'less Sol was something wonderful to see. He merely +loafed along, as if he had no object in the world but to pass away the +time, and there was nothing in the course he chose to indicate that he +meant to reach the forest. Now and then he spoke apparently casual words +to Paul, and the boy, in the faint light, wearing Braxton Wyatt's clothes, +might easily pass for Braxton Wyatt himself, even to the keen eyes of the +Shawnees.</p> + +<p>Presently they reached the northern end of the village, the one nearest to +the forest, and it was here that Shif'less Sol intended to make the +escape. Paul kept close to him, and he noticed with joy that all the time +the light, already faint, was growing fainter. The friendly forest seemed +to curve very near. Paul's heart throbbed with painful violence.</p> + +<p>Shif'less Sol passed the last wigwam, and he took a step into the open +space that divided them from the forest. Paul stepped with him, but a +gaunt and weazened figure rose up in their path. It was that of the old +squaw who wished a new son, and she stared for a few moments at the +clothes of Braxton Wyatt, and the figure within them. Then she knew, and +she uttered a shrill cry that was at once a lament and a warning. At the +same time she flung her arms around Paul in a gesture that was intended +alike for affection and detention.</p> + +<p>"Run, Paul, run!" exclaimed Shif'less Sol.</p> + +<p>Paul attempted to throw off the old woman, but she clung to him like a +wild cat, showing marvelous strength and tenacity for one so little and +weazened and old. Shif'less Sol saw the difficulty and, seizing her in his +powerful grasp, tore her loose.</p> + +<p>"Don't hurt her, Sol!" cried Paul.</p> + +<p>Shif'less Sol understood, and he cast her from them, but not with +violence. Then the two ran with utmost speed and desperate need toward the +forest, because the village behind them was up and alive. Lights flared, +dogs barked, men shouted, and before the friendly trees were reached +rifles began to crack.</p> + +<p>"Jumpin' Jehoshaphat!" cried Shif'less Sol, as a bullet whistled past his +ear. "Ef that don't put life into a tired man, I don't know what will."</p> + +<p>He ran with amazing swiftness, and Paul, light-footed, kept beside him. +But the alert Shawnee warriors, ever quick to answer an alarm, were +already in fleet pursuit, and only the darkness kept their bullets from +striking true. Paul looked back once—even in the moment of haste and +danger he could not help it—and he saw three warriors in advance of the +others, coming so fast that they must overtake them. He and Sol might beat +them off, but one cannot fight well and at the same time escape from a +multitude. His heart sank. He would be recaptured, and with him the +gallant Shif'less Sol.</p> + +<p>Flashes of fire suddenly appeared in the forest toward which they ran, and +death cries came from the two warriors who pursued. Shif'less Sol uttered +an exultant gasp.</p> + +<p>"The boys!" he said. "They're thar in the woods, a-helpin'."</p> + +<p>Daunted by the sudden covering fire, the pursuing mob fell back for a few +moments, and the two fugitives plunged into the deep and friendly shadows +of the woods. Three figures, all carrying smoking rifles, rose up to meet +them. The figures were those of Henry Ware, Tom Ross, and Jim Hart. Henry +reached out his hand and gave Paul's a strong and joyous grasp.</p> + +<p>"Well, Sol has brought you!" he said.</p> + +<p>"But Sol's not goin' to stop runnin' yet for a long time, tired ez he is," +gasped the shiftless one.</p> + +<p>"Good advice," said Henry, laughing low, and without another word the five +ran swiftly and steadily northward through the deep woods. Henry had on +his shoulder an extra rifle, which he had brought for Paul, so confident +was he that Sol would save him; but he said nothing about it for the +present, preferring to carry the added weight himself. They heard behind +them two or three times the long-drawn, terrible cry with which Paul was +so familiar, but it did not now send any quiver through him. He was with +the ever-gallant comrades who had come for him, and he was ready to defy +any danger.</p> + +<p>Henry Ware, after a while, stopped very suddenly, and the others stopped +with him.</p> + +<p>"I think we'd better turn here," he said, unconsciously assuming his +natural position of leader. "It's not worth while to run ourselves to +death. What we've got to do is to hide."</p> + +<p>"Them's blessed words!" gasped Shif'less Sol. "I wuz never so tired in all +my born days. Seems to me I've been chased by Shawnees all over this here +continent of North Ameriky!"</p> + +<p>Paul laughed low, from pure pleasure—pleasure at his escape and pleasure +in the courage, loyalty, and skill of his comrades.</p> + +<p>"You may be tired, Sol," he said, "but there was never a braver man than +you."</p> + +<p>"It ain't bravery," protested the shiftless one. "I get into these things +afore I know it, an' then I've got to kick like a mule to get out o' 'em."</p> + +<p>But Paul merely laughed low again.</p> + +<p>Henry turned from the north to the west, and led now at a pace that was +little more than a walk. Paul and Sol drew deep breaths, as they felt the +heavenly air flowing back into their lungs and the spring returning to +their muscles. They went in Indian file, five dusky figures in the shadow, +a faint moonlight touching them but wanly, and all silent. Thus they +marched until past midnight, and they heard nothing behind them. Then +their leader stopped, and the others, without a word, stopped with him.</p> + +<p>"I think we've shaken 'em off," said Henry, "and we'd better rest and +sleep. Then we can make up our plans."</p> + +<p>"Good enough," said Shif'less Sol. "An' ef any man wakes me up afore next +week, I'll hev his scalp."</p> + +<p>He sank down at once in his buckskins on a particularly soft piece of +turf, and in an incredibly brief space of time he was sound asleep. Jim +Hart, doubling up his long, thin figure like a jackknife, imitated him, +and Paul was not long in following them to slumberland. Only Henry and +Ross remained awake and watchful, and by and by the moonlight came out and +silvered their keen and anxious faces.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X" />CHAPTER X</h2> + +<p>THE ISLAND IN THE LAKE</p> + + +<p>When Paul awoke the others were munching the usual breakfast of dried +venison, and Henry handed him a piece, which he ate voraciously. Henry was +sitting on the ground, with his back against a fallen log, and he regarded +Paul contemplatively.</p> + +<p>"Paul," he said, in the dryest possible tones, "I don't see how you could +have been so hard-hearted."</p> + +<p>Paul looked at him, startled. "Why, what do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"To tear yourself away, as you did, from a loving father and mother. Why, +Sol, here, tells me that you actually threw your mother from you."</p> + +<p>"Truth, Gospel truth," put in Shif'less Sol. "I never seen sech a cruel, +keerless person. He gives her jest one fling into the south, an' then he +bolts off into the north, like an arrow out o' the bow. I follows him +lickety-split to bring him back, but he runs so fast I can't ketch him."</p> + +<p>Paul smiled.</p> + +<p>"I've one father and mother already," he said, "and so I have no use for +two. Rather than cause embarrassment, I came away as quickly as I could."</p> + +<p>"You did come fast," said Henry dryly.</p> + +<p>"It was mighty fine of all of you to come after me," said Paul earnestly, +"and to risk your lives to save me from the Shawnees. But I knew you'd do +it."</p> + +<p>"Uv course," said Tom Ross simply. "The rest uv our party would hev come, +too, but they were needed back thar in Kentucky. Besides, we could spare +'em, ez it took cunnin' an' not numbers to do what we had to do."</p> + +<p>"What's our next step?" asked Paul, who was in the highest of spirits—his +imagination, with its usual vivid rebound, now painted everything in +glowing colors.</p> + +<p>"We are going northward," said Henry.</p> + +<p>"Northward?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, it's necessary. There's some great movement on foot among the +tribes. It's not the Shawnees alone, but the Miamis and Wyandots and +others as well, though the Shawnees are leaders. War belts are passing +between all the tribes, and we think they are joining together to destroy +all the white settlements in Kentucky."</p> + +<p>"An' some renegades are helpin' 'em," said Tom Ross. "They may hev better +luck than they did when they attacked Wareville."</p> + +<p>"Yes, an' there's Braxton Wyatt," said Shif'less Sol sorrowfully, "He's +cunnin' an' revengeful, an' he'll do us a power o' harm. Paul, you ought +to a-let me put a knife in atween his ribs when I had the chance. I might +a-saved some good lives an' a power o' sufferin'."</p> + +<p>Paul did not reply, but he was not sorry that he had interfered. He could +not see a bound youth killed.</p> + +<p>"I think we'd better be goin' now," said Tom Ross. "We've got to keep to +the north, to throw the Shawnees off the track, an' then we'll come back +an' spy on 'em."</p> + +<p>"An' me with only ten hours o' rest got to git up an' start to runnin' +ag'in," said Shif'less Sol plaintively.</p> + +<p>"Wa'al, no, you needn't run," said Tom Ross, grinning. "You can jest walk +for about forty hours without stoppin'!"</p> + +<p>Shif'less Sol heaved a deep sigh, but made ready. Jim Hart undoubled +himself, cracked his joints, and said deliberately:</p> + +<p>"Ef I wuz ez lazy ez Shif'less Sol Hyde, I'd a-stayed back thar in the +East, whar a feller might jest sleep hisself to death, an' no Injuns to +torment him."</p> + +<p>"Ef I wuz es mean an' onchristian ez Jim Hart, I'd go an' join Braxton +Wyatt an' become a renegade myself," rejoined Shif'less Sol.</p> + +<p>Paul smiled. He enjoyed the little spats of Sol and Jim, but he knew that +the two were as true as steel, and the best of friends to each other. +Moreover, he was about to take up again the mission which Fate seemed so +constantly to interrupt. The scene of action had been shifted to the great +northern woods, and it now seemed to Paul that perhaps Fortune had been +kind in bringing him there. If a league of the tribes were being attempted +for a new attack upon the settlements, the powder for Marlowe might well +rest, for the present, in its hiding-place in the woods, while his +comrades and he undertook more important action elsewhere.</p> + +<p>Before they started, Henry and Ross took stock of their ammunition, of +which they had a plentiful supply, replenished more than once from their +enemies, and also gave an abundance to Paul. The extra rifle given to him, +one of those taken from the two warriors that Henry had slain, was a fine +weapon, carrying far and true, and he was perfectly satisfied with it.</p> + +<p>Then they started, and they traveled all day northward, through a fine +rolling country, with little prairies and great quantities of game. It was +fully equal to Kentucky, but Paul knew they were in the heart of the +chosen home of the northern Indians, and it behooved them to be cautious. +But there were no signs of pursuit, and they went on all day undisturbed.</p> + +<p>Late in the afternoon they entered a dense forest, and walked through it +about two hours, when Paul saw an opening among the trees. It was a great +flash of silver that all at once greeted his eyes. But as he looked it +turned to gold under the late sun.</p> + +<p>"Another of those little prairies," he said.</p> + +<p>Henry laughed.</p> + +<p>"No, Paul," he said, "that's not a prairie. The sun and the sky together +have fooled you. It's a lake, and we're going to live in it for a little +while."</p> + +<p>"A lake," echoed Paul, "and we're going to live in it? Come on, I want to +see it!"</p> + +<p>Kentucky was not a country of lakes, and Paul did not know much about +them. Hence, as he hastened forward, he was thinking more of the lake +itself than of Henry's somewhat enigmatic words, "We're going to live in +it."</p> + +<p>They soon reached its margin, and Paul uttered a little cry of delight. It +was a splendid sheet of water, shaped like a half moon, seven miles long, +perhaps, and two miles across at the center. But at the widest part stood +a gem of a wooded island, covered with giant trees. High hills, clothed +with magnificent forest, rose all around the lake.</p> + +<p>The beauty of the scene penetrated the souls of all. Uneducated men like +Shif'less Sol and Jim Hart felt it as well as Paul. The five stood in +silence, gazing at the lake and the gem of a wooded island. The light from +the sinking sun gleamed in red and gold flame across the silver waters, +and on the wooded island the boughs of the trees seemed to be touched with +fire.</p> + +<p>"That's where we are to stay," said Henry, pointing to the little island. +"No Indian will ever trouble us there."</p> + +<p>"Why?" asked Paul, looking at him questioningly.</p> + +<p>"Wait and you'll see," replied Henry.</p> + +<p>Henry led the way along the shore, and from a dense thicket at the water's +edge he took a light canoe.</p> + +<p>"I captured this once," he said; "brought it across the woods and hid it +here, thinking it might be useful some day, and now you see I am right. +Get in! Light as it is, it will hold us all."</p> + +<p>Henry and Ross took the paddles, and they pushed out into the lake. +Shif'less Sol uttered a long and deep sigh of satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"Now, this jest suits a tired man," he said. "Henry, you an' Tom can +paddle jest ez long ez you please. I'd like to do all my travelin' this +way."</p> + +<p>"An' you'd get so lazy you'd want somebody to come an' feed you with a +spoon," said Jim Hart.</p> + +<p>"An' it would jest suit me to have you do it. That's jest the kind uv a +job you're fit fur, Jim Hart."</p> + +<p>"Shet up, you two," said Ross. "You hurt my ears, a-buzzin' an' +a-buzzin'."</p> + +<p>Shif'less Sol sank back a little and closed his eyes. An expression of +heavenly luxury and ease came over his face, but it could not last long +because in a few minutes the boat reached the wooded island. Shif'less Sol +opened his eyes, to find that the sun was almost gone, and that the +shadows had come among the great trees.</p> + +<p>"Cur'us kind o' place," he said. "Gives me a sort o' shiver."</p> + +<p>Paul had felt the same sensation, but he said nothing. Before them lay the +little island, a solid, black blot, its trees blended together, and behind +them the lake shone somberly in the growing darkness.</p> + +<p>"All out!" said Henry cheerfully. "This is home for a while, and we need +rest."</p> + +<p>They sprang upon the narrow beach, and Henry and Ross dragged the canoe +into some thick bushes, where they hid it artfully. Paul meanwhile was +looking about him, and trying to keep down the ghostly feeling that would +assail him at times. The island, so far as he could judge, was perhaps two +hundred yards long, half as broad, and thickly covered with forest. But he +could see nothing of the interior.</p> + +<p>"Come," said Henry Ware, in the same tone of cheerful confidence, as he +led the way.</p> + +<p>The others followed, stepping lightly among the great tree trunks, and +Henry did not stop until he came to a small, open space in the very center +of the island, where a spring bubbled up among some rocks, and flowed away +in a tiny brook in a narrow channel to the lake. The open space was almost +circular, and the great trees grew so thickly around that they looked like +a wall.</p> + +<p>"Here is the place to rest," said Henry. "There is no need for anybody to +watch."</p> + +<p>They lay down upon the ground, disposing themselves on the softest spots +that they could find. Paul stared up for a few moments at the great +circular wall of trees, and the weird, chilly sensation came again, but he +was too tired and sleepy to think about it long. In fifteen minutes he +slumbered soundly, and so did all the others. They lay with their faces +showing but faintly in the dusk, and as they lay in the sheltered cove a +soft wind breathed gently over them.</p> + +<p>All were up early in the morning, and Paul was surprised to see Henry +lighting a fire with flint and steel.</p> + +<p>"Why do you do that, Henry?" he said. "Will not the smoke give warning to +our enemies that we are here?"</p> + +<p>"We shall send up but little smoke," replied Henry; "but if they should +see it, they will not come."</p> + +<p>He went on with the fire, and Paul, although mystified, would not ask +anything more, too proud to show ignorance, and confident that anyhow he +would soon learn the cause of these strange proceedings. The fire was +lighted, and burned brightly, but cast off little smoke. Then Henry turned +to Paul.</p> + +<p>"Let's go up to the north end of the island," he said.</p> + +<p>It was a walk of but a few minutes, and Henry, stopping before they +reached the margin of the lake, said:</p> + +<p>"Look up, Paul!"</p> + +<p>Paul did so, and saw many dark objects in the forks of trees about him, or +tied to the boughs. They looked like shapeless bundles, and he did not +know what they were.</p> + +<p>"A burying ground," said Henry, in answer to his inquiring look.</p> + +<p>Paul felt the same weird little shiver that had assailed him the night +before.</p> + +<p>"A burying ground!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, but by some old, old tribe before the Shawnees or Miamis. What you +see are only bundles of sticks and skeletons. No bodies have been left +here in a long time, and the Indians think the island is haunted by the +ghosts of those who died and were left here long, long ago. That is why we +needed to keep no watch last night. I discovered this place on a hunting +trip, and I've always kept it in mind.</p> + +<p>"Let's go back," said Paul, who did not like to look at this burying +ground in the air.</p> + +<p>Henry laughed a little, but he did willingly as Paul requested, and when +they returned to the fire they found that Jim Hart, falling easily into +his natural position, had already cooked the venison. Paul's spirits at +once went up with a bound. The bright fire, the pleasant odor of the +venison, the cheerful faces of his comrades, and assured safety appealed +to his vivid imagination, and made the blood leap in a sparkling torrent +through his veins.</p> + +<p>"Graveyard or no graveyard, I'm glad I'm here," he said energetically.</p> + +<p>They laughed, and Shif'less Sol, who, as usual, had found the softest +place and had stretched himself upon it, said, with drawling emphasis:</p> + +<p>"You're mighty right, Paul, an' I'm a'gin' movin' from here afore cold +weather comes. I'm pow'ful comf'table."</p> + +<p>"If you don't git up an' stir aroun', how do you expect to eat?" said Jim +Hart indignantly. "We ain't got venison enough for more'n ten more meals."</p> + +<p>"Henry an' Tom will shoot it, an' you'll cook it fur me," said Sol +complacently.</p> + +<p>Jim Hart growled, but Henry and Ross were already discussing this question +of a food supply, and Paul listened.</p> + +<p>"The Indians don't come about the lake much," said Henry, "and it will be +easy enough to find deer, but we must hunt at night. We mustn't let the +savages see us, as it might break the island's spell."</p> + +<p>"We'll take the canoe and go out to-night," said Ross.</p> + +<p>"And this lake ought to be full of fish," said Paul. "We might draw on it, +too, for a food supply."</p> + +<p>"Looks likely," said Ross. "But we'd best not try that, either, till +dusk."</p> + +<p>But they worked in the course of the day at the manufacture of their rude +fishing tackle, constructed chiefly of their clothing, the hooks being +nothing more than a rough sort of pin bent to the right shape. This done, +they spent the rest of the day in loafing and lolling about, although Paul +took a half hour for the thorough exploration of the island, which +presented no unusual features beyond those that he had already seen. After +that he came back to the little cove and luxuriated, as the others were +doing. It was the keenest sort of joy now just to rest, to lie at one's +ease, and to feel the freedom from danger. The old burying ground was a +better guard about them than a thousand men.</p> + +<p>But when night came, Henry and Ross took out the canoe again, and Paul +asked to go with them.</p> + +<p>"All right," said Henry, "you come with us, and Sol, you and Jim Hart can +do the fishing and the quarreling, with nobody to bother you."</p> + +<p>"Jest my luck," said Shif'less Sol, "to be left on a desert island with an +ornery cuss like Jim Hart."</p> + +<p>Henry, setting the paddle against the bank, gave the canoe a great shove, +and it shot far out into the lake. Paul looked back. Already their island +was the solid dark blot it had been the night before, while the waters +moved darkly under a light, northern wind.</p> + +<p>"Sit very quiet, Paul," said Henry. "Tom and I will do the paddling."</p> + +<p>Paul was more than content to obey, and he remained very still while the +other two, with long, sweeping strokes, sent the canoe toward a point +where the enclosing bank was lowest.</p> + +<p>"Don't you think we'd better stay in the boat, Henry?" said Ross.</p> + +<p>"Yes; game must be thick hereabouts, and if we wait long enough we're sure +to find a deer coming down to drink."</p> + +<p>They cruised for a while along the shore, keeping well in the darkest +shadow until they reached a point where the keen eyes of Henry Ware saw, +despite the darkness, that many hoofs had trampled.</p> + +<p>"This is a favorite drinking place," he said. "Back us into those bushes, +Tom, and we'll wait."</p> + +<p>Ross pushed the canoe into some bushes until it was hidden, though the +occupants could see through the leaves whatever might come to the water to +drink, and they took up their rifles. They lay a little to the north of +the drinking place, and the wind blew from the south.</p> + +<p>"I don't think we'll have to wait long," said Henry.</p> + +<p>Then they remained absolutely silent, but within fifteen minutes they +heard a heavy trampling in the woods. It steadily grew louder, and was +mingled with snortings and puffings. Whatever animal made it—and it was +undoubtedly a big one—was coming toward them. Paul was filled with +curiosity, but he knew too much to do more just now than breathe.</p> + +<p>A huge bull buffalo stumbled from the trees to the edge of the lake, where +the moonlight had just begun to come. He was a monstrous fellow, and Paul +knew by his snapping red eyes that he was in no good humor. Henry shook +his head to indicate that he was no game for them, and Paul understood. +Whatever they killed they intended to put in the canoe, and then clean and +dress it on the island. The angry monster, an outcast from some herd, was +safe.</p> + +<p>The buffalo drank, puffing and snorting between drinks, and then stamped +his way back into the forest. Still the hunters waited in ambush. Some +other animal, with a long, sinuous body, crept down to the margin and +lapped the water. Paul did not know what it was, and he could not break +the silence to ask the others; but after drinking for a few minutes it +drew its long, lithe body back through the undergrowth, and passed out of +sight. Then nothing came for a while, because this was a ferocious beast +of prey, and to the harmless creatures of the wilderness the air about the +drinking place was filled for a space with poison.</p> + +<p>But as the wind continued to blow lightly from the south, the dread odor +passed away and the air became pure and fresh again. Back in the deeps of +the forest the timid creatures found courage once more, and they crept +down to the water's edge to slake their thirst. But they were small, and +the ambushed marksmen in the boat still waited, silent and motionless. +Paul saw them sometimes, and sometimes he did not. Then his eyes would +wander to the surface of the lake, now pale, heaving silver in the +moonlight, and to the wall of black forest that circled it round.</p> + +<p>A heavier step came again, and a light puff! puff! Paul knew now that a +great animal was approaching, and that the timid little ones would give it +room. He looked with all his eyes, and a magnificent stag stepped into the +moonlight, antlers erect, waiting and listening for a moment before he +bowed his head to drink. Paul almost leaped up in the boat as a rifle +cracked beside him, and he saw the stag spring into the air and fall dead, +with his feet in the water.</p> + +<p>Henry and Ross promptly shoved the boat from the bushes, and the three of +them lifted the body into it, disposing it in the center with infinite +care. Then, with food enough to last for days, they rowed back across the +lake to the haunted island. Shif'less Sol and Jim Hart, with their rude +tackle, had succeeded in catching four fish, of a species unknown to Paul, +but large and to all appearances succulent.</p> + +<p>"We'll eat the fish to-morrow, because they won't keep," said Sol, "but +Jim Hart here kin jerk the venison. It will give him somethin' to do, an' +Jim is a sight better off when he has to work. He ain't got no time fur +foolishness."</p> + +<p>"An' you can tan its hide," growled Jim Hart, "although your own needs +tannin' most."</p> + +<p>A few minutes later the two were amicably dressing the body of the stag, +but Paul was already asleep. He assisted the next morning at a conference, +and then he learned what Henry and Ross intended to do. The powder for +Marlowe, as Paul had surmised, must be left for the present in its hidden +place while they spied upon the great northern confederacy, now being +formed for the destruction of the white settlements, and they would do +what they could to impede it. Henry, Ross, and Sol would leave that night +on an expedition of discovery, while Paul and Jim Hart held the haunted +island. Paul, in this case, did not object to being left behind, because +he had, for the present at least, enough of danger, and he knew that he +was better suited to other tasks than the one on which the three great +woodsmen were now departing.</p> + +<p>Jim Hart was to row them over to the mainland, and they were to signal +their return with three plaintive, long-drawn cries of the whip-poor-will. +They departed at the first coming of the dusk with short good-bys, leaving +Paul alone on the island. He stood near the margin under the foliage of a +great beech and watched them go. The boat, as it left a trailing wake of +melting silver, became a small black dot at the farther shore, and then +vanished.</p> + +<p>Paul turned back toward the center of his island, inexpressibly lonely for +the while. Again he was a solitary being in the vast, encircling +wilderness, and, in feeling at least, no one was nearer than a thousand +miles away. He walked as swiftly as he could to the cove, where the supper +fire still smoldered, and he sought companionship in the light and warmth +that came from the bed of coals. No amount of hardship, no amount of +experience could change Paul's vivid temperament, so responsive to the +influences of time and place. He sat there, his knees drawn up to his +chin, and the ring of darkness came closer and closer; but out of it +presently arose the tread of footsteps, and all the brightness and +cheeriness returned at once to the boy's face.</p> + +<p>Jim Hart walked into the rim of the firelight, and his long, thin, +saplinglike figure looked very consoling to Paul. He doubled into his +usual jackknife formation and, sitting down by the fire, looked into the +coals.</p> + +<p>"Well, Paul," he said, "I've seen 'em off, an' a-tween you and me, I'd +rather be right here on this here haunted islan', a-hobnobbin' with Injun +ghosts an' havin' a good, comfortable, easy time, than be dodgin' braves, +an' feelin' every minute to see ef my scalp is on out thar among the Injun +villages."</p> + +<p>"You don't think they'll be taken?" asked Paul, in some alarm.</p> + +<p>Long Jim Hart laughed scornfully.</p> + +<p>"Them fellers be took?" he said. "Why, they are the best three woodsmen in +North Ameriky, an', fur that, in the hull world. Nobody can take 'em, an' +if they wuz took, nobody could hold 'em. You could have Henry Ware tied to +the stake, with fifty Shawnees holdin' him an' a thousand more standin' +aroun', an' he'd get away, certain sure."</p> + +<p>Paul smiled. It was an extravagant statement, but it restored his +confidence.</p> + +<p>"And meanwhile we are safe here, protected by ghosts," he said. "Do you +believe in ghosts, Jim?"</p> + +<p>Jim Hart looked up at the black rim of the forest, and then edged a little +closer to the fire.</p> + +<p>"No, I don't," he said, "but sometimes I'm afeard of 'em, jest the same."</p> + +<p>Paul laughed.</p> + +<p>"That's about the way I feel, too," he said, "but they're mighty handy +just now, Jim. They're keeping us safe on this island. You won't deny +that?"</p> + +<p>"No, I won't," said Jim; "but at night time I'm goin' to leave 'em all by +themselves in the trees over at their end uv of the island."</p> + +<p>"So am I," said Paul; and ten minutes later both were sound asleep.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI" />CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<p>A SUDDEN MEETING</p> + + +<p>Paul and queer, long Jim Hart spent a week together on the island, and +they were pleasant days to the boy. He was sure that Henry, Ross, and Sol +could take care of themselves, and he felt little anxiety about them. He +and Hart stayed well in the woods in the day, and they fished and hunted +at night. Hart killed another deer, this time swimming in the water, but +they easily made salvage of the body and took it to land. They also shot a +bear in the edge of the woods, near the south end of the lake, and Hart +quickly tanned both deerskins and the bearskin in a rude fashion. He said +they would need them as covers at night, and as the weather turned a +little colder, Paul found that he could use one of the skins quite +comfortably.</p> + +<p>They built of sticks and brushwood a crude sort of lean-to against one of +the stony sides that enclosed the cove, and when a rain came they were +able to keep quite dry within its shelter. They also found rabbits on the +island, some of which they killed, and thus added further to their +larder. These labors of house-building and housekeeping kept them busy, +and Paul was surprised to find how well content he had become. Hart did +all the cooking, but Paul made amends in other directions, and at night, +when they were not fishing or hunting, they would sit by the little fire +and talk. Once about the noon hour they saw a smoke far to the south, and +both regarded it speculatively.</p> + +<p>"Think likely it's an Injun huntin' party," said Jim Hart, "an' they don't +dream o' any white men bein' about. That's why they are so careless about +their fire, because the different tribes o' these parts are all at peace +with one another."</p> + +<p>"How far away would you say that smoke is?" asked Paul.</p> + +<p>"Three or four miles, anyway, an' I'm pow'ful glad this is a haunted +islan', so they won't come over here."</p> + +<p>"So am I," said Paul devoutly.</p> + +<p>He lay on his back on the soft turf, and watched the smoke rising away in +a thin spire into the heavens. He could picture to himself the savage +party as it sat about the fire, and it gave him a remarkable feeling of +comfort and safety to know that he was so well protected by the ghosts +that haunted the little island.</p> + +<p>The smoke rose there all the morning, but Paul ceased by and by to pay any +attention to it, although he and Jim Hart kept well within the cove, +busying themselves with additions to their lean-to. Paul had found great +strips of bark shed by the trees, and he used these to patch the roof. +More pieces were used for the floor, and, with the bearskin spread over +them, it was quite dry and snug. Then he stood off and regarded it with a +critical and approving eye.</p> + +<p>"You haven't seen a better house than that lately, have you, Jim?" he +said, in a tone of pride.</p> + +<p>"Considerin' the fact that I ain't seen any other uv any kind in a long +time, I kin truthfully say I haven't," replied Jim Hart sardonically.</p> + +<p>"You lack appreciation, Jim," said Paul. "Besides, your imagination is +deficient. Why don't you look at this hut of ours and imagine that it is a +magnificent stone castle?"</p> + +<p>Jim Hart gazed wonderingly at the boy.</p> + +<p>"Paul," he said, "you always wuz a puzzle to me. I can't see no +magnificent stone castle—jest a bark an' brush hut."</p> + +<p>Paul shook his head reprovingly.</p> + +<p>"I am sorry for you, Jim," he said. "I not only see a magnificent stone +castle, but I see a splendid town over there on the mainland."</p> + +<p>"You talk plumb foolish, Paul," said Jim Hart.</p> + +<p>"They are all coming," said Paul.</p> + +<p>But Jim Hart continued to see only the bark and brush hut on the island, +and the vast and unbroken wilderness on the mainland. His eyes roved back, +from the mainland to the hut.</p> + +<p>"Now, ef I had an ax an' a saw," he said regretfully, "I could make that +look like somethin'. I'm a good cook, ef I do say it, Paul, but I'd like +to be a fust-class carpenter. Thar ain't no chance, though, out here, whar +thar ain't nothin' much but cabins, an' every man builds his own hisself."</p> + +<p>"Never mind, Jim," said Paul, "your time will come; and if it doesn't come +to you, it will come to your sons."</p> + +<p>"Paul, you're talkin' foolisher than ever," said Jim indignantly. "You +know that I ain't a married man, an' that I ain't got no sons."</p> + +<p>Paul only smiled. Again he was dreaming, looking far into the future.</p> + +<p>The spire of smoke was still on the horizon line when the twilight came, +but the next morning it was gone, and they did not see it again. Several +days more passed in peace and contentment, and, desiring to secure more +game, Paul and Hart took out the canoe one evening and rowed to the +mainland.</p> + +<p>They watched a while about the mouth of the brook, the favorite drinking +place of the wild animals, but they saw nothing. It seemed likely to Paul +that a warning had been sent to all the tenants of the forest not to drink +there any more, as it was a dangerous place, and he expressed a desire to +go farther into the forest.</p> + +<p>"All right, Paul," said Jim Hart, "but you kain't be too keerful. Don't +git lost out thar in the woods, an' don't furgit your way back to this +spot. I'll wait right here in the boat and watch fur a deer. One may come +yet."</p> + +<p>Paul took his rifle and entered the woods. It was his idea that he might +find game farther up the little stream, and he followed its course, taking +care to make no noise. It was a fine moonlight night, and, keeping well +within the shadow of the trees, he carefully watched the brook. He was so +much absorbed in his task that he forgot the passage of time, and did not +notice how far he had gone.</p> + +<p>Paul had acquired much skill as a hunter, and he was learning to observe +the signs of the forest; but he did not hear a light step behind him, +although he <i>did</i> feel himself seized in a powerful grasp. This particular +warrior was a Miami, and he may have been impelled by pride—that is, a +desire to take a white youth alive, or at least hold him until his +comrades, who were near, could come and secure him. To this circumstance, +and to a fortunate slip of the savage, the boy undoubtedly owed his life.</p> + +<p>Paul was strong, and the grasp of the Indian was like the touch of fire to +him. He made a sudden convulsive effort, far greater than his natural +physical powers, and the arms of the warrior were torn loose. Both +staggered, each away from the other, and while they were yet too close for +Paul to use his rifle, he did, under impulse, what the white man often +does, the red man never. His clenched fist shot out like lightning, and +caught the savage on the point of the jaw.</p> + +<p>The Miami hit the earth with a thud, and lay there stunned. Paul turned +and ran with all his might, and as he ran he heard the war cry behind him, +and then the pattering of feet. But he heard no shots. He judged that the +distance and the darkness kept the savages from firing, and he thanked God +for the night.</p> + +<p>He had sufficient presence of mind to remember the stream, and he kept +closely to its course as he ran back swiftly toward the canoe.</p> + +<p>"Up, Jim, up! The warriors have come!" he shouted, as he ran.</p> + +<p>But Jim Hart, an awkward bean pole of a lion-hearted man, was already +coming to meet him, and fired past him at a dusky, dancing figure that +pursued. The death yell followed, the pursuit wavered for a moment, and +then Jim Hart, turning, ran with Paul to the canoe, into which both leaped +at the same time. But Hart promptly undoubled himself, seized the paddle, +and with one mighty shove sent the boat out into the lake. Paul grasped +the other paddle, and bent to the same task. Their rifles lay at their +feet.</p> + +<p>"Bend low, Paul," said Jim Hart. "We're still within range of the shore."</p> + +<p>Paul almost lay down in the canoe, but he never ceased to make long, +frantic sweeps with the paddle, and he was glad to see the water flashing +behind him. Then he heard a great yell of rage and the crackle of rifles, +and bullets spattered the surface of the lake about them. One chipped a +splinter from the edge of the canoe and whistled by Paul's ear, singing, +as it passed, "Look out! Look out!" But Paul's only reply was to use his +paddle faster, and yet faster.</p> + +<p>The boy did not notice that Jim Hart had turned the course of the canoe, +and that they were running northward, about midway between the island and +the mainland; but the rifle fire ceased presently, and Jim Hart said to +him:</p> + +<p>"You can take it easier now, Paul. We're out uv range, though not uv +sight."</p> + +<p>Paul straightened up, laid his paddle in the boat, and gasped for breath.</p> + +<p>"Look over thar, Paul, ef you want to see a pleasant scene," said Jim Hart +calmly.</p> + +<p>Paul's gaze followed the long man's pointing finger, and he saw at least +twenty warriors gathered on the bank, and regarding them now in dead +silence.</p> + +<p>"Mad!" said Jim Hart. "Mad clean through!"</p> + +<p>"They've chased us on land, and now they are chasing us on water. I wonder +where they will chase us next," said Paul.</p> + +<p>"Not through the air, 'cause they can't fly, nor kin we," said Jim Hart +sagely.</p> + +<p>Paul looked back again at the ferocious band gathered on the shore, and, +while he could not see their faces at the distance, he could imagine the +evil passions pictured there. As he gazed the band broke up, and many of +them came running along the shore. Then Paul noticed that the prow of +their canoe was not turned toward the island, but was bearing steadily +toward the north end of the lake, leaving the island well to the left. He +glanced at Jim Hart, and the long man laughed low, but with deep +satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"Don't you see, Paul," he said, "that we kain't go to the islan' an' show +to them that we've been livin' thar? That might wipe out all the spell uv +the place. We got to let 'em think we're 'fraid uv it, too, an' that we +dassent land thar. We'll paddle up to the head uv the lake, come down on +the other side, an' then, when it's atween us an' them, we'll come across +to our islan'."</p> + +<p>They were still abreast of the island, and yet midway between it and the +mainland. Paul saw the Indians running along the shore, and now and then +taking a shot at the canoe. But the bullets always fell short.</p> + +<p>"Foolish! Plumb foolish," said Jim Hart, "a-wastin' good powder an' good +lead in sech a fashion!"</p> + +<p>"That one struck nearer," said Paul, as a little jet of water spurted up +in the lake. "Keep her off, Jim. A bullet that is not wasted might come +along directly."</p> + +<p>Hart sheered the boat off a little toward the island, and then took a long +look at a warrior who had reached a projecting point of land.</p> + +<p>"That thar feller looks like a chief," he said, "an' I kain't say that his +looks please me a-tall, a-tall. I don't like the set uv his figger one +little bit."</p> + +<p>"What difference does it make?" said Paul. "You can't change it."</p> + +<p>"Wa'al, now, I was a-thinkin' that maybe I could," drawled Jim Hart. +"Hold the boat steady, Paul."</p> + +<p>He laid down his paddle and took up his rifle, which he had reloaded.</p> + +<p>"Them Injuns have guns, but they are not generally ez good ez ours," he +said. "They don't carry ez fur. Now jest watch me change the set uv that +savage's figger. I wouldn't do it, but he's just a-pinin' fur our blood +an' the hair on top uv our heads."</p> + +<p>Up went the long Kentucky rifle, and the moonlight fell clearly along its +polished barrel. Then came the flash, the spurt of smoke, the report +echoing among the hills about the lake, and the chief fell forward with +his face in the water. A yell of rage arose from the others, and again +bullets pattered on the surface of the lake, but all fell short. Jim Hart +calmly reloaded his rifle.</p> + +<p>"That'll teach 'em to be a little more keerful who they're a-follerin'," +he said. "Now, Paul, let's paddle."</p> + +<p>They sent the boat swiftly toward the north end of the lake, and Paul now +and then caught glimpses of the Miamis trying to keep parallel with it, +although out of range; but presently, as they passed the island, and could +swing out into the middle of the lake, the last of them sank permanently +from sight. But the two kept on in the canoe. The moonlight faded a +little, and soon the hills on the shore could be seen only as a black +blur.</p> + +<p>"This is jest too easy, Paul," said Jim Hart, "With them runnin' aroun' +that big outer circle, they couldn't keep up with us even ef they could +see us. Let's rest a while."</p> + +<p>Both put their paddles inside the canoe and drew long breaths. Each had a +feeling of perfect safety, for the time at least, and they let the boat +drift northward under the gentle wind from the south that rippled the +surface of the lake.</p> + +<p>"Water and darkness," said Paul. "They are our friends."</p> + +<p>"The best we could have," said Jim Hart. "Are you rested now, Paul?"</p> + +<p>"I'm fresh again."</p> + +<p>They resumed the paddles, and, curving about, came down on the western +side of the lake until they were opposite the island. Then they paddled +straight for their home, and the word "home," in this case, had its full +meaning for Paul. It gave him a thrill of delight when the prow of the +canoe struck upon the margin of the little island, and the gloom of the +great trees was friendly and protecting.</p> + +<p>"We must hide the canoe good," said Jim Hart.</p> + +<p>They concealed it in a thick clump of bushes, and then Hart carefully +readjusted the bushes so that no one would notice that they had ever been +disturbed, and they took their way to the hut in the glen. They did not +light a fire, but they sat for a little while on the stones, talking.</p> + +<p>"You're sure they won't come over to the Island?" said Paul.</p> + +<p>"They'll never do it," replied Jim Hart confidently. "Besides, they ain't +got the least suspicion that we've come here. Likely, they think we've +landed at the north end uv the lake, an' they'll be prowlin' aroun' thar +three or four days lookin' fur us. Jest think, Paul, uv all the work +they'll hev fur nothin'. I feel like laughin'. I think I <i>will</i> laugh."</p> + +<p>He kept his word and laughed low; but he laughed long, and with the most +intense pleasure.</p> + +<p>"Jest to think, Paul," he continued, "how we're guarded by dead Injuns +theirselves!"</p> + +<p>Presently the two went into the hut, and slept soundly until the next +morning. They did not light a fire then, but ate cold food, and went down +among the trees to watch the lake. They saw nothing. The water rippled and +glowed in alternate gold and silver under the brilliant sunshine, and the +hills about it showed distinctly; but there was no sign of a human being +except themselves.</p> + +<p>"Lookin' fur us among the hills," said Jim Hart. "You an' me will jest +keep close, Paul, an' we won't light no fire."</p> + +<p>The whole day passed without incident, and the following night also, but +about noon the next day, as they watched from the shelter of the trees, +they saw a black dot on the lake, far to the south.</p> + +<p>"A canoe!" said Jim Hart.</p> + +<p>"A canoe? How did they get it?" said Paul—he took it for granted that its +occupants were Miamis.</p> + +<p>"Guess they brought it across country from some river, and thar they are," +replied Jim Hart. "They've shore put a boat on our lake."</p> + +<p>His tone showed traces of anxiety, and Paul, too, felt alarm. The Miamis, +after all, might defy their own superstition and land on the island. +Presently another canoe appeared behind the first, and then a third and a +fourth, until there was a little fleet, which the two watched with silent +apprehension. Had Henry Ware been mistaken? Did the Miamis really believe +it was a haunted island?</p> + +<p>On came the canoes in a straight black file, enough to contain more than a +score of warriors, and the man and the boy nervously fingered their +rifles. If the Indians landed on the island, the result was sure. The two +might make a good fight and slay some of their foes, but in any event +they would certainly be taken or killed. Their lives depended upon the +effect of a superstition.</p> + +<p>The line of canoes lay like a great black arrow across the water. They +were so close together that to the watchers they seemed to blend and +become continuous, and this arrow was headed straight toward the island. +Paul's heart went down with a thump, but a moment later a light leaped +into his eyes.</p> + +<p>"The line is turning!" he exclaimed. "Look, Jim, look! They are afraid of +the island!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Jim Hart, "I see! The ghosts are real, an' it's pow'ful lucky +fur us that they are. The Miamis dassent land!"</p> + +<p>It was true. The black arrow suddenly shifted to the right, and the line +of canoes drew into the open water, midway between the island and the +eastern mainland.</p> + +<p>"Lay close, Paul, lay close!" said Jim Hart. "We mustn't let 'em catch a +glimpse uv us, an' they're always pow'ful keen-eyed."</p> + +<p>Both the man and the boy lay flat on their stomachs on the ground, and +peered from the shelter of the bushes. No human eye out on the lake could +have seen them there. The canoes were now abreast of the island, but were +going more slowly, and both could see that the occupants were looking +curiously at their little wooded domain. But they kept at a healthy +distance.</p> + +<p>"I think they're lookin' here because the place is haunted, and not +because we are on it," said Jim Hart.</p> + +<p>It seemed that he spoke the truth, as the Miamis presently swung nearer to +the mainland and began to examine the shores long and critically.</p> + +<p>"I guess they've been huntin' us all through the woods, an' think now we +may be hid somewhar at the edge uv the lake," said Jim Hart.</p> + +<p>It seemed so. The two lay there for hours, watching the little fleet of +canoes as it circled the lake, keeping near the outer rim, and searching +among all the hills and hollows that bordered the shores. Once, when it +was on the western side, the fleet turned its head again toward the +island, and again apprehension arose in the hearts of the boy and the man, +but it was only for a fleeting moment. The line of canoes was quickly +turned away, and bore on down the open water. Paul and Jim Hart were +protected by Manitou.</p> + +<p>The circumnavigation of the lake by the Miamis lasted throughout the +remainder of the day, and when the twilight came, the canoes were lost in +its shade toward the southern end of the sheet of water.</p> + +<p>"We're safe," said Jim Hart, "but we've still got to keep close. They may +hang about here fur days."</p> + +<p>"What about Henry and Ross and Sol?" asked Paul anxiously. "On their way +back they may run right into that wasp's nest."</p> + +<p>"'Tain't likely," replied Jim Hart. "Our boys know what they're a-doin'. +But I wish them Miamis would go away so's I could light a fire an' cook +some fresh meat."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII" />CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<p>THE BELT BEARERS</p> + + +<p>Paul and Jim Hart waited several days, never once venturing from the +protecting shadows of the woods, and they found the burden very great. The +little island was like a cage, and Jim Hart groaned, moreover, because he +could not exercise his skill in the art of cooking.</p> + +<p>"These cold victuals," he said, "besides bein' unpleasant to the inside, +are a disgrace to me. I jest got to cook somethin'."</p> + +<p>Finally, he built up a bed of coals on a very dark night, when it was +impossible for anyone to see either their sheltered glow or the smoke they +sent out, and he broiled juicy steaks from the body of a deer that they +had hung up in a tree.</p> + +<p>"Isn't it fine, Paul?" he said, as they ate hungrily.</p> + +<p>"Fine's no name for it," replied Paul. "It's great, splendid, grand, +magnificent, surpassing, unapproachable! Are those the terms, Jim?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know jest what all uv 'em mean," replied Jim Hart, "but they +shorely sound right to me."</p> + +<p>They saw the Indian canoes on the lake once more, but the Miamis seemed to +be fishing, and did not come anywhere near the island. Paul appreciated +then how great had been their continual need of caution.</p> + +<p>A day or two later there was a magnificent thunder storm, despite the +lateness of the season. The heavenly artillery roared grandly, and lakes, +hills, and forest swam at times in a glare that dazzled Jim Hart. After +that it rained hard, and they clung to the shelter of their hut, which was +fortunately water-tight now. The rain ceased by and by, but the clouds +remained in the sky, and night came very thick and dark. Jim Hart +suggested that it would be a good time to do a little fishing, and Paul +was ready and willing.</p> + +<p>They paddled out silently a short distance from the island, where the +water was not too shallow, and let down the lines.</p> + +<p>They waited some time and received no bites; but as this was nothing +unusual, owing to the crudity of their fishing tackle, they persisted +patiently. The night deepened and darkened, and they could not see the +surface of the lake fifty yards away. The water, moved by a light wind, +bubbled faintly against the sides of the canoe. Neither spoke, but sat in +silence, waiting hopefully for a pull on the lines.</p> + +<p>Presently Paul heard a faint, wailing sound, coming from the mainland, but +at first he paid little attention to it. Then he noticed that Jim Hart had +raised his head and was listening intently. Naturally Paul then listened, +too, with the same eager attention, and the faint wailing sound, +singularly weird and strange in the night, came a second, and presently a +third time. But after that it was not repeated. Long Jim Hart looked at +the boy.</p> + +<p>"You know what that is?" he said.</p> + +<p>"The cry of the whip-poor-will."</p> + +<p>"The cry of the whip-poor-will, given three times! The signal! The boys +are thar, an' we must go fur 'em."</p> + +<p>"Of course," said Paul. "Do we need to return to the island for anything?"</p> + +<p>"No; we have our rifles an' ammunition with us. We got to start right now, +an' Paul, don't you splash any water with your paddle."</p> + +<p>Paul understood as well as Jim Hart the need of extreme caution, as the +Miamis might be abroad, and he made every stroke steady and sure. Jim Hart +emitted the lonesome cry of the whip-poor-will once in return—signal for +signal—and then they cut their way in silence through the dark.</p> + +<p>They laid their course, according to agreement, for the drinking place at +the mouth of the brook, and Paul's heart beat with relief and gladness. +His comrades had come back, safe and sound. It did not occur to him that +any one of them might have fallen in the venture. Half way to the mainland +Jim Hart stopped the canoe, and listened a moment.</p> + +<p>"I thought I heard somethin' down the lake that sounded like a splash," he +said.</p> + +<p>But he did not hear it again, and they resumed their progress. Paul now +saw the loom of the land, a darker outline in the darkness, and his heart, +already beating fast, began to beat faster. Suppose there should be some +trick in the signal! Suppose they should find the Miamis, and not their +comrades, waiting for them! He sought hard to pierce the darkness and see +what might be there on the land before him.</p> + +<p>The outline of the shore rose more distinctly out of the darkness, and the +prow of the boat struck softly on the margin. Then Paul saw a figure rise +from the bushes, and after it another, and then a third, and then no more. +He could not see their faces, but it was the right number, and a vast +relief surged up. The three figures came down confidently to the canoe, +and then the welcome voice of Henry Ware said in a low tone:</p> + +<p>"You are here, Paul! You and Jim are on time to the minute!"</p> + +<p>"An' mighty glad I am, too," said Shif'less Sol, in the same tone. "I wuz +never so tired before in all my life. I think I must have trotted a +thousan' miles, an' now I'm willin' to let Jim Hart paddle me the rest o' +the way in a canoe."</p> + +<p>Tom Ross said nothing, merely showing his white teeth in a smile.</p> + +<p>"The Miamis are about," said Paul. "They have been around the lake, and on +it, for days, looking for something."</p> + +<p>"We know it," said Henry. "In fact, we've seen some of them not so long +since, though none of them saw us. There are big doings afoot, Paul, and +we must have our part in them."</p> + +<p>"Should we go back to the island, then?"</p> + +<p>"For the present, yes. We need a base, and the island is safest and best."</p> + +<p>The five got cautiously into the canoe, disposing their weight carefully, +and Shif'less Sol, who had taken the paddle from Paul, raised it for the +first sweep. But it did not come down into the water. Instead, he stopped +it in its fall, and he and all the others listened. The same splash that +Jim Hart thought he had heard came now to their ears, and it was repeated. +Paul knew that it was made by paddles sweeping through water, and it was +coming nearer.</p> + +<p>"Push back into the bushes," whispered Henry.</p> + +<p>They gently shoved the canoe far among the bushes in the shallow water, +and waited. They were completely hidden, but even if seen they could +spring instantly to the land. They waited, and the splashing steadily grew +louder. Paul felt the pressure of Henry's hand on his arm, and he looked +with all his eyes. The Miami navy was abroad that night! A canoe, a long +one with seven or eight warriors in it, was abreast of them, and behind it +came five others. They were not twenty yards away, and Paul, in fancy at +least, saw the savage eyes and the painted faces. What had brought them +out on the lake, what suspicion or precaution, Paul never knew, but there +they were. All were brave hearts in the hidden canoe, but they held their +breath while that silent file passed by. Then, when the last had gone and +was lost in the darkness, they pushed out a little and listened, with all +the keenness of forest-bred ears. Hearing no splash, they paddled in a +straight course for the haunted island.</p> + +<p>"I think they've gone toward the north end of the lake, and as they are +likely to keep on their way, now is our time," said Henry.</p> + +<p>They pushed farther into the lake, Ross and Shif'less Sol now handling +the paddles with wonderful dexterity. They went very slowly, not wishing +to make the faintest splash, and meanwhile the darkness thickened and +deepened again. It felt very damp to the face, and Paul saw now that fog +from the rain of the day was mingled with it. They could not see the +faintest outline of the island, but held their course from memory.</p> + +<p>They had been out about ten minutes when Ross and Sol, as if by +simultaneous impulse, ceased paddling, and Henry whispered; "Don't anybody +make any noise; it's for our lives!"</p> + +<p>They heard that faint splash, which Paul had learned to hate, coming back. +The Miami navy, from some unknown cause, had turned in its course. How +Paul blessed the thick, fog-charged darkness!</p> + +<p>"It's all chance now," whispered Henry, ever so low, and Paul understood.</p> + +<p>Then they held their breath, and the Miami canoes steadily drew nearer. +Would they come directly upon the white canoe or would they pass? They +passed, but they passed so near that Paul could hear the Indians in the +boats talking to each other. He also heard his heart beating in his body +as the invisible file went by, and the loud beat did not cease until no +more splashing of the paddles was heard.</p> + +<p>"Is all my hair gray?" whispered Shif'less Sol.</p> + +<p>Paul wanted to laugh in a kind of nervous relief, but he did not dare. +Instead he whispered back:</p> + +<p>"I can't see, Sol, but I'm sure mine is."</p> + +<p>Ross and Shif'less Sol took up the paddles again, and now they reached the +island without interruption. The boat was hidden again, and soon all were +in the hut in the sheltered cove. Henry spoke with approval of the +industry and forethought of Paul and Jim in their absence.</p> + +<p>"This hut is a mighty good place on a raw night like this," he said. "Now, +I'm going to sleep, and I'd advise you to do the same, Paul. I'll tell you +to-morrow all that we've done and have seen and know."</p> + +<p>While the others slept, Jim Hart, long-legged and captious, but brave, +faithful, and enduring, watched. He saw the fog and the darkness clear +away, and the moonlight came out, crisp and cold. A light wind blew and +dead leaves fell from the trees, rustling dryly as they fell. Autumn was +waning and cold weather would soon be at hand. When pale dawn showed, Jim +roused his comrades, and they ate breakfast, though no fire was lighted. +Then Henry talked.</p> + +<p>"It's true," he said, "about a great league of all the tribes being formed +to destroy forever the white settlements in Kentucky. They are alarmed +about their hunting grounds, and they think they must all strike together +now, and strike hard. We've spied upon several of their villages, and we +know. Some renegades are with them, pointing the way, and among them is +Braxton Wyatt, the most venomous of them all. I don't see how one who is +born white can do such a thing."</p> + +<p>But Paul had read books, and his mind was always leaping forward to new +knowledge.</p> + +<p>"It is the bad blood of some far-off ancestor showing," he said. "It is +what they call a reversion. You know, Henry, that Braxton was always mean +and sulky. I never saw anybody else so spiteful and jealous as he is, and +maybe he thinks he will be a big man among the Indians."</p> + +<p>"That's so," said Henry. "I can understand why anybody should love a life +in the forest. Ah, it's such a glorious thing!"</p> + +<p>He expanded his chest, and the light leaping into his eyes told that Henry +Ware was living the life he loved.</p> + +<p>"But," he added, "I can't see how anybody could ever turn against his own +people."</p> + +<p>"It's moral perversity," said Paul.</p> + +<p>"Moral perversity," said Jim Hart, stumbling over the syllables. "Them +words sound mighty big, Paul. Would you mind tellin' us what they mean?"</p> + +<p>"They mean, Jim," put in Shif'less Sol, "that you won't be what you ought +to be, an' that you won't, all the time."</p> + +<p>"That's a good enough explanation," laughed Paul.</p> + +<p>"Whatever is the reason," said Tom Ross, who used words as rarely as if +they were precious jewels, "the tribes are comin' together to destroy the +white settlements. Braxton is givin' them all kinds uv useful information, +an' we've got to hinder these doin's, ef we kin."</p> + +<p>The others agreed once more, and talked further of the new league. They +did not go into much detail about their adventures while spying on the +villages, rather looking now to the future.</p> + +<p>"I told you, Paul, we ought to a-put a knife in that Braxton Wyatt when we +had the chance," growled Shif'less Sol.</p> + +<p>"I couldn't do it, Sol," replied Paul.</p> + +<p>Later they held a conference beside a bed of coals that threw out no +smoke, and Paul listened with absorbed attention while Henry stated the +case fully.</p> + +<p>"The Shawnees were somewhat daunted by their repulse at Wareville last +year," he said, "but they hope yet to crush the white settlement before we +grow too strong. They are seeking to draw the Miamis, Wyandottes, and all +the other tribes up here into a league for that purpose, and they want to +have it formed and strike while our people are not expecting it. +Wareville, owing to her victory of last year, thinks she's safe, and it is +not the custom of Indians to raid much in winter. See, cold weather is not +far away."</p> + +<p>Henry looked up, and the eyes of the others followed. The trees were still +clothed in leaves, but the blazing reds and yellows and the dim mist on +the horizon showed that Indian summer was at hand.</p> + +<p>"Any day," continued Henry, "a cold wind may strip off all these leaves, +and winter, which can be very cold up here, will come roaring down. Now, +the Shawnees are more than willing to cross the Ohio again to attack us, +but the Miamis, while ready enough to take white scalps up here, have not +yet made up their minds to go south on the war trail. The Shawnees are +sending war belts to them, because the Miamis are a powerful tribe and +have many warriors. The first thing for us to do is to take the messengers +with the war belts."</p> + +<p>"An' to do that," said Shif'less Sol, "we've got to git off this islan' ez +soon ez we kin, an' shake off the band o' Miamis. Thar is always work fur +a tired man to do."</p> + +<p>Paul laughed at his tone of disgust. The boy's spirits were high now; in +fact, he was exuberant over the safe return of his comrades, and the +entire enterprise appealed with steadily increasing force to him. To +hinder and prevent the Indian alliance until the white settlements were +strong enough to defy all the tribes! This was in truth a deed worth +while! It was foresight, statesmanship, a long step in the founding of a +great state, and he should have a part in it! Already his vivid mind +painted the picture of his comrades and himself triumphant.</p> + +<p>"We must go to-night, if it is dark," said Henry.</p> + +<p>"That's so," said Tom Ross emphatically.</p> + +<p>The three had captured fresh supplies of ammunition while they were gone, +and they replenished the powder-horns and bullet pouches of Paul and Jim +Hart. Moreover, they had taken blankets, of a fine, soft, light but warm +make, probably bought by the Indians from European traders, and they gave +one each to Paul and Jim Hart.</p> + +<p>"It's getting too cold now," said Henry, "to sleep in our clothes only on +the ground in the forest."</p> + +<p>They made up the blankets in tight little rolls, which they fastened on +their backs, and Paul and Jim Hart put in a tanned deerskin with each of +theirs.</p> + +<p>"They're pow'ful light, an' they may come in mighty handy," said Long Jim.</p> + +<p>The night fortunately was dark, as they had hoped, and about eleven +o'clock they embarked in the canoe, paddling straight for the western +shore. Paul looked back with some regret at the island, which at times had +been a snug little home. The ancient, mummified bodies in the trees had +protected them, as if with a circle of steel, and he was grateful to those +dead of long ago.</p> + +<p>They saw no sign of the Indian canoes, and both Henry and Ross were +certain that they were in camp somewhere on the eastern shore. The little +party reached the dense woods on the west without incident whatever, and +there they partly sank the canoe in shallow water among dense bushes. Then +they plunged into the forest, and traveled fast. Shif'less Sol spoke after +a while, and apparently his groaning voice was drawn up from the very +bottom of his chest.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that blessed canoe!" he said. "I wuz so happy when I wuz a-ridin' in +it, an' somebody else wuz a-paddlin'. Now I hev to do all my own work."</p> + +<p>"You wouldn't be truly happy, Sol Hyde," said Jim Hart, "'less you wuz +ridin' in a gilt coach drawed by four white horses, right smack through +the woods here."</p> + +<p>"That's heaven," said the shiftless one, with a deep sigh. "I don't ever +dream o' sech a thing ez that, and please don't call it up to my mind, Jim +Hart; the contras' between that an' footin' it ez I am now is too cruel +an' too great."</p> + +<p>Paul smiled. The little by-play between those two good friends amused and +brightened him, but nothing else was said for a long time. Then it was +Henry who spoke, and he called a halt.</p> + +<p>"The big Miami village is not more than a dozen miles away," he said, "and +the warriors there are expecting messengers from the Shawnees, with war +belts. The messengers will pass near here, and we'll wait for them. The +rest of you will go to sleep, and Tom and I will watch."</p> + +<p>Paul, Jim Hart, and Shif'less Sol rolled themselves in their blankets and +lay down under a tree, the shiftless one murmuring, "Now, this is what I +like," and the others saying nothing. Paul was devoutly grateful for the +blanket, because the air was now quite cold, but in five minutes all +emotions were lost in deep and dreamless sleep.</p> + +<p>When Paul awoke from his slumber he started up in horror. Three powerful, +painted Shawnees stood over him. He was so much overwhelmed by the +catastrophe that he could only utter a kind of gasp. But the blood flowed +back from his heart into his veins when he heard the dry laugh of Long +Jim Hart.</p> + +<p>"Paul," said Jim, "I'd like to introduce you to the three new Shawnee +warriors that you used to know, when they were white, an' that you called +then Henry Ware, Tom Ross, and Sol Hyde."</p> + +<p>"Why, what has happened?" asked Paul, still in the depths of astonishment.</p> + +<p>Then Henry spoke, and he spoke gravely.</p> + +<p>"Sol did not sleep long, Paul," he said, "and when he awoke he joined us. +Then we went to meet the three Shawnee messengers, carrying war belts and +peace belts, for the Miamis to choose. It was not a business for you, +Paul. We met them, there was a fight—well, they will never appear in the +Miami village, and we are here in their place."</p> + +<p>Paul understood, and he shuddered a little at the deadly conflict that +must have raged out there in the forest while he slept. Then he looked +curiously at the three. He never would have known any one of them +anywhere. They were savages in every aspect—painted and garbed like them, +and with their hair drawn up in the defiant scalp lock.</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Deliver the belts at the Miami village," replied Henry Ware, "but they +will be peace belts, not war belts."</p> + +<p>"It is death," said Paul in protest.</p> + +<p>"It is not death," replied Henry. "We will come back safely, and it is for +a great stake. You and Jim must remain here in the woods, waiting for us +again, and we'll trust to your skill and caution not to be caught. If the +warriors become too thick around here you might retreat to the island. +Anyway, the signal will be as before—three wails of the whip-poor-will."</p> + +<p>Paul was impressed by his words, which were spoken with gravity and +emphasis.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it's in a great cause, Henry," he said, "and we'll wait, expecting +you to come back."</p> + +<p>Five minutes later the three newly made warriors took their path through +the forest, and they never looked back. Yet Henry Ware felt emotion. +Although he regarded Paul Cotter almost as a younger brother, he respected +him as a high type of one kind of being, and they were comrades true as +steel. Moreover, he knew that he and Ross and Sol were engaged upon the +most dangerous of tasks, and the chances were that they would not come +back. Yet he faced them with a high heart and dauntless courage.</p> + +<p>The three walked swiftly and silently in single file, and neither Shawnee +nor Miami eye would have known that they were not Indian. They walked, +toes in, as Indians do, and they had every trick of manner or gesture +that the red men have. All trace of civilization was gone. Henry Ware, +Thomas floss, and Solomon Hyde had disappeared. In their places were Big +Fox, Brown Bear, and The Bat, Shawnee warriors who bore belts to the Miami +village, and who would talk about the war to be made upon the white +intruders far to the south of the Ohio.</p> + +<p>Shortly before noon Big Fox, Brown Bear, and The Bat approached the Miami +village, pitched in a pleasant valley, where wood and water were in +plenty. Then they uttered the long whoop of the Shawnees, and it was +answered from the Miami village; but Big Fox, Brown Bear, and The Bat, +assured of a welcome, never stopped, keeping straight on for the village. +Squaws and children clustered around them, and openly spoke their +admiration of the three stalwart, splendidly proportioned warriors who had +come from the friendly tribe; but Big Fox, Brown Bear, and The Bat, in +accordance with the Indian nature, took no notice. It was only warriors +and chiefs to whom they would condescend to speak, and they were silent +and expressionless until the right moment should come. They passed +straight through the swarm of old men, women, children, and dogs, toward +the center of the village, where a long, low cabin of poles stood. An +ancient and reverend figure stood in the doorway to meet them. It was that +of Gray Beaver, head chief of the Miamis, an old, old man, gray with years +and wise like the beaver, from which he took his name.</p> + +<p>"My Shawnee brethren are welcome to the Council House," he said. "You have +come far, and you shall rest, and the squaws shall bring you food before +we talk."</p> + +<p>"It is sufficient to us to see the great and wise chief, Gray Beaver," +said Henry. "Though we come from a long journey, it makes us strong and +brave again."</p> + +<p>The old chief bowed, but his grave features did not relax. Nevertheless, +he was pleased in his secret soul at the gallant bearing and polite words +of the young warrior who addressed them. He led the way into the Council +House, and a half dozen underchiefs followed them, hiding their interest +beneath their painted masks of faces.</p> + +<p>The Council House was large—fifty warriors could have sat in it—and +robes of the buffalo, beaver, and other animals were spread about. Big +Fox, Brown Bear, and The Bat sat down gravely, each upon a mat of skins, +and were served by the warriors with food and drink, which the squaws had +brought to the door, but beyond which they could not pass. The three +Shawnee belt bearers ate and drank in silence and dignity, and they +appreciated the rest and refreshment so needful to those who had traveled +far. Neither did anyone else speak. The venerable Gray Beaver sat on a +couch of skins a little higher than the others, and his eyes rested +steadily on the belt bearers. The subchiefs, silent and motionless on +their mats of skins, also watched the belt bearers. At one end of the +great room, in a kind of rude chimney, smoldered the council fire, a bed +of coals.</p> + +<p>More than half an hour passed, and when the guests had eaten and drunk +sufficiently, the venerable chief waved his hands, and the remains of the +food and drink were taken away. Then Gray Beaver drew from beneath his +robe a beautifully ornamented pipe, with a curved horn stem and a carven +bowl. He pressed into the bowl a mixture of tobacco and aromatic herbs, +which he also drew from beneath his robe, and lighted it with a coal which +one of the chiefs brought from the fire. Then he took three whiffs and +gravely and silently passed the pipe to the chief of the Shawnee belt +bearers, Big Fox. It was a curious fact, but no one had said that Big Fox +was the chief of the three. Something in his manner made all take it for +granted, and Big Fox, too, unconsciously accepted it as a matter of +course.</p> + +<p>The magnificent young warrior took three whiffs at the pipe of peace, and +passed it to Brown Bear, who, after doing the same, handed it in his turn +to The Bat. Then it was passed on to all the subchiefs, and everyone +smoked it in gravity and silence. The smoke circled up in rings against +the low roof, and every man sat upon his mat of skins, painted, +motionless, and wordless. The young chief, Big Fox, waited. Though his +eyes never turned, he saw every detail of the scene, and he was conscious +of the tense and breathless silence. He was conscious, too, of the immense +dangers that surrounded his comrades and himself, but fear was not in his +heart.</p> + +<p>"My brethren have come to the Miami village with a message from their +friends, the Shawnees," said the ancient chief at last.</p> + +<p>"It is so," said Big Fox.</p> + +<p>"The hearts of the Shawnees are filled with hatred of the white men, who +have come into the hunting grounds beyond the Ohio, and who cut down trees +and build houses there."</p> + +<p>"It is so."</p> + +<p>Big Fox's gaze never wavered. He continued to look straight at the council +fire, and the tense silence came again. Big Fox was conscious that the air +in the Council House was heavy, and that all were watching him with black, +glittering eyes.</p> + +<p>"The Shawnees would destroy the white villages, and would seek the help +of all the tribes that know them," continued Gray Beaver.</p> + +<p>Then Big Fox spoke.</p> + +<p>"It is true," he said gravely and slowly, "that the Shawnees would wish +the white settlements destroyed, every house burned, and every warrior, +squaw, and child killed, that the forest might grow again where they live, +and the deer roam again unafraid."</p> + +<p>Big Fox paused, and for the first time looked away from the council fire. +His piercing gaze swept the circle of the Miamis, and every man among them +drew a deep breath. There was something extraordinary in this belt bearer, +a majesty and magnetism that all of them felt, and they hung upon his +words, listening intently.</p> + +<p>"The Shawnees are warriors," resumed Big Fox, "and they do not fear +battle. They went last year against the white settlements, and they went +alone. The Miamis know that."</p> + +<p>There was a deep murmur of assent.</p> + +<p>"The Shawnees are wise as well as brave," resumed Big Fox. "Their old +chiefs have talked over it long. It is a great war trail upon which we +would go, and he who would travel far and long should prepare well. The +white men are brave. From their wooden walls last year they beat us off, +and many Shawnees fell afterwards in the battle with them in the forest."</p> + +<p>Big Fox paused, and swept the circle again with his glittering eyes. As +before, every man among them drew a deep breath when that hypnotic gaze +fell upon him. But they were hearing words that they had not expected to +hear, and after the tremendous gaze had passed there came a faint murmur +of surprise. But Big Fox did not seem to notice it. Instead he continued:</p> + +<p>"The winter is at hand. Already the dead leaves fall, and soon the bitter +winds will sweep the forests and the prairies. The warrior would go forth +to battle, chilled and stiff. The gun would fall from his frozen hands."</p> + +<p>Again he paused and looked straight at Gray Beaver. The old chief stirred +in his furred robe beneath that piercing gaze.</p> + +<p>"We would not go forth to war until we are ready for war, until the season +is ripe for war," resumed Big Fox. "When we would strike, we would strike +with all the strength of all the allied tribes, that nothing of the white +man might be left. We would send to Canada for more rifles, more powder, +and more bullets, and to do all these things it must be long before we go +on the great war trail. So I bring you, for the present, peace."</p> + +<p>He took from beneath his robe the peace belts, message of the Shawnee +nation, and handed them to the old, old chief, Gray Beaver. The murmur +from the Miamis became deep and long, but Big Fox gazed once more at the +fire, painted, silent, and immovable.</p> + +<p>"It was war when I was in the Shawnee village, a moon ago," said a chief, +Yellow Panther, "and it was war belts that we expected. Why have the +Shawnees changed their minds?"</p> + +<p>Murmurs of approval greeted his words, but Big Fox never stirred.</p> + +<p>"The old men, the wise men of the Shawnees have so decided," he replied. +"It is not for the bearer of the belts to question their wisdom."</p> + +<p>"If the Shawnees wish to wait long to prepare, the Miamis must wait, too," +said the chief, Gray Beaver, in whose veins flowed the cold and languid +blood of old age.</p> + +<p>The younger chiefs murmured again. Big Fox was conscious that a powerful +faction of the Miamis wished to go on a winter war path, and strike the +settlements at once. But Big Fox was still unafraid. He was a forest +diplomatist as well as a forest warrior, and he played for the most +precious of all stakes, the lives of his people.</p> + +<p>"The great chiefs of the Shawnees have lived long," he said. "Their heads +are heavy with age and with wisdom. It is not well to waste our strength +with a blow which will not reach the mark, but it is good to wait until we +can strike true."</p> + +<p>The chief, Yellow Panther, arose. He was a tall and ferocious savage, with +a cunning countenance.</p> + +<p>"The Shawnees change their minds quickly," he said, in tones of subtle and +insulting insinuation. "There is one here who came from their village but +three days since, and then they looked not so kindly upon the peace belts. +It is well to bring him to this council of the Miamis."</p> + +<p>He glanced at Gray Beaver and the ancient chief nodded. Then Yellow +Panther stepped from the Council House.</p> + +<p>The heart of Big Fox stirred within him ever so slightly. What did Yellow +Panther mean by "one who had come but three days since"? A new factor was +entering the terrible game. But he showed no emotion, nor did his +comrades, the other two belt bearers, Brown Bear and The Bat. Neither of +the latter had spoken since he entered the Council House.</p> + +<p>The murmurs ceased, and all sank back on their skin mats. Silence resumed +absolute sway in the long room. The little eddies of smoke still curled +against the roof, and the air was surcharged with suspense.</p> + +<p>The buffalo robe over the entrance was lifted, and Yellow Panther +returned. Behind him came a second figure.</p> + +<p>The eyes of Big Fox turned slowly from the council fire, and looked +straight into those of Braxton Wyatt.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII" />CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<p>BRAXTON WYATT'S ORDEAL</p> + + +<p>The blood of Big Fox leaped for a moment in his veins, but it did not show +under the paint of his face. His figure never quivered. He still knew all +the danger, and he knew, moreover, how it had increased since the entrance +of Braxton Wyatt, but he said, in slow, cold tones, full of deadly +meaning:</p> + +<p>"It is the white youth who left his own people to come to our village and +join our people. We have received him, but the eyes of the warriors are +still upon him."</p> + +<p>The insinuation was evident. The renegade could not be trusted. Already, +with the first words spoken, Big Fox was impeaching his character.</p> + +<p>Braxton Wyatt stood with his back to the buffalo robe, which had fallen +again over the entrance, and looked around at the circle of chiefs who had +resumed their seats on the skin mats. Then his eyes met the stern, +accusing gaze of Big Fox, the Shawnee belt bearer, and were held there as +if fascinated. But Braxton Wyatt was not without courage. He wrenched his +eyes away, turned them upon the ancient chief, Gray Beaver, and said:</p> + +<p>"I have been long in the Shawnee lodges, great chief of the Miamis, but I +do not know these belt bearers."</p> + +<p>There was a murmur, and a stir on the skin mats.</p> + +<p>Big Fox scorned to look again at Braxton Wyatt. He gazed steadily at the +council fire, and said in tones of indifference:</p> + +<p>"The white youth who left his own people has been in the lodges, where the +old men and women stay; we have been on the war trail with the warriors. +The day we returned to the village we were chosen to bring the peace belts +to our good friends, the Miamis."</p> + +<p>"The belt bearers are Big Fox, Brown Bear, and The Bat," said Yellow +Panther, looking at Braxton Wyatt. "You have heard of them? The Shawnee +villages are full of their fame."</p> + +<p>"I never saw them, and I never heard of them before," replied Braxton +Wyatt, in a tone of mingled anger and bewilderment, "but I do know that +all the Shawnees wish the Miamis to go south with them at once, on the +great war trail against the white settlements."</p> + +<p>The old chief, Gray Beaver, looked from the belt bearers to Braxton Wyatt +and from Braxton Wyatt to the belt bearers. His aged brain was bewildered +by the conflicting tales, but he put little trust in the white youth. +Already Big Fox had sowed in his mind the seeds of unbelief in the words +of Braxton Wyatt.</p> + +<p>"Scarcely a moon ago the Shawnees, as we all know, wished to go on the +great war trail at once," said Yellow Panther, "but now three come, who +say they are from them, bearing peace belts. Moreover, here is another who +says that the Shawnees would send war belts. What shall the Miamis think?"</p> + +<p>There was another murmur, and then silence. The surcharged air was heavy +in the great lodge. But Big Fox merely shrugged his shoulders slightly, +and answered in tones of lofty indifference:</p> + +<p>"Big Fox, Brown Bear, and The Bat were sent by the old chiefs of the +Shawnees to deliver peace belts to the chiefs of the Miamis, and they have +delivered them."</p> + +<p>Brown Bear and The Bat nodded, but said nothing. Yellow Panther looked at +Braxton Wyatt, who was shaken by varying emotions. As he truly said, he +had long been in the Shawnee villages, but he had never seen or heard of +the three warriors who now sat calmly before him—Big Fox, Brown Bear, +and The Bat. Yet he could not say that no such men existed, because small +parties had roved far and long on the hunt or the war trail. He gazed at +them before answering. He, too, was struck by the splendid figure and pose +of Big Fox, and he was impressed, moreover, by a sense of something +familiar, though he could not name it. It haunted him and troubled him, +but remained a mystery. He collected his shrewd wits and said:</p> + +<p>"As I told you, the warriors who bring the peace belts are strangers to +me. Yet the Shawnees, when I left the head village, but a few days ago, +wished war at once against the white settlements, and the Shawnees do not +change their minds quickly."</p> + +<p>"Is the word of a renegade, of one who would slay his own people, to be +weighed against that of a warrior?"</p> + +<p>Big Fox spoke with lofty contempt, not gazing at Braxton Wyatt, but +straight into the eyes of Gray Beaver. The old chief felt the power of +that look, and wavered under it.</p> + +<p>"It is true," he said, "that the Shawnees, a moon ago, were for war; but +Big Fox, Brown Bear, and The Bat have come, bearing peace belts from them, +and what our eyes see must be true."</p> + +<p>There was a murmur again, but it was very faint now. The authority of +Gray Beaver, in his time a mighty warrior, and now wise with years and +experience, was great, and the under chiefs were impressed—all but Yellow +Panther, whose eyes flashed vindictively at the belt bearers. Angry blood +also flushed Braxton Wyatt's face, and he did not know at the moment what +to say or do.</p> + +<p>"It is true that I was born white," he said, "but I have become one of the +Shawnees, and I shall be faithful to them. I have spoken no lies. The +Shawnees were for war, and I believe they are so yet."</p> + +<p>"The Shawnees from whom I have come," said Big Fox, in his grave tones, +wholly ignoring Braxton Wyatt, "expect peace belts in return. Will the +messengers depart with them to-morrow?"</p> + +<p>He spoke directly to Gray Beaver, and his powerful gaze still rested upon +him. The withered frame of the old chief trembled a little within his +furred robe, and then he yielded to the spell.</p> + +<p>"The Miami messengers will start to-morrow with peace belts for the +Shawnees," he said.</p> + +<p>A thrill of triumph ran through the frame of Big Fox, but he said nothing. +The eyes of both Braxton Wyatt and Yellow Panther flashed vindictively, +but they, too, said nothing. Big Fox judged that they were not yet wholly +beaten, but he had accomplished much; if each tribe received peace belts +from the others, it would take a long time to untangle the snarl, and +unite them for war. Meanwhile, the white settlements were steadily growing +stronger.</p> + +<p>"Our Shawnee brethren, the belt bearers, will stay with us a while," said +the crafty Yellow Panther. "They have traveled far, and they need rest."</p> + +<p>Big Fox knew that it would not do to be too hasty; a desire to depart at +once would only arouse suspicion, and he and his comrades, moreover, had +further work to do in the Miami village. So he gravely accepted the offer +of hospitality, and he and Brown Bear and The Bat were conducted to a +lodge in the center of the village, where they ate again, and reclined +luxuriously upon buffalo robes and deerskins. Yellow Panther followed them +there, and was very solicitous for their comfort. All his attentions they +received with grave courtesy, and when there was nothing more that he +could do or say he withdrew, letting the covering of the lodge door fall +behind him. Then the three belt bearers, putting their ears against the +skin walls of the lodge, listened intently. Nothing was stirring without. +If any person was at hand, or listened there, they would have known it; so +they spoke to each other in low tones.</p> + +<p>"Your plan seems to have worked so far, Henry," said Ross, "even if +Braxton Wyatt did come."</p> + +<p>"Yes—so far," replied Henry Ware; "but Braxton is sure that something is +wrong, and so is that cunning wolf, Yellow Panther. They want to hold us +here in the village until they find out the truth; but we are willing to +stay, that we may checkmate what they do. I can work on old Gray Beaver, +whose age makes him favor caution and peace."</p> + +<p>"An' while you are thinkin' it over," said Shif'less Sol, "jest remember +that I'm a belt bearer who has traveled a long way, an' that I'm pow'ful +tired; so I guess I'll take a nap."</p> + +<p>He rolled over on the softest of the skins, and was as good as his word. +In five minutes he was sound asleep. Tom Ross leaned back against the skin +wall and meditated. Henry Ware arose and walked in the village; but the +moment he stepped from the lodge, all trace of the white youth was gone, +and he was again Big Fox, the chief of the belt bearers from the Shawnees.</p> + +<p>The village was the scene of an active savage life. It had been a season +of plenty. Game and fish abounded, and, according to the Indian nature, +they ate and overate of that plenty, thinking little of the morrow. Hence +this life, besides being active, was also happy in its wild way. Big Fox +noticed the fact, with those keen eyes of his that nothing escaped.</p> + +<p>And all in their turn noticed Big Fox here, as he had been noticed in the +Council House. Old and young alike admired him. They thought that no such +splendid warrior had ever before entered their village. Surely the +Shawnees were a nation of men when they could produce such as he. His +height, his straight, commanding glance, the wonderful, careless strength +and majesty of his figure, all impressed them. He looked to them like one +without fear, and moreover, with such strength and quickness as his, he +seemed one who had little to fear. But as he walked there, Yellow Panther +came again, and spoke to him with sly, insinuating manner:</p> + +<p>"The belt bearer is not weary, though he has traveled far."</p> + +<p>"No," replied Big Fox. "Manitou has been kind to me, and has given me +strong limbs and muscles that do not tire."</p> + +<p>"Did Big Fox, in his journey from the Shawnee village, hear of white men? +It is said that a band of them have been in this region about the lake, +there to the southward. One of our warriors was slain, but we could not +find those whom we pursued."</p> + +<p>Big Fox wondered if it was a chance shot, but he looked straight into the +eyes of Yellow Panther, which fell before the gaze of his, and replied:</p> + +<p>"I came bearing belts, and I thought only of them. If there are white men +in the Miami woods, the Miamis are warriors enough to take them."</p> + + + +<p>Yellow Panther turned aside, but he followed the tall figure with a look +of the most vindictive hate. Like Braxton Wyatt, he felt that something +was wrong, but what it was he did not yet know. Big Fox mingled freely in +the village life throughout the day, and never once did he make a mistake. +All the Indian ways were familiar to him, and when he talked with the +warriors about the Northwestern tribes, he showed full knowledge. Old Gray +Beaver was delighted with him. The deference of this splendid young +warrior was grateful to his heart.</p> + +<p>That night the three belt bearers, calm and unconcerned, lay down in the +great lodge that had been assigned to them, and slept peacefully. Far in +the darkness, Yellow Panther and Braxton Wyatt crept to the side of the +lodge and listened. They heard nothing from within, and at last the Miami +carefully lifted the buffalo hide over the entrance. His sharp eyes, +peering into the shadows, saw the three belt bearers lying upon their +backs and sleeping soundly. Apparently they were men without fear, men +without the cause of fear, and Yellow Panther, letting the tent flap fall +softly back, walked away with Braxton Wyatt, both deeply disappointed.</p> + +<p>They did not know that a pair of hands had lifted the tent flap ever so +little, and that a pair of keen eyes were following them. The wonderful +instinct of Henry Ware had warned him, and he had awakened the moment they +looked in. But his eyes had not opened. He had merely felt their presence +with the swish of cold air on his face, and now, after they had +disappeared among the lodges, he wished to deepen the impression the belt +bearers had made. Then he and his comrades must go back to Paul and Jim +Hart, who lay out there in the forest, patiently waiting.</p> + +<p>The next morning Big Fox, Brown Bear, and The Bat saw three Miami belt +bearers depart with peace belts for the Shawnee village, but as for +themselves, they would remain a while longer, enjoying the Miami +hospitality.</p> + +<p>In an open space just north of the village, Miami boys were practicing +with the bow and arrow, shooting at the bodies of some owls tied on the +low boughs of trees. Warriors were looking on, and the belt bearers, Big +Fox, Brown Bear, and The Bat, joined them. By and by some of the warriors +began to take a share in the sport and practice, using great war bows and +sending the arrows whistling to the mark. At last the chief, Yellow +Panther, himself handled a bow and surpassed all who had preceded him in +skill. Then, turning with a malicious eye to Big Fox, he said:</p> + +<p>"Perhaps the Shawnee belt bearers would like to show how well they can use +the bow. Surely they are not less in skill than the Miamis?"</p> + +<p>His look was full of venom. Shawnees, though armed now with rifles, were +good bowmen, and whatever he suspected might be confirmed by the failure +of the belt bearers to show skill, or not to shoot at all. He held in his +hand the great bow that he had used, and, barring the malice of his eyes, +his gesture was full of politeness.</p> + +<p>Big Fox did not hesitate a moment. He stepped forward, took the bow and +arrow from the hand of Yellow Panther, glanced at the great owl at which +the chief had shot, and then walked back fifteen yards farther from it. A +murmur of applause came from the crowd. He would shoot at a much greater +distance than Yellow Panther had shot, and the chief and Braxton Wyatt, +too, who had drawn near, frowned.</p> + +<p>Big Fox glanced once more at the body of the great owl, and then, fitting +the arrow to the string, he bent the bow. An involuntary cry of admiration +came from a people who valued physical strength and skill when they saw +the ease and grace with which he bent the tough wood. Not in vain had +nature given Big Fox a figure of power and muscles of steel! Not in vain +had nature given him an eye the like of which was not to be found on all +the border! Not in vain had he achieved surpassing skill with the bow in +his life among the Northwestern Indians!</p> + +<p>There was silence as the bow bent and the arrow was drawn back to the +head. Then that silence was broken only by the whizz of the feathered +shaft as it shot through the air. But a universal shout arose as the arrow +struck fairly in the center of the owl, pierced it like a bullet, and flew +far beyond.</p> + +<p>Big Fox turned and handed back the bow to Yellow Panther.</p> + +<p>"Is it enough?" he asked gravely. "Can the Shawnee belt bearers use the +bow and arrow?"</p> + +<p>"It is enough," replied the chief, seeking in vain to hide his chagrin.</p> + +<p>"It wuz great luck," whispered The Bat to Brown Bear, a little later, +"that the challenge to the bow an' arrow should a-been made to perhaps the +only white in all the West who could a-done sech a thing."</p> + +<p>The belt bearers spent a second night in the same lodge, and on the +morning of the third day they announced that they must depart for their +own village. Gray Beaver hospitably, and Yellow Panther craftily, urged +them to stay longer, but Big Fox replied that the Shawnees were going on a +great hunt into the Northwest before the winter came, and the belt bearers +would be needed. Braxton Wyatt knew nothing of the projected hunt, but for +the present he was silent. Throughout the contest he had shown at a +disadvantage against the diplomacy of Big Fox. Now the belt bearers +courteously invited him to return home with them, but he declined, +replying that he would not depart for some days. He did not say it aloud, +but nothing could have induced him to go with the belt bearers.</p> + +<p>Big Fox noticed that neither Yellow Panther nor Braxton Wyatt made any +opposition to their going, and it was a fact that he did not forget, +drawing from it his own inference. His power to read the faces of men was +scarcely inferior to his wonderful skill in reading every sign of the +forest.</p> + +<p>Gray Beaver, and behind him a rabble, accompanied the Shawnee belt bearers +to the edge of the woods, and there the aged chief said graciously to Big +Fox:</p> + +<p>"My son, my heart is warm toward you, and I am glad to have seen you in +the lodges of the Miamis."</p> + +<p>"Farewell, Gray Beaver," said Big Fox.</p> + +<p>Then he and his two comrades turned, and disappeared like phantoms in the +forest, so swiftly they went.</p> + +<p>Autumn had made further advance. The dying leaves were falling fast, and +the wilderness was more open. A crisp wind blew in the faces of the three +belt bearers—now belt bearers no longer, but Henry Ware, Tom Ross, and +Solomon Hyde, white of skin and white of heart. They sped forward on fleet +foot many miles, and it was Shif'less Sol who spoke first.</p> + +<p>"Shall we stop at this spring," he said, "an' wash the paint off our +faces? I want to look like a white man agin, jest ez I am. I don't feel +nat'ral at all ez an Injun."</p> + +<p>"Neither do I," said Tom Ross, "I don't like to change faces, an' right +here I wash mine."</p> + +<p>The three stooped down to the spring, and as they rubbed off the paint +they felt their right natures returning.</p> + +<p>"I'm thankful I wuz born white," said Shif'less Sol. "Why, what is it, +Henry?"</p> + +<p>Henry Ware had raised his head in the attitude of one who listens. His +eyes were intent and nostrils distended like those of a deer that suspects +an enemy.</p> + +<p>"We're followed," he said. "I thought we would be."</p> + +<p>"Yellow Panther, uv course!" said Tom Ross, with emphasis.</p> + +<p>"Of course! And like as not Braxton Wyatt is among those who are with +him."</p> + +<p>Sol Hyde looked at Henry. There was a queer light in the eyes of the +shiftless one.</p> + +<p>"Do we want 'em to ketch us?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I think we'd better wait and see."</p> + +<p>It was in no tone of boasting that either spoke. Three borderers such as +they could shake off the pursuit of any men who lived.</p> + +<p>"S'pose we lead 'em on a while," said Tom Ross.</p> + +<p>Henry nodded, and the three ran in a sort of easy trot toward the +southeast. They took no trouble to hide their trail, and as the forest at +this point was free from undergrowth, they were visible at a considerable +distance. This easy trot they kept up for hours, and the extraordinary +powers, or intuition, of Henry Ware told him that the Miamis were always +there, a quarter of a mile, perhaps, behind. But the three men were never +troubled. There was no fear in their minds. This was only sport to them.</p> + +<p>They crossed brooks and little creeks, and at last, when they came to one +of the latter a little larger than the others, Henry Ware said:</p> + +<p>"I think it's time to bother 'em now. We'll wade here."</p> + +<p>They entered the creek, which had a hard, pebbly bed, and walked rapidly +against the stream for at least a quarter of a mile. Then they emerged in +dense undergrowth, and turned backward in a course parallel to that by +which they had come. But before going far they sank down in a dense +thicket, and lay quite still. Then they saw the Miami band pass—fifteen +or sixteen warriors, led by Yellow Panther, with Braxton Wyatt trailing at +the rear. "The renegade!" said Shif'less Sol savagely, under his breath.</p> + +<p>The band passed on, but the three borderers did not stir. They knew that +the trail would be lost presently, and some, at least, of the warriors +would come back seeking it.</p> + +<p>Fifteen minutes, a half hour, passed, and then they heard distant +footsteps. Henry Ware, peering above the bushes, saw a face that belonged +to a white youth, and suddenly a daring project formed itself in his mind. +Braxton Wyatt was alone! Other members of the Miami band must be near, but +they were not in sight, and, above all, Braxton Wyatt was for the present +alone! Only a few minutes were needed!</p> + +<p>"Watch what I do!" whispered Henry Ware to his comrades—he knew that +their keen minds would need no other hint.</p> + +<p>Braxton Wyatt came back, looking on the ground, his rifle lying loosely +across his shoulder. He dreamed of no danger. The three suspected belt +bearers must be fleeing fast. Moreover, Yellow Panther and his Miami +friends were near. He walked on, and the fiend he served gave him no +warning.</p> + +<p>He came to a dense clump of bushes, and turned to go around it. There was +a sudden rustling in those bushes, and he looked up. A terrifying form +threw itself upon him and bore him to the ground. A heavy hand was clapped +upon his mouth, and the cry that had risen to his lips died in his throat. +He looked up and saw the face of Henry Ware. Beside him stood two others +whom he knew—Tom Ross and Shif'less Sol. He became blue about the lips, +and expected a quick death.</p> + +<p>"Listen!" said Henry Ware, and every word that he said was burned into +Braxton Wyatt's wretched soul. "You are not to die, not at this time. But +you are to do what we say. Go back there, under those trees by the big +rock, and when Yellow Panther and the other Miamis come up, tell them that +you have lied! We were the belt bearers, and you are to say to Yellow +Panther that you knew us as real Shawnees, but you were so anxious for +the war that you denied us. Tell it as if it were true. Don't tremble! +Don't look once at these bushes! Our three rifles will be aimed at you all +the time, and if you say a single word that will make them suspect, we +fire, and you know that no one of us ever misses. Do as we say!"</p> + +<p>He was released, the heavy hand was taken away from his mouth, and his +captors disappeared so suddenly and silently in the bushes that it was +almost unbelievable. Then Braxton Wyatt rose to his feet and trembled +violently. Though he could not see them now, he must believe. He could +feel that powerful grasp yet upon his arms, and that heavy hand yet upon +his mouth. He knew, too, as well as he knew that he was living, that the +unseen muzzles were there, trained upon him. As Henry Ware truly said, no +one of the three ever missed, and he had no chance.</p> + +<p>He stopped his trembling with an effort of the will and walked to the rock +under the trees, thirty or forty yards away. Already he saw Yellow Panther +and the other Miamis coming, and he rebelled at the deadly menace from the +bushes. But the love of life was strong within him. He looked at Yellow +Panther, who was approaching with five or six warriors, and then he tried +to form a rapid plan. He would talk with the chief, saying at first what +his terrible enemies wished, and then, gradually drawing him away, he +would tell the truth, and thus achieve the destruction of the three whom +he hated and feared so horribly.</p> + +<p>Braxton Wyatt raised one hand and wiped the perspiration from his face. +Then, when a deadly fear struck him, he composed his features. Henry Ware +had said he must tell a tale that seemed true. There must be no suspicion. +The fatal muzzles were trained on him, he well knew, and the sharpest of +eyes and ears were watching. He longed to cast one look at the bushes, +only one, but he dared not for his life. It was forbidden!</p> + +<p>Yellow Panther was at hand now, plainly showing annoyance. The lost trail +could not be found, and wrath possessed him. He looked at the renegade, +and uttered his discontent.</p> + +<p>Braxton Wyatt longed more than ever to tell; they were there so near, it +seemed he must tell; but the deadly rifles held him back. No one of their +bullets would miss!</p> + +<p>"Yellow Panther," he said, and his voice faltered, "let us abandon the +trail and go back."</p> + +<p>Yellow Panther looked at him, astonished by words and manner alike.</p> + +<p>"Go back!" he said. "Did you not tell me that they were false, that there +were no such warriors in the Shawnee village?"</p> + +<p>Braxton Wyatt trembled, and the cold sweat came again on his forehead. If +only those rifles were not there in the thicket! A mighty power seemed to +draw him about for one look, only one! But he did not dare—it was +death!—and with a supreme effort he wrenched himself away.</p> + +<p>"I was wrong," he said. "I was eager for war, eager to see the Shawnees +and Miamis go together against the white settlements in the south—so +eager that I forgot the men. But I remember them now."</p> + +<p>"Have you a crooked tongue?" asked Yellow Panther.</p> + +<p>"No, no!" cried Braxton Wyatt, in mortal terror of the three rifles. "I +had, but I have not now! I am telling you the truth! As I live I am, +Yellow Panther! I was anxious for the war, anxious as you are, and it +brought a cloud before my eyes. I could not remember then, but I remember +now! The men were true Shawnees, and the Shawnee nation does not wish to +go on the great war trail this year."</p> + +<p>Yellow Panther looked at him with indignation and contempt, and hesitated. +Braxton Wyatt trembled once more. Would the chief believe? He must +believe! He must make him believe, or he would die!</p> + +<p>"I wished to tell you before we started, Yellow Panther," he said, "but I +feared then your just anger. Now we have lost the trail, and I must save +you from further trouble. Why should I tell you this now if it is not +true? Why else should I avow that I have spoken false words?"</p> + +<p>Yellow Panther looked at the unhappy figure and face, and believed.</p> + +<p>"It is enough," he said. "We will go back to our own village. Come!"</p> + +<p>He spoke to his warriors, and they returned swiftly on their own tracks to +the Miami village. Braxton Wyatt went with them, and he dared not look +back once at that fateful clump of bushes.</p> + +<p>When they were gone far beyond sight, Henry Ware, Tom Ross, and Shif'less +Sol rose up, looked at each other, and laughed.</p> + +<p>"That wuz well done, Henry," said Shif'less Sol lazily. "I never knowed a +purtier trick to be told. He's clean caught in his own net. If he wuz to +tell the truth now to the chief, Yellow Panther wouldn't believe him."</p> + +<p>"And if he were to believe him, Yellow Panther, in his anger, would +tomahawk him," said Henry Ware, "No, Braxton Wyatt will not dare to +tell."</p> + +<p>"And now we may take it easy," said Tom Ross. "But I wouldn't like to be +in your place, Henry, ef ever you wuz to fall into the hands uv Yellow +Panther an' that renegade."</p> + +<p>"I'll take care that I don't have any such bad luck," said Henry. "And now +we must find Paul and Jim."</p> + +<p>Serenely satisfied, they resumed their journey, but now they went at a +slower gait.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV" />CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<p>IN WINTER QUARTERS</p> + + +<p>The three walked slowly on for a long time, curving about gradually to the +region in which Paul and Jim Hart remained hidden. They did not say much, +but Shif'less Sol was slowly swelling with an admiration which was bound +to find a vent some time or other.</p> + +<p>"Henry," he burst out at last, "this whole scheme o' yours has been worked +in the most beautiful way, an' that last trick with Braxton Wyatt wuz the +finest I ever saw."</p> + +<p>"There were three of us," said Henry briefly and modestly.</p> + +<p>"It's a great thing to use your brain," said the shiftless one sagely. +"I'm thinkin' o' doin' it hereafter myself."</p> + +<p>Tom Ross laughed deeply and said:</p> + +<p>"I'd make a beginning before it wuz too late, ef I wuz you, Sol."</p> + +<p>"How long do you think it will take the Shawnees an' the Miamis to +straighten out that tangle about the great war trail?" asked the +shiftless one of Henry.</p> + +<p>"Not before snow flies," replied the youth; "and then there will be so +much mutual anger and disgust that they will not be able to get together +for months. But we must stop up here, Sol, and watch, and egg on the +misunderstanding. Don't you think so, Tom?"</p> + +<p>"Of course!" replied Ross briefly, but with emphasis. "We've got to hang +on the Injun flanks."</p> + +<p>Late in the afternoon they reached familiar ground, or at least it was so +to the sharp eyes of these three, although they had seen it but once. Here +they had left Paul and Jim Hart, and they knew that they must be somewhere +near. Henry gave forth the whip-poor-will cry—the long, wailing note, +inexpressibly plaintive and echoing far through the autumn woods. It was +repeated once and twice, and presently came the answering note.</p> + +<p>The three walked with confidence toward the point from which the answer +had come, and soon they saw Paul and Jim Hart advancing joyously to meet +them.</p> + +<p>Paul listened with amazement to the story of their wonderful adventure, +told in a few brief phrases. Not many words were needed for him. His vivid +imagination at once pictured it all—the deadly play of words in the +Council House, the ambushing of Braxton Wyatt, and the triumphant result.</p> + +<p>"That was diplomacy, statesmanship, Henry," he said.</p> + +<p>"We're going to stay up here a while longer, Paul," said Henry. "We think +our presence is needed in these parts."</p> + +<p>"I'm willing," said Paul, wishing to have assurances, "but what about the +powder for Marlowe, and what will our people at Wareville think has become +of us?"</p> + +<p>"As long as we can keep back these tribes, Marlowe will not need the +powder, and some of the buffalo hunters have taken word to Wareville that +we have come into the North."</p> + +<p>"I purpose," said Shif'less Sol, "that so long ez we're goin' to stay in +these parts that we go back to the haunted islan' in the lake. It's in the +heart o' the Injun country, but it's the safest spot within five hundred +miles o' us."</p> + +<p>"I think with Sol," said Henry. "We can prepare there for winter quarters. +In fact, we've got a hut already."</p> + +<p>"An' I won't have nothin' to do," said the shiftless one, "but lay aroun' +an' hev Jim Hart cook fur me."</p> + +<p>"You'll hev to be runnin' through the frozen woods all the time fur game +fur me to cook, that's what you'll hev to do, Sol Hyde," retorted Jim +Hart.</p> + +<p>The idea of going into winter quarters on the island appealed to Paul. He +had grown attached to the little hollow in which he and Jim Hart had built +the hut, and he thought they could be very snug and warm. So he favored +Sol's proposition with ardor, and about twilight they brought the hidden +canoe again from the bushes, paddling boldly across the lake for the +island. The place did not now have an uncanny look to Paul. Instead, it +bore certain aspects of home, and he forgot all about the mummies in the +trees, which were their protection from invasion.</p> + +<p>"It's good to get back again," he said.</p> + +<p>They landed on the island, hid the canoe, and went straight to the hollow, +finding everything there absolutely undisturbed.</p> + +<p>"We'll sleep to-night," said Henry, "and in the morning we'll plan."</p> + +<p>Paul noticed, when he rose early the next day, that the whole earth was +silver with frost, and he felt they were particularly fortunate in having +found some sort of shelter. The others shared his satisfaction, and they +worked all day, enlarging the hut, and strengthening it against the wind +and cold with more bark and brush. At night Henry and Ross took the canoe, +went to the mainland, and came back with a deer. The next day Jim Hart and +Shif'less Sol were busy drying the venison, and Paul spent his time +fishing with considerable success.</p> + +<p>Several days passed thus, and they accumulated more meat and more skins. +The latter were particularly valuable for warmth. Paul draped them about +their hut, arranging them with an artistic eye, while Jim Hart and +Shif'less Sol, with a similar satisfaction, watched their larder grow.</p> + +<p>"This is the finest winter camp in all the wilderness," said Shif'less +Sol.</p> + +<p>"You couldn't beat it," said Jim Hart.</p> + +<p>These were happy days to Paul. Knowing now that a message had been sent +hack to Wareville, he was released from worry over the possible anxiety of +his people on his account, and he was living a life brimful of interest. +Everyone fell almost unconsciously into his place. Henry Ware, Ross, and +Shif'less Sol scouted and hunted far and wide, and Paul and Jim Hart were +fishermen, house builders, and, as Paul called it, "decorators."</p> + +<p>The hut in the hollow began to have a cozy look. Henry and Ross brought in +three buffalo skins, which Jim promptly tanned, and which Paul then used +as wall coverings. Wolfskins, deerskins, and one beautiful panther hide +were spread upon the floor. This floor was made mainly of boughs, broken +up fine, and dead leaves, but it did not admit water, and the furs and +skins were warm. In one corner of the place grew up a store of dried +venison and buffalo meat, over which Jim Hart watched jealously.</p> + +<p>All of the cooking was done at night, but in the open, in a kind of rude +oven that Jim Hart built of loose stones, and never did food taste better +in the mouth of a hungry youth than it did in that of Paul. The air was +growing much colder. Paul, who was in the habit of taking a dip in the +lake every night, found the waters so chill now that he could not stay in +long, although the bath was wonderfully invigorating. Whenever the wind +blew the dead leaves fell in showers, and Paul knew he would soon be +deeply thankful they had the hut as a retreat.</p> + +<p>About ten days after their return Henry came back from a scout around the +Miami village, and he brought news of interest.</p> + +<p>"Braxton Wyatt is still there," he said, "and he is so mixed up that he +does not know just what to do for the present. After saying one thing and +then denying himself, he is in the bad graces of both parties of the +Miamis. For the same reason he doesn't dare to go back for a while to the +Shawnees, so he is waiting for things to straighten themselves out, which +they won't do for a long time. The Miami belt bearers have not yet +returned from the Shawnee village, and then belts will have to go back and +forth a dozen times each before either tribe can find out what the other +means."</p> + +<p>"An' if we kin keep 'em misunderstandin' each other," said Shif'less Sol, +"they can't make any attack on the white settlements until away next +spring, an' by that time a lot more white people will arrive from over the +mountains. We'll be at least twice ez strong then."</p> + +<p>"That's so," said Henry; "and the greatest work we five can do is to stay +here and put as many spokes as we can in the Indian alliance."</p> + +<p>"And I am glad to be here with all of you," said Paul earnestly. It seemed +to him the greatest work in the world, this holding back of the tribes +until their intended victim should acquire strength to beat them off, and +his eyes shone. Besides the mere physical happiness that he felt, there +was a great mental exhilaration, an exaltation, even, and he looked +forward to the winter of a warrior and a statesman.</p> + +<p>Paul's body flourished apace in the cold, nipping air and the wild life. +There were discomforts, it is true, but he did not think of them. He +looked only at the comforts and the joys. He knew that his muscles were +growing and hardening, that eye, ear, all the five senses, in truth, were +growing keener, and he felt within him a courage that could dare anything.</p> + +<p>Henry made another expedition, to discover, if he could, whether the +Miamis suspected that the haunted island harbored their foes. They did not +ask him what means he used, how he disguised himself anew, or whether he +disguised himself at all, but he returned with the news that they had no +suspicion. The island was still sacred to the spirits—a place where they +dare not land. This was satisfying news to all, and they rested for a +while.</p> + +<p>Three or four days after Henry's return a strong wind stripped the last +leaves from the trees. All the reds and yellows and browns were gone, and +the gusts whistled fiercely among the gray branches. The surface of the +lake was broken into cold waves, that chased each other until they died +away at the shore.</p> + +<p>The next day heavy rolling clouds were drawn across the sky, and all the +world was somber and dark. Paul stood at the entrance to the hut, and now, +indeed, he was thankful that they had that shelter, and that they had furs +and skins to reinforce their clothing. As he looked, something cold and +wet came out of the sky and struck him upon the face. Another came, and +then another, and in a few moments the air was full of flakes whirled by +the wind.</p> + +<p>"The first snow," said Paul.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Henry, "and let us pray for snows—many, hard, and deep. The +fiercer the winter the easier it will be to hold back the allied tribes."</p> + +<p>It was not a heavy snow, but it gave an earnest of what might come. The +bare boughs were whipped about in the gale, and creaked dismally. The +ground was covered with white to the depth of about two inches, and dark, +rolling waves, looking very chill, chased one another across the lake. Jim +Hart and Paul had managed to build of stones, in one corner of their hut, +a rude oven or furnace, with an exterior vent. They had plastered the +stones together with mud, which hardened into a sort of cement, and in +this furnace they kindled a little fire. They did not dare to make it +large, because of the smoke, but they had enough coals to give out a warm +and pleasant glow.</p> + +<p>All of them retreated for a while to the "mansion," as Paul rather proudly +called it, and Henry. Ross, and Shif'less Sol busied themselves with +making new and stout moccasins of deerskin, fastened with sinews and +lined with fur. Shif'less Sol was especially skillful at this work; in +fact, the shiftless one was a wonderfully handy man at any sort of task, +and with only his hunting knife, a wooden needle of his own manufacture, +and deer sinews, he actually made Paul a fur-lined hunting shirt, which +seemed to the boy's imaginative fancy about the finest garment ever worn +in the wilderness. All of them also put fur flaps on their raccoon-skin +caps, and Shif'less Sol even managed to fashion an imitation of gloves out +of deerskin.</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't advise you to try to use your hands much with these gloves +on," he said; "leastways, not to shoot at anything till you took 'em off; +but I do say that so long ez your hands are idle, they'll be pow'ful +warmin' to the fingers."</p> + +<p>"We don't have to go out very much just now," said Paul, "and if we only +had two or three books here, we could pass the time very pleasantly."</p> + +<p>"That's so," said Shif'less Sol musingly. "You an' me, Paul, wuz intended +to be eddicated men. Ez fur Jim Hart here, he's that dull he'd take more +pride in cookin' in a stone furnace than in writin' the finest book in the +world."</p> + +<p>"When I cook I git's somethin' that I kin see," said Jim Hart. "I never +read but one book in my life, an' I didn't find it very sustainin'. I +guess if you wuz starvin' to death here in the wilderness, you'd ruther +hev a hot hoe cake than all the books in the world."</p> + +<p>"'Tain't worth while, Paul, to talk to Jim Hart," said Shif'less Sol +sadly. "He ain't got no soul above a hoe cake. I've allus told you, Paul, +that you an' me wuz superior to our surroundings. Ef Jim Hart wuz locked +up in a schoolhouse all his life he'd never be an eddicated man, while ez +fur me, I'm one without ever gittin' a chance, jest because it's in my +natur'."</p> + +<p>Paul laughed at them both, and drew a little closer to the bed of red +coals. The warmth within and the cold without appealed to all the elements +of his vivid and imaginative nature. Not for worlds would he have missed +being on this great adventure with these daring men.</p> + +<p>"I'm a-thinkin'," said Ross, as he lifted the buffalo robe over their door +and looked out, "that ez soon ez the wind dies the lake will freeze over."</p> + +<p>"An' it will be harder than ever then," said Paul, "to catch fish."</p> + +<p>"I guess we kin do about ez well through holes in the ice," said Ross.</p> + +<p>Ross's prediction soon came true. When they awoke on the morning two days +afterwards the lake curved about them in a white and glittering sheet, +reflecting back a brilliant sun in a million dazzling rays.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad all of our party are here on the island together," said Henry, +"because the ice isn't thick enough to support a man's weight, and it +isn't thin enough to let a canoe be pushed through it. We're clean cut off +from the world for a little while."</p> + +<p>"An' this is whar poor old Long Jim becomes the most vallyble uv us all," +said Jim Hart. "It's a lucky thing that I've got a kind uv stove an' +buffalo meat an' venison an' other kinds uv game. I'm jest willin' to bet +that you four hulkin' fellers will want to lay aroun' an' eat all the +time."</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't be surprised, Jim, if we didn't get hungry once in a while," +said Henry, with a smile.</p> + +<p>Two more days passed, and the ice on the lake neither melted nor grew +thicker, and they were as well shut in and others were as well shut out as +if they had been on a lone island in the Pacific Ocean. Once they saw a +thin column of smoke, only a faint blue spire very far away, which Henry +said rose from an Indian camp fire.</p> + +<p>"It's several miles from here," he said, "and it's just chance that they +are there. They don't dream that we are here."</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, they did not light the fire in their furnace again for two +days. Then, when the skies grew too dark and somber for a faint smoke to +show against its background, they kindled it up again, and once more +enjoyed warm food.</p> + +<p>"Ef I jest had a little coffee, an' somethin' to b'il it in, I'd be +pow'ful happy," said Jim Hart. "I'd jest enjoy b'ilin' a gallon or two +apiece fur you fellers an' me."</p> + +<p>"Wa'al, ez you ain't got any coffee an' you ain't got anythin' to b'il it +in, I reckon we'll hev to be jest ez happy without it," said Shif'less +Sol.</p> + +<p>The night after this conversation Paul was awakened by a patter upon their +skin and thatch roof. It must have been two or three o'clock in the +morning, and he had been sleeping very comfortably. He lay on furs, and +the soft side of a buffalo robe was wrapped close about him. He could not +remember any time in his life when he felt snugger, and he wanted to go +back to sleep, but that patter upon the roof was insistent. He raised +himself up a little, and he heard along with the patter the breathing of +his four comrades. But it was pitch dark in the hut, and, rolling over to +the doorway, he pulled aside a few inches the stout buffalo hide that +covered it. Something hard and white struck him in the face and stung like +shot.</p> + +<p>It was hailing, pouring hard and driven fiercely by the wind. Moreover, it +was bitterly cold, and Paul quickly shut down the buffalo flap, fastening +it tightly. "We're snowed in and hailed in, too," he murmured to himself. +Then he drew his buffalo robe around his body more closely than ever, and +went back to sleep. The next morning it rained on top of the hail for +about an hour, but after that it quickly froze again, the air turning +intensely cold. Then Paul beheld the whole world sheathed in glittering +ice. The sight was so dazzling that his eyes were almost blinded, but it +was wonderfully beautiful, too. The frozen surface of the lake threw back +the light in myriads of golden sheaves, and every tree, down to the last +twig, gleamed in a silvery polished sheath.</p> + +<p>"It 'pears to me," said Shif'less Sol lazily, "that we ain't on an islan' +no longer. The Superior Powers hev built a drawbridge, on which anything +can pass."</p> + +<p>"That's so," said Paul. "The ice must be thick enough now to bear a war +party."</p> + +<p>"Ef that war party didn't slip up an' break its neck," said Shif less Sol. +"All that meltin' stuff froze hard, an' it's like glass now. Jest you try +it, Paul."</p> + +<p>Paul went out in the hollow, and at his very first step his feet flew from +under him and he landed on his back. Everywhere it was the same way—ice +like glass, that no one could tread on and yet feel secure.</p> + +<p>"We have our drawbridge," said Paul, "but it doesn't seem to me to be very +safe walking on it."</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, Henry and Ross slipped away two nights later, and were gone +all the next day and another night. When they returned they reported that +the Miami village was pretty well snowed up, and that the hunters even +were not out. Braxton Wyatt was still there, and they believed he would +soon be up to some sort of mischief—it was impossible for him to remain +quiet and behave himself very long.</p> + +<p>"Meanwhile what are we to do?" asked Paul.</p> + +<p>"Just stay quiet," said Henry. "We'll wait for Braxton and his savages to +act first."</p> + +<p>But the ice did not remain long, all melting away as the fickle +northwestern weather turned comparatively warm again, and the five once +more began to move about freely.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV" />CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<p>WORK AND PLAY</p> + + +<p>Henry and Ross were gone to the mainland, and Paul, Shif'less Sol, and Jim +Hart were left on the island. Shif'less Sol stood at the edge of the +hollow, hands on hips, admiring the hut.</p> + +<p>"Paul," he said, "I think that thar house is jest about the finest I ever +built."</p> + +<p>"You built!" exclaimed Jim Hart indignantly. "Mighty little you had to do +with it, Sol Hyde, but eat in it an' sleep in it, which two things you are +willin' enough to do any time! It's me an' Paul who have reared that gran' +structure."</p> + +<p>"It appeals to my instincts as an eddicated man," went on Sol, calmly +disregarding Jim. "We've got up the house without sp'ilin' the +surroundin's. It jest blends with rock an' bush, an' we've helped natur' +without tryin' to improve it."</p> + +<p>"I believe you've got the truth of it, Sol," said Paul. "I'm getting fond +of this place. How long do you think we'll stay here, Sol?"</p> + +<p>Shif'less Sol cocked up his weather eye, and a look of surpassing wisdom +came over his face.</p> + +<p>"When the ground hog come out o' his hole in the fall an' saw his shadder, +he went right back ag'in," he replied, "an' that means a hard winter. +Besides, we're pretty far north, an' all the hunters say they have lot o' +snow hereabouts. We're goin' to have cold an' snow right along. That's the +opinion o' me, Solomon Hyde. Jim Hart may say somethin' else, but he ain't +worth listenin' to."</p> + +<p>"I said this mornin' that it wuz goin' to be a hard winter," growled Jim +Hart. "You heard me sayin' so, an' that's the reason you're sayin' so +now."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Jim, Jim! Whatever will become o' you?" exclaimed Shif'less Sol +sadly. "An' I've always tried to teach you that the truth wuz the right +thing."</p> + +<p>Paul laughed.</p> + +<p>"Sol," he asked, "did you ever see a game of chess?"</p> + +<p>"Chess? What's that? Is it a mark you shoot at?"</p> + +<p>"No; you play it on a board with little figures made of wood, if you +haven't got anything else. My father has a set of chessmen, and he plays +often with Mr. Pennypacker, our school teacher. He's played with me, too, +and I can show you how to make the things and to play."</p> + +<p>A look of interest came into Sol's eyes.</p> + +<p>"We've got lots o' time," he said. "S'pose you do it, Paul. I know I kin +learn. I ain't so sure o' Jim Hart thar."</p> + +<p>Jim was also interested, so much so that he forgot to reply to Shif'less +Sol.</p> + +<p>"How'll you do it?" he asked.</p> + +<p>Paul's reply was to begin at once. He cut a big square piece of white +fanned deerskin, and upon this he marked the little squares with +coal-black. Then the three of them went to work with their sharp hunting +knives, carving out the wooden figures. The results were crude, but they +had enough shape for identification, and then Paul began to teach the game +itself.</p> + +<p>Sol and Jim were really men of strong intellect, and they had plenty of +patience. Paul was surprised at their progress. They were soon thinking +for themselves, and when Paul himself did not want to play, the two would +fight it out over the deerskin.</p> + +<p>"It's a slow game, but good," said Shif'less Sol. "It 'pears to me that a +man to be at the head o' 'em all in this would hev to do nothin' else all +his life."</p> + +<p>"That is so," said Paul.</p> + +<p>"Jim, thar ain't no earthly chance for you," said Shif'less Sol.</p> + +<p>"I guess I've got you this time, anyhow," said Jim, with a deep chuckle of +satisfaction. "Jest look at that thar board, Sol Hyde. Ef you ain't druv +into a corner so you can't move this way nor that, then you can hev the +huntin' shirt right off my back."</p> + +<p>Shif'less Sol examined the deerskin square attentively.</p> + +<p>"Blamed ef it ain't so," he said in a tone of deep disgust. "It wuz an +accident, nuthin' but an accident, or else I've been talkin' too much."</p> + +<p>"That's what you're always doin', Sol Hyde—talkin' too much."</p> + +<p>"Then we'll jest try it over ag'in, an' I'll show you what it is to play +ag'inst a real smart man."</p> + +<p>They were deep in a fresh game a few moments later, and Paul went outside. +He was glad to see them so interested, because he knew that otherwise the +curse of dullness might fall upon them.</p> + +<p>The air was raw and chill, and, although the snow and ice were gone, the +lake and the hills beyond looked singularly cold. But Paul was neither +uncomfortable nor unhappy. He was clothed warmly, and he had food in +abundance and variety. Trusty comrades, too, surrounded him. Life at +present seemed very pleasant.</p> + +<p>He strolled up the island toward the trees that contained the Indian +bodies, and after a while returned toward the home in the hollow. A warm, +mellow light gleamed from its rude window, and Paul's heart throbbed with +something of the feeling that one has only toward "home."</p> + +<p>He opened the door and entered, just in time to hear Shif'less Sol's cry +of triumph:</p> + +<p>"Thar, Jim Hart, ef that don't settle you, I'd like to know what will! +Now, who's doin' too much talkin'?"</p> + +<p>"I can't see jest how it happened," said Jim Hart ruefully.</p> + +<p>"No, an' you never will. Them things are too deep fur you. It's only +eddicated men, like me an' Paul, that kin see to the bottom o' 'em."</p> + +<p>"You're even, as it's game and game," said Paul, "so let's rest now. Henry +and Tom ought to be coming pretty soon."</p> + +<p>"An' they'll be ez hungry ez a hull pack uv wolves," said Jim Hart, "so I +guess I'd better be cookin'. Here, Sol, give me them strips uv deer meat +an' buffalo."</p> + +<p>"I shorely will," said Shif'less Sol. "Thar is one thing, ef it is only +one, that you kin do well, Jim Hart, an' it's cook."</p> + +<p>The two, in the most friendly fashion, went about preparing the supper. +They had many kinds of game to choose from, and once Ross had brought a +bag of ground corn, perhaps taken by stealth from an Indian village, and +now and then Jim made from it a kind of bread. He was to bake some +to-night, in honor of the returning two, and soon the place was filled +with pleasant odors.</p> + +<p>Twilight was deepening, the supper was almost ready, and Paul went forth +to see if Henry and Tom were yet in sight. Presently he saw them +coming—two black figures against the setting sun, with the body of a deer +that they had killed and dressed. He hastened to meet them and give them a +helping hand, and together they approached the house.</p> + +<p>First they swung the body of the deer from a bough, and then they opened +the door. Deep silence reigned within. No friendly voice greeted them. The +heads of Jim Hart and Shif'less Sol almost touched over a square of +deerskin, at which both were looking intently. With the supper ready, and +nothing else to do, they had got out the chessmen, and were playing the +rubber. So absorbed were they that they neither heard nor saw.</p> + +<p>"Now what under the sun is this?" exclaimed Tom Ross.</p> + +<p>"It's a game I taught 'em while you and Henry were gone," explained Paul. +"It's called chess."</p> + +<p>Shif'less Sol and Jim sprang up, but Sol quickly recovered his presence of +mind.</p> + +<p>"I jest about had him cornered, an' your comin' saved him," he said.</p> + +<p>"Cornered!" said Jim Hart. "He ain't even seed the day when he kin beat +me!"</p> + +<p>The chessmen were put aside for the time, and five hungry beings ate as +only borderers could eat. Then Tom Ross demanded a look at the game. After +the look he asked for instruction.</p> + +<p>"I saw a set uv them fellers once when I wuz at Fort Pitt," he said, "but +I never thought the time would come when I'd play with 'em. Push up the +fire thar a little, will you, Jim, so I kin see better."</p> + +<p>Paul and Henry looked at each other and smiled. Soon Tom himself, the +senior of the party, was absorbed in the new game, and it was a happy +thought of Paul's to introduce it, even with the rude figures which were +the best that they could make.</p> + +<p>Paul brought up again the next morning the subject of their weather +prospects, and Tom and Henry agreed with the others in predicting a great +deal of snow and cold.</p> + +<p>"All signs show it," said Henry. "The rabbits are burrowing deeper than +usual under the bushes, and I notice that the birds have built their nests +uncommonly thick. I don't understand how they know what's coming, but they +do."</p> + +<p>"Instinct," said Paul.</p> + +<p>"We know that a hound kin follow by smell the track of a man who has +passed hours before," said Shif'less Sol, "when no man in the world kin +smell anything at all o' that track. So it ain't any more strange that +birds an' beasts kin feel in their bones what's comin' when we can't."</p> + +<p>"Ef you'll imitate them squirrels an' rabbits an' birds an' things," said +Jim Hart, "an' lay up lots uv things good to eat fur the winter, it'll +give me pleasure to cook it ez it's needed."</p> + +<p>"I've noticed something besides the forethought of the animals," added +Henry. "The moss on the north side of the trees seems to me to be thicker +than usual. I suppose that nature, too, is getting ready for a long, hard +winter."</p> + +<p>"When nature and the animals concur," said Paul, "it is not left to man to +doubt; so we'd better be providing the things Jim promises to cook so +well."</p> + +<p>They had learned the border habit of acting promptly, and Henry Ross and +Sol were to depart the very next morning for the mainland on a hunt for +deer, while Long Jim was to keep house. Paul otherwise would have been +anxious to go with the hunters, but he had an idea of his own, and when +Henry suggested that he accompany them, he replied that he expected to +make a contribution of a different kind.</p> + +<p>All these plans were made in the evening, and then every member of the +five, wrapping himself in his buffalo robe, fell asleep. The fire in Jim +Hart's furnace had been permitted to die down to a bed of coals, and the +glow from them barely disclosed the five figures lying, dark and silent, +on the floor. They slept, clean in conscience and without fear.</p> + +<p>Henry, Shif'less Sol, and Ross were off at dawn, and Paul, using a rude +wooden needle that he had shaped with his own pocketknife, and the tendon +of a deer as thread, made a large bag of buckskin. Then he threw it +triumphantly over his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Now what under the sun, Paul, are you goin' to do with that?" asked Jim +Hart.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to add variety to our winter store. Just you wait, Jim Hart, +and see."</p> + +<p>Bearing the bag, he left the house and took his way to the north end of +the island. He had not been above learning more than one thing from the +squirrels, and he had recalled a grove of great hickory trees growing +almost to the water's edge. Now the ground was thickly covered with the +nuts which had fallen when the severe frosts and the snow and ice came. +There were several varieties, including large ones two inches long, and +the fine little ones known to boys throughout the Mississippi Valley as +the scaly bark. Paul procured two stones, and, cracking several of them, +found them delicious to the taste. Already in his Kentucky home he had +become familiar with them all. The hogs of the settlers, running through +the forest and fattening upon these nuts and acorns, known collectively as +"mast," acquired a delicious flavor. Boys and grown people loved the nuts, +too.</p> + +<p>The nuts lay about in great quantities, and the thick, barky coverings, +known to the boys as "hulls," almost fell off at a touch. Soon the ground +was littered with these hulls, while the big buckskin bag was filled with +the clean nuts. Then, lifting it to his shoulder, Paul marched off proudly +to the house.</p> + +<p>"Now, why didn't I think uv that?" said Jim Hart, as Paul threw down the +bag before him and disclosed its contents. "An' all them hick'ry nuts jest +layin' thar on the ground an' waitin' fur me."</p> + +<p>"It's because you had so much else to do, Jim," said Paul; "and as I'm +idle a good deal of the time, the thought occurred to me."</p> + +<p>"You shorely do have the gift uv sayin' nice things, an' makin' a feller +feel good, Paul," said Jim admiringly.</p> + +<p>Paul laughed. Jim's words pleased him.</p> + +<p>"I told nothing but the truth," he said. "Now, Jim, I'm going back for +more, and I'd like to do this job all by myself. I think I can gather at +least six bagfuls, and we'll heap them here by the wall."</p> + +<p>"An' mighty good seas'nin' they'll be to deer an' buffalo an' b'ar meat," +said Jim Hart. "It wuz a good thought uv yours, Paul."</p> + +<p>Paul worked the whole morning, and when he had gathered all the nuts in +the house he estimated the quantity at several bushels. Although he sought +to conceal his pride, he cast more than one triumphant look at the great +heap by the wall.</p> + +<p>He and Jim went forth together in the afternoon with rude spades, made of +wood and hardened at the edges in the fire, to dig for Indian turnip.</p> + +<p>"It ain't much of a veg'table," said Jim, "but we might find it useful to +give a new taste to our meat, or it might be uv some help doctorin', in +case any uv us fell sick."</p> + +<p>They found two or three of the roots, and the remainder of the afternoon +they devoted to strengthening their house. They did this with huge slabs +of bark lying everywhere on the ground, fallen in former seasons. Some +they put on the roof, thatching in between with dry grass and leaves, and +others they fastened on the sides.</p> + +<p>"It ain't purty," said Jim, "but it turns rain an' snow, an' that's what +we're after."</p> + +<p>"I take another view," said Paul. "It does look well. It blends with the +wilderness, and so it has a beauty of its own."</p> + +<p>The three hunters were not to return that night, and Paul and Jim kept +house. Jim slept lightly, and just before the dawn he rolled over in his +buffalo robe and pushed Paul's shoulder.</p> + +<p>Paul awoke instantly, and sat up.</p> + +<p>"What is it, Jim?" he asked anxiously. It was his natural thought that +some danger threatened, and it was so dark in the cabin that he could not +see Jim's face.</p> + +<p>"Do you hear that hoo-hooing sound?" asked Jim Hart.</p> + +<p>Paul listened and heard faintly a low, mellow note.</p> + +<p>"What is it, Jim?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"The call of the wild turkey."</p> + +<p>"What, Indians again?"</p> + +<p>"No, it's the real bird, talkin'. An old gobbler is tellin' his hens that +day is comin'. It's a plumb waste on his part, because they know it +theirselves, but he must jest let 'em know what a smart bird he is. An' +it's that pride uv his that will be his ruin. Git up, Paul; we must have +him an' one uv his hens to eat."</p> + +<p>"Where do you think they are?" asked Paul.</p> + +<p>"In the hick'ry grove. I guess they lighted thar fur the night, when +flyin' 'cross the lake."</p> + +<p>The two hurried on their clothes, took their rifles, and stole out. A +faint tinge of light was just showing under the horizon in the east, but +the air was not yet gray. It was very cold at that early hour, and Paul +shivered, but he soon forgot it in the ardor of the chase.</p> + +<p>"Slip along softer nor a cat, Paul," said Jim. "We don't want to give old +Mr. Gobbler any warnin' that his time hez come. Thar, hear him? The tarnal +fool! He's jest bound to show us where he is."</p> + +<p>The mellow call arose again, very clear and distinct in the silent air, +and as they approached the edge of the hickory grove, Jim pointed upward.</p> + +<p>"See him thar on the limb," he said, "the big feller with the feathers all +shinin' an' glistenin'? That's the gobbler, an' the littler ones with the +gray feathers are the hens. I'm goin' to take the gobbler. He may be old, +but he's so fat he's bound to be tender; an' s'pose, Paul, you take that +hen next to him. When I say 'Now,' fire."</p> + +<p>The two raised their guns, took careful aim, and Jim said "Now." They +fired together, aiming at the necks or heads. The big gobbler fell like a +stone from the bough and lay still. The hen fell, too, but she fluttered +about on the ground. The rest flew away on whirring wings. Paul ran +forward and finished his bird with a stick, but Jim lifted the great +gobbler and looked at him with admiring eyes.</p> + +<p>"Did you ever see a finer turkey?" he said. "He must weigh all uv forty +pounds, an' he's as fat as he can be with the good food uv the wilderness. +An' he's a beauty, too! Jest look at them glossy blue-black feathers. No +wonder so many hens wuz in love with him. I could be pop'lar with the +women folks, too, ef I wuz ez handsome ez Mr. Gobbler here."</p> + +<p>They picked and cleaned the turkeys, and then hung the dressed bodies from +the boughs of a tree near the hut, where they would be frozen, and thus +keep.</p> + +<p>The hunters returned that afternoon with two deer, and were delighted with +Jim and Paul's zeal and success.</p> + +<p>"Ef things go on this swimmin' way," said Shif'less Sol, "we'd be able to +feed an army this winter, ef it wuz needed."</p> + +<p>It was very cold that evening, and they built the fire higher than usual. +Great mellow rays of heat fell over all the five, and lighted up the whole +interior of the cabin with its rich store of skins and nuts and dressed +meats, and other spoil of the wilderness. The five, though no one of them +ever for a moment forgot their great mission of saving Kentucky, had a +feeling of content. Affairs were going well.</p> + +<p>"Paul," said Shif'less Sol, "you've read books. Tell us about some o' them +old fellers that lived a long time ago. I like to hear about the big +ones."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Paul, "there was Alexander. Did you ever hear of him, Sol?"</p> + +<p>Shif'less Sol shook his head and sighed.</p> + +<p>"I can't truly call myself an eddicated man," he replied, "though I have +the instincks o' one. But I ain't had the proper chance. No, Paul, me an' +Alexander is strangers."</p> + +<p>"Then I'll make you acquainted," said Paul. He settled himself more +comfortably before the fire, and the others did likewise.</p> + +<p>"Alexander lived a long, long time ago," said Paul. "He was a Greek—that +is, he was a Macedonian with Greek blood in him—I suppose it comes to the +same thing—and he led the Greeks and Macedonians over into Asia, and +whipped the Persians every time, though the Persians were always twenty to +one."</p> + +<p>"Who writ the accounts o' them thar battles?" asked Shif'less Sol.</p> + +<p>"Why, the Greeks, of course."</p> + +<p>"I thought so. Why, Jim Hart here must be a Greek, then. To hear him tell +it, he's always whippin' twenty men at a time. But it ain't in natur' for +one man to whip twenty."</p> + +<p>"I never said once in my life that I whipped twenty men at a time," +protested Jim Hart.</p> + +<p>"We'll let it pass," said Paul, "and Sol may be right about the Greeks +piling it up for themselves; but so they wrote it, and so we have to take +it. Well, Alexander, although he wasn't much more than a boy, kept on +whipping the Persians until at last their king, Darius, ran away with his +wives."</p> + +<p>Shif'less Sol whistled.</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to tell me, Paul," he said, "that any white man ever had more +than one wife! I thought only Injun chiefs had 'em?"</p> + +<p>"Why, it was common a long time ago," replied Paul.</p> + +<p>"What a waste!" said Shif'less Sol. "One man havin' a lot uv wives, an' +Jim Hart here ain't ever been able to get a single one."</p> + +<p>"An' you ain't, either, Sol Hyde," said Jim Hart.</p> + +<p>"Oh, me!" replied Shif'less Sol carelessly. "I'm too young to marry."</p> + +<p>"Let him go on about Alexander, the fightin' feller," interrupted Tom +Ross.</p> + +<p>"Alexander conquered all Asia," resumed Paul, "but it didn't agree with +him. The more he conquered the more he wanted to conquer."</p> + +<p>"Jest like a little boy eatin' turkey," said Shif'less Sol. "Can't hold +enough to suit him. Stummick ain't ez big ez his appetite, an' he hez to +cry about it. I don't think your Alexander wuz such a big man, after all."</p> + +<p>"He was not, from one point of view, Sol, but he was certainly a general. +After conquering all the world, he fell to drinking too much, and +quarreling with his best friends. One day he got raging drunk, which made +him hot all over, and he jumped into an icy river to cool off. That gave +him a fever, and he died right away. He was only thirty-two."</p> + +<p>Shif'less Sol sniffed in disgust.</p> + +<p>"Dead at thirty-two!" he said. "Now, I call him a plumb failure. With +fightin' goin' on all the time, an' fevers layin' aroun' fur you, I call +it somethin' jest to live, an' I mean to stay in these parts till I'm a +hundred. Why, that Alexander never had time, Paul, to think over what he'd +done. I wouldn't change places with him, I think I'm a heap sight better +off."</p> + +<p>"I agrees with Sol ag'in," said Tom Ross, who had been in deep thought. +"In dang'rous times it's doin' a heap jest to live, an' a man who dies +off at thirty-two, all through his own foolishness, ain't much to brag +about."</p> + +<p>Henry laughed.</p> + +<p>"Paul," he said, "you'll have to bring out better examples of greatness to +satisfy Sol and Tom."</p> + +<p>Paul laughed, too.</p> + +<p>"I just tell things as they are," he said. "Maybe they are right."</p> + +<p>Henry went to the door and looked out. The air was full of raw chill, and +he heard the leafless boughs rustling in the winter wind. All around him +was the dark wilderness, and, natural hunter and warrior though he was, he +was glad to have the shelter, the fire, and his comrades. He turned back +and closed the door tightly, in order to shut out any stray gust that +might be of an unusually penetrating quality.</p> + +<p>"I'm thinking that we'd better start away hunting again very early in the +morning," he said. "The big snows are bound to come soon. That first +little one was only a taste of what we're going to get."</p> + +<p>They were off again at daybreak, and this time Paul went with them. The +party turned to the southward, in order to avoid the chance of meeting +Shawnees or Miamis, and soon had the luck to run into a small buffalo +herd. They killed only what they could carry, and then returned with it +toward the island. Henry continually watched the skies as they traveled, +and he uttered an exclamation of relief when they landed. The heavens all +the while had been leaden and somber, and there was no wind stirring.</p> + +<p>"See," he said, "the great snow comes!"</p> + +<p>The sullen skies opened, and big white flakes dropped down as they hurried +with their fresh supplies to the cabin.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI" />CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<p>NOEL</p> + + +<p>The snow fell three days and nights without ceasing, and they rejoiced +greatly over their foresight in preparing so well for it, because it was a +big snow, a very big snow. "It ain't jest snowin'," said Shif'less Sol; +"the bottom o' the sky hez dropped out, an' all the snow's tumblin' down."</p> + +<p>The great flakes never ceased for a moment to fall. The sun did not get a +single chance to shine, and as fast as one cloud was emptied, another, +huge and black, was drawn in its place across the sky. The island ceased +to be an island, because the snow heaped up on the frozen surface of the +lake, and it was impossible to tell where land ended and water began. The +boughs of the trees bent and cracked beneath their load, and some fell to +the ground. At times the sound of snapping boughs was like stray rifle +shots.</p> + +<p>Paul watched the snow deepen before their door. First an inch, then two, +then four, then six, and on and on. The roof began to strain and creak +ominously beneath the great weight. All rushed forth at once into the +storm, and with poles and their rude shovels they thrust the great mass of +accumulated snow from the roof. This task they repeated at intervals +throughout the three days, but they had little else to do, except cook, +eat, and sleep. They had recourse again to the chessmen and Paul's +stories, and they reverted often to their friends and relatives at +Wareville.</p> + +<p>"At any rate," said Henry, "Kentucky is safe so long as this great snow +lasts. What holds us holds the Shawnees and the Miamis, too; they can't go +south through it."</p> + +<p>"That's so," said Paul, with intense satisfaction, as he ran over all the +chances of success or failure in their great task.</p> + +<p>At the end of the third day the snow ceased. It lay three feet deep on the +level, and deeper in the hollows and gullies. Then all the clouds floated +away, the sun came out, and the whole world was a dazzling globe of white, +so intense that it hurt Paul's eyes.</p> + +<p>"We've got to guard against snow-blindness," said Shif'less Sol, "an' I'm +thinkin' o' a plan that'll keep us from sufferin'."</p> + +<p>He procured small pieces of wood, and fitted them together so there would +be only a narrow slit between. These were placed over the eyes like +spectacles, and fastened with deerskin string, tied behind the head. The +range of vision was then very narrow, but all the glare from the snow was +shut out. Shif'less Sol unconsciously had imitated a device employed by +the Esquimaux of the far north to protect their eyesight. Sets were made +for all, and they used them a few days until their eyes grew accustomed to +the glare.</p> + +<p>All had a great sense of coziness and warmth. The snow pushed from the +roof had gone to reinforce that on the ground, and it now lay heaped up +beside the house to a depth of five or six feet, adding to the snugness +and security of their walls. They had gathered an ample supply of +firewood, and a deep bed of coals always threw out a mellow and satisfying +glow.</p> + +<p>They did not spend their time in idleness. The narrow confines of their +house would soon grow irksome to five able-bodied boys and men, and every +one of them knew it. They went forth with rude wooden shovels, and began +to clear paths in the snow—one to a point among the trees where the +fallen brushwood lay thickest, another to the edge of the lake, where they +broke holes in the ice and caught pickerel, and two or three more to +various points around their little domain. This task gave them healthy +occupation for two or three days, and on the fourth day, while Henry, +Ross, and Jim Hart were fishing, Paul and Shif'less Sol sat together in +the house.</p> + +<p>"This snow is goin' to last a long time, Paul," said Sol, "an' we've got +to stay here till at least most o' it's gone. The warriors won't be +movin', nor will we. While we're idlin', I wish we had three or four o' +them books that your father an' Mr. Pennypacker brought over the mountains +with 'em."</p> + +<p>"So do I," said Paul, with a sigh. He was thinking of an interminable +romance, translated from the French of a certain Mademoiselle de Scudéry, +which his teacher, Mr. Pennypacker, had among his possessions, and which +he had once secretly shown to Paul, who was his favorite pupil. But he +added, resignedly: "You'd never find a book in all this region up here, +Sol. We'd better make up our minds to some monotonous days."</p> + +<p>Shif'less Sol had been leaning lazily against a heap of firewood, and +suddenly he sat up with a look of interest in his eyes. His acute ear had +detected a sound on the hill above them—a faint crunching in the snow.</p> + +<p>"It's one o' the boys, I s'pose," he said. "Now, I wonder what he wants +to be tramping around in the deep snow up thar fur."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I hear him," said Paul, "and he's lumbering about queerly."</p> + +<p>"He's comin' down toward the house," said Shif'less Sol. "Now, what in +thunder is that?"</p> + +<p>There was the sound of an angry "snuff!" a sudden, wild threshing in the +snow, and the next instant a tremendous weight struck the roof of their +house. A rending of bark and thatch followed, and a massive black form +shot down into the center<a name="Page_277" id="Page_277" /> of the room and lay there a moment, stunned. +Paul, too, was dizzy. He had been struck a glancing blow on the shoulder +by the big black body in its fall, and hurled into a heap of furs. +Shif'less Sol had been sent spinning in another direction.</p> + +<p>When both rose to their feet the big black body also rose, growling +savagely and extending long, powerful paws, armed with cruel claws. A +bear, prowling in the snow, had fallen through the roof of their house, +and it was furiously angry.</p> + +<p>"Jump back, Paul, jump back!" shouted Shif'less Sol, "an' get to the door, +ef you kin!"</p> + +<p>Paul obeyed a part of his command instinctively and sprang away, just in +time to escape the cruel claws. But he was compelled to press against the +wall. The enraged animal was between him and the door. Shif'less Sol +himself was darting here and there in an effort to keep out of the way. +Both Paul's rifle and Shif'less Sol's stood in a corner far from reach.</p> + +<p>The bear, blind with rage, fright, and astonishment, whirled around +ripping into the air with his long claws. The man and the boy not able to +reach the door, hopped about like jumping jacks, and the cold air poured +down upon them from the huge hole in their damaged roof. The bear suddenly +ran into Jim Hart's furnace and uttered a roar of pain. He stopped for a +moment to lick his singed flank, and Shif'less Sol, seizing the +opportunity, leaped for his rifle. He grasped it, and the next instant the +cabin roared with the rifle shot. The great bear uttered a whining cry, +plucked once or twice at his breast, and then stretched himself out in +front of Jim Hart's furnace, quite dead. Paul stopped dancing to and fro, +and uttered a gasp of relief.</p> + +<p>"You got that rifle just in time, Sol," he said.</p> + +<p>"We shorely did need a gun," Shif'less Sol said. "I guess nobody ever had +a more sudden or unwelcome visitor than you an' me did, Paul. But I +believe that thar b'ar wuz ez bad skeered ez we wuz."</p> + +<p>"And just look at our house," said Paul ruefully. "Half the roof smashed +in, our furs and our food supplies thrown in every direction, and a big +bear stretched out in front of our fire."</p> + +<p>They heard the patter of swift footsteps outside, and the three fishing at +the lake, who had heard the shot, came in, running.</p> + +<p>"It's nothin', boys," said Shif'less Sol carelessly. "A gentleman livin' +in these parts, but a stranger to us, came into our house uninvited. He +wouldn't go away when we axed him to, most earnest, so we've jest put him +to sleep."</p> + +<p>Ross pushed the bear with his foot.</p> + +<p>"He's fat yet," he said, "an' he ought to be in winter quarters right now. +Somethin' must have driv him out uv his hole an' have sent him wanderin' +across the lake on the ice an' snow. That's what anybody gits fur not +stayin' whar he belongs."</p> + +<p>"An' ef Jim Hart had stayed whar he belongs—that is, right here in this +house, cookin'—he'd have got that b'ar on his back, an' not me," said +Shif'less Sol, rubbing the bruised place.</p> + +<p>"That's once I wuz luckier than you wuz, Sol Hyde," said Jim Hart, +chuckling.</p> + +<p>"We've got a lot of fresh bear steak," said Henry Ware, "but we'll have to +clean up all this mess, and rebuild our house, just as soon as we can."</p> + +<p>They set to work at once. All, through forest life, had become skillful in +such tasks, and it did not take them long to rethatch the roof. But they +made it stronger than ever with cross-poles. Ingenious Sol cut up the bear +hide, and made of it stout leggings for them all, which would serve in the +place of boots for wading in the deep snow.</p> + +<p>Then the camp returned to its wonted calm. But a few days later, Shif'less +Sol, who had been unusually grave, called Paul aside and asked him to walk +with him up the path to the hickory trees. When they arrived there, far +out of hearing of the others, Shif'less Sol said:</p> + +<p>"Do you know what day this is, Paul?"</p> + +<p>"Why, no, Sol," replied Paul. "What does it matter?"</p> + +<p>"It matters a heap," said Shif'less Sol, not departing one whit from his +grave manner. "I know what day it is. I've kept count. See here!"</p> + +<p>He pointed to a hickory tree. Clear and smooth was gash after gash, cut in +the bark, one above another, by Sol with his stout knife.</p> + +<p>"Every one o' them is a day," said Shif'less Sol, "an' to-day is the 24th +of December. Now, what is to-morrow, Paul Cotter?"</p> + +<p>"The 25th of December—Christmas Day."</p> + +<p>"An' oughtn't we to hev Christmas, too, even ef we are up here in the wild +woods, all by ourselves? Don't this look like Christmas?"</p> + +<p>Paul looked around at the glittering and magnificent expanse of white +wilderness. There was snow, snow everywhere. The trees were robed in it, +unstained. It was a world of peace and beauty, and it <i>did</i> look like +Christmas. They were preparing for it at Wareville at this very +moment—the settlers were a religious people, and from the first they +celebrated the great religious festival.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Sol," he replied, "it does look like Christmas, and we ought to +celebrate it, too."</p> + +<p>"I'm glad you think ez I do," said Sol, in a tone of relief. "I wanted to +hear what you thought o' it, Paul, afore I broached it to the other boys. +We've got a lot to be glad about. We're all here, sound an' well, an' +though we've been through a power o' dangers, we ain't sufferin' now."</p> + +<p>"That's so," said Paul.</p> + +<p>"Then we'll tell the boys right now."</p> + +<p>They walked back to the cabin, and Shif'less Sol announced the date to the +others, who agreed at once that Christmas should be celebrated by them +there on their little island in the wilderness. All were touched in a way +by the solemnity of the event, and they began to feel how strong was the +tie that united them.</p> + +<p>"We must have a big Christmas dinner," said Jim Hart, "an' I'll cook it."</p> + +<p>"An' I'll help you," said Shif'less Sol.</p> + +<p>"And I," added Paul.</p> + +<p>That evening they sat around the fire, talking in the mellow glow; but +their talk was not of the Indians, nor of the chase, nor of themselves, +but of those behind at Wareville. Paul shut his eyes and looked dreamily +into the fire. He could see the people at the settlement getting ready for +the great festival, preparing little gifts, and the children crawling +reluctantly into their homemade trundle, or box beds. He felt at that +moment a deep kindness toward all things.</p> + +<p>They covered up the ashes after a while, and then, in the darkness, every +one in his turn laid out some little gift for the others—a clasp knife, a +powderhorn, a prized deerskin, or something else that counted among his +possessions. But no one was to look until the morning, and soon all fell +asleep.</p> + +<p>They were up the next day at the first sight of dawn, and compared their +gifts with great rejoicings. Shif'less Sol had presented to Jim Hart a +splendid clasp knife, a valuable possession in the wilderness, as a token +of his great friendship and exceeding high regard, and Jim was like a +child in his delight. In fact, there was something of the child, or rather +of the child's simplicity, in all of them.</p> + +<p>The Christmas dinner was a signal triumph in Jim Hart's life. Capably +assisted by Paul and Shif'less Sol, he labored on it most of the day, and +at last they sat down to a magnificent wilderness table of buffalo hump, +venison, squirrel, rabbit, fish, wild turkey, and other kinds of game, +flanked by bread baked of the Indian meal, and finished off with the nuts +Paul had gathered. Forest and lake had yielded bounteously, and they ate +long and happily.</p> + +<p>"Why anybody wants to live back thar in the East in the towns is more'n I +can understand," said Shif'less Sol. "You've got room to breathe here, an' +the fat game is runnin' roun' in the woods, jest beggin' you to stick a +knife in its back an' eat it."</p> + +<p>Paul laughed.</p> + +<p>"How about the danger from the Indians, Sol?" asked Paul.</p> + +<p>"You don't expect to have a perfect world here below, do you, Paul?" +replied Shif'less Sol. "Thar ain't never nothin' without a thorn in it, +but our thorn is about ez little a one ez you could think of. The Injuns +give us a kind o' excitin' variety, an' don't we always get away from +'em?"</p> + +<p>No more work was done that day, and in the evening they went to sleep +earlier than usual, and slept very soundly. A moon of pure silver came +out, and bathed all the vast wilderness in its light. A huge, yellow +panther, lean and fierce with hunger, wandered in the snow across the +frozen lake, and put foot upon the island. There the pleasant odor of food +came to his nostrils, and he lifted up his ears. As the pleasant odor came +again his tawny eyes became more ferocious, and the lips curled back from +the rows of cruel, white teeth. He drew his long, lithe body over the +snow, and came to one of the paths. He might have turned back because the +path was strong with the odor of a strange and perhaps powerful creature; +but he was a very hungry, a very large, and a very bold panther, and he +went on.</p> + +<p>The path led straight to the cabin, and the panther trod it on noiseless +pads, his eyes glowing, and hunger attacking him all the more fiercely +because, mingled with the strange, new odor now came many odors that he +knew, and all pleasant—odor of buffalo and deer and others—and he was +very, very hungry.</p> + +<p>He went down the path to the door of the cabin, and halted a moment there. +A red gleam, a glow from the bed of coals, came through a chink beside the +door, and it filled his heart with terror. He shivered, and fear drew a +low growl from him.</p> + +<p>One of the five sleepers inside stirred and sat up. He listened and heard +a heavy breathing at the door. Then he arose, took a brand from the fire, +stepped noiselessly to the door, and, opening it, rushed out, waving the +burning brand in front of him. The panther, stricken with frightful panic, +fled down the path, and then over the lake into the woods on the mainland. +Henry Ware, laughing silently, returned to the cabin and lay down to sleep +again beside his comrades, who had slept on, undisturbed.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII" />CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<p>FOOTPRINTS IN THE SNOW</p> + + +<p>The singular existence of the five in the little hollow in the haunted +island endured much longer. The great cold had come early, and it held the +earth fast in its grasp. The ice grew thicker on the lake beneath the +snow, and winds that would freeze one to the marrow swept over its +surface. Fortunately, there was plenty of fallen wood on the island, and +they never allowed the fire in Hart's furnace to go out. They never built +it up high, but a bed of coals was always smoldering there, sending out +grateful light and heat.</p> + +<p>Henry and Ross scouted at intervals, but only as a matter of habit rather +than necessary precaution. They knew that the danger of an attack at such +a time had decreased to the vanishing point. Now Paul became for a while +the central figure of what he called their little colony. His mental +resources were in great demand, and for the sake of his comrades he drew +willingly upon his stores of learning. In the evening, when they were all +sitting before the coals, and could just see one another's faces in the +faint light, Paul would tell what he had read about other times and other +lands. He knew the outlines of ancient history, and the victories of +Hannibal, Alexander, and Cæsar suffered nothing at his hands, though +Alexander, as before, was condemned by Shif'less Sol and Ross. Paul, +moreover, had both the dramatic and poetic sense, and he made these +far-away heroes, of whom Jim Hart had never heard before, actually live in +the little cabin.</p> + +<p>"It 'pears to me," said Shif'less Sol reflectively, "that that feller +Hannibal wuz jest about the finest fighter o' them all. Ef, ez you say, +Paul, he had to hire all kinds o' strangers an' barbarians, too, like the +red Injuns out thar in the woods, an' lead sech a mixed lot up ag'in the +Romans, who were no slouches in a fracas, an' whip 'em over an' over +ag'in, on thar own groun', too, then I call him about the smartest o' all +them old fellers. But he shore had the luck ag'in' him, an' I admire the +man who kin stan' up an' fight the odds."</p> + +<p>"He has my sympathy," said Paul.</p> + +<p>"What did them old-time fellers eat?" asked Jim Hart.</p> + +<p>"Mostly vegetables and grain," replied Paul.</p> + +<p>"No wonder they're dead," said Jim Hart solemnly. "I can't fight an' I +can't march good on anything but buffalo steak an' venison an' things uv +that kind. I has to have meat."</p> + +<p>Then Jim rose gravely, and looked at what he called his kitchen.</p> + +<p>"'Nough to last three or four weeks," he said. "We'll shorely get fat an' +lazy layin' roun' here an' doin' nothin' but eatin' an' sleepin' an' +listenin' to Paul's tales."</p> + +<p>"You ought to appreciate your chance, Jim Hart," said Shif'less Sol. "Ef +me an' Paul wuz to work on you about a hundred years, maybe we might make +you into a sort o' imitation o' a eddicated man. But I reckon we'd have to +work all the time."</p> + +<p>"You an eddicated man!" said Jim Hart indignantly. "Why, readin' a book is +harder work to you than choppin' wood, an' they say you won't chop wood +'less two big, strong men stand by you an' make you."</p> + +<p>"Never min'," said Shif'less Sol complacently; "I know I ain't had much +chances to become eddicated, but I hev the natur' o' an eddicated man. My +mind jest glows at the idea uv learnin', an' I respecks eddication with a +deep an' lastin' respeck."</p> + +<p>Then both stopped to hear Paul begin the story of Troy for the second +time, but when he came to the death of Hector he would have to stop to let +Shif'less Sol utter what he called a "few cuss words." Hector, like +Hannibal, had the sympathy of everyone, and Sol spoke for them all when he +said: "'Twa'n't fair o' that air goddess Minerver hoppin' in an' helpin' +A-Killus when Hector might hev a-slew him in a fair battle. Women ain't +got no business mixin' in a fight. Whenever they do they allus help the +wrong feller. I've no doubt that ef me an' Jim Hart was a-hittin' an' +a-wrastlin', an' hevin' the terriblest fight you ever heard on, ef any +woman wuz to come along she'd pull me off the ornery, long-legged, +knock-kneed, ugly Jim Hart—an' me a handsome man, too."</p> + +<p>"I wonder all the ice on the lake don't melt when it sees your face, Sol +Hyde," retorted Jim Hart scornfully.</p> + +<p>"I don't think much uv them old Greeks an' Trojans," said Tom Ross, who +seldom delivered himself at length. "'Pears to me they had pow'ful cur'us +ways uv fightin'. Think uv a feller, when he feels like takin' a scalp, +comin' out before the hull army an' beatin' a big brass shield till it +rattled like a tin pan, an' then, when he got 'em all to lookin' an' +listenin', hollerin' at the top uv his voice, 'I'm A-Killus, Defyer uv the +Lightnin', Slayer uv the Trojans, the terriblest fighter the world ever +seed! I pick up a ship in my right ban', an' throw it, with all the +sailors in it, over a hill! When I look at the sun, it goes out, skeered +to death! I've made more widders an' orphans than any other ten thousan' +men that ever lived.' 'Pears to me them wuz the pow'fullest boasters that +ever wuz born. Why, what they said wuz mostly lies. 'Twas bound to be so, +an' their ways uv fightin' wuz plumb foolishness. Why, ef A-Killus wuz to +come along nowadays, beatin' his brass shield in the face an' hollerin' +out his big words, some Shawnee layin' behind a rock would send a bullet +through his head, jest ez easy ez knockin' over a rabbit, an' thet would +be the end uv Mr. A-Killus, an' a good thing fur all, too."</p> + +<p>"But there were no Shawnees and no rifles on the plains of Troy, Tom," +said Paul.</p> + +<p>"What uv it?" exclaimed Ross in hot indignation. "They didn't fight fair, +anyway. It's jest ez Sol sez—whut did all them women goddesses mean by +interferin' an' allus sp'ilin' a good stan'-up fight? Now, ez Paul tells +it, Ole Jupe, a-settin' up on his golden throne, wuz willin' to tote fair +an' let the Greeks an' Trojans fight it out among theirselves, but the +women critters, whut had more power than wuz good fur 'em, couldn't keep +their hands off. Every one uv 'em hed a fav'rite either among the Greeks +or the Trojans, an' she had to go snoopin' 'roun', makin' his enemy see +double, or throwin' a cloud over him so he couldn't see at all, or +pumpin' all the blood out uv his veins an' fillin' 'em full uv water in +the place. Why, there ain't a Shawnee or Miami in all these woods thet +would he mean enough to take sech an' advantage ez askin' to be helped out +by a squaw thet knowed witchcraft. Ez fur thet Paris feller, he wouldn't +a-lived a week down in Kain-tuck-ee!"</p> + +<p>"But all this happened a long, long time ago, Tom, when ways were +different," said Paul.</p> + +<p>Henry always listened with attention to these stories, and the sight of +Paul's flushed face and vivid eyes, as he talked, would please him. He +understood Paul. He knew that his comrade's mind ranged over not only the +wilderness in which they dwelt, but over the whole world, and far into +past and future times. Hence he respected Paul with a deep respect.</p> + +<p>Presently the cold abated a little—just enough to let the surface of the +ice and snow soften a bit, and make walking easier. Then Henry and Ross +crossed once more to the mainland, partly to scout and partly to hunt. +They easily killed a large deer which was half-imbedded in a snowdrift, +and might have taken a fine cow buffalo in the same way; but, as the deer +was enough, they spared her. They dressed the body of the deer where it +had fallen, and, carrying it between them, started back. With instinctive +caution they kept to the thickest part of the forest, wishing to be hidden +as much as possible by the tree trunks, and they plodded along in silence, +carrying their burden easily, because the two were very, very strong. Near +the edge of the lake, but still in dense forest, Henry paused and looked +down. Tom Ross also paused and looked down, his glance following Henry's. +It was never necessary for these two to say much to each other. They did +not talk about things, they saw them.</p> + +<p>"Tracks of two Indians and one white," said Henry.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Tom Ross. "White is Braxton Wyatt, uv course. He's still +hangin' about the Miami village."</p> + +<p>"And perhaps suspecting that we are yet in these parts."</p> + +<p>"Uv course. An' maybe thar will be trouble."</p> + +<p>They said no more, but each understood. Their own trail would be left in +the snow, and the sight of it would confirm all the suspicions of Wyatt +and the savages. Some such chance as this they had always expected, and +now they prepared to deal with it. They turned back into the forest, +carrying with them the body of the deer, as they were resolved not to +abandon it. Both had noticed that the slight abatement of the cold was +not lasting. In an hour or two it would be as chill as ever, and once more +the surface of the snow would be icy.</p> + +<p>They stayed several hours in a dense clump of trees and bushes, and then, +half walking, half sliding, they resumed their journey, but now they left +no trail. Each also had every sense alert, and nothing could come within +sound or sight and not be perceived first by these two wonderful trailers, +masters of their craft. They reached the edge of the lake in the twilight, +and then they sped swiftly over the ice to their island home.</p> + +<p>"I'm thinking," said Henry Ware, at a council a little later, "that +Braxton Wyatt suspects we're here. He, of course, does not believe in the +Indian superstitions, and maybe he'll persuade them to search the island."</p> + +<p>"An' since they kin come over the ice, we can't beat 'em off ez easy ez we +could ef they came in canoes in the water," said Shif'less Sol. "I see +trouble ahead fur a tired man."</p> + +<p>Paul had been saying nothing, only sitting in a corner of the hut and +listening intently to the others. Now his face flushed and his eyes +sparkled with light, as they would always do whenever a great idea +suddenly came to him.</p> + +<p>"If Braxton Wyatt undertakes to persuade them there are no ghosts," he +said, "it is for us to persuade them that there are."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean, Paul?" asked Henry.</p> + +<p>"We must show the ghosts to them."</p> + +<p>Silence for a half minute followed. Then Shif'less Sol spoke up.</p> + +<p>"Meanin' ourselves?" he said.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Paul.</p> + +<p>The others looked at his glowing face, and they were impressed.</p> + +<p>"Just how?" said Henry.</p> + +<p>"If the Miamis come at all, they will come in the night, and that is when +ghosts should appear. I'll be a ghost and Jim Hart will be another. The +rest of you can lay hidden, ready to use the rifles if they are needed."</p> + +<p>"Well planned!" said Henry Ware. "We'll do it."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII" />CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<p>WHAT THE WARRIORS SAW</p> + + +<p>A few nights later a strong band of warriors left the Miami village, led +by the bold chief, Yellow Panther, and the renegade, Braxton Wyatt. The +party was about thirty in number, and it included the most daring spirits +among them. They were going against the wishes of the aged Gray Beaver, +who foresaw only disaster from such a desecration; but Yellow Panther +favored the venture, and Braxton Wyatt had urged it for a long time.</p> + +<p>Wyatt was no coward, and he did not believe in spirits. They had seen +tracks, white tracks, in the snow, and the sight confirmed him in his +suspicion that those whom he hated were hiding on the island in the lake. +He burned for revenge upon Henry Ware and his friends, but he had to fight +all the influence of Gray Beaver and the power of Indian superstition. He +was about to despair of moving them when they saw the tracks—tracks that +led almost to the edge of the water. He considered this proof of his +theory, and he urged it incessantly. He called attention to the encounter +in the woods near the lake, and the later affair with the belt bearers. +The latter had particular weight, as enough messengers had now passed +between the Miamis and Shawnees to show that both had been the victims of +a clever and daring trick. Wyatt, therefore, was reinstated in the good +graces of the savages, and his words had meaning to them. At last, with +the aid of Yellow Panther and the more daring spirits among the younger +warriors, he prevailed, and the expedition started.</p> + +<p>It was a really formidable war party, thirty warriors or more, all well +armed with rifles and ammunition bought from the Canadian traders, all +hideous with paint, and all skilled in the lore and devices of the +wilderness. Braxton Wyatt had talked to them so much, he had told them so +often that their superstitions were mere moonshine, that they began to +believe, and they thrilled, moreover, with the hope of securing white +scalps.</p> + +<p>The cold was intense, and the frozen surface of the snow was very smooth; +but the warriors, in thick moccasins of buffalo hide, with the hair +underneath, sped with sure step toward the lake. As Henry and Ross had +done, they kept in the thickest of the forest, passing from tree trunk to +tree trunk, because the Indian loves a surprise, an easy victory being +the greatest of triumphs to him. It was such that they expected now, and +the blood of every one of them was inflamed by the logic and eloquence of +Braxton Wyatt and Yellow Panther.</p> + +<p>They reached the shores of the lake when the twilight had merged into the +night and the darkness was deep. They had foreseen that it would be such a +night, otherwise they would have waited; but all seemed admirably suited +now to their purpose. They paused on the bank, and gathered in a close +group. Across the white gleam of the snow they could barely see the dusky +outline of the island, and, despite the courageous frame of mind into +which they had lashed themselves, despite the boldness of their leaders, +they felt a tremor. The savage mind is prone to superstitions, and it is +not easy to cure it of them. That dim, dark outline out there in the +middle of the lake, now that they beheld it again with their own eyes, +still had its unknown and mysterious terrors for them.</p> + +<p>But Braxton Wyatt and Yellow Panther knew too well to let them hesitate at +the very margin of their great exploit. They urged them forward, and the +two themselves led the way, stepping upon the frozen surface of the lake, +and advancing directly toward the island. Then the warriors came after +them in a close cluster, their fur-shod feet making no sound, and their +forms invisible thirty yards away. Before them the black bulk of the +island, with its great trees, now loomed more distinctly, and they +gathered courage as nothing happened.</p> + +<p>All knew that the ancient burying ground was on the north end of the +island, and so Braxton Wyatt and Yellow Panther led the way to the south +end, intending to make a gradual approach to the other portion.</p> + +<p>Braxton Wyatt half expected, as he came near, that he might see a light +among the trees. In weather so cold one must have a fire, and, relying +upon the ghostly protection, Henry Ware and his band would light it. But +he saw nothing, and he began to fear that he might be mistaken. If there +was nobody on the island his credit with the Indians would be shaken, and +he was anxious to establish his power among his red friends. But he and +Yellow Panther pressed boldly on, and they could now see dimly the +outlines of individual tree trunks standing up in rows.</p> + +<p>The low shores of the island rose before them only thirty yards away, then +twenty, then ten, then they were there. But another moment of hesitation +came. Not in a generation had a Miami or any other Indian, so far as they +knew, set foot upon this haunted island, and the beliefs of many years +are not to be swept away in a breath.</p> + +<p>It was Braxton Wyatt who took the lead again, and he boldly stepped upon +the haunted soil. Then a terrible thing happened. Every warrior all at +once saw two white figures perched upon the low bough of an oak. They were +shaped like men, but the outlines of arms and legs could not be seen. +Rather they were the bodies of warriors completely enclosed in buffalo +robes or deerskins for the grave, and these figures, swaying back and +forth in the moonlight, and bearing all the aspects of supernatural +visitors, filled the superstitious hearts of the Miamis with the terrors +of the unknown and invincible. The two shapes showed a ghostly white in +the pale rays, and the Miamis, in fancy at least, saw fiery and accusing +eyes looking down at the sacrilegious men who had presumed to put foot on +the island dedicated to Manitou and the departed.</p> + +<p>A gentle wind brought a low groan to the ears of every man among them.</p> + +<p>The blood of the warriors chilled quickly in their veins. All their +superstitions, all the inherited beliefs of many generations, all the lore +of the old squaws, told about innumerable camp fires, came crashing back +upon them as those two ghostly white shapes, hovering there in the +darkness, continued to transfix them with an accusing gaze. There was an +involuntary shudder, a sudden clustering together of the whole party, and +then, with a simultaneous cry of horror, they broke and fled in a wild +pellmell far out upon the icy surface of the lake, and then on, bearing +with them in the rout both Yellow Panther and Braxton Wyatt. Nor did they +dare to look back, because they knew that the terrible eyes of the long +departed, upon whose territory they had intended to commit sacrilege, were +boring into their backs. The island was haunted, and would remain so for +many a year, despite all that Braxton Wyatt and Yellow Panther had said.</p> + +<p>About the time the Miamis reached the mainland, and darted among the trees +in the race for their own village, Paul Cotter and Long Jim Hart leaped +lightly from the low bough of the oak, took off the enfolding robes of +white tanned deerskin, with holes for the eyes.</p> + +<p>"Jehoshaphat!" said Long Jim, as he threw the robes on the ground, "I'm +glad that's over. Bein' a ghost jest about a minute is enough fur me. I +wuz scared to death lest I didn't groan good an' horrible."</p> + +<p>"But you never did a better job in your life, Jim," said Henry, as he came +from behind a tree. "You and Paul were the finest ghosts I ever saw, and +no Indian will dare to set foot on this island in the next hundred years."</p> + +<p>"It shorely was a sight to see them braves run," said Shif'less Sol. +"Thar's many a tired man in that lot now. I think some o' 'em didn't hit +the ice an' snow more'n twice between here an' the lan'."</p> + +<p>"Paul's made the islan' ez safe fur us ez a stone fort ez long ez we want +to stay," said Tom Ross.</p> + +<p>"It was a great plan, well done," said Henry.</p> + +<p>Paul's face shone with the most intense delight. His imagination, leaping +forward to meet a crisis, had served them all greatly, and he was happy. +He had fought not with rifle and knife, but with the weapon of the +intellect.</p> + +<p>"Now that this job is over, an' we're the big winners," said Shif'less +Sol, "I'm goin' to do what a tired man ought to do: go to sleep, wrapped +up in buffalo robes, an' sleep about forty hours."</p> + +<p>"We'll all sleep," said Henry. "As Tom says, we're as safe as if we were +in a stone fort, and we don't need any guard."</p> + +<p>An hour later all of the valiant five were slumbering peacefully within +their warm walls, and when they ate a good hot breakfast the next morning, +cooked in Jim Hart's best fashion, they laughed heartily and often over +the night's great event.</p> + +<p>"I guess Mr. Braxton Wyatt will hev to work hard ag'in to prove to them +savages that he's real smart," said Shif'less Sol. "This is another time +that he's led 'em right out o' the little end o' the horn."</p> + +<p>They luxuriated that day, resting most of the time In the hut, but on the +following day Henry and Ross went on a longer scouting expedition than +usual, this time in the direction of the Shawnee villages. The three who +were left behind broke fresh holes in the thick ice, and by the use of +much patience succeeded in catching several fine fish, which made a +pleasant addition to their daily diet.</p> + +<p>Henry and Ross were gone nearly a week, but their comrades did not become +alarmed over their long absence. When they returned they brought with them +a budget of news from the Shawnee villages. Braxton Wyatt had returned to +the Shawnees, much disgusted with his stay among the Miamis, but still +resolved to form the great Indian alliance, and send it in the spring +against the white settlements in Kentucky.</p> + +<p>"It's too late for them to do anything this winter," said Henry, and a +little exultation showed in his tone, "we've put that spoke in their +wheel; but they mean to hit us a terrible blow on the flank when warm +weather comes."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by 'on the flank'?" asked Paul.</p> + +<p>"They've learned in some manner, maybe by way of Canada, that a big wagon +train is coming up through the Wilderness Road in the spring, to join our +settlements. If it gets there it will double our strength, but the Indians +mean to make a great curve to the south and east and strike it just as it +leaves the mountains."</p> + +<p>"They're smart in that," said Shif'less Sol. "They'd be sure to hit them +wagons when they ain't expected."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Henry Ware, "if the train is not warned."</p> + +<p>Paul looked at him and saw that his eyes were full of meaning.</p> + +<p>"Then we are to warn that train," said Paul.</p> + +<p>"Yes, when the time comes."</p> + +<p>"It's the greatest work that we can do," said Paul, with emphasis, and the +others nodded their agreement. It was all that was needed to bind the five +together in the mighty task that they had begun.</p> + +<p>Nothing more was said upon the subject for days, but Paul's mind was full +of it. His comrades and he had impeded the making of the great war trail, +and now they were to see that reënforcements safely reached their own. It +was a continuing task, and it appealed powerfully to the statesman so +strong in Paul.</p> + +<p>A very cold winter moved slowly along, and they remained on the island, +though Henry and Ross ranged far and wide. On one of these expeditions the +two scouts met a wandering trapper, by whom they sent word again to their +people in the south that they were safe.</p> + +<p>Henry and Ross also learned that Yellow Panther would lead the Miamis, Red +Eagle the Shawnees, and there would be detachments of Wyandots and others. +They would fall like a thunderbolt upon the wagon train, and destroy it +utterly.</p> + +<p>"And Braxton Wyatt will be with them?" said Paul indignantly.</p> + +<p>"Of course," replied Henry.</p> + +<p>"Henry, we've got to save that wagon train, if every one of us dies +trying!" exclaimed Paul, with the greatest possible emphasis.</p> + +<p>"Of course," said Henry again, quietly, but with the stern determination +that meant with him do or die.</p> + +<p>"It's a part o' our job," drawled Shif'less Sol, "but it must be nigh a +thousand miles to the place whar the Wilderness Road comes out o' the +mountains. I see a terrible long journey ahead fur a tired man."</p> + +<p>Henry smiled. They all knew that none would be more zealous on the march, +none more lion-hearted in battle, than this same Solomon Hyde, nicknamed +the shiftless one.</p> + +<p>"When do we start?" asked Jim Hart.</p> + +<p>"Not before the cold weather passes," replied Henry. "It wouldn't be worth +while. The emigrant train won't come through the mountains until spring, +and we can do better work here, watching the savages."</p> + +<p>So they abode long in the hut on the haunted island, and had food and +warmth in plenty. But in the Indian villages there was the stir of +preparation for the great war trail in the spring, and also the sense of +mystery and oppression. Yellow Panther, the Miami, and Red Eagle, the +Shawnee, both felt in some strange, unaccountable way that they were +watched. Half-lost tracks of unknown feet were seen in the snow; strange +trails that ended nowhere were struck; three warriors, every one at a +different time, claimed to have seen a gigantic figure speeding in a pale +moonlight through the leafless forest; one of the bravest of the Shawnee +warriors was found dead, his head cleft so deep that they knew a mighty +hand, one of almost marvelous strength, had wielded the tomahawk. There +were signs of a terrible struggle in the snow, but who had attacked and +who defended they did not know, and the trail of the survivor was soon +lost. A mysterious dread filled both Shawnees and Miamis.</p> + +<p>Braxton Wyatt raged at heart in the Shawnee village, and had theories of +his own, but he dared not tell them. It was known there that it was he who +had led the Miamis into the sacrilegious invasion of the haunted island, +and it would take his credit some time to recover from such a blow. To +reestablish himself thoroughly he must do valuable work for his red +friends on the coming great war trail. So he remained discreetly silent +about the haunted island, and told all he knew of the white settlements, +the Wilderness Road, and the way to trap the emigrant train. Here he could +really be of great assistance to the alliance, and he told the chiefs all +about the emigrants, how they marched, and how they would be encumbered +with women and children.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the five never ceased their vigilance. Henry and Ross bought a +large quantity of ammunition from a Canadian trader whom they met on a +trip far to the north, and however much they used in the winter, they were +now assured of an abundance when they started southeast in the spring.</p> + +<p>The winter was long and very cold. One snow fell upon another; one freeze +after another thickened the ice upon the lake; and when the wind blew, it +had the edge of a knife. But this could not last forever. One day the wind +shifted around and blew from the south. Paul, who was outside the hut +helping Jim Hart, felt a soft, warm breath on his face.</p> + +<p>"Why, Jim!" he said, "the cold seems to be going away."</p> + +<p>"So it is," said Jim Hart, "or at least it's gittin' ready. Spring ain't +far off, an' I'm glad, Paul. I'm tired uv winter, an' I want to be +strikin' out on the great war trail."</p> + +<p>"So do I," said Paul.</p> + +<p>"Wa'al, fur the matter o' that," said Shif'less Sol, "we've been on the +great war trail fur three or four months now. There ain't to be no change +except in the shiftin' o' the trail."</p> + +<p>The warm wind continued to blow for days, the surface of the ice on the +lake softened, and the snow began to melt. Still it blew, and the melted +snow ran in rivers, the ice broke up into great sheets and chunks, and +these, too, rapidly dissolved. Then a warm rain came, pouring for a day +and a night, and the ice and snow were swept away entirely. But the whole +earth ran water. Lakes stood in the forest, and every brook and creek, +rushing in torrents, leaped its banks.</p> + +<p>The five had remained in their hut when the rain came down, but two days +later Henry and Ross were rowed over in the canoe, and went away to spy +out the country. When they returned they said that the great war party of +the allied tribes would soon be in motion, and it was time for the five to +take their flight.</p> + +<p>A warm sun had been shining for days, and the earth had dried again. The +turbulent brooks and creeks had withdrawn to their accustomed beds, and +faint touches of green were beginning to show in the wilderness.</p> + +<p>"We'll leave our house just as we have built it," said Henry.</p> + +<p>"Unless a white man should come wandering here, and that isn't likely, it +won't be disturbed. It's been a good place for us."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Paul, "it has been a good home to us. I've spent a happy +winter here, and I want to see it again."</p> + +<p>But they had little time for sentiment. They were making the fast touches +of preparation for the second stage of the great war trail—arranging +clothing, light supplies of food, and, above all, ammunition. Then they +left at night in their canoe. As they approached the mainland, all, as if +by involuntary impulse, looked back at the haunted island, looming darkly +in the night.</p> + +<p>"It was no haunted island for us," said Paul.</p> + +<p>"No," said Henry.</p> + +<p>They landed, hid the canoe, and then, plunging into the forest, sped far +to the south and east on tireless feet.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX" />CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<p>THE WARNING</p> + + +<p>Meanwhile war belts were passing through all the forest, from tribe to +tribe, to Shawnee, Miami, Ottawa, Wyandot—to every band, large or small. +Another great effort would be made to drive back the thin white vanguard +that was now entering the finest hunting ground savages had ever +known—the vast green wilderness of the Mississippi Valley, where the +warriors had roamed and killed game for unknown generations. Northern and +southern tribes had often met and fought in <i>Kain-tuck-ee</i>, but always +each retreated after the conflict to north or to south, leaving +<i>Kain-tuck-ee</i> as it was before—a land of forest and canebrake, inhabited +only by the wild beast.</p> + +<p>Now, every warrior felt that the coming of the white stream over the +mountains, however slender it might be at first, threatened a change, +great and disastrous to them, unless checked at once. These white men cut +down the forest, built houses that were meant to stay in one place—houses +of logs—and plowed up the fields where the forest had been. They felt in +some dim, but none the less certain, way that not only their favorite +hunting grounds, but they and their own existence, were threatened.</p> + +<p>They had failed the year before in a direct attack upon the new +settlements, but these little oases in the wilderness must in time perish +unless the white stream coming over the mountains still reached them, +nourishing them with fresh bone and sinew, and making them grow. A great +wagon train was coming, and this they would strike, surprising it in the +vast, dark wilderness when it was not dreaming that even a single warrior +was near.</p> + +<p>A great defeat they had suffered at Wareville the year before still stung, +and the spur of revenge was added to the spur of need. What they felt they +ought to do was exactly what they wanted to do, and they were full of +hope. They did not know that the stream flowing over the mountains, now so +small, was propelled by a tremendous force behind it, the great white race +always moving onward, and they expected nothing less than a complete +triumph.</p> + +<p>Active warriors passed through the deep woods, bearing belts and messages. +Their faces were eager, and always they urged war. A long journey lay +before them, but the blow would be a master stroke. They were received +everywhere with joy and approval. The tomahawks were dug up, the war +dances were danced, the war songs sung, and the men began to paint their +faces and bodies for battle. A hum and a murmur ran through the +northwestern forests, the hum and murmur of preparation and hope. Only the +five, on their little island in the lake, yet heard this hum and murmur, +so ominous to the border, but they were ready to carry the message through +the wilderness to those to whom the warning meant the most.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The largest wagon train that had yet crossed the mountains into +<i>Kain-tuck-ee</i> toiled slowly along the Wilderness Road among the +foothills, bearing steadily toward the Northwest. The line of canvas +covers stretched away more than a hundred in number, and contained five +hundred souls, of whom, perhaps, half were men and boys capable of bearing +arms, the rest women and children.</p> + +<p>They looked upon mountain, hill and forest, river and brook, with much the +same eyes as those with which Henry and Paul had beheld them not so very +long before, but they were not seeking at random in the wilderness as the +Wareville people had done. No, they moved forward now to a certain mark. +They were to join their brethren at Wareville and Marlowe, and double the +strength of the settlements. Word had come to them over the mountains +that the little outposts in the vast wilderness lived and flourished, and +the country was good. Moreover, they and their strength were needed. +Wareville and Marlowe looked for them as eagerly as they looked for +Wareville and Marlowe.</p> + +<p>Spring was deepening, and already had drawn its robe of green over all the +earth, but Daniel Poe, the commander of the wagon train, paid little +attention to its beauty. He was nearly sixty years of age, but in the very +prime of his strength—a great, square-shouldered man, his head and face +covered with thick, black beard. His eyes had their habitual look of +watchful care. They had seen no Indian sign as they crossed the mountains, +but he knew now that they were on the Dark and Bloody Ground, and the +lives of five hundred human beings were a heavy responsibility.</p> + +<p>"You are sure the country is entirely safe?" he said to Dick Salter, one +of his guides.</p> + +<p>"I don't know no reason to doubt it," replied Salter. "The savages don't +often get down here. The villages uv the northwestern tribes must be close +on to a thousand miles from here, an' besides they were beat off last +year, an' beat badly, when they tried to rush Wareville."</p> + +<p>"That is so," said Daniel Poe thoughtfully; "we had word of it. But, +Dick, we can't afford to take all these people into danger here in the +woods. Look at the women and children."</p> + +<p>They had just begun to stop for the night, and to draw the wagons into a +circle in a convenient, slightly hollowed, open place. The women and +children were trooping about upon the grass, and the air was filled with +the sound of merry voices. All were browned by the sun, but they were +healthy and joyous, and they looked forward with keen delight to meeting +kin who had gone on before at Wareville. They had no fear of the mighty +forests, when more than two hundred pairs of strong arms fenced them +about.</p> + +<p>"That is shorely a pleasant sight," said Dick Salter. "I've seed the same +many evenin's, an' I hope to see it many more evenin's. We'll get 'em +through, Mr. Poe, we'll get 'em through!"</p> + +<p>"I hope so," said Daniel Poe earnestly.</p> + +<p>They had begun to light the evening fires, and in the west a great red sun +blazed just above the hills. Daniel Poe suddenly put his hand upon Dick +Salter's arm.</p> + +<p>"Dick, what is that?" he said, pointing with a long forefinger.</p> + +<p>A black silhouette had appeared on the crest of a hill in the very eye of +the sun, and Dick Salter, shading his brow with his hand, gazed long and +anxiously.</p> + +<p>"It's a man," he said at last, "an' ef I'm any judge uv a human bein' it's +about the finest specimen uv a man that ever trod green grass. Look, Mr. +Poe!"</p> + +<p>The figure, outlined against its brilliant background, seemed to grow and +come nearer. Others had seen now, and the whole wagon train gazed with +intent and curious eyes. They saw in the blazing light every detail of an +erect and splendid figure, evidently that of a youth, but tall beyond the +average of men. He was clad in forest garb—fringed hunting shirt and +leggings and raccoon-skin cap. He stood erect, but easily, holding by the +muzzle a long, slender-barreled rifle, which rested, stock upon the +ground. Seen there in all the gorgeous redness of the evening sunlight, +there was something majestic, something perhaps weird and unreal, in the +grand and silent figure.</p> + +<p>"He's white, that's shore!" said Dick Salter.</p> + +<p>"He looks like a wilderness god," murmured Daniel Poe, in his beard.</p> + +<p>"Look!" exclaimed Dick Salter. "There's another!"</p> + +<p>A second figure appeared suddenly beside the first, that of a youth, also, +not so tall as the first; but he, too, stood erect, silent and +motionless, gazing at the wagon train.</p> + +<p>"And a third!" exclaimed Daniel Poe.</p> + +<p>"And a fourth and fifth!" added Dick Salter. "See, there are five uv 'em!"</p> + +<p>Three other figures had appeared, seeming to arise in the sunlight as if +by Arabian magic; and now all five stood there in a row, side by side, +everyone silent and motionless, and everyone holding by the muzzle a long, +slender-barreled rifle, its stock upon the ground, as he gazed at the +train.</p> + +<p>A deep breath ran through the crowd of emigrants, and all—men, women, and +children—moved forward for a better look. There was something mysterious +and uncanny in this sudden apparition of the five there in the blazing +light of the setting sun, which outlined their figures in every detail and +raised them to gigantic proportions. On those hills only was light; +everywhere else the mighty curving wilderness, full of unknown terrors, +was already dark with the coming night.</p> + +<p>"It is our omen of danger. I feel it, I feel it In every bone of me," +murmured Daniel Poe into his great black beard.</p> + +<p>"We must find out what this means, that's shore," said Dick Salter.</p> + +<p>But as he spoke, the first figure, that of the great, splendid youth, +stepped right out of the eye of the sun, and he was followed in single +file by the four others, all stepping in unison. They came down the hill, +and directly toward the travelers. Again that deep breath ran through the +crowd of emigrants, and the chief note of it was admiration, mingled with +an intense curiosity.</p> + +<p>All the five figures were strange and wild, sinewy, powerful, almost as +dark as Indians, their eyes watchful and wary and roving from side to +side, their clothing wholly of skins and furs, singular and picturesque. +They seemed almost to have come from another world. But Daniel Poe was +never lacking either in the qualities of hospitality or leadership.</p> + +<p>"Friends," he said, "as white men—for such I take you to be—you are +welcome to our camp."</p> + +<p>The first of the five, the great, tall youth with the magnificent +shoulders, smiled, and it seemed to Daniel Poe that the smile was +wonderfully frank and winning.</p> + +<p>"Yes, we are white, though we may not look it," he said in a clear, deep +voice, "and we have come near a thousand miles to meet you."</p> + +<p>"To meet us?" repeated Daniel Poe, in surprise, while Dick Salter, beside +him, was saying to himself, as he looked at one of the five: "Ef that +ain't Tom Ross, then I'll eat my cap."</p> + +<p>"Yes," repeated Henry Ware, with the most convincing emphasis, "it's you +that we've come to meet. We belong at Wareville, although we've been far +in the North throughout the winter. My name is Henry Ware, this is Paul +Cotter, and these are Tom Ross, Sol Hyde, and Jim Hart. We must have a +word with you at once, where the others cannot hear."</p> + +<p>Tom Ross and Dick Salter, old friends, were already shaking hands. Henry +Ware glanced at the emigrants pressing forward in a great crowd, and +sympathy and tenderness showed in his eyes as he looked at the eager, +childish faces so numerous among them.</p> + +<p>"Will you keep them back?" he said to Daniel Poe. "I must speak to you +where none of those can hear."</p> + +<p>Daniel Poe waved away the crowd, and then took a step forward.</p> + +<p>"We have come," said Henry Ware, in low, intense tones, "to warn you that +you are going to be attacked by a great force of warriors, furnished by +the league of the northwestern tribes. They mean that you shall never +reach Wareville or Marlowe, to double the strength of those settlements. +They would have laid an ambush for you, but we have been among them and we +know their plans."</p> + +<p>A shiver ran through the stalwart frame of Daniel Poe—a shiver of +apprehension, not for himself, but for the five hundred human lives +intrusted to his care. Then he steadied himself.</p> + +<p>"We can fight," he said, "and I thank you for your warning; I cannot doubt +its truth."</p> + +<p>"We will stay with you," said Henry Ware. "We know the signs of the +forest, and we can help in the battle that is sure to come, and also +before and after."</p> + +<p>His voice was full of confidence and courage, and it sent an electric +thrill through the veins of Daniel Poe. Henry Ware was one of those +extraordinary human beings whose very presence seems to communicate +strength to others.</p> + +<p>"We'll beat 'em off," said Daniel Poe sanguinely.</p> + +<p>"Yes, we'll beat 'em off," said Henry Ware. Then he continued: "You must +tell all the men, and of course the women and children will hear of if, +but it's best to let the news spread gradually."</p> + +<p>Daniel Poe went back with the messengers to the wagons, and soon it was +known to everybody that the Indians were laying an ambush for them all. +Some wails broke forth from the women, but they were quickly suppressed, +and all labored together to put the camp in posture of defense. The +strangers were among them, cheering them, and predicting victory if +battle should come. Paul, in particular, quickly endeared himself to them. +He was so hearty, so full of jests, and he quoted all sorts of scraps of +old history bearing particularly upon their case, and showing that they +must win if attacked.</p> + +<p>"There was a race of very valiant people living a very long, long time +ago," he said, "who always made their armies intrench at night. Nobody +could take a Roman camp, and we've got to imitate those old fellows."</p> + +<p>Under the guidance of Paul and his friends, the Roman principle was +followed, at least in part. The wagons were drawn up in a great circle in +an open space, where they could not be reached by a rifle shot from the +trees, and then more than two hundred men, using pick and spade, speedily +threw up an earthwork three feet high that inclosed the wagons. Henry Ware +regarded it with the greatest satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"I don't know any Indian force," he said, "that will rush such a barrier +in the face of two or three hundred rifles. Now, Mr. Poe, you post guards +at convenient intervals, and the rest of you can take it easy inside."</p> + +<p>The guards were stationed, but inside the ring of wagons many fires burned +brightly, and around them was a crowd that talked much, but talked low. +The women could not sleep, nor could the children, whose curiosity was +intensely aroused by the coming of these extraordinary-looking strangers. +The larger of the children understood the danger, but the smaller did not, +and their spirits were not dampened at all.</p> + +<p>The night came down, a great blanket of darkness, in the center of which +the camp fires were now fused together into a cone of light. A few stars +came out in the dusky heavens, and twinkled feebly. The spring wind sighed +gently among the new leaves of the forest. The voices of women and +children gradually died. Some slept in blankets before the fires, and +others in the wagons, whose stout oak sides would turn any bullet.</p> + +<p>Daniel Poe walked just outside the circle of the wagons, and his heart was +heavy with care. Yet he was upborne by the magnetic personality of Henry +Ware, who walked beside him.</p> + +<p>"How far from us do you think they are now?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Fifty miles, perhaps, and they are at least a thousand strong. It was +their object to fall suddenly upon you in the dark, but when their scouts +find that you fortify every night, they will wait to ambush you on the +day's march."</p> + +<p>"Undoubtedly," said Daniel Poe, "and we've got to guard against it as best +we can."</p> + +<p>"But my comrades and I and Dick Salter will be your eyes," said Henry. +"We'll be around you in the woods, watching all the time."</p> + +<p>"Thank God that you have come," said Daniel Poe devoutly. "I think that +Providence must have sent you and your friends to save us. Think what +might have happened if you had not come."</p> + +<p>He shuddered. Before him came a swift vision of red slaughter—women and +children massacred in the darkness. Then his brave heart swelled to meet +the coming danger. The night passed without alarm, but Henry, Ross, and +Shif'less Sol, roaming far in the forest, saw signs that told them +infallibly where warriors had passed.</p> + +<p>"The attack will come," said Henry.</p> + +<p>"As sure as night follows day," said Ross, "an' it's our business to know +when it's about to come."</p> + +<p>Henry nodded, and the three sped on in their great circle about the camp, +not coming in until a little before day, when they slept briefly before +one of the fires. When the people arose and found that nothing had +happened, they were light-hearted. Nothing had happened, so nothing would +happen, they said to themselves; they were too strong for the danger that +had threatened, and it would pass them by. Day was so much more cheerful +than night.</p> + +<p>They ate breakfast, their appetites brisk in the crisp morning air, and +resumed the march. But they advanced slowly, the wagons in a close, triple +file, with riflemen on either side. But Daniel Poe knew that their chief +reliance now was the eyes of the five strangers, who were in the forest on +either side and in front. They had made a deep impression upon him, as +they had upon every other person with whom they came into contact. He had +the most implicit confidence in their courage, skill, and faith.</p> + +<p>The wagons went slowly on through the virgin wilderness, Daniel Poe and +Dick Salter at their head, the riflemen all along the flanks.</p> + +<p>"We'll strike a river some time to-morrow," said Salter. "It's narrow and +deep, and the ford will be hard."</p> + +<p>"I wish we were safely on the other side," said Daniel Poe.</p> + +<p>"So do I," said Dick Salter, and his tone was full of meaning.</p> + +<p>Yet the day passed as the night had passed, and nothing happened. They had +safely crossed the mountains, and before them were gentle, rolling hills +and open forest. The country steadily grew more fertile, and often game +sprang up from the way, showing that man trod there but little. The day +was of unrivaled beauty, a cloudless blue sky overhead, green grass under +foot, and a warm, gentle wind always blowing from the south. How could +danger be threatening under such a smiling guise? But the "eyes" of the +train, which nothing escaped, the five who watched on every side, saw the +Indian sign again and again, and always their faces were grave.</p> + +<p>"The train carries many brave men," said Henry, "but it will need every +one of them."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Tom Ross; "an' ef the women, too, kin shoot, so much the +better."</p> + +<p>That night they encamped again in one of the openings so numerous +throughout the country, and, as before, they fortified; but the women and +children were getting over their fear. They were too strong. The Indians +would not dare to attack a train defended by three hundred marksmen—two +hundred and fifty men and at least fifty women who could and would shoot +well. So their voices were no longer subdued, and jest and laughter passed +within the circle of the wagons.</p> + +<p>Paul remained by one of the fires, Henry and Shif'less Sol suggesting that +he do so because he was already a huge favorite with everybody. He was +sitting comfortably before the coals, leaning against a wagon wheel, and +at least a score of little boys and girls were gathered about him. They +wanted to know about the great wilderness, and the fights of himself and +his comrades with the red warriors. Paul, though modest, had the gift of +vivid narrative. He described Wareville, that snug nest there in the +forest, and the great battle before its wooden walls; how the women, led +by a girl, had gone forth for water; how the savages had been beaten off, +and the dreadful combat afterward in the forest through the darkness and +the rain. He told how he had been struck down by a bullet, only to be +carried off and saved by his comrade, Henry Ware—the bravest, the most +skillful, and the strongest hunter, scout, and warrior in all the West. +Then he told them something of their life in the winter just closed, +although he kept the secret of the haunted island, which was to remain the +property of his comrades and himself.</p> + +<p>The children hung upon his words. They liked this boy with the brilliant +eyes, the vivid imagination, and the wonderful gift of narrative, that +could make everything he told pass before their very eyes.</p> + +<p>"And now that's enough," said Paul at last. "You must all go to sleep, as +you are to start on your journey again early in the morning. Now, off with +you, every one of you!"</p> + +<p>He rose, despite their protests, this prince of story tellers, and, +bidding them good-night, strolled with affected carelessness outside the +circle of wagons. The night was dark, like the one preceding, but the +riflemen were on guard within the shadows of the wagons.</p> + +<p>"Do you see anything?" Paul asked of one.</p> + +<p>"Nothing but the forest," he replied.</p> + +<p>Paul strolled farther, and saw a dark figure among the trees. As he +approached he recognized Shif'less Sol.</p> + +<p>"Any news, Sol?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied the shiftless one, "we've crossed trails of bands three +times, but the main force ain't come up yet. I guess it means to wait a +little, Paul. I'm awful glad we've come to help out these poor women an' +children."</p> + +<p>"So am I," said Paul, glancing at the black forest. "They've got to go +through a terrible thing, Sol."</p> + +<p>"Yes, an' it's comin' fast," said the shiftless one.</p> + +<p>But nothing happened that night, at least so far as the camp was +concerned. The sentinels walked up and down outside, and were not +disturbed. The women and children slept peacefully in the wagons, or in +their blankets before the fires, and the clear dawn came, silver at first +and then gold under a sky of blue.</p> + +<p>The "eyes" of the train had come in as before, and taken their nap, and +now were up and watching once more. Breakfast over, the drivers swung +their whips, called cheerfully to their horses, and the wagons, again in +three close files, resumed the march.</p> + +<p>"We'll strike the ford about noon to-day," said Dick Salter to Daniel Poe.</p> + +<p>"I wish we were safely on the other side," said Daniel Poe, in the exact +words of the day before.</p> + +<p>"So do I," repeated Dick Salter.</p> + +<p>The wagons moved forward undisturbed, their wheels rolling easily over the +soft turf, and some of the women, forgetting their alarms, softly sang +songs of their old homes in the East. The children, eager to see +everything in this mighty, unknown land, called to each other; but all the +time, as they marched through the pleasant greenwood, danger was coming +closer and closer.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX" />CHAPTER XX</h2> + +<p>THE TERRIBLE FORD</p> + + +<p>"The ford ain't much more than an hour's march farther on," said Dick +Salter to Daniel Poe, "an' the way to it leads over purty smooth groun'."</p> + +<p>"And we have not seen anything of the warriors yet, except the trails of +small bands," said Daniel Poe hopefully. "It may be that our new friends +are mistaken."</p> + +<p>Dick Salter shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Tom Ross never makes a mistake in matters uv that kind," he said, "an' +that boy, Henry Ware, couldn't ef he tried. He's wonderful, Mr. Poe."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Daniel Poe. "Nobody else ever made such an impression upon me. +And the one they call Paul is a fine fellow, too. I wish I had a son like +that."</p> + +<p>"He's the most popular fellow in the train already," said Dick Salter.</p> + +<p>Both looked admiringly at Paul, who was walking near the head of the line, +a group of lithe, strong-limbed boys and girls surrounding him and +begging him for stories of the wilderness. Paul remained with the train by +arrangement. It was his business to cheer, invigorate, and hearten for a +great task, while his comrades roamed the forest and looked for the danger +that they knew would surely come. Never did youth succeed better at his +chosen task, as confidence spread from him like a contagion.</p> + +<p>Paul presently quickened his steps, and came quite to the head of the +line, where Daniel Poe and Dick Salter were walking, both circling the +forest ahead of them with anxious eyes. They and Paul at the same time saw +a figure emerge from the woods in front. It was Henry, and he was coming +on swift foot. In an instant he was before them, and Paul knew by his look +that he had news.</p> + +<p>"They are waiting?" said Paul.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Henry. "They are in the thickets at the ford, less than two +miles ahead."</p> + +<p>Daniel Poe shuddered again—for the five hundred lives in his charge—and +then his heart rose. The waiting, the terrible suspense, were over, and it +was battle now. The fact contained relief.</p> + +<p>"Shall we halt?" he said to Henry. Unconsciously, he, too, was submitting +to the generalship of this king of forest runners.</p> + +<p>"No," replied Henry; "we've got to go on some time or other, and they can +wait as long as we can. We must force the passage of the ford. We can do +it."</p> + +<p>He spoke with confidence, and courage seemed to leap like sparks from him +and set fire to the others.</p> + +<p>"Then it's go ahead," said Daniel Poe grimly. "We'll force the passage."</p> + +<p>"Put all the little children, and all the women who don't fight, in the +wagons, and make them lie down," said Henry. "The men must swarm on either +flank. My comrades will remain in the front, watching until we reach the +river."</p> + +<p>Then a great bustle and the chatter of many voices arose; but it soon died +away before stern commands and equally stern preparations, because they +were preparing to run as terrible a gantlet as human beings ever face, +these dauntless pioneers of the wilderness. The children were quickly +loaded in the wagons, and all the weaker of the women; but with the men on +the flanks marched at least two-score grim Amazons, rifle in hand.</p> + +<p>Then the train resumed its slow march, and nothing was heard but the +rolling of the wheels and the low cluck of the drivers to their horses. +The way still led through an open, parklike country, and the road was +easy. Soon those in front saw a faint streak cutting across the forest. +The streak was silvery at first, and then blue, and it curved away to +north and south among low hills.</p> + +<p>"The river!" said Daniel Poe, and he shut his teeth hard.</p> + +<p>All the men and the Amazons drew a long, deep breath, like a sigh; but +they said nothing, and continued to march steadily forward. The river +broadened, the blue of its waters deepened, and from the high ground on +which they marched they could see the low banks on the farther shore, +crowned by clustering thickets.</p> + +<p>Three men emerged from the undergrowth. They were Tom Ross, Shif'less Sol, +and Long Jim Hart. The shiftless one looked lazy and careless, and Jim +Hart, stretching himself, looked longer and thinner than ever.</p> + +<p>"We found it, Henry," said Ross. "Little more'n a mile to the south, men +wadin' to the waist kin cross."</p> + +<p>"Good!" said Henry. "We're lucky!"</p> + +<p>He began to give rapid, incisive commands, and everyone obeyed as a matter +of course, and without jealousy. Daniel Poe was the leader of the wagon +train, but Henry Ware, whom they had known but a few days, was its leader +in battle.</p> + +<p>"Take fifty men," he said to Ross, "the best marksmen and the stanchest +fighters, and cross there. Then come silently among the thickets up the +bank, to strike them when they strike us."</p> + +<p>Paul listened with admiration. He knew Henry's genius for battle, and, +like the others, he was inspired by his comrade's confidence. The fifty +men were quickly told off behind the wagons, and, headed by Tom Ross and +Jim Hart, they disappeared at once in the woods. Shif'less Sol remained +with Henry and Paul.</p> + +<p>"Now, forward!" said Henry Ware, and the terrible, grim march was begun +again. There was the river, growing broader and broader and bluer and +bluer as they came closer. The children and women—except the Amazons—saw +nothing because they were crouched upon the floors of the wagon beds, but +the drivers, every one of whom had a rifle lying upon the seat beside him, +were at that moment the bravest of them all, because they faced the +greatest danger.</p> + +<p>"Slowly!" said Henry, to the leading wagons. "We must give Sol and his men +time for their circuit."</p> + +<p>He noted with deep joy that the ford was wide. At least five wagons could +enter it abreast, and he made them advance in five close lines.</p> + +<p>"When you reach the water," he said to the drivers, "lie down behind the +front of the wagon beds, and drive any way you can. Now, Sol, you and I +and Dick Salter must rouse them from the thickets."</p> + +<p>The three crept forward, and looked at the peaceful river under the +peaceful sky. So far as the ordinary eye could see, there was no human +being on its shores. The bushes waved a little in the gentle wind, and the +water broke in brilliant bubbles on the shallows.</p> + +<p>But Henry Ware's eyes were not ordinary. There was not a keener pair on +the continent, and among the thickets on the farther bank he saw a stir +that was not natural. The wind blew north, and now and then a bush would +bend a little toward the south. He crept closer, and at last he saw a +coppery face here and there, and savage, gleaming eyes staring through the +bushes.</p> + +<p>"Tell the wagons to come on boldly," he said to Shif'less Sol, and the +shiftless one obeyed.</p> + +<p>"Now, Sol," he said, when the man returned, "take fifty more riflemen, and +hide in that thicket, at the highest part of the bank. Stay there. You +will know what else to do."</p> + +<p>"I think I will," said the shiftless one, and every trace of indifference +or laziness was gone from him. He was the forester, alert and +indomitable—a fit second to Henry Ware. Then Henry and Jim Hart alone +were left near the river's brink. Henry did not look back.</p> + +<p>"Are the wagons coming fast?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Jim Hart, "but I'm beckonin' to 'em to come still faster. +They'll be in the water in three minutes. Listen! The drivers are whippin' +up the horses!"</p> + +<p>The loud cracking of whips arose, and the horses advanced at a trot toward +the ford. At the same instant Henry Ware raised his rifle, and fired like +a flash of lightning at one of the coppery faces in the thicket on the +opposite shore. The death cry of the savage rose, but far above it rose +the taunting shout of the white youth, louder and more terrible than their +own. The savages, surprised, abandoned their ambush. The leading wagons +dashed into the water, and down upon them dashed the picked power of the +allied western tribes.</p> + +<p>In an instant the far edge of the water was swarming with coppery bodies +and savage faces, and the war whoop, given again and again, echoed far up +and down the stream, and through the thickets and forest. Rifles cracked +rapidly, and then blazed into volleys. Bullets sighed as they struck on +human flesh or the wood of wagons, and now and then they spattered on the +water. Cries of pain or shouts of defiance rose, and the furious conflict +between white man and red rapidly thickened and deepened, becoming a +confused and terrible medley.</p> + +<p>Henry Ware and Jim Hart ran down into the stream by the side of the +leading wagons, and loaded and fired swiftly into the dense brown mass +before them. Nor did they send a bullet amiss. Henry Ware was conscious at +that moment of a fierce desire to see the face of Braxton Wyatt amid the +brown horde. He knew he was there, somewhere, and in the rage of conflict +he would gladly have sent a bullet through the renegade's black heart. He +did not see him, but the dauntless youth pressed steadily forward, +continually shouting encouragement and showing the boldest example of them +all.</p> + +<p>A bank of blue and white smoke arose over the stream, shot through by the +flashes of the rifle firing, and out of this bank came the defiant shouts +of the combatants. Suddenly, from the high bank, on the shore that they +had just left, burst a tremendous volley—fifty rifles fired at once. A +yell of pain and rage burst from the savages. Those rifles had mowed a +perfect swath of death among them.</p> + +<p>"Good old Sol! Good old Sol!" exclaimed Henry, twice through his shut +teeth. "On, men, on! Trample them down! Drive the wagons into them!"</p> + +<p>A second time the unexpected volley burst from the hill, and a storm of +bullets beat upon the packed mass of the savages at the edge of the water. +Henry Ware had been a true general that day. Shif'less Sol and his men, +from their height and hid among the bushes, poured volley after volley +into the savages below, spurred on by their own success and the +desperation of the cause.</p> + +<p>The front wagons advanced deeper into the water and the smoke bank, and +the others came, closely packed behind in a huddle. Unearthly screams +arose—the cries of wounded or dying horses, shot by the savages.</p> + +<p>"Cut them loose from the gear," cried Henry, "and on! always on!"</p> + +<p>Swift and skillful hands obeyed him, and some of the wagons, in the wild +energy of the moment, were carried on, partly by a single horse and partly +by the weight of those behind them. The shouts of the savages never +ceased, but above them rose the cry of the dauntless soul that now led the +wagon train. More than one savage fired at the splendid figure, never more +splendid than when in battle; but always the circling smoke or the hand of +Providence protected him, and he still led on, unhurt. They were now near +the middle of the river, and Shif'less Sol and his men never ceased to +pour their fire over their heads and into the red ranks.</p> + +<p>"Now! Now!" muttered Henry, through his shut teeth. He was praying for Tom +Ross and the first fifty, and as he prayed his prayer was answered.</p> + +<p>A great burst of fire came from the thickets on their own side of the +river, and the savages were smitten on the flanks, as if by a bolt of +lightning. It seemed to them at the same moment as if the fire of the men +with the wagon train, and of those on the high bluff, doubled. They +recoiled. They gave back and they shivered as that terrible fire smote +them a second and a third time on the flank. The soul of Shawnee, Miami, +and Wyandot alike filled with dread. In vain Yellow Panther and Red Eagle, +great war chiefs, raged back and forth, and encouraged their warriors to +go on. In vain they risked their lives again and again. The great bulk of +the wagons bore steadily down upon them, and they were continually lashed +by an unerring fire from three points. Well for the people of the wagon +train that a born leader had planned their crossing and had led them that +day!</p> + +<p>"They give, they give!" shouted Henry Ware. "We win, we win!"</p> + +<p>"They give, they give! We win, we win!" shouted the brave riflemen, and +they pressed forward more strongly than ever. By their side waded the bold +Amazons, fighting with the best.</p> + +<p>The wagons themselves offered great shelter for the pioneers. As Henry had +foreseen, they were driven forward in a mass, which was carried partly by +its own impetus. If the Indians had thought to fire chiefly upon the +horses they would have accomplished more, but the few of these that were +slain did not check the progress of the others. Meanwhile, the riflemen +lurked amid the wheels and behind the wagon beds, incessantly pouring +their deadly hail of bullets upon the exposed savages, and the drivers +from sheltered places did the same. The train became a moving fort, +belching forth fire and death upon its enemies.</p> + +<p>The defenders did not advance without loss. Now and then a man sank and +died in the stream, many others suffered wounds, and even the women and +children did not escape; but through it all, through all the roar and +tumult, all the shouting and cries, the train drew steadily closer to the +western bank.</p> + +<p>"Now, boys," shouted Shif'less Sol to his faithful fifty, "they're about +to run! Pour it into 'em!"</p> + +<p>At the same time Tom Ross was giving a similar command to his own equally +faithful fifty, and they closed up on the flank of the allied tribes, and +stung and stung. Henry Ware, through the drifting clouds of smoke and +vapor, saw the savages waver again, and, shouting to the boldest to +follow, he rushed forward. Then Shawnees, Miamis, and Wyandots, despite +the fierce commands of Yellow Panther and Red Eagle, broke and fled from +the water to the shore. There Tom Ross stung them more fiercely than ever +on the flank, and the fire of Shif'less Sol from the high bluff reached +them with deadly aim. They broke again, and, filled with superstitious +terror at their awful losses, fled, a panic horde, into the woods.</p> + +<p>"On, on!" shouted Henry Ware, in tremendous tones. "They run, they run!"</p> + +<p>The whole train seemed to heave forward, as if by one convulsive but +triumphant movement. Shif'less Sol and his men came down from the bluff +and dashed into the water behind them; Ross and his fifty came forward +from the thicket to meet them; and thus, dripping with water, smoke, +blood, and sweat, the whole train passed up the western bank. The terrible +ford had been won!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI" />CHAPTER XXI</h2> + +<p>THE FLIGHT OF LONG JIM</p> + + +<p>Although the terrible ford had been won, Henry Ware knew that the danger +was far from over. The savages, caught on the flank and shot down from +above, had yielded to momentary panic, but they would come again. To any +souls less daring than this band of pioneers, the situation would have +been truly appalling. They were in the vast and unknown wilderness, +surrounded everywhere by the black forest, with the horde, hungry for +slaughter, still hanging upon their flanks; but among them all, scarce one +woman or child showed a craven heart.</p> + +<p>Led by Henry Ware, the wagons filed into an open space—a plain or little +prairie—about a quarter of a mile beyond the ford, and there, still +following his instructions, they drew up in a circle. He considered this +open space a godsend, as no marksmen hidden in the woods could reach them +there with a bullet. As soon as the circle was completed, the women and +children poured forth from the wagons, and began to join the men in +fortifying. There was mingled joy for victory and grief for loss. They had +left dead behind in the river, and they had brought more with them; of +wounds, except those that threatened to be mortal, they took little count. +Even as they worked, scattering shots were fired from the forest, but they +paid no heed to them, as all the bullets fell short.</p> + +<p>Right in the center of the circle, inclosed by the wagons, a half dozen +chosen spademen dug a deep hole, and then the dead were brought forth, +ready for burial. A minister prayed and the women sang. Overhead, the late +sun burned brilliant and red, and from the forest, as a kind of stern +chorus, came the pattering rifle shots. But the last ceremony, all the +more solemn and impressive because of these sights and sounds, went on +unbroken. The dead were buried deep, then covered over, and the ground +trodden that none might disturb their rest. Then all turned to the living +need.</p> + +<p>The five, barring slight scratches suffered by Ross and Shif'less Sol, had +escaped unhurt, and now they labored with the others to throw up the wall +of earth about the wagons. A spring took its rise in the center of the +plain, and flowed down to the river. This spring was within the circle of +the wagons, and they were assured of plenty of water.</p> + +<p>Henry Ware looked over the crowd, and he rejoiced at their spirits, which +had not been dampened by the sight of their dead. They had fought +magnificently, and they were ready to fight again. Already fires were +burning within the circle of the wagons, and the women were cooking +supper. The pleasant odor of food arose, and men began to eat. Daniel Poe, +as usual, turned to Henry.</p> + +<p>"You are sure that they will make a new attack?" he said.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Henry. "They have not come so far to retire after one +repulse. We outflanked them there at the river, but they think that they +will certainly get us, burdened as we are with the women and children. +It's still a long road to Wareville."</p> + +<p>"We can never repay the debt we owe to you and your comrades," said Daniel +Poe.</p> + +<p>"Don't think of it. It's the thing that we were bound to do."</p> + +<p>Daniel Poe looked at the setting sun, now red like blood. Far over the +western forest twilight shadows were coming.</p> + +<p>"I wish this night was over," he said.</p> + +<p>"If they attack we'll beat them off," said Henry confidently.</p> + +<p>"But the cost, the cost!" murmured Daniel Poe.</p> + +<p>Paul meanwhile was within the circle of wagons, in his great role of +sustainer. He had fought like a paladin in the battle, and now he was +telling what a great fight they had made, and what a greater one they +could make, if need be. High spirits seemed to flow spontaneously from +him, and the others caught the infection. More than one Amazon looked at +him affectionately, as she would have looked at a son. Shif'less Sol +joined him as he stood by one of the fires.</p> + +<p>"I've been workin' out thar with a spade more'n an hour," said the +shiftless one in a tone of deep disgust, "an' I'm tired plumb to death. +I'll lay down before that fire an' sleep till mornin', ef every one uv you +will promise not to say a word an' won't disturb me."</p> + +<p>A laugh arose.</p> + +<p>"Why, Mr. Hyde," exclaimed one of the Amazons, "they say there was not a +more industrious man in the battle than you."</p> + +<p>"Wa'al," said Shif'less Sol, slowly and reflectively, "a man, ef he's +crowded into a corner, will fight ef his life depends on it, but I kin +come purty near to livin' without work."</p> + +<p>"You deserve your sleep, Mr. Hyde," said the woman. "Just stretch out +there before the fire."</p> + +<p>"I'll stretch out, but I won't sleep," said the shiftless one.</p> + +<p>He was as good as his word, and admiring hands brought him food, which he +ate contentedly. Presently he said in a low voice to Paul:</p> + +<p>"That's right, Paul, hearten 'em up. They've got a lot to stand yet, an' +it's courage that counts."</p> + +<p>Paul knew this truth full well, and he went back and forth in the circle, +ever performing his chosen task, while Henry outside planned and labored +incessantly for the defense against a new attack. Fifty men, sharp of eye +and ear, were selected to watch through half the night, when fifty more, +also sharp of eye and ear, were to take their places. All the others were +to sleep, if they could, in order that they might be strong and fresh for +what the next day would bring forth.</p> + +<p>The scattering fire from the forest ceased, and everything there became +silent. No dusky forms were visible to the defenders. The sun dropped +behind the hills, and night, thick and dark, came over the earth. The +peace of the world was strange and solemn, and those in the beleaguered +camp felt oppressed by the darkness and the mystery. They could not see +any enemies or hear any, and after a while they began to argue that since +the savages could no longer be seen or heard, they must have gone away. +But Henry Ware only laughed as they told him so.</p> + +<p>"They have not gone," he said to Daniel Poe, "nor will they go to-night +nor to-morrow nor the next night. This train, when it starts in the +morning, must be a moving fort."</p> + +<p>Daniel Poe sighed. As always, he believed what Henry Ware said, and the +prospect did not invite.</p> + +<p>The darkness and the silence endured. The keenest of the watchers saw and +heard nothing. The moon came out and the earth lightened, then darkened +again as clouds rolled across the heavens; the camp fires sank, and, +despite their alarms, many slept. The wounded, all of whom had received +the rude but effective surgery of the border, were quiet, and the whole +camp bore the aspect of peace. Paul slipped from the circle, and joined +Henry outside the earthwork.</p> + +<p>"Do you see anything, Henry?" he said.</p> + +<p>"No, but I've heard," replied Henry, who had just come out of the +darkness. "The Shawnees are before us, the Miamis behind us, and the +warriors of the smaller tribes on either side. The night may pass without +anything happening, or it may not. But we have good watchers."</p> + +<p>Paul stayed with him a little while, but, at Henry's urgent request, he +went back inside the circle, wrapped himself in a blanket and lay down, +his face upturned to the cloudy skies which he did not see. He did not +think he could sleep. His brain throbbed with excitement, and his vivid +imagination was wide awake. Despite the danger, he rejoiced to be there; +rejoiced that he and his comrades should help in the saving of all these +people. The spiritual exaltation that he felt at times swept over him. +Nevertheless, all the pictures faded, his excited nerves sank to rest, +and, with his face still upturned to the cloudy skies, he slept.</p> + +<p>Far after midnight a sudden ring of fire burst from the dark forest, and +women and children leaped up at the crash of many rifles. Shouting their +war whoop, the tribesmen rushed upon the camp; but the fifty sentinels, +sheltered by the earthwork, met them with a fire more deadly than their +own, and in a moment the fifty became more than two hundred.</p> + +<p>Red Eagle and Yellow Panther had hoped for a surprise, but when the +unerring volleys met them, they sank back again into the forest, carrying +their dead with them.</p> + +<p>"You were right," said Daniel Poe to Henry Ware; "they will not leave us."</p> + +<p>"Not while they think there is a chance to overpower us. But we've shown +'em they can't count on a surprise."</p> + +<p>The camp, except the watchers, went back to sleep, and the night passed +away without a second alarm. Dawn came, gray and cloudy, and the people +of the train awoke to their needs, which they faced bravely. Breakfast was +cooked and eaten, and then the wagons, in a file of four, took up their +march, a cloud of keen-eyed and brave skirmishers on every side. The train +had truly become what Henry said it must be, a moving fort; and, though +the savages opened fire in the woods, they dared not attack in force, so +resolute and sure-eyed were the skirmishers and so strong a defense were +the heavy wagons.</p> + +<p>All day long this terrible march proceeded, the women and children +sheltered in the wagons, and the savages, from the shelter of the forest, +keeping up an irregular but unceasing fire on the flanks. The white +skirmishers replied often with deadly effect, but it grew galling, almost +unbearable. The Indians, who were accustomed either to rapid success or +rapid retreat, showed an extraordinary persistence, and Henry suspected +that Braxton Wyatt was urging them on. As he thought of the effect of +these continued attacks upon the train, he grew anxious. The bravest +spirit could be worn down by them, and he sought in vain for a remedy.</p> + +<p>They camped the second night in an open place, and fortified, as before, +with a circular earthwork; but they were harried throughout all the hours +of darkness by irregular firing and occasional war whoops. Fewer people +slept that night than had slept the night before. Nerves were raw and +suffering, and Paul found his chosen task a hard one. But he worked +faithfully, going up and down within the fortified circle, cheering, +heartening, and predicting a better day for the morrow.</p> + +<p>That day came, cloudless and brilliant above, but to the accompaniment of +shouts, shots, and alarms below. Once more the terrible march was resumed, +and the savages still hung mercilessly on their flanks. Henry, with +anxious heart, noticed a waning of spirit, though not of courage, in the +train. The raw nerves grew rawer. This incessant marching forward between +the very walls of death could not be endured forever. Again he sought a +way out. Such a way they must have, and at last he believed that he had +found it. But he said nothing at present, and the train, edged on either +side with fire and smoke, went on through the woods.</p> + +<p>A third time they camped in an open space, a third time they fortified; +but now, after the supper was over, Henry called a council of the leaders.</p> + +<p>"We cannot go on as we have been going," he said. "The savages hang to us +with uncommon tenacity, and there are limits to human endurance."</p> + +<p>Daniel Poe shook his head sadly. The awful lacerating process had never +ceased. More men were wounded, and the spirits of all grew heavier and +heavier. Paul still walked among the fires, seeking to cheer and inspire, +but he could do little. Dread oppressed the women and children, and they +sat mostly in silence. Outside, an occasional whoop came from the depths +of the forest, and now and then a rifle was fired. The night was coming +on, thick and ominous. The air had been heavy all the day, and now somber +clouds were rolling across the sky. At intervals flashes of lightning +flared low down on the black forest. Heavy and somber, like the skies, +were the spirits of all the people. A wounded horse neighed shrilly, and +in an almost human voice, as he died.</p> + +<p>"We must take a new step," said Henry; "things cannot go on this way. It +is yet a hundred and fifty miles, perhaps, to Wareville, and if the +savages continue to hang on, we can never reach it."</p> + +<p>"What do you propose?" asked Daniel Poe.</p> + +<p>Henry Ware stood erect. The light of the council fire flared upon his +splendid, indomitable face. All relied upon him, and he knew it.</p> + +<p>"I have a plan," he said. "To-morrow we can reach an unforested hill that +I know of, with a spring flowing out of the side. It is easy to hold, and +we shall have plenty of water. We will stop there and make our stand. +Meanwhile, we will send to Wareville for help. The messenger must leave +to-night. Jim Hart, are you ready?"</p> + +<p>Jim Hart had been sitting on a fallen tree, all humped together. Now he +unfolded himself and stood up, stretched out to his complete length, six +feet four inches of long, slim man, knotted and jointed, but as tough as +wire—the swiftest runner in all the West. Long Jim, ugly, honest, and +brave, said nothing, but his movement showed that he was ready.</p> + +<p>"Jim Hart was made for speed," continued Henry. "At his best he is like +the wind, and he can run all the way to Wareville. He'll leave in a half +hour, before the moon has a chance to rise."</p> + +<p>"He'll never get through!" exclaimed Daniel Poe.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, he will!" said Henry confidently. "Bring all the men Wareville +can spare, Jim, and fall upon them while they are besieging us at the +Table Rock."</p> + +<p>Little more was said. Had the train afforded paint, they would have +stained Jim's face in the Indian way; but the utmost that they could do +was to draw up his hair and tie it in a scalp lock, like those of the +Shawnees. Fortunately, his hair was dark, and his face was so thoroughly +tanned by weather that it might be mistaken in the night for an Indian's. +Then Long Jim was ready. He merely shook the hands of his four comrades +and of Daniel Poe, and without another word went forth.</p> + +<p>The night was at its darkest when Jim Hart slipped under one of the wagons +and crept across the open space. The heavy clouds had grown heavier, and +now and then low thunder muttered on the horizon. The fitful lightning +ceased, and this was occasion for thanks.</p> + +<p>Jim Hart crept about twenty yards from the circle of the wagons, and then +he lay flat upon the earth. He could see nothing in the surrounding rim of +forest, nor could he hear anything. A light hum from the camp behind him +was all that came to his ears. He slipped forward again in a stooping +position, stopped a moment when he heard a rifle shot from the other side +of the camp, and then resumed his shambling, but swift, journey. Now he +passed the open space and gained the edge of the woods. Here the danger +lay, but the brave soul of Long Jim never faltered.</p> + +<p>He plunged into the gloom of the bushes and trees, slipping silently among +them. Two warriors glanced curiously at him in the dark, but in a moment +he was gone; a third farther on spoke to him, but he shook his head +impatiently, as if he bore some message, and only walked the faster. Now +his keen eyes saw savages all around him, some talking, others standing or +lying down, quite silent. He was sorry now that he was so tall, as his was +a figure that would cause remark anywhere; but he stooped over, trying to +hide his great height as much as possible. He passed one group, then two, +then three, and now he was a full four hundred yards from the camp. His +curving flight presently brought him near three men who were talking +earnestly together. They noticed Hart at the same time, and one of them +beckoned to him. Long Jim pretended not to see, and went on. Then one of +them called to him angrily, and Jim recognized the voice of Braxton Wyatt.</p> + +<p>Long Jim stopped a moment, uncertain what to do at that critical juncture, +and Braxton Wyatt, stepping forward, seized him by the arm. It was dark in +the woods, but the renegade, looking up, recognized the face and figure.</p> + +<p>"Jim Hart!" he cried.</p> + +<p>Long Jim's right hand was grasping the stock of his rifle, but his left +suddenly flashed out and smote Braxton Wyatt full in the face. The +renegade gasped and went down unconscious, and then Long Jim turned, and +ran with all the speed that was in him, leaping over the low bushes and +racing among the tree trunks more like a phantom than a human being. A +shout arose behind him, and a dozen rifle shots were fired. He felt a +sting in his arm, and then blood dripped down; but it was only a flesh +wound, and he was spurred to greater speed.</p> + +<p>A terrible yell arose, and many warriors, trained runners of the forest, +with muscles of steel and a spirit that never tired, darted after him. But +Long Jim, bending his head a little lower, raced on through the dark, his +strength growing with every leap and his brain on fire with energy. He +passed two or three savages—far-flung outposts—but before they could +recover from their surprise he was by them and gone. Bullets sang past +him, but the long, slim figure cut the air like an arrow in the wind. +After him came the savages, but now he was beyond the last outposts, and +the footsteps of his pursuers were growing fainter behind. Now he opened +his mouth, and emitted a long, quavering, defiant yell—answer to their +own. After that he was silent, and sped on, never relaxing, tireless like +some powerful machine. The pursuit died away behind him, and though some +might hang on his trail, none could ever overtake him.</p> + +<p>The low thunder still muttered, and the fitful lightning began to flare +again. Now and then there were gusts of rain, swept by the wind; but +through all the hours of rain and dark the runner sped on, mile upon +mile.</p> + +<p>Day dawns and finds him still flitting! But now there is full need of thy +speed, Jim Hart! Five hundred lives hang upon it!</p> + +<p>Speed ye, Long Jim, speed ye!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII" />CHAPTER XXII</h2> + +<p>THE LAST STAND</p> + + +<p>Henry Ware and the others, listening at the circle of the wagons, heard +the flare of shots, and then, a little later, a lone but long and defiant +cry, that seemed to be an answer to the others.</p> + +<p>"That's Jim Hart, and he's through!" exclaimed Henry exultantly. "Now +he'll fairly eat up the ground between here and Wareville."</p> + +<p>That night another attack, or rather feint, was made upon the train; but +it was easily beaten off, and then morning came, raw and wet. The woods +and grass were dripping with the showers, and a sodden, gray sky chilled +and discouraged. The fires were lighted with difficulty and burned weakly. +The women and children ate but little, casting fearful glances at the +rain-soaked forest that circled about them. But Paul, as usual, with his +bright face and brighter words, walked among them, and he told them a good +tale. Long Jim Hart, with muscles and a soul of steel, had gone forth that +night, and he would bring help. They were to march to a place called the +Table Rock, where they would stay until the relief came. Gradually +downcast heads were lifted and sunken spirits rose.</p> + +<p>The gantlet began in the usual fashion an hour later, and throughout all +that long, dismal morning it was a continual skirmish. The savages pressed +closer than ever, and all the vigilance and accuracy of the riflemen were +needed to drive them off. One man was killed and several were wounded, but +the borderers merely shut their teeth down the harder and marched on.</p> + +<p>Toward noon they saw a flat-topped hill, with a stony surface, a little +stream running down its side, and Henry uttered a cheerful shout.</p> + +<p>"The Table Rock!" he said. "Here we can hold off all the savages in the +West!"</p> + +<p>The train increased its slow gait, and all hearts grew lighter. The +savages, as if determined that the wagons should not gain the shelter, +pressed forward, but after a short but fierce combat were driven off, and +the train circled triumphantly up the slope.</p> + +<p>It was indeed all that Henry had claimed for it—an ideal place for a +protected camp, easy to defend, difficult to take. Not all the surface was +stone, and there was abundant grazing ground for the horses. The spring +that gushed from the side of the hill was inside the lines, and neither +horse nor man lacked for pure water.</p> + +<p>Now they fortified more strongly than ever, throwing up earthworks higher +than before and doubling the sentinels. Fallen wood was plentiful, and at +Henry's direction the fires were built high and large in order that they +might drive away discouragement. Then a semblance of cheerfulness made its +appearance, and the women and children began to talk once more.</p> + +<p>"Long Jim will go through if any mortal man can," said Henry Ware to +Daniel Poe.</p> + +<p>"Pray God that he succeeds," said Daniel Poe. "Surely, no wagon train ever +before ran the deadly gantlet that ours has run."</p> + +<p>Shif'less Sol strolled into the circle of fires, and sat down with Paul.</p> + +<p>"Now, this is what I call true comfort fur a tired man," he said. "Here we +are with nuthin' to do but set here an' rest, until somebody comes an' +takes us to Wareville. Them savages out thar might save theirselves a heap +o' trouble by goin' peacefully away. Makes me think o' that siege o' Troy +you wuz talkin' about, Paul, only we won't let any wooden horse in."</p> + +<p>"Maybe there is some likeness," said Paul.</p> + +<p>"Maybe thar is," continued Shif'less Sol, in his cheerful tones; "but Tom +Ross wuz right when he said the way them Greeks an' Trojans fought was +plumb foolish. Do you think that me, Sol Hyde, is goin' to take a tin pan +an' go beatin' on it down thar among the bushes, an' callin' on the +biggest boaster o' all the savages to come out an' fight me? No, sir; I +wouldn't go fifty yards before I'd tumble over, with a bullet through me."</p> + +<p>Most of the people laughed, and the shiftless one continued with random, +cheery talk, helping Paul to hearten them. The two succeeded to a great +degree. There was mourning for the dead, but it was usually silent. The +borderers were too much accustomed to hardship and death to grieve long +over the past. They turned themselves to present needs.</p> + +<p>The night was rainy, and unusually cold for that time of the year, and +Henry Ware rejoiced because of it. The savages in the thickets, despite +their hardiness, would suffer more than the emigrants in the shelter of +the wagons. Henry himself, although he caught little naps here and there, +seemed to the others able to do without sleep. He kept up an incessant +watch, and his vigilance defeated two attempts of the warriors to creep up +in the darkness and pour a fire into the train.</p> + +<p>A second day came, and then a third, and the savages resumed their +continuous skirmishing. A single warrior would creep up, fire a shot, and +then spring away. They did little damage, but they showed that no one was +safe for a moment outside the circle of wagons. If help did not come, they +would never leave their rock.</p> + +<p>Time wore on, and the beleaguered camp became again a prey to gloom. Women +and children fell sick, and the hearts of the men were heavy. The ring of +savages drew closer, and more than once bullets fell inside the circle of +the wagons. It was hard work now for Paul and Shif'less Sol to keep up the +spirits of the women and children, and once, at a council, some one talked +of surrender. They might at least get good treatment.</p> + +<p>"Never think of such a thing!" said Henry Ware. "All the men would be +killed, tortured to death, and all the women and children would be taken +away into slavery. Hold on! Jim Hart will surely get through."</p> + +<p>But the warriors steadily grew bolder. They seemed to be animated by the +certainty of triumph. Often through the day and night they uttered +taunting shouts, and now and then, in the day time, they would appear at +the edge of the woods and make derisive gestures. Daniel Poe grew gloomy, +and sadly shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Help must come soon," he said, "or our people will not have spirit to +beat back the savages the next time they try to rush the camp."</p> + +<p>"It will come, it will surely come!" said Henry confidently.</p> + +<p>The worst night of all arrived. More of the women and children fell sick, +and they did not have the energy to build up bright fires. It was to Ross +and Shif'less Sol that this task fell; but, though they kept the fires +high, they accomplished little else. Paul lay down about midnight and +slept several hours, but it was a troubled night. The savages did not +rest. They were continually flitting about among the trees at the foot of +the hill, and firing at the sentinels. Little flashes of flame burst out +here and there in the undergrowth, and the crackle of the Indian rifles +vexed continually.</p> + +<p>Paul rose at the first coming of the dawn, pale, unrested, and anxious. He +walked to the earthwork, and saw Henry there, watching as always, +seemingly tireless. The sun was just shooting above the hills, and Paul +knew that a brilliant day was at hand.</p> + +<p>"At any rate, Henry," Paul said, "I prefer the day to the night while we +are here."</p> + +<p>Henry did not reply. A sudden light had leaped into his eye, and he was +bent slightly forward, in the attitude of one who listens intently.</p> + +<p>"What is it, Henry?" asked Paul.</p> + +<p>Henry lifted his hand for silence. His attitude did not change. Every +nerve was strained, but the light remained in his eye.</p> + +<p>"Paul," he cried, "don't you hear them? Rifle shots, far away and very +faint, but they are coming toward us! Long Jim is here, and Wareville with +him!"</p> + +<p>Then Paul heard it—the faint, distant patter, as welcome sounds as ever +reached human ears. He could not mistake it now, as he was too much used +to the crackle of rifle shots to take it for anything else. His face was +transfigured, his eyes shone with vivid light. He sprang upon the +earthwork, and cried in tones that rang through all the camp:</p> + +<p>"Up, up, men! Long Jim and the Wareville riflemen are coming!"</p> + +<p>The train blazed into action. Forth poured the hardy borderers in scores, +surcharged now with courage and energy. The firing in front of them had +risen into a furious battle, and above the roar and the tumult rose the +cheering of white men.</p> + +<p>"Long Jim has surprised them, and he is half way through already!" cried +Henry exultantly. "Now, men, we'll smite 'em on the flank!"</p> + +<p>In a moment the whole force of the train, the Amazons included, were into +the very thick of it, while Long Jim and two hundred riflemen, dealing +out death on every side, were coming to meet them. The battle was short. +Surprised, caught on both flanks, the savages gave way. There was a +tremendous firing, a medley of shouts and cries for a few minutes, and +then the warriors of the allied tribes fled deep into the woods, not to +stop this time until they were on the other side of the Ohio River.</p> + +<p>Forth from the smoke and flame burst a tall, gaunt frame.</p> + +<p>"Long Jim!" cried Henry, seizing his hand. "It's you that's saved us, +Jim!"</p> + +<p>After him came a fine, ascetic face—the Reverend Silas Pennypacker—and +he fairly threw himself upon his beloved pupil, Paul. And then the brave +men from Wareville pressed forward, and some from Marlowe, too, welcoming +these new people, whom they needed so badly, and who had needed them. But +Daniel Poe said solemnly, in the presence of all:</p> + +<p>"It is these who saved us in the first instance!"</p> + +<p>He indicated the valiant five—Henry Ware, Paul Cotter, Tom Ross, +Shif'less Sol Hyde, and Long Jim Hart. And the whole camp, seeing and +hearing him, burst into a roar of applause.</p> + +<p>The next morning the train resumed its march in peace and safety.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>It was a month later, and spring had fully come. Once more the vast +wilderness was in deep green, and little wild flowers sprang up here and +there where the sun could reach them. Two youths, unusually alert in face +and figure, were loading pack horses with heavy brown sacks filled to +bursting.</p> + +<p>"This powder has kept dry and good all through the winter," said the +larger of the youths.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Henry," replied the other, "and we are lucky to come back here and +be able to take it into Marlowe, after all."</p> + +<p>Henry Ware laughed. It was a low, satisfied laugh.</p> + +<p>"We have certainly been through many trials, Paul," he said; "but, with +Tom, Sol, and Jim, we bore our part in turning the allied tribes back from +the great war trail."</p> + +<p>Paul Cotter's face was illumined.</p> + +<p>"Kentucky is saved," he said, "and I shall be happy all my life because of +the knowledge that we helped."</p> + +<p>"It is surely a pleasant thought," said Henry.</p> + +<p>Then they whistled to their loaded horses, and marched away through the +greenwood, this time to reach Marlowe in safety.</p> + + +<p>THE END</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Forest Runners, by Joseph A. 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Altsheler + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Forest Runners + A Story of the Great War Trail in Early Kentucky + +Author: Joseph A. Altsheler + +Release Date: February 2, 2005 [EBook #14876] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FOREST RUNNERS *** + + + + +Produced by Kentuckiana Digital Library, David Garcia, Emmy and the +PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + + +_The_ FOREST RUNNERS + +[Illustration: "A massive black form shot down into the center of the +room." [Page 277.]] + + + +_The_ FOREST RUNNERS + +A STORY OF THE GREAT WAR +TRAIL IN EARLY KENTUCKY + +BY +JOSEPH A. ALTSHELER +AUTHOR OF "THE YOUNG TRAILERS" + + +D. APPLETON-CENTURY COMPANY +INCORPORATED + +NEW YORK LONDON +1936 + + +1908, BY +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY + + + + +1935, BY EQUITABLE TRUST CO +Printed in the United States of America + + +BOOKS BY JOSEPH A. ALTSHELER + + THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR SERIES + + The Hunters of the Hills + The Rulers of the Lakes + The Lords of the Wild + The Shadow of the North + The Masters of the Peaks + The Sun of Quebec + + THE YOUNG TRAILERS SERIES + + The Young Trailers + The Forest Runners + The Keepers of the Trail + The Eyes of the Woods + The Free Rangers + The Riflemen of the Ohio + The Scouts of the Valley + The Border Watch + + THE TEXAN SERIES + + The Texan Star + The Texan Scouts + The Texan Triumph + + THE CIVIL WAR SERIES + + The Guns of Bull Run + The Guns of Shiloh + The Scouts of Stonewall + The Sword of Antietam + The Star of Gettysburg + The Rock of Chickamauga + The Shades of the Wilderness + The Tree of Appomattox + + THE GREAT WEST SERIES + + The Lost Hunters + The Great Sioux Trail + + THE WORLD WAR SERIES + + The Guns of Europe + The Forest of Swords + The Hosts of the Air + + BOOKS NOT IN SERIES + + Apache Gold + The Quest of the Four + The Last of the Chiefs + In Circling Camps + The Last Rebel + A Soldier of Manhattan + The Sun of Saratoga + A Herald of the West + The Wilderness Road + My Captive + The Candidate + +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY New York London + + + + This story, while independent in itself, continues the + fortunes of the two boys who were the central characters + of "The Young Trailers." + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I. PAUL 1 + + II. IN THE RIVER 17 + + III. THE LONE CABIN 36 + + IV. THE SIEGE 59 + + V. THE FLIGHT 72 + + VI. THE BATTLE ON THE HILL 91 + + VII. WHAT HAPPENED IN THE DARK 108 + + VIII. AT THE RIVER BANK 125 + + IX. A CHANGE OF PLACES 142 + + X. THE ISLAND IN THE LAKE 157 + + XI. A SUDDEN MEETING 176 + + XII. THE BELT BEARERS 192 + + XIII. BRAXTON WYATT'S ORDEAL 217 + + XIV. IN WINTER QUARTERS 239 + + XV. WORK AND PLAY 254 + + XVI. NOEL 273 + + XVII. FOOTPRINTS IN THE SNOW 283 + +XVIII. WHAT THE WARRIOR SAW 295 + + XIX. THE WARNING 310 + + XX. THE TERRIBLE FORD 328 + + XXI. THE FLIGHT OF LONG JIM 340 + + XXII. THE LAST STAND 355 + + + + + +THE FOREST RUNNERS + + + + + +CHAPTER I + +PAUL + + +Paul stopped in a little open space, and looked around all the circle of +the forest. Everywhere it was the same--just the curving wall of red and +brown, and beyond, the blue sky, flecked with tiny clouds of white. The +wilderness was full of beauty, charged with the glory of peace and +silence, and there was naught to indicate that man had ever come. The +leaves rippled a little in the gentle west wind, and the crisping grass +bowed before it; but Paul saw no living being, save himself, in the vast, +empty world. + +The boy was troubled and, despite his life in the woods, he had full right +to be. This was the great haunted forest of _Kain-tuck-ee_, where the red +man made his most desperate stand, and none ever knew when or whence +danger would come. Moreover, he was lost, and the forest told him nothing; +he was not like his friend, Henry Ware, born to the forest, the heir to +all the primeval instincts, alive to every sight and sound, and able to +read the slightest warning the wilderness might give. Paul Cotter was a +student, a lover of books, and a coming statesman. Fate, it seemed, had +chosen that he and Henry Ware should go hand in hand, but for different +tasks. + +Paul gazed once more around the circle of the glowing forest, and the +shadow in his eyes deepened. Henry and the horses, loaded with powder for +the needy settlement, must be somewhere near, but whether to right or left +he could not tell. He had gone to look for water, and when he undertook to +return he merely went deeper and deeper into the forest. Now the boughs, +as they nodded before the gentle breeze, seemed to nod to him in derision. +He felt shame as well as alarm. Henry would not laugh at him, but the born +scholar would be worth, for the time, at least, far less than the born +trailer. + +Yet no observer, had there been any, would have condemned Paul as he +condemned himself. He stood there, a tall, slender boy, with a broad, high +brow, white like a girl's above the line of his cap, blue eyes, dark and +full, with the width between that indicates the mind behind, and the firm, +pointed chin that belongs so often to people of intellect. + +Paul and Henry were on their way from Wareville, their home, with horses +hearing powder for Marlowe, the nearest settlement, nearly a hundred miles +away. The secret of making powder from the nitre dust on the floors of the +great caves of Kentucky had been discovered by the people of Wareville, +and now they wished to share their unfailing supply with others, in order +that the infant colony might be able to withstand Indian attacks. Henry +Ware, once a captive in a far Northwestern tribe, and noted for his great +strength and skill, had been chosen, with Paul Cotter, his comrade, to +carry it. Both rejoiced in the great task, which to them meant the saving +of Kentucky. + +Paul's eyes were apt at times to have a dreamy look, as if he were +thinking of things far away, whether of time or place; but now they were +alive to the present, and to the forest about him. He listened intently. +At last he lay down and put his ear to the earth, as he had seen Henry do; +but he heard nothing save a soft, sighing sound, which he knew to be only +the note of the wilderness. He might have fired his rifle. The sharp, +lashing report would go far, carried farther by its own echoes; but it was +more likely to bring foe than friend, and he refrained. + +But he must try, if not one thing, then another. He looked up at the +heavens and studied the great, red globe of the sun, now going slowly +down the western arch in circles of crimson and orange light, and then he +looked hack at the earth. If he had not judged the position of the sun +wrong, their little camp lay to the right, and he would choose that +course. He turned at once and walked swiftly among the trees. + +Paul stopped now and then to listen. He would have uttered the long forest +shout, as a signal to his comrade, but even that was forbidden. Henry had +seen signs in the forest that indicated more than once to his infallible +eye the presence of roving warriors from the north, and no risk must be +taken. But, as usual, it was only the note of the wilderness that came to +his ears. He stopped also once or twice, not to listen, but to look at the +splendid country, and to think what a great land it would surely be. + +He walked steadily on for miles, but the region about him remained +unfamiliar. No smoke from the little camp-fire rose among the trees, and +no welcome sight of Henry or the horses came to his eyes. For all he knew, +he might be going farther from the camp at every step. Putting aside +caution, he made a trumpet of his two hands, and uttered the long, +quavering cry that serves as a signal in the forest. It came back in a +somber echo from the darkening wilderness, and Paul saw, with a little +shiver, that the sun was now going down behind the trees. The breeze rose, +and the leaves rustled together with a soft hiss, like a warning. Chill +came into the air. The sensitive mind of the boy, so much alive to +abstract impressions, felt the omens of coming danger, and he stopped +again, not knowing what to do. He called himself afraid, but he was not. +It was the greater tribute to his courage that he remained resolute where +another might well have been in despair. + +The sun went down behind the black forest like a cannon shot into the sea, +and darkness swept over the wilderness. Paul uttered the long cry again +and again, but, as before, no answer came back; once he fired his rifle, +and the sharp note seemed to run for miles, but still no answer. + +Then he decided to take counsel of prudence, and sleep where he was. If he +walked on, he might go farther and farther away from the camp, but if he +stopped now, while he might not find Henry, Henry would certainly find +him. Any wilderness trail was an open road to his comrade. + +He hunted a soft place under one of the trees, and, despising the dew, +stretched himself between two giant roots, his rifle by his side. He was +tired and hungry, and he lay for a while staring at the blank +undergrowth, but by and by all his troubles and doubts floated away. The +note of the wind was soothing, and the huge roots sheltered him. His +eyelids drooped, a singular feeling of peace and ease crept over him, and +he was asleep. + +It was yet the intense darkness of early night, and the outline of his +figure was lost between the giant roots, but after a while a silver moon +brought a gray tint to the skies, and the black bank over the forest began +to thin and lighten. Then two figures, hideous in paint, crept from the +undergrowth, and stared at the sleeping boy with pitiless eyes. + +Paul slept on, and mercifully knew nothing of his danger; yet it would +have been hard to find in the world two pairs of eyes that contained more +savagery than those now gazing upon him. Their owners crept nearer, +looking with fierce joy through the darkness at the sleeping boy who was +so certainly their prey. Their code contained nothing that taught them to +spare a foe, and this youth. In the van of the white invasion, was the +worst of foes. + +The boy still slept, and his slumber was deep, sweet, and dreamless. No +warning came to him while the savage eyes, bright with cruel fire, crept +closer and closer, and the merciful darkness, coming again, tried to close +down and hide the approaching tragedy of the forest. + +Paul returned with a jerk from his peaceful heaven. Hands and feet were +seized suddenly and pinned to the earth so tightly that he could not move, +and he gazed up at two hideous, painted faces, very near to his own, and +full of menace. The boy's heart turned for a moment to water. He saw at +once, through his vivid and powerful imagination, all the terrors of his +position, and in the same instant he leaped forward also to the future, +and to the agony it had in store for him. But in a moment his courage came +back, the strong will once more took command of the body and the spirit, +and he looked up with stoical eyes at his captors. He knew that resistance +now would be in vain, and, relaxing his muscles, he saved his strength. + +The warriors laughed a little, a soundless laugh that was full of menace, +and bound him securely with strips of buckskin cut from his own garments. +Then they stood up, and Paul, too, rose to a sitting position, gazing +intently at his captors. They were powerful men, apparently warriors of +middle age, and Paul knew enough of costume and paint to tell that they +were of the Shawnee nation, bitterly hostile to him and his kind. + +His terrors came back upon him in full sweep. He loved life, and, scholar +though he was, he loved his life in the young wilderness of Kentucky, +where he was at the beginnings of things. Every detail of what they would +do to him, every incident of the torture was already photographed upon his +sensitive mind, but again the brave lad called up all his courage, and +again he triumphed, keeping his body still and his face without +expression. He merely looked up at them, as if placidly waiting their +will. + +The two warriors talked together a little, and then, seeming to change +their minds, they unbound the boy's feet. One touched him on the shoulder, +and, pointing to the north, started in that direction. Paul understood, +and, rising to his feet, followed. The second warrior came close behind, +and Paul was as securely a prisoner as if he were in the midst of a band +of a hundred. Once or twice he looked around at the silent woods and +thought of running, but it would have been the wildest folly. His hands +tied, he could have been quickly overtaken, or, if not that, a bullet. He +sternly put down the temptation, and plodded steadily on between the +warriors, the broad, brown back of the one in front of him always leading +the way. + +It seemed to him that they sought the densest part of the undergrowth, +where the night shadows lay thickest, and he was wise enough to know that +they did it to hide their trail from possible pursuit. Then he thought of +Henry, his comrade, the prince of trailers! He might come! He would come! +Paul's blood leaped at the thought, and his head lifted with hope. + +Clouds swept up, the moon died, and in the darkness Paul had little idea +of direction. He only knew that they were still traveling fast amid the +thick bushes, and that when he made too much noise in passing one or other +of the brown savages would prod him with the muzzle of a gun as a hint to +be more careful. His face became bruised and his feet weary, but at last +they stopped in an opening among the trees, by the side of a little brook +that trickled over shining pebbles. + +The warriors wasted little time. They rebound Paul's feet in such tight +fashion that he could scarcely move, and then, lying down near him, went +to sleep so quickly that it seemed to Paul they accomplished the feat by +some sort of a mechanical arrangement. Tired as he was, he could not close +his own eyes yet, and he longed for his comrade. Would he come? + +Paul's sensitive nerves were again keenly alive to every phase of his +cruel situation. The warriors, lying almost at his feet, were monsters, +not men, and this wilderness, which in its finer aspects he loved, was +bristling in the darkness with terrors known and unknown. Yet his clogged +and weary brain slept at last, and when he awoke again it was day--a +beautiful day of white and gold light, with the autumnal tints of the +forest all about him, and the leaves rustling in a gentle wind. + +But his heart sank to the uttermost depths when he looked at the warriors. +By day they seemed more brutal and pitiless than at night. From their +long, narrow eyes shone no ray of mercy, and the ghastly paint on their +high cheek bones deepened their look of ferocity. It was not the +appearance of the warriors alone, it was more the deed for which they were +preparing that appalled Paul. They were raking dead leaves and fallen +brushwood of last year around a small but stout sapling, and they went on +with their task in a methodical way. + +Paul knew well, too well. Hideous tales of such doings had come now and +then to his ears, but he had never dreamed that he, Paul Cotter, in his +own person would be such a victim. Even now it seemed incredible in the +face of this beautiful young world that stretched away from him, so quiet +and so peaceful. He, who already in his boyhood was planning great things +for this splendid land, to die such a death! + +The warriors did not cease until their task was finished. It was but a +brief one after all, for Paul had made no mistake in his guess. There was +not time, perhaps, to take a prisoner beyond the Ohio, and they could not +forego a savage pleasure. They dragged the hoy to the sapling, stood him +erect against the slim trunk, and hound him fast with green withes. Then +they piled the dead leaves and brushwood high about him above his knees, +and, this done, stood a little way off and looked at their work. + +The warriors spoke together for the first time since Paul had awakened, +and their black eyes lighted up with a hideous glow of anticipation. Paul +saw it, and an icy chill ran through all his veins. Had not the green +withes held him, he would have fallen to the ground. Once more his active +mind, foreseeing all that would come, had dissolved his strength for the +moment; but, as always, his will brought his courage back, and he shut his +eyes to put away the hateful sight of the gloating savages. + +He had never asked in any way for mercy, he had never uttered a word of +protest, and he resolved that he would not cry out if he could help it. +They should not rejoice too much at his sufferings; he would die as they +were taught to die, and he would show to them that the mind of a white boy +could supply the place of a red man's physical fortitude. But Henry might +come! Would he come? Oh, would he come? Resigned to death, Paul yet hoped +for life. + +He opened his eyes, and the warriors were still standing there, looking at +him; but in a moment one approached, and, bending down, began to strike +flint and steel amid the dry leaves at the boy's feet. Again, despite +himself, the shivering chill ran through Paul's veins. Would Henry come? +If he came at all, he must now come quickly, as only a few minutes were +left. + +The leaves were obstinate; sparks flew from the flint and steel, but there +was no blaze. Paul looked down at the head of the warrior who worked +patiently at his task. The second warrior stood on one side, watching, and +when Paul glanced at him he saw the savage move ever so little, but as if +driven by a sudden impulse, and then raise his head in the attitude of one +who listened intently. Heat replaced the ice in Paul's veins. Had +something moved in the forest? Was it Henry? Would he come? + +The standing warrior uttered a low sound, and he who knelt with the flint +and steel raised his head. Something had moved in the forest! It might be +Henry. For Paul, the emotions of a life were concentrated in a single +moment. Fear and hope tripped over each other, and the wilderness grew +dim to his sight. A myriad of little black specks danced before his eyes, +and the blood was beating a quick march in his ears. + +The two savages were motionless, as if carved of brown marble, and over +all the wilderness hung silence. Then out of the silence came a sharp +report, and the warrior who stood erect, rifle in hand, fell to the earth, +stricken by instant death. Henry had come! His faithful comrade had not +failed him! Paul shouted aloud in his tremendous relief and joy, forgetful +of the second warrior. + +The kneeling savage sprang to his feet, but he had made a fatal mistake. +To light the fire for the torture, he had left his rifle leaning against +the trunk of a tree twenty feet away, and before he could regain it a +terrible figure bounded from the bushes, the figure of a great youth, clad +in buckskin, his face transformed with anger and his eyes alight. Before +the savage could reach his weapon he went down, slain by a single blow of +a clubbed rifle, and the next moment Henry was cutting Paul loose with a +few swift slashes of his keen hunting knife. + +"I knew you would come! I knew it!" exclaimed Paul joyously and wildly, as +he stood forth free. "Nobody in the world but you could have done it, +Henry!" + +"I don't know about that, Paul," said Henry, "but I'd have had you back +sooner if it hadn't been for the dark. I followed you all night the best +way I could, but I couldn't come up to you until day, and they began work +then." + +He glanced significantly at the leaves and brushwood, and then, handing +Paul's rifle to him, looked at those belonging to the savages. + +"We'll take 'em," he said. "It's likely we'll need 'em, and their powder +and bullets will be more than welcome, too." + +Paul was rubbing his wrists and ankles, where the blood flowed painfully +as the circulation was restored, but to him the whole affair was ended. +His life had been saved at the last moment, and the world was more +brilliant and beautiful than ever. His imagination went quickly to the +other extreme. There was no more danger. + +But Henry Ware did not lose his eager, wary look. It did not take him more +than a minute to transfer the ammunition of the warriors to the pouches +and powder-horns of Paul and himself. Then he searched the forest with +keen, suspicious glances. + +"Come, Paul," he said, "we must run. The woods are full of the savages. +I've found out that there's a great war party between us and Marlowe, and +I've hid the powder in a cave. I turned the horses loose, hoping that +we'll get 'em some time later; but just now you and I have to save +ourselves." + +Paul came back to earth. Danger still threatened! But he was free for the +time, and he was with his comrade! + +"You lead the way, Henry," he said. "I'll follow, and do whatever you +say." + +Henry Ware made no reply, but bent his ear again, in the attitude of one +who listens. Paul watched his face attentively, seeking to read his +knowledge there. + +"The big war band is not far away," said Henry, "and it's likely that +they've heard my shot. It would carry far on such a still, clear morning +as this. I didn't want them to hear it." + +"But I'm glad you did shoot," said Paul. "It was a mighty welcome sound to +me." + +"Yes," said Henry, with grim humor, "it was the right thing at the right +time. Hark to that!" A single note, very faint and very far, rose and was +quickly gone, like the dying echo of music. Only the trained ranger of the +wilderness would have noticed it at all, but Henry Ware knew. + +"Yes, they've heard," he said, "and they're telling it to each other. They +are also telling it to us. They're between us and Marlowe, and they are +between us and Wareville, so we must run to the north, and run as fast as +we can." + +He led the way with swift, light footsteps through the forest, and Paul +followed close behind, each boy carrying on his shoulder two rifles and at +his waist a double stock of bullets and powder. + +Paul scarcely felt any fear now for the future. The revulsion from the +stake and torture was so great that it did not seem to him that he could +be taken again. Moreover, they had seized him the first time when he was +asleep. They had taken an unfair advantage. + +The sun rose higher, gilding the brown forest with fine filmy gold, like a +veil, and the boys ran silently on among the trees and the undergrowth. +Behind them, and spread out like a fan, came many warriors, fierce for +their lives. Amid such scenes was the Great West won. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +IN THE RIVER + + +Paul, while not the equal of Henry in the woods, was a strong and enduring +youth. His muscles were like wire, and there were few better runners west +of the mountains. Although the weight of the second rifle might tell after +a while, he did not yet feel it, and with springy step he sped after +Henry, leaving the choice of course and all that pertained to it to his +comrade. After a while they heard a second cry--a wailing note--and Henry +raised his head a little. + +"They've come to the two who fell," he said. + +But after the single lament, the warriors were silent, and Paul heard +nothing more in the woods but their own light footsteps and his own long +breathing. Little birds flitted through the boughs of the trees, and now +and then a hare hopped up and ran from their path. The silence became +terrible, full of omens and presages, like the stillness before coming +thunder. + +"It means something," said Henry; "I think we've stumbled into a regular +nest of those Shawnees, and they're likely to be all about us." + +As if confirming his words, the far, faint note came from their right, and +then, in reply, from their left. Henry stopped so quickly that Paul almost +ran into him. + +"I was afraid it would be that way," he said. "They're certainly all +around us except in front, and maybe there, too." + +Visions of the torture rose before Paul again. + +"What are we to do?" he said. + +"We must hide." + +"Hide I Why, they could find us in the forest, as I would find a man in an +open field." + +"I don't mean hide here," said Henry; "the river is just ahead, and I +think that if we reach it in time we can find a place. Come, Paul, we must +run as we never ran before." + +The two boys sped with long, swift bounds through the forest as only those +who run for their lives can run. Now the voices of the pursuit became +frequent, and began to multiply. Henry, with his instinctive skill in the +forest, read their meaning. The pursuers were sure of triumph. But Henry +shut his lips tightly, and resolved that he and Paul should yet elude +them. + +"The river is not more than a half mile ahead," he said. "Come, Paul, +faster! A little faster, if you can!" + +Paul obeyed, and the two, bending their heads lower, sped on with +astonishing speed. Trees and bushes slid behind them. Before them appeared +a blue streak, that broadened swiftly and became a river. + +"We must not let them see us," said Henry. "Bend as low as you can, and be +as quiet as you can!" + +Paul obeyed, and in a few more minutes they were at the river's edge. + +"Fasten your bullets and powder around your neck," said Henry, "and keep +the rifle on your shoulder." + +Paul did so, following Henry's quick example, and the two stepped into the +water, which soon reached to their waists. Henry had been along this river +before, and at this crisis in the lives of his comrade and himself he +remembered. Dense woods lined both banks of the stream, which was narrow +here for miles, and a year or two before a hurricane had cut down the +trees as a reaper mows the wheat. The surface of the water was covered +with fallen trunks and boughs, and for a half mile at least they had +become matted together like a great raft, out of which grass and weeds +already were growing. But Paul did not know it, and suddenly he stopped. + +"Why, what has become of the river?" he exclaimed, pointing ahead. + +The stream seemed to stop against a bank of logs and foliage. + +Henry laughed softly. + +"It is the great natural raft," he said. "There is where we are to hide." + +He hastened his steps, wading as rapidly as he could, and Paul kept by his +side. He comprehended Henry's plan, their last and desperate chance. In a +few moments more they were at the great raft, and in the bank, amid a +dense, almost impenetrable mass of foliage, they hid their rifles and +ammunition. Henry uttered a deep sigh as he did it. + +"I hate like everything to leave them," he said, "but if we come to close +quarters with any of those fellows, we must trust to our knives and +hatchets." + +Then he turned reluctantly away. It was not a deep river, nowhere above +their necks, and he pushed a way amid the trees and foliage that were +packed upon the surface, Paul, as usual, following closely. Now and then +he dived under a big log, and came up on the other side, his head well +hidden among upthrust boughs and among the weeds and grass that had grown +in the soil formed by the silt of the river. And Paul always carefully +imitated him. + +When they were about thirty yards into the mass Paul felt Henry's hand on +his shoulder. "Look back, Paul," was whispered in his ear, "but be sure +not to move a single bough." Paul slowly and cautiously turned his head, +and saw a sight that made him quiver. + +Running swiftly, savage warriors were coming into view on either bank of +the river--tall men, dark with paint, and, as he well knew, hot with the +desire to take life. + +"I thank God that this place is here!" breathed Paul. + +"Yes, it was just made for us," said Henry, and he laughed ever so little. +"Come, Paul, we must get farther into it. But be sure you don't shake any +boughs." + +They waded on, only their heads above the current, and these always hidden +by the interlacing trunks and branches. A great shout, fierce with +triumph, rose behind them. + +"They've found where our trail entered the water, and they think they've +got us," whispered Henry. "Now, be still, Paul; we'll hide here." + +They pushed themselves into a mass of debris, where logs and boughs, swept +by the current, formed a little arch over the stream. There they stood up +to their chins in water, with their heads covered by the arch. Through +the slits between the trunks and boughs they could see their pursuers. + +It was a numerous band--thirty or forty men--and they divided now into +several parties. Some ran along the banks of the stream and others sprang +from log to log over the raft, searching everywhere, with keen, black eyes +trained to note every movement of the wilderness. + +Paul felt Henry's hand again on his shoulder, but neither boy spoke. Both +felt as if they were in a little cage, with the fiercest of all wild +animals around it and reaching long paws through the bars at them. Each +sank a little deeper into the water, barely leaving room to breathe, and +watched their enemies still searching, searching everywhere. They heard +the patter of moccasins on the logs, and now and then they saw brown, +muscular legs passing by. Two warriors stopped within ten feet of them and +exchanged comment. Henry, who understood their language, knew that they +were puzzled and angry. But Paul, without knowing a word that they said, +understood, too. His imagination supplied the place of knowledge. They +were full of wrath because they had lost the trail of the two whom they +had regarded as certainly theirs, and to seek them in the vast maze of +logs and brush was like looking for one dead leaf among the millions. + +The two warriors stood still for a full minute, and then moved on out of +sight. Paul drew a deep breath of relief, like a sigh, and Henry's hand +was pressed once more upon his shoulder. + +"Not a sound yet, not a sound, Paul!" he whispered ever so softly. "They +will hunt here a long time." + +More warriors, treading on the logs, showed that his caution was not +misplaced. They poked now and then in the water, amid the great mass of +debris, and one stood on a log so near to the two lads that they could +have reached out and touched his moccasined feet. But their covert was too +close to be suspected, and soon the man passed on. + +Presently all of them were out of sight; but Henry, a true son of caution +and the wilderness, would not yet let Paul stir. + +"They will come back this way," he said. "We risk nothing by waiting, and +we may save much." + +Paul made no protest, but he was growing cold. The chill from the water of +the river was creeping into his veins, and he longed for the dry land and +a chance to stir about. Yet he clenched his teeth and resolved to endure. +He would not move until Henry gave the word. + +He saw what a wise precaution it was, when, a half hour later, seven or +eight warriors came walking back on the logs, and thrust with sticks into +the little patches of open water between them. Henry and Paul crouched +closer in their covert, and the warriors stalked back and forth, still +searching. + +Henry knew that the Shawnees, failing to find a place beyond the debris +where the fugitives had emerged upon the bank, would believe that they +might be hidden under the logs, and would not give up the hunt there. If +they should happen to find the rifles and ammunition, they would certainly +be confirmed in the conclusion, but so far they had not found them. Henry, +looking between the logs, saw them pass near the place of concealment, but +they did not stop, and were soon near the other bank. It would have +bitterly hurt his pride if they had found the rifles, even had he and Paul +escaped. + +An hour more they waited, and then the last warrior was out of sight, gone +up the river. + +"I think we may crawl out now," whispered Henry; "but we've still got to +be mighty careful about it." + +Pad took a step and fell over in the water. His legs were stiff with the +wet and cold; but Henry dragged him up, and before trying it again he +stretched first one leg and then the other, many times. + +"We must make our way back through the logs and brush to the rifles," +whispered Henry, "and then take to the woods once more." + +"I think I've lived in a river long enough to last me the rest of my +life," Paul said. + +Henry laughed. He, too, was stiff and cold; but, a born woodsman, he now +dismissed their long hiding in the water as only an incident. The two +reached the precious rifles and ammunition, drew them forth from +concealment, and stepped upon the bank, rivulets pouring from their +clothing, and even their hair. + +"I think we'd better go back on our own trail now," said Henry. "The war +party has passed on, and is still looking for us far ahead." + +"We've got to dry ourselves, and somehow or other get that powder to +Marlowe," said Paul. + +"That's so," said Henry. "We came to do it, and we will do it." + +He spoke with quiet emphasis, but Paul knew that he meant to perform what +he had set out to do, come what might, and Paul was willing to go with him +through anything. Neither would abandon the great task of helping to save +Kentucky. But they were still in a most serious position. They had been +many hours in water which was not now warmed by summer heat, and they were +bound to feel the effect of it soon in every bone. Henry glanced up at +the heavens. It was far past noon, and the golden sun was gliding down the +western arch. + +"I think," said Henry, "that it would be best for us to walk, as fast as +we can on the back track, and then try to dry out our clothing a little." + +He started at once, and Paul walked swiftly by his side. The rivulets that +ran from their clothing decreased to tiny streams, and then only drops +fell. The sinking sun shot sheaves of brilliant beams upon them, and soon +Paul felt a grateful warmth, driving for the time the chill from his +bones. He swung his arms as he walked, as much as the rifles would allow, +and nearly every muscle in his frame felt the touch of vigorous exercise. +His clothing dried rapidly. + +Two hours and three hours passed, and they heard no more the cries of the +warriors calling to each other. Silence again hung over the wilderness. +Rabbits sprang up from the thickets. A deer, frightened by the sound of +the boys' footsteps, held up his head, listened a moment, and then fled +away among the trees. Henry took his presence as a sign that no other +human being had passed that way in the last hour. + +The sun sank, the twilight came and died, and darkness clothed the +wilderness. Then Henry stopped. + +"Paul," he said, "I've got some venison in my knapsack, but you and I +ought to have a fire. While our clothes are drying outside they are still +wet inside and we can't afford to have a chill, or be so stiff that we +can't run. You know we may have another run or two yet." + +"But do we dare make a fire?" asked Paul. + +"I think so. I can hide the blaze, and the night is so dark that the smoke +won't show." + +He plunged deeper into the thickets, and came to a rocky place, full of +gullies and cavelike hollows. It was so dark that Paul could see only his +dim form ahead. Presently their course led downward, and Henry stopped in +one of the sheltered depressions. + +"Now we'll make our fire," he said. + +It was pitchy black where they stood. The walls of the hollow rose far +above their heads, and its crest was lined on every side with giant trees +and dense undergrowth. + +The two boys dragged up dead leaves and brushwood, and Henry patiently +ignited the heap with his flint and steel. A tiny blaze arose, but he did +not permit it to grow into a flame. Heavier logs were placed upon the top, +and the fire only burned beneath, amid the small boughs. Smoke arose, but +it was lost in the black heavens. The fire, thus confined, burned +fiercely and rapidly within its narrow limits, and a fine bed of coals +soon formed. It was time! The night had come on cold, and the chill +returned to Paul's veins. Before the fire was lighted he had begun to +shiver, but when the deep bed of coals was formed, he sat before it and +basked in the grateful and glowing heat. + +"I think we'd better take off our clothing and dry it," said Henry, and +both promptly did so. They hung part of their garments before the fire, on +a stick thrust in the ground, until they were dry, and then, putting them +on again, replaced them with the remainder, to dry in their turn. +Meanwhile they ate of the venison that Henry carried in his knapsack, and +felt very happy. It was a wonderful experience for Paul. This was comfort +and safety. They were only a pin point in the wilderness, but for the +present the stony hollow fenced them about, and the hidden fire gave forth +warmth and pleasure. + +"Do you think you could sleep, Paul?" asked Henry, when they had put on +again the last of the dried clothing. + +Paul laughed. + +"Could I sleep?" he said. "Would a hungry wolf eat? Will water run down +hill? I don't think I could do anything else just now." + +"Then try it," said Henry. "After a while I'll wake you up for your +watch, and take a turn at it myself." + +Paul said not another word, but sank back on the grass and leaves, with +his feet to the great bed of coals. He saw their glow for a moment or two, +then his eyelids shut down, and he was wafted away on a magic carpet to a +dreamless region of happy peace. Henry's eyes, grown used to the dark, +looked at him for a moment or two, and then the larger boy smiled. Paul, +his faithful comrade, filled a great place in his heart--they liked each +other all the better because they were so unlike--and he was silently, but +none the less devoutly thankful that he had come. + +Henry was warm and dry, and as he tested his muscles he found them supple +and strong. Now he took precautions, thinking he had let the fire burn as +long as was safe. He scattered the coals with a stick, and then softly +crushed out each under the stout heel of his moccasin. With the minute +patience that he had learned from his forest life, he persisted in his +task until not a single spark was left anywhere. Then he sat down in +Turkish fashion, with his rifle lying across his lap and the other rifles +near, listening, always listening, with the wonderful ear that noted every +sound of the forest, and piercing the thickets with eyes whose keenness +those of no savage could surpass. He knew that they were in the danger +zone, that the Shawnees were on a great man-hunt, and regarded the two +boys as stilt within their net, although they could not yet put their +hands upon them. That was why he listened and watched so closely, and that +was why he would break his word to Paul and not waken him, keeping the +nightlong vigil himself. + +The night advanced, the darkness shredded away a little before a half +moon, and Henry was very glad that he had put out the last remnant of the +fire. Yet the trees still enclosed the hollow like a black wall, and he +did not think a foe had one chance in a thousand of finding them there +while the night lasted. But he never ceased to watch--a silent, powerful +figure, with the rifle lying across his lap, ready to be used at a +moment's notice. His stillness was something marvelous. Even had it been +light, an ordinary observer would not have seen him move a hair's breadth. +He was a part of the silent wilderness. + +Midnight, and then the long hours. Faint noises arose in the thickets, bet +the ear of the gray statue was alive, and he knew. The rabbits were +hopping about, at play, perhaps, in the moonlight; a deer was passing; +perhaps a panther stirred somewhere; but these were things that neither he +nor Paul feared; it was only man that they dreaded. After a while a +faint, clear note rose, far to the east, and to it came three replies like +it, and also far away. Henry laughed low. They were the familiar signals, +but he and Paul were well hidden, and they would escape through the lines +before morning. They might easily go back to Wareville, too, but he was +resolved not to abandon either the horses or the powder. The powder was +needed at Marlowe, and it would be a bitter humiliation not to take it +there. + +Two hours more passed, and then Henry heard the signals again, but now +closer. By chance, perhaps, the Shawnees had formed their ring about the +right place, and it was time to act. Paul had slept well and was rested, +so Henry leaned over and shook him. Paul opened his eyes, and any question +that he might have wished to ask was cut short at his lips by Henry's low, +but commanding, + +"Caution! Caution!" + +"It is far after midnight, and we must move, Paul," said Henry. "They may +have blundered on our trail before it was dark, and they are still looking +for us. I think they are coming this way." + +Paul understood in a moment, but he asked no question; if Henry said so, +it was true, it did not matter how he knew. He rose, imitating Henry, +taking his two rifles, and they stole silently away from the little cove +that had been so full of comfort for both. + +"We'll go toward the south now," said Henry, "and on your life, Paul, +don't stumble!" + +Paul knew the worth of this advice, and he was woodsman enough to avoid +tripping on the vines and bushes, despite the darkness. One mile dropped +behind them, then two, then three, and Henry suddenly put his hand upon +the shoulder of Paul, who, understanding the signal, sank down at once +beside his comrade. + +The bushes were thick there, but Paul soon saw the danger, of which +Henry's ear had already warned him. A dozen warriors marched in a silent +file through the undergrowth. Well for the two that they were some +distance away, and that the bushes grew thick and long! And well for them, +too, that it was night! The warriors looked keenly on every side as they +passed, apparently seeking out the last little leaf and twig; but, acute +as were their eyes, they did not see the boys in the bushes. And perhaps +it was well for some of them that they did not find what they sought, as +the wilderness furnished no more formidable antagonist than Henry Ware, +and Paul Cotter, too, was both brave and skillful. + +But the warriors passed, and the black wilderness hid them. Henry watched +a little bush that one had brushed against, swinging in the moonlight +with short jerks that became shorter until it grew quite still again. But +he did not yet go. He and Paul knew that they must not move for many +minutes. A warrior might turn on his track, see their risen forms, and +with his cry bring the whole band back again. They yet lay motionless and +still, while the moonlight filtered through the leaves and the silence of +the forest endured. Henry rose at last, and led the way again. + +"They are certainly beating up the woods for us," said he, "and I think +that party will stumble right upon the little hollow where we rested. It +was well we moved." + +They increased their southward pace, and when it was scarcely two hours to +the dawn Henry said: + +"I know of a good place in which to rest, and a still better place in +which to fight if they should find us." + +"Where?" + +"Holt's lone cabin. It's less than half a mile from here. I've had it in +mind." + +Paul did not know what he meant by Holt's lone cabin, but he was always +willing to trust Henry without questions. His imagination, flowering at +once into splendor, depicted it as some kind of an impregnable fortress. + +"Come, we mustn't lose time!" said Henry, and he suddenly increased his +speed, running so fast that Paul had much to do to keep pace with him. +Paul looked up, and he saw why Henry hastened. The black curtain was +rolled back a little in the east, and a splendid bar of gray appeared just +at the horizon's edge. As Paul looked, it broadened and turned to silver, +and then gold. Paul thought it a very phantasy of fate that the coming of +day, which is like life, should bring such terrors. + +They reached a clearing--a high, stony piece of ground--and in its center +Paul saw a little old log cabin, with a heavy open door that sagged on +rude wooden hinges. + +"Come," said Henry, and they crossed the clearing to the cabin, pushing +open the door. Paul looked around at the narrow place, and the protecting +walls gave him much comfort. Evidently it had been abandoned in great +haste. In one corner lay a tiny moccasin that had been a baby's shoe, and +no one had disturbed it. On a hook on the wall hung a woman's apron, and +two or three rude domestic utensils lay on the floor. The sight had Its +pathos for Paul, but he was glad that the Holts had gone in time. He was +glad, too, that they had left their house behind that he and Henry might +use it when they needed it most, because he began to be conscious now of +a great weakness, both of body and spirit. + +Hooks and a stout wooden bar still remained, and as Henry closed the door +and dropped the bar into place, he exclaimed exultantly: + +"They may get us, Paul, but they'll pay a full price before they do it." + +"I'd rather they wouldn't get us at all," said Paul. + +Nevertheless his imagination, leaping back to the other extreme, made the +lone cabin the great fortress that he wished. And a fortress it was in +more senses than one. Built of heavy logs, securely chinked, the single +window and the single door closed with heavy oaken shutters, no bullet +could reach them there. Paul sat down on a puncheon bench, and breathed +laboriously, but joyously. Then he looked with inquiry at Henry. + +"It was built by a man named Holt," said Henry. "He was either a great +fool or a very brave man to come out here and settle alone. But a month +ago, after the Indian wars began, he either became wiser or less brave, +and he went into Marlowe with his family, leaving the place just as it +is." + +"He left in time," said Paul. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE LONE CABIN + + +Henry was deeply thankful for this shelter because he knew how badly it +was needed. He went to the single little window, which sagged half open on +hinges made of the skin of the buffalo. He pushed it back in place, and +fastened it, too, with a smaller bar, which he was lucky enough to find +lying on the floor. + +"Well, Paul, we are here," he said. + +As he spoke he looked keenly and anxiously at his comrade. + +"Yes, Henry," Paul replied. "Here we are, and mighty glad am I. It's good +to be in a house again after that river." + +Henry noticed at once that his voice was thinner and weaker than usual, +and he saw also that the color on Paul's face was high--the rest and the +little fire in the forest had not been enough. Again he was deeply +grateful for the presence of the cabin. He looked around, with inquiring +eyes that could see everything. It was dusky in the cabin with both door +and window closed, but he observed with especial pleasure, among the +abandoned articles, a small iron pot, suitable for cooking purposes, and a +large water bowl. When he summed up all, it seemed to this resourceful son +of the wilderness that Fortune had been very kind to them. Then he looked +at Paul and distinctly saw a tremor pass over his frame. + +"Paul," he said, "are you cold?" + +"A little," replied Paul reluctantly. It hurt his pride to confess that he +felt on the verge of physical collapse. + +"Then we must have a fire, and I'm going to build it now." + +"Won't it be dangerous?" asked Paul. "Won't it be seen?" + +"Oh, no," replied Henry lightly. "We are alone in the forest now." + +His tone was convincing to Paul, but Henry himself was aware that they +were taking great risks. Yet they must be taken. + +"Now, Paul," he said cheerfully, "you keep a good watch while I bring in +deadwood. But first we will rake clean the welcoming hearth of our good +friends who departed so quickly." + +Ashes and dead coals were lying in the fireplace, and he raked them +carefully to one side. Then he unbarred the door. The crisp October air +rushed into the close, confined space, and it felt very welcome to Henry, +but Paul shivered again. + +"Sit down in one of those chairs and rest, Paul," he said, as he pointed +to two homemade chairs that stood by the wall. "I'll be back in a minute +or two." + +Then he shut the door behind him. + +"I must take the risk," he murmured. It was characteristic of Henry Ware, +that in this emergency not even a vague thought of deserting his comrade +entered his mind. And faithful as he was to Paul, Paul would have been as +faithful to him. Both meant to finish together their great errand. + +Henry looked around. The settler had made but little impression upon the +surrounding forest. The trees had been cut away for a distance of fifteen +or twenty paces on every side, but the wilderness still curved in solid +array about the lone cabin, as if it would soon reclaim its own and blot +out the sole sign of man's intrusion. Everywhere the foliage glowed with +the deep reds and yellows and browns of October, and afar hung a faint +bluish haze, like an early sign of Indian summer. The slight wind among +the leaves had a soothing note, and breathed of nothing but peace. Peace +Henry Ware devoutly hoped that it would be. + +His task was easy. The forest all about was littered with the fallen and +dead wood of preceding years, and in a few moments he gathered up an +armful, with which he returned to the house. Then he brought in dry +leaves, and heaped leaves and wood together in the chimney-place. He +glanced at Paul and saw him trembling. As if by chance he touched his +comrade's hand, and it felt ice-cold. But he did not depart one jot from +his cheerful manner, all his words showing confidence. + +"Now, Paul," he said, "In less than a minute you'll see burning before you +the finest, warmest, glowingest and most comfortable fire in all the +West." + +Paul's eyes glistened. + +Henry drew forth flint and steel, and with a few strokes sent out the +vivifying spark. The dry leaves caught, a light flame formed, the wood +caught in its turn, and then the blaze, leaping high, roared up the +chimney. In a moment the hearth was glowing, and presently a bed of deep +red coals began to grow. + +Paul uttered a low laugh of joy, and spread out his hands to the flames. +The red light glowed across the delicately cut but strong face of the boy, +and Henry noticed now that all his color was gone, leaving his features +white and drawn. + +"Sit a little closer, Paul, a little closer," he said, still in tones of +high, good cheer. "Isn't it the most beautiful fire you ever saw?" + +"Yes," said Paul, "it is. It looks mighty good, but it's curious that it +doesn't warm me more." + +Henry had closed the door, and it was already very hot in the cabin; but +he decided now on another step--one that would take more time, but it must +be taken. + +"Paul," he said, "I'm going out in the woods to look for something, and I +may be gone at least half an hour. Take good care of our house while I'm +away." + +"All right," said Paul. But as he spoke his teeth struck together. + +Henry closed the door once more, with himself on the outside. Then he +walked to the edge of the clearing, and looked back at the cabin. He had +been careful to choose the kind of wood that would give out the least +smoke, and only a thin column rose from the chimney. The wind caught it +before it rose far, and it was lost among the great trees of the +wilderness. It seemed again to Henry Ware that Fortune was kind to them. + +The single look sufficed, and then, drawing his long-bladed hunting knife +from its sheath, he began to search the forest. Henry Ware had been long a +captive among the Northwestern Indians, and he had learned their lore. He +had gained from the medicine men and old squaws a knowledge of herbs, and +now he was to put it to use. He sought first for the bitter root called +Indian turnip, and after looking more than twenty minutes found it. He dug +it up with his sharp knife, and then, with another search of a quarter of +an hour, he found the leaves of wild sage, already dried in the autumn +air. A third quarter of an hour and he added to his collection two more +herbs, only the Indian names of which were known to him. Then he returned +to the house, to find that the icy torrent in Paul's blood had now become +hot. + +"I can't stand this, Henry," he said. "We've got the door and window +closed and a big fire burning, and I'm just roasting hot." + +"Only a little while longer," said Henry. "The truth is, Paul, you've had +a big chill, and now the fever's come on you. But I'm Dr. Ware, and I'm +going to cure you. When I was up there among the Indians, I learned their +herb remedies, and mighty good some of 'em are, too. They're particularly +strong with chills and fever, and I'm going to make you a tea that'll just +lay hold of you and drive all the fever out of your veins. What you want +to do, Paul, is to sweat, and to sweat gallons." + +He spoke in rapid, cheerful tones, wishing to keep up Paul's spirits, in +which effort he succeeded, as Paul's eyes sparkled, and a gleam of humor +lighted up his face. + +"Well, Dr. Ware," he said, "I'm mighty glad to know what's the matter with +me. Somehow you always feel better when you know, and I'll trust to your +tea." + +He meant what he said. He knew Henry too well to doubt him. Any assertion +of his inspired him with supreme confidence. + +"Now, Paul," Henry resumed, "you keep house again, and I'll find where our +unknown friend got his drinking water." + +He took the iron pot that he had noticed and went forth into the forest. +It was an instinctive matter with one bred in the wilderness like Henry +Ware to go straight to the spring. The slope of the land led him, and he +found it under the lee of a little hill, near the base of a great oak. +Here a stream, six inches broad, an inch deep, but as clear as burnished +silver, flowed from beneath a stony outcrop in the soil, and then trickled +away, in a baby stream, down a little ravine. There was a strain of +primitive poetry, the love of the wild, in Henry's nature, and he paused +to admire. + +He saw that human hands had scraped out at the source a little fountain, +where one might dip up pails of water, and looking down into the clear +depths he beheld his own face reflected back in every detail. It seemed to +Henry Ware, who knew and loved only the wilderness, that the cabin, with +its spring and game at its very doors, would have made a wonderfully snug +home in the forest. Had it been his own, he certainly would have +undertaken to defend it against any foe who might come. + +But all these thoughts passed in a second, treading upon one another's +heels. Henry was at the fountain scarcely a moment before he had filled +the pot and was on the way back to the cabin. Then he cast in the herbs, +put it upon a bed of red coals, and soon a steam arose. He found an old, +broken-sided gourd among the abandoned utensils, and was able to dip up +with it a half dozen drinks of the powerful decoction. He induced his +comrade to swallow these one after another, although they were very +bitter, and Paul made a wry face. Then he drew from the corner the rude +bedstead of the departed settler, and made Paul lie upon it beside the +fire. + +"Now go to sleep," he said, "while I watch here." + +Paul was a boy of great sense, and he obeyed without question, although it +was very hot before the fire. But it was not a dry, burning heat that +seemed to be in the blood; it was a moist, heavy heat that filled the +pores. He began to feel languid and drowsy, and a singular peace stole +over him. It did not matter to him what happened. He was at rest, and +there was his faithful comrade on guard, the comrade who never failed. The +coals glowed deep red, and the sportive flames danced before him. Happy +visions passed through his brain, and then his eyes closed. The red coals +passed away and the sportive flames ceased to dance. Paul was asleep. + +Henry Ware sat in silence on one of the chairs at the corner of the +hearth, and when Paul's breathing became long, deep, and regular, he saw +that he had achieved the happy result. He rose soundlessly, and put his +hand upon Paul's forehead. It came back damp. Paul was in a profuse +perspiration, and his fever was sinking rapidly. Henry knew now that it +was only a matter of time, but he knew equally well that in the +Indian-haunted wilderness time was perhaps the most difficult of all +things to obtain. + +No uneasiness showed in his manner. Now the lad, born to be a king of the +wilderness, endowed with all the physical qualities, all the acute senses +of a great, primitive age, was seen at his best. He was of one type and +his comrade of another, but they were knitted together with threads of +steel. It had fallen to his lot to do a duty in which he could excel, and +he would shirk no detail of it. + +He brought in fresh wood and piled it on the hearth. At a corner of the +cabin stood an old rain barrel half full of water. He emptied the barrel +and brought it inside. Then, by means of many trips to the little spring +with the iron pot, he filled it with fresh water. All the while he moved +soundlessly, and Paul's deep, peaceful slumber was not disturbed. He took +on for the time many of the qualities that he had learned from his Indian +captors. Every sense was alert, attuned to hear the slightest sound that +might come from the forest, to feel, in fact, any alien presence as it +drew near. + +When the store of water was secure he looked at their provisions. They had +enough venison in their knapsacks to last a day or two, but he believed +that Paul would need better and tenderer food. The question, however, must +wait a while. + +The day was now almost gone. Great shadows hovered over the eastern +forest, and in the west the sun glowed in its deepest red as it prepared +to go. Henry put his hand upon Paul's forehead again. The perspiration was +still coming, but the fever was now wholly gone. Then he took his rifle +and went to the door. He stood there a moment, a black figure in the red +light of the setting sun. Then he slid noiselessly into the forest. The +twilight had deepened, the red sun had set, and only a red cloud in the +sky marked its going. But Henry Ware's eyes pierced the shadows, and none +in the forest could have keener ears than his. He made a wide circle +around the cabin, and found only silence and peace. Here and there were +tracks and traces of wild animals, but they would not disturb; it was for +something else that he looked, and he rejoiced that he could not find it. +When he returned to the cabin the last fringe of the red cloud was gone +from the sky, and black darkness was sweeping down over the earth. He +secured the door, looked again to the fastenings of the window, and then +sat down before the fire, his rifle between his knees. + +Paul's slumber and exhaustion alike were so deep that he would not be +likely to waken before morning, so Henry judged, and presently he took out +a little of the dried venison and ate it. He would boil some of it in the +pot in the morning for Paul's breakfast, but for himself it was good +enough as it now was. His strong white teeth closed down upon it, and a +deep feeling of satisfaction came over him. He, too, was resting from +great labors, and from a task well done. He realized now, for the first +time, how great a strain had been put upon him, both mind and body. + +The night was sharp and chill, but it was very warm and comfortable in the +little cabin. Paul slept on, his breathing as regular as the ticking of a +clock, healthy color coming back into his pale face as he slept. Henry's +own eyes began to waver. A deep sense of peace and rest soothed him, heart +and brain. He had meant to watch the night through, but even he had +reached the limit of endurance. The faint moaning of the wind outside, +like the soft, sweet note of a violin, came to his ears, and lulled him to +slumber. The fire floated far away, and, still sitting in his chair with +his rifle between his knees, he slept. + +Outside the darkness thickened and deepened. The forest was a solid black, +circling wall, and the cabin itself stood in deepest shadow. Inside a +fresh piece of wood caught, and the blaze burned brighter and higher. It +threw a glow across the faces of the two boys, who slept, the one lying +upon the bed and the other sitting in the chair, with the rifle between +his knees. It was a scene possible only in the great wilderness of +_Kain-tuck-ee_. + +Meanwhile word was sent by unknown code through the surrounding forest to +all its inhabitants that a great and portentous event had occurred. Not +long before they had welcomed the departure of the strange intruder, who +had come and cut down the forest and built the house. Then, with the +instinct that leaped into the future, they saw the forest and themselves +claiming their own again; the clearing would soon be choked with weeds and +bushes, the trees would grow up once more, the cabin would rot and its +roof fall, and perhaps the bear or the panther would find a cozy lair +among its timbers. + +Now the strange intruders had come again. The fox, creeping to the edge of +the clearing, saw with his needlelike eyes a red gleam through the chinks +of the cabin. The red gleam smote him with terror, and he slunk away. The +wolf, the rabbit, and the deer came; they, too, saw the red gleam, and +fled, with the same terror striking at their hearts. All, after the single +look, sank back into the shadows, and the forest was silent and deserted. +Paul and Henry, as they slept, were guarded by a single gleam of fire from +all enemies save human kind. + +But as the night thickened there had been a whirring in the air not far +away. An hour earlier the twilight had been deepened by something that +looked like a great cloud coming before the sun. It was a cloud that moved +swiftly, and it was made of a myriad of motes, closely blended. It +resolved itself soon into a vast flock of wild pigeons, millions and +millions flying southward to escape the coming winter. + +Presently they settled down upon the forest for the night, and all the +trees were filled with the chattering multitude. Often the bough bent +almost to the ground beneath the weight of birds, clustered so thick that +they could scarcely find a footing. The fox and the wolf that had looked +at the lone cabin came back now to seek, an easier prey. + +Henry Ware slept until far after midnight, and then he awoke easily, +without jerk or start. The fire had burned down, and a deep bed of coals +lay on the hearth. Paul still slept, and when Henry touched him he found +that he had ceased to perspire. No trace of the fever was left. Yet he +would be very weak when he awoke, and he would need nourishing food. It +was his comrade's task to get it. Henry took his rifle and went outside. +The moon was shining now, and threw a dusky silver light over all the +forest. He might find game, and, if so, he resolved to risk a shot. The +chances were that no human being save himself would hear it. He felt +rather than saw that nothing had happened while he slept. No enemy to be +feared had come, while all his own strength and elasticity had returned to +him. Never had he felt stronger or more perfectly attuned in body and +mind. + +He moved again in a circuit about the cabin, watching carefully, and now +and then looking up among the trees. Perhaps an opossum might be hanging +from a bough! But he saw nothing until he widened his circuit, and then he +ran directly into the myriads of wild pigeons. Here was food for an army, +and he quickly secured plenty of it. The danger of the rifle report was +gone, as he had nothing to do but take a stick and knock off a bough as +many of the pigeons as he wished. Then he hastened back to the cabin with +his welcome burden. Paul still slept, and it pleased Henry to give him a +surprise. He kindled the fire afresh, cleaned two of the youngest, +fattest, and tenderest of the pigeons, and began to boil them in the pot. + +When the water simmered and pleasant odors arose, he was afraid that Paul +would awake, as he turned once or twice on his bed and spoke a few +incoherent words. But he continued to sleep, nevertheless, and at last the +pigeon stew was ready, throwing out a savory odor. + +The day was now coming, and Henry opened the window. The forest, wet with +morning dew, was rising up into the light, and afar in the east shone the +golden glory of the sun. He drew a deep breath of the fresh, good air, and +decided to leave the window open. Then he filled the broken gourd with the +grateful stew, and, holding it in his right hand, shook Paul violently +with his left. Paul, who had now slept his fill, sat up suddenly and +opened his eyes. + +"Here, Paul, open your mouth," said Henry commandingly, "and take this +fine stew. Dr. Ware has prepared it for you specially, and it is sure to +bring hack your strength and spirits. And there's plenty more of it." + +Paul sniffed hungrily, and his eyes opened wider and wider. + +"Why--why, Henry!" he exclaimed. "How long have I slept, and where did you +get this?" + +"You've slept about twenty hours, more or less," replied Henry, laughing +with satisfaction, "and this is wild pigeon stew. Fifteen or twenty +millions roosted out there in the forest last night, and they won't miss +the dozen or so that I've taken. Here, hurry up; I'm hungry, and it's my +turn next." + +Paul said no more, but, thankful enough, took the stew and ate it. Then, +by turns, they used the broken gourd and ate prodigiously, varied by +drinks from the water barrel. They had fasted long, they had undergone +great exertions, and it took much to remove the sharp edge from their +appetites. But it was done at last, and they rested content. + +"Henry," said Paul, upon whose mind the fortunate advent of the wild +pigeons made a deep impression, "while we have had great mischances, it +seems to me also that we have been much favored by Providence. Our +finding of this cabin was just in time, and then came the pigeons as if +specially for us. You remember in the Bible how the Lord sent the manna in +the wilderness for the Israelites; it seems to me that He's doing the same +thing for us." + +"It looks so," replied Henry reverently. "The Indians with whom I once +lived think that the Great Spirit often helps us when we need it most, and +I suppose that their Great Spirit--or Manitou, as they call Him--is just +the same as our God." + +Both boys were now silent for a while. They had been reared by devout +parents. Life in the forest deepens religious belief, and it seemed to +them that there had been a special interposition in their favor. + +"What are we going to do now?" asked Paul at length. + +"We can't take up our journey again for a day or two," replied Henry. +"We've got to get that powder to Marlowe some time or other. Wareville +sent us to do the job, and we'll do it; but you are yet too weak, Paul, to +start again. You don't know how really weak you are. Just you get up and +walk about a little." + +Paul rose and walked back and forth across the room, but in a few moments +he became dizzy and had to sit down. Then he uttered an impatient little +cry. + +"You're right, Henry," he said, "and I can't help it. Find the horses and +take the powder to Marlowe by yourself. I guess I can get back to +Wareville, or come on later to Marlowe." + +Henry laughed. + +"You know I wouldn't dream of doing such a thing, Paul," he said. +"Besides, I don't think they need to be in any hurry at Marlowe for that +powder. We'll rest here two or three days, and then take a fresh start." + +Paul said no more. It would have been a terrible blow to him to have no +further share in the enterprise, but he had forced himself nevertheless to +make the offer. Now he leaned back luxuriously, and was content to wait. + +"Of course," said Henry judicially, "we run risks here. You know that, +Paul" + +"Everybody who lives in Kentucky runs risks, and big ones," said Paul. + +"Then we'll sit here for the present and watch the forest. I don't like to +keep still, but it's a fine country to look at, isn't it, Paul?" + +The love of the wilderness was upon Henry, and his eyes glowed as he +looked at the vast surrounding forest, the circling wall of deep-toned, +vivid colors. For him, danger, if absent, did not exist, and there was +inspiration in the crisp breeze that came over a thousand miles of +untenanted woods. He sat in the doorway, the door now open, and stretched +his long legs luxuriously. He was happy; while he might be anxious to go +on with the powder, he pined for neither Wareville nor Marlowe for their +own sakes. + +Paul looked at his comrade with understanding and sympathy. The forest +made its appeal to him also, but in another way; and since Henry was +content, he would be content, too. Used as he was to hardships and narrow +quarters, the little cabin would not be a bad place in which to pass two +or three days. He turned back to the fire and held out his hands before +the mellow blaze. + +Henry examined the forest again, widening his circle, and saw no traces of +an enemy. He judged that they had passed either to east or west, and that +he and Paul would not be molested just yet, although he had no confidence +in their permanent security. He saw a deer, but in view of their bountiful +supply of pigeons he did not risk a shot, and returned before noon, to +find Paul rapidly regaining his strength. He cooked two more of the +pigeons in their precious iron pot, and then they rested. + +They left both door and window open now, and they could see forest and +sky. Henry called attention to a slight paleness in the western heavens, +and then noted that the air felt damp. + +"It will rain to-night, Paul," he said, "and it is a good thing for you, +in your weakened condition, that we have a roof." + +They ate pigeon again for supper, and their wilderness appetites were too +sharp to complain of sameness. They had barred window and door, and let +the fire die down to a bed of glowing coals, and while they ate, Paul +heard the first big drops of rain strike on the board roof. Other drops +came down the chimney, fell in the coals, and hissed as they died. Paul +shivered, and then felt very good indeed in the dry little cabin. + +"You were a real prophet, Henry," he said. "Here's your storm." + +"Not a storm," said Henry, "but a long, cold, steady rain. Even an Indian +would not want to be out in it, and bear and panther will hunt their +holes." + +The drops came faster, and then settled into a continuous pour. Paul, +after a while, opened the window and looked out. Cold, wet air struck his +face, and darkness, almost pitchy, enveloped the cabin. Moon and stars +were gone, and could not see the circling wail of the forest. The rain +beat with a low, throbbing sound on the board roof, and, with a kind of +long sigh, on the ground outside. It seemed to Paul a very cold and a very +wet rain indeed, one that would be too much for any sort of human beings, +white or red. + +"I think, we're safe to-night, Henry," he said, as he closed and fastened +the window. + +"Yes, to-night," replied Henry. + +Paul slept a dreamless sleep, lulled by the steady pour of the rain on the +roof, and when he awoke in the morning the sun was shining brightly, +without a cloud in the sky. But the forest dripped with rain. He was +strong enough now to help in preparing the breakfast, and Henry spoke with +confidence of their departure the next morning. + +The hours passed without event, but when Henry went as usual through the +forest that afternoon, he came upon a footprint. He followed it and found +two or three more, and then they were lost on rocky ground. The discovery +was full of significance to him, and he thought once of hurrying back to +the cabin, and of leaving with Paul at once. But he quickly changed his +mind. In the forest they would be without defense save their own strong +arms, while the cabin was made of stout logs. And perhaps the danger would +pass after all. Already the twilight was coming, and in the darkness his +own footprints would not be seen. + +Paul was at the door when Henry returned, and he did not notice anything +unusual in his comrade's face, but Henry advised that they stay inside +now. Then he looked very carefully to the bars of the door and the window, +and Paul understood. The danger flashed instantly on his mind, but his +strong will prepared him to meet it. + +"You think we are likely to be besieged?" he said. + +"Yes," replied Henry. + +Paul did not ask why Henry knew. It was sufficient that he did know, and +he examined his arms carefully. Then began that long period of waiting so +terrible to a lad of his type. It seemed that the hours would never pass. +The coals on the hearth were dead now, and there was no light at all in +the cabin. But his eyes grew used to the dusk, and he saw his comrade +sitting on one of the benches, one rifle across his lap and the other +near, always listening. + +Paul listened, too. The night before the rain had fallen on the board roof +with a soothing sound, but now he could hear nothing, not even the wind +among the trees. He began to long for something that would break this +ominous, deadly silence, be it ever so slight--the sound of a falling nut +from a tree, or of a wild animal stirring in the undergrowth--but nothing +came. The same stillness, heavy with omens and presages, reigned in all +the forest. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE SIEGE + + +The whole night passed without event and the day came. Paul saw the light +grow deeper and deeper, but nothing stirred in the forest. It stretched +before him, a living curve of glowing red and yellow and brown, but it was +now like a sea of dangerous depths, and the little cabin was their sole +island of safety. + +"It's a good thing we brought the extra rifles with us," said Henry. "They +look like good weapons, and they may save us in case of a rush. Ah, there +they come!" + +Paul had noticed nothing, but Henry had seen the bushes at the edge of the +forest quiver, and then move contrary to the wind. His eye did not rest +upon any brown body, but he knew as well as if they had cried out that the +warriors were there. How many? That was the question that concerned him +most. If a great war party, they might hang on a long time; but if only a +small one, he and Paul might beat them off as often as they came. They +had four rifles, plenty of ammunition, enough food to last several days, +and he thanked God for the providential presence of the rain barrel. + +These were but brief passing thoughts, and he never ceased to watch the +forest. Still no sign of a face, but now and then the unnatural quiver of +the bushes, and above them the sun spinning a fine golden, veil over all +the great wilderness. + +"Our guests have come, Paul," said he, "but from safe cover they are +inspecting our front yard." + +"And they don't know yet whether or not they would like to disport +themselves on our lawn." + +"That is just it. They have doubts about their welcome." + +"That being so," said Paul, in the light, jesting spirit that he loved, +"I'll just wait until they knock at our door. Meanwhile I'll take a drink +from that lucky cistern of ours." + +He bent his head into the barrel, and as he drank he felt fresh strength +and courage rushing into his veins. + +"It was great luck, wasn't it, to find this barrel?" he said. + +"It certainly was," replied Henry, and his words came from the bottom of +his heart. "Now you watch while I take a drink." + +Paul did so, but he noticed nothing unusual in the woods. The faint signs +that Henry read with such an unerring eye were hidden from him. But his +skill was sufficient to cover all the cleared space. No warrior could pass +there unseen by him. Henry rejoined him. + +"You watch from one side and I'll take the other," he said. + +They did so, but the single room of the cabin was so small that they were +only a few feet from each other, and could talk together in low tones. + +"It will be a trial of patience," said Henry. "The Indian always has more +time than anybody else in the world, and he is willing to make the most of +it." + +Paul, too, knew that Shawnees, no matter what their numbers, would not yet +risk a headlong attack on the cabin, and now his curiosity as to what they +would do was aroused. It was surprise that Henry and he must guard +against. What was to be expected? His sense of curiosity was as keenly +aroused as his sense of danger. + +Over an hour dragged slowly by, minute by minute. The sun blazed +brilliantly over the wilderness, and the shut little cabin grew close and +hot. No fresh air came except by the loopholes, and it was not enough for +coolness. Paul's forehead grew damp, and his eyes ached from continual +watching at the loophole. Curiosity now began to give way to anger. If +they were going to do anything, why didn't they do it? He watched the +forest so much and so intently that he began to create images there for +himself. A tall stump was distorted into the figure of an Indian warrior, +a clump of bushes took the shape of an entire group of Shawnees, and many +savage, black eyes looked from the leaves. Paul's reason told him that he +beheld nothing, but his fancy put them there, nevertheless. He saw +presently a little jet of smoke, rising like a white feather; he heard a +report, and then the sound of a bullet burying itself with a soft sigh in +a log of the cabin. He laughed at the futility of it, but Henry said: + +"They're just trying us a little--skirmishing, so to speak. Be careful +there, Paul! A chance bullet might catch you in the eye at the loophole." + +More lead came from the forest, and there was a sharp crackle of rifle +fire. Bullets thudded into the stout walls of the cabin, and Paul's soul +swelled with derision. His vivid mind pictured himself as safe from the +warriors as if they were a thousand miles away. He was attracted suddenly +by a slight, gurgling sound, and then a cry of dismay from Henry. He +wheeled in alarm. Henry had sprung to the water barrel, the precious +contents of which were oozing from a little round hole in the side, about +two thirds of the way up. A bullet had entered one of the loopholes and +struck the barrel. It was an unfortunate chance, one in a thousand, and +had not Henry's acute ear detected at once the sound of flowing water, it +might have proved a terrible loss. + +But Henry was rapidly stuffing a piece of buckskin, torn from his hunting +shirt, into the little round hole, and he waved Paul back to the wall. + +"You stay there and watch, Paul," he said. "I'll fix this." + +The buckskin stopped all the flow but a slight drip. Then, with his strong +hunting knife, he cut a piece of wood from the bench, whittled it into +shape, and drove it tightly into the bullet hole. + +"That's all secure," he said, with a sigh of relief. "Now I must get it +out of range." + +He wheeled it to a point in the cabin at which no chance bullet could +reach it, and then resumed the watch with Paul. + +"Aren't you glad, Paul," said Henry, "that you were not in the place of +the water barrel?" + +"Yes," replied Paul lightly, "because a piece of buckskin and a round +stick wouldn't have healed the damage so quickly." + +He spoke lightly because he was still full of confidence. The little cabin +was yet an impregnable castle to him. The crackle of rifle fire died, the +last plume of white smoke rose over the forest, drifted away, and was lost +in the brilliant sunshine. Silence and desolation again held the +wilderness. + +"Nothing will happen for some hours now," said Henry cheerfully, "so the +best thing that we can do, Paul, is to have dinner." + +"Yes," said Paul, with his quick fancy. "We can dine sumptuously--venison +and pigeon and spring water." + +"And lucky we are to have them," said Henry. + +They ate of the venison and pigeon, and they drank from the barrel. They +were not creatures of luxury and ease, and they had no complaint to make. +When they finished, Henry said: + +"Paul, you ought to take a nap, and then you'll be fresh for to-night, +when things will be happening." + +Paul at first was indignant at the idea that he should go to sleep with +the enemy all about them, but Henry soon persuaded him what a wise thing +it would be. Besides, the air was all the time growing closer and warmer +in the little cabin, and he certainly needed sleep. His head grew heavy +and his eyelids drooped. He lay down on the bed, and in a surprisingly +quick time was slumbering soundly. + +Henry looked at the sleeping lad, and his look was a compound of great +friendship and admiration. He knew that Paul was not, like himself, born +to the wilderness, and he respected the courage and skill that could +triumph nevertheless. But it was only a fleeting look. His eyes turned +back to the forest, where he watched lazily; lazily, because he knew with +the certainty of divination that they would not attempt anything until +dark, and he knew with equal certainty that they would attempt something +then. + +He awakened Paul in two hours, and took his place on the bench. He had not +slept at all the night before, when they were expecting a foe who had not +yet come, and he, too, must be fresh when the conflict was at hand. + +"When you see shadows in the clearing, wake me, without fail, Paul," he +said. + +Then he closed his eyes, and like Paul slept almost at once. Neither the +weary waiting nor the danger could upset his nerves so much that sleep +would not come, and his slumber was dreamless. + +The afternoon waned. Paul, peeping from the loophole, saw the sun, red +like fire, seeking its bed in the west, but the shadows were not yet over +the clearing. Refreshed by his sleep, and his nerves steadied, he no +longer saw imaginary figures in the wilderness. It was just a wall of red +and yellow and brown, and it was hard to believe that men seeking his +life lay there. By and by the east began to turn gray, and over the +clearing fell the long shadows of coming twilight. Then Paul awakened +Henry, and the two watched together. + +The shadows lengthened and deepened, a light wind arose and moaned among +the oaks and beeches, a heavy, dark veil was drawn across the sky, and the +forest melted into a black blur. Now Henry looked with all his eyes and +listened with all his ears, because he knew that what the warriors wanted, +the covering veil of the night, had come. + +It was a very thick and black night, too, and that was against him and +Paul, as the objects in the clearing were hidden almost as well now as +anything in the forest. Hence he trusted more to ear than to eye. But he +could yet hear nothing, save the wind stirring the leaves and the grass. +Inside the little cabin it grew dark, too, but their trained eyes, +becoming used to the gloom, were able to see each other well enough for +all the needs of the defense. + +Time passed slowly on, and to Paul every moment was tense and vivid. The +darkness was far more suggestive of danger than the day had been. He took +his eyes now and then from the loophole, for a moment, to glance at +Henry's face, and about the third or fourth time he saw a sudden light +leap into the eyes of his comrade. The next instant Henry thrust his +rifle into the loophole and, taking quick aim, fired. + +A long, quavering cry arose, and after that came a silence that lay very +still and deadly upon Paul's soul. Henry had seen in the shadow a deeper +shadow quiver, and he had fired instantly but with deadly aim. Paul, +looking through the loophole on his own side of the cabin, could see +nothing for a little space, but presently arose a patter of feet, and many +forms darted through the dusk toward the cabin. He quickly fired one +rifle, and then the other, but whether his bullets hit he could not tell. +Then heavy forms thudded against the log walls of the hut, and through the +loophole he heard deep breathing. + +"They've gained the side of the cabin," said Henry, "and we can't reach +'em with our rifles now." + +"I did my best, Henry," said Paul ruefully. Conflict did not appeal to +him, but the wilderness left no choice. + +"Of course, Paul," said Henry, with every appearance of cheerfulness, +"it's not your fault. In such darkness as this they were bound to get +there. But they are not inside yet by a long sight. Be sure you don't get +in front of any of the loopholes." + +There came a heavy push at the door, but neither it nor the bar showed the +slightest sign of giving way. Henry laughed low. + +"They can't get enough warriors against that door to push it in," he said. + +The two boys rapidly reloaded the empty rifles, and now each crouched +against the wall, where no chance bullet through a loophole could reach +him. An eye unused to the darkness could have seen nothing there. Their +figures were blended against the logs, and they did not speak, but each, +listening intently, could hear what was going on outside. Paul's fancy, as +usual, added to the reality. He heard men moving cautiously, soft +footfalls going pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat around the cabin, and it seemed to +him a stray word of advice or caution now and then. + +The silence was broken suddenly by a blaze of fire that seemed to come +through the wall, a report that roared like a cannon in the cabin. A spurt +of smoke entered at one of the holes, and a bullet burled itself in the +opposite wall. A savage had boldly thrust the muzzle of his rifle into a +loophole and fired. + +"Be still, Paul," whispered Henry. "They can't hit us, and they are +wasting their ammunition." + +A second shot was tried by the besiegers, but the result was only the +roaring, echoing report, the smoke and the flame, and the bullet that +found a vain target of wood. But to Paul, with an imagination fed by +stories of mighty battles, it was like a cannonade. Great guns were +trained upon Henry and himself. A thin, fine smoke from the two shots had +entered the cabin, and it floated about, tickling his nostrils, and +adding, with its savor, to the fever that began to rise in his blood. He +dropped to his knees, and was creeping, rifle ready, toward one of the +loopholes, eager with the desire to fire back, when Henry's strong hand +fell upon his shoulder. + +"I understand what you want, Paul," he whispered. "I, too, feel it, but it +pays us to wait. Let 'em waste their lead." + +Paul stopped, ashamed of himself, and his blood grew cooler. He was not +one to wish anybody's life, and again his mind rebelled at the necessity +of conflict. + +"Thank you, Henry," he said, and resumed his place by the wall. + +No more shots were fired. The warriors could not know whether or not their +bullets had hit a human mark, and Henry inferred that they would wait a +while, crouched against the cabin. He reckoned that when they did move +they would attack the door, and he noiselessly made an additional prop for +it with the heavy wooden bench. But the faint sound of footsteps suddenly +ceased, and Henry, listening intently, could hear nothing save the rising +wind. He looked through one of the loopholes, but he could not see +anything of the savages. Either they were still crouching against the +wall, or had slipped back to the forest. But he saw enough to tell him +that the night was growing cloudy, and that the air was damp. + +Presently rain fell in a slow drizzle, but Henry still watched at the +loophole, and soon he caught a glimpse of two parallel rows of men bearing +something heavy, and approaching the cabin. They had secured a tree trunk, +and would batter down the door; but they must come within range, and Henry +smiled to himself. Then he beckoned to Paul to come to his side. + +"Bring me your two rifles," he whispered. "This is the only place from +which we can reach them now, and I want you to pass me the loaded guns as +fast as I can fire them." + +Paul came and stood ready, although his mind rebelled once more at the +need to shoot. Henry looked again, and saw the brown files approaching. He +thrust the muzzle of the rifle through the hole and fired at a row of +brown legs, and then, with only a second between, he discharged another +bullet at the same target. Cries of pain and rage arose, there was a thud +as the heavy log was dropped to the ground, and Henry had time to send a +third shot after the fleeing warriors as they ran for the forest. + +"They won't try that again," said Henry. "They cannot approach the door +without coming within range of the loophole, and they'll rest a while now +to think up some new trick." + +"What will be the end of it?" asked Paul. + +"Nobody can say," replied the great youth calmly. "Indians don't stick to +a thing as white men do; they may get tired and go away after a while, but +not yet, and it's for you and me, Paul, to watch and fight." + +A certain fierce resolve showed in his tone, and Paul knew that Henry felt +himself a match for anything. + +"Better eat and drink a little more, Paul," said Henry. "Take the half of +a pigeon. We'll need all our strength." + +Paul thought the advice good, and followed it. Then came another period of +that terrible waiting. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE FLIGHT + + +Paul was half reclining against the wall, when he suddenly saw Henry look +up. Paul's eyes followed his comrade's, and then he heard a soft, faint +sound over their heads. He understood at once. Danger had come from a new +quarter. The Shawnees were upon the board roof, through which a rifle +bullet could easily pass. The menace was serious, but the men up there +could not see their targets below, and they themselves were in a +precarious position. + +Henry once pointed his rifle toward a portion of the roof from which a +slight sound came, but for a reason that he did not give he withheld his +fire. Then came a dead stillness, to be broken a few moments later by +fierce war cries all around the cabin and a crash of rapid shots. It +seemed to Paul that an attack in great force was being made from every +side, and, thrusting his rifle through the loophole, he fired quickly at +what he took to be the flitting form of a foe. The next moment he became +aware of a terrible struggle in the cabin itself. He heard a thud, the +roar of a rifle shot within the confined space, a fall, and then, in the +half darkness, he saw two powerful figures writhing to and fro. One was +Henry and the other a mighty Shawnee warrior, naked to the waist, and +striving to use a tomahawk that he held in a hand whose wrist was clenched +in the iron grasp of his foe. Lying almost at their feet was the body of +another warrior, stark and dead. + +Paul sprang forward, his second and loaded rifle in his hand. + +"No, no, Paul!" cried Henry. "The chimney! Look to the chimney!" + +Paul whirled about, and he was just in time. A savage warrior dropped down +the great wide chimney that all the log cabins had, and fell lightly on +his feet among the dead embers of a month ago. His face was distorted +horribly with ferocity, and Paul, all the rage of battle upon him now that +battle had come, fired squarely at the red forehead, the rifle muzzle only +three feet away. The savage fell back and lay still among the cinders. The +next instant the deep, long-drawn sigh of a life departing came from +behind, and Paul whirled about again, his heart full of sickening fear. + +But it was Henry who stood erect. He had wrenched the warrior's own +tomahawk from him, and had slain him with it. His face was flushed with a +victorious glow, but he stood there only a moment. Then he seized his own +second and loaded rifle, and ran to the chimney. But nothing more came +down it, and there were no more sounds of warriors walking on the roof. +The three who had come had been daring men, but they had paid the price. +The shots and shouts around continued for a little space, forms dashed +heavily against the door, and then, as suddenly as it began, the tumult +ceased. + +Paul felt a chill of horror creeping through his bones. It was all so +ghastly. The dead warriors lay, each upon his back, one among the dead +coals, and Paul could hear nothing but his own and Henry's heavy +breathing. + +"It was a daring thing to do," said Henry at last, "to come down the +chimney that way; but it has been done before in Kentucky." + +Then they reloaded their rifles, but Paul was like one in a dream. It +seemed to him now that he could not endure the long hours in the cabin +with those dead faces on the floor staring at him with their dead eyes. + +"Henry," he said, "we can't keep them here." + +"No," replied Henry, "we can't; but we must wait a little." + +Paul sat down on the bench. He felt for a moment faint and sick. The +little cabin was full of rifle smoke, and it lay heavy in his nostrils and +upon his lungs. He felt as if he were breathing poisoned air. But the +smoke gradually drifted away up the chimney, and the thick, clogging +feeling departed from his lungs and nostrils. Strength and spirit came +back. + +"How are we to get rid of them?" he asked, nodding toward the dead +warriors. + +"Let's wait an hour at least, and I'll show you," replied Henry. + +The hour passed, but to Paul it seemed two. Then Henry took the largest of +the warriors and dragged him to the wall just beneath the window. The +second and third he did the same way. + +"Now, Paul," he said, "you must take down the bar and open the window. +Then I'll pitch them out. The besiegers will be surprised, and they won't +have time to get at us." + +Paul accepted his part of the task eagerly. There might be danger, but +better that than having the dead men lying on the floor and staring at him +with dead eyes. He took down the bar and quickly held the window open. +Henry heaved up the bodies of the warriors and cast them out, one by one, +each falling with a dull, heavy sound to the ground below. Then Paul +slammed back the window and shot the bar into place. As he did so three +or four rifles flashed from the forest, and the bullets pattered upon the +heavy oaken shutter. + +"Too late," said Henry, "We took 'em by surprise, as I thought we should." + +Paul drew a long and deep breath. The cabin had taken on a brighter +aspect. + +"I'm mighty glad that's done," he said. + +"If you'll listen carefully, I think you'll hear something later," said +Henry. + +Henry was right. In about half an hour they heard soft, shuffling noises +beside the cabin, just under the window. + +"They're taking away the dead warriors," said Henry. + +"I don't want to fire on them while they're doing it," said Paul. + +"Nor I," said Henry. "We might reach 'em, but I'm glad they're doing what +they are." + +The slight, sliding noises continued for a little while, and then they +heard only the light sweep of the rain. On the roof it became a patter, +and here and there a drop made its way between the boards and fell on the +floor. It was soothing to Paul after the excitement of those terrible +moments, and he felt a queer, pleasant languor. His eyes half closed, but +his vague look fell on somber, dark spots on the floor, and the sight was +repellent to him. He went to the hearth, heaped up the whole of the embers +and ashes, and sprinkled them carefully over the spots, which would have +been red in the light, but which were black in the night and gloom of the +cabin. Henry watched him do it, but said nothing. He understood Paul, and +gave him his sympathy. + +Paul sat down again on the floor, and leaned against the wall. The +pleasant, languorous feeling came once more, but he was roused suddenly by +scattered rifle shots, and sprang up. Henry laughed. + +"They're not attacking," he said. "It was only a volley, fired from the +wood, to show how angry they are. I don't think we need expect anything +more to-night. You might really go to sleep, Paul, if you feel like it." + +"No, I will not!" exclaimed Paul with energy. "I won't do all the +sleeping, and let you do all the watching. Besides, I couldn't sleep, +anyhow; my nerves wouldn't let me. I looked sleepy just because I was +tired, it's your time." + +"All right," said Henry. "Now, you watch good, Paul." + +Then Henry lay down upon the floor and closed his eyes. He might not have +done so, but he felt sure that nothing more would be attempted that +night; and if, by any chance, they should attack again, Paul would be +sure to waken him in time. The rain grew harder on the roof, and its +steady patter was like the rocking of a cradle to a child. His nerves were +of steel, and the mechanism of his body and brain were not upset at all. +The half-dropped lids dropped down entirely, and he slept, breathing +peacefully. + +Paul watched, his brief lethargy gone; but his accustomed eyes could see +little now through the loopholes, only the dim forest and the rain, +falling slowly but steadily. He and Henry seemed to be alone in the world. +Outside all the wilderness was in gloom, but in the little cabin it was +dry and warm. The few drops that came through the boards now and then, and +fell with a little pat on the floor, were nothing. He and Henry were dry +and safe, and it seemed to him that so far, at least, they had all the +better of the battle. The glow of triumph came again. + +Paul watched until dawn, and saw the sun spring up over the eastern +forests. Then he awakened Henry, and the great youth, stretching himself, +uttered a long sigh. + +"That was fine, Paul!" he said, "fine! Now, what are our friends outside +doing?" + +"Nothing that I can see. There are only stumps in the clearing, and trees +and hushes in the forest. I see no warrior." + +Henry laughed, and his laugh had a most cheerful tone. + +"They are not far away," he said. "It is likely they'll try to starve us +out, or rather conquer us with thirst. They don't know anything about our +barrel of water." + +"Blessed barrel!" ejaculated Paul. + +It seemed that Henry was right in his prediction. As long hours passed, +the sun rose higher and higher, and it grew very close in the little +cabin. Paul thought the warriors must have gone away, disgusted with their +losses, but Henry cautioned him against savage patience. Toward noon they +ate a little more of their pigeon and dried venison, and Paul looked with +some dismay at the small portions that were left. + +"Henry," he exclaimed, "there is enough for supper, and no more." + +"Just so," said Henry, "and our enemies remain on guard. They'll wait for +us." + +He thought it best to put the case plainly and in all its hideous phases +to Paul. While savages sometimes abandoned a siege very soon, they did not +show signs of ceasing now. Perhaps they relied on starving out the +besieged, and if they only knew the state of affairs within the cabin +theirs was a good reliance. + +Their brief dinner over, the two boys sat down on the floor, and from the +loopholes on either side watched the forest. To Paul the whole air and +atmosphere of the cabin had now become intolerably oppressive. At first it +had been such a strong, snug place of refuge that he rejoiced, but at last +his sensitive spirit was weighed down by the long delay, the gloom, and +the silence. The sight of their limited rations brought to him all the +future--the vigilant enemy on guard, the last little piece of food gone, +then slow starvation, or a rush on the savage bullets and sure death. As +usual, his uncommon imagination was depicting everything in vivid colors, +far in advance. + +But he said nothing, nor did Henry. They had already exhausted all +subjects for talk, and they waited--Henry with real, and Paul with assumed +patience. Fully two hours passed in silence, but after that time it was +naturally Paul who spoke first. + +"Henry," he said in a tone that indicated unbelief in his own words, +"don't you think that they must have got tired and gone away?" + +"No, they are surely in the forest about us; but since they won't go, +Paul, you and I must leave to-night." + +"What do you mean?" Paul's words expressed the greatest surprise. + +Henry stood up, and figure, face, and words alike showed the greatest +decision. + +"Paul," he said, "our last piece of venison will soon be gone, and the +Shawnees, I think, will stay, expecting to starve us out, which they can +do; but the night shows all the signs of being very dark, and you and I +must slip through their lines some way or other. Are you ready to try it?" + +It was like a signal to Paul, those words, "Are you ready to try it?" He +was ready to try anything now, as a release from the cabin, and a fine +flare of color mounted to his cheeks as he replied: + +"I'll follow you anywhere, Henry." + +Henry said nothing more; Paul's reply was sufficient; but he resumed his +position at the loophole, and attentively watched the heavens. Somber +clouds were rolling up from the southwest and the air was growing cooler, +but heavy with damp. Already the sun, so bright and pitiless in the +morning, was obscured, and mists and vapors hung over the forest. He +judged that it would be a dark night, with flurries of mist and rain, just +suited to his purpose, and he felt a sensation of relief. + +"Paul," he said, after a while, "I think we'd better take the two captured +rifles with us again. If we come face to face with 'em, a couple of extra +shots might save us." + +"Whatever you say, Henry," replied Paul. + +The afternoon passed slowly away, and the night came on thick and dark, as +Henry had hoped. The rain fell again in intermittent showers, and it was +carried in gusts by the wind. The two boys drank deeply from the barrel, +and ate what was left of the venison. + +"Be sure your powder horns are stopped up tight, Paul," said Henry. "We've +got to keep our powder dry. The sooner we go the better, because the +Shawnees won't be expecting us to come out so soon." + +The darkness was now rolling up so thick and black that to Paul it seemed +like a great sable curtain dropping its folds over them. It enveloped the +forest, then the clearing, then the hut, and those within it. The inky sky +was without a star. The puffs of rain rattled dismally on the roof of the +old cabin. But all this somberness of nature brought comfort and lightness +of heart to the besieged. Paul's spirits rose with the blackness of the +night and the wildness of the rain. + +"Are you all ready, Paul?" asked Henry. + +"Yes," replied Paul cheerfully. + +Accustomed as they were to the darkness of the cabin, they could not see +each other's faces now, only the merest outlines of their figures. + +"We must keep close together," said Henry. "It won't do to lose sight of +each other." + +He slipped to the door, lifted the bar and put it soundlessly on one side, +and he and Paul stood together in the open space, just a moment, waiting +and listening. + +The rush of air and raindrops on Paul's face felt wonderfully cool and +invigorating. His chest expanded and his spirits rose to the top. It was +like leaving a prison behind. + +"Step more lightly than you ever did before in your life," said Henry, and +he and Paul put foot together on mother earth. The very pressure of the +damp earth felt good to Paul all the way through his moccasins. A step or +two from the door they paused again, waiting and listening. The forest was +invisible, and so were the stumps in the clearing. But nothing stirred. +Henry's acute ear told him that. + +"We'll follow the wall around to the other side of the cabin," he +whispered to Paul. "They don't know yet that we've come out, and naturally +they'll watch the door closest. Be careful where you put your feet." + +But the very dampness prevented any rustle in the weeds and grass, and +they passed to the other side of the cabin without an alarm coming from +the forest. There they paused again, and once more Henry whispered his +instructions. + +"I think we'd better get down and crawl," he said. "It's a hard thing to +do with two rifles each, but we must do it until we get to the woods." + +It was difficult, as Henry had said, and Paul felt, too, a sense of +humiliation; but then one's life was at stake, and without hesitation he +dropped to his knees, crawling slowly after the dark figure of his +comrade. Henry made no sound and Paul but a little, not enough to be heard +ten feet away. Henry stopped now and then, as if he would listen intently +a moment or two, and Paul, of course, stopped just behind him. Fortune +seemed to favor their daring. The great silence lasted, broken only by +puffs of wind and rain, and the wet leaves of the forest rubbing softly +against each other. Paul looked back once. The cabin was already melting +into a blur, although not twenty yards distant, and in as many yards more +it would be lost completely in the surrounding darkness. + +Now the forest was only a few yards away, but to Paul it seemed very far. +His knees and wrists began to ache, and the two rifles became awkward for +him to carry. He wondered how Henry could go forward with so much ease, +but he resolved to persist as long as his comrade led the way. + +The dark outline of the wood slowly came nearer, then nearer yet, and then +they entered it, pressing silently among the hushes and the black shadows +of the lofty trees. Here Henry rose to his feet and Paul imitated him, +thankful to rest his aching knees and wrists, and to stand up in the form +and spirit of a man. + +"We may slip through unseen and unheard," whispered Henry, "and then again +we may not. Come on; we'll need all our caution now." + +But as they took the first step erect, a cry arose behind them, a cry so +full of ferocity and chagrin that Paul absolutely shuddered from head to +foot. It came from the clearing, near the hut, and Paul, without the +telling of it, knew what had happened. + +"They've tried the door of the cabin, only to find it open and the place +empty," whispered Henry. "Now, we must not go too fast, Paul. In this +pitchy darkness not even a Shawnee could see us ten feet away, but he +could hear us. No noise, Paul!" + +They stole forward, one close behind the other, going but slowly, seeking +with sedulous care to avoid any noise that would bring the savages upon +them. The rain, which had grown steadier, was a Godsend. It and the wind +together kept up a low, moaning sound that hid the faint pressure of +Paul's footsteps. The cry behind them at the cabin was repeated once, +echoing away through the black and dripping forest. After that Paul heard +nothing, but to the keener ears of Henry came now and then the soft, +sliding sound of rapid footsteps, a word or two uttered low, and the faint +swish of bushes, swinging back into place after a body passed. He knew +that the warriors were now seeking eagerly for them, but with the aid of +the intense darkness he hoped that he and Paul would steal safely through +their lines. They went slowly forward for perhaps half an hour, stopping +often and listening. Once Henry's hand on Paul's shoulder, they sank a +little lower in the bushes, and Henry, but not Paul, saw the shadowy +outline of a figure passing near. + +Fortunately the forest was very dense, but unfortunately the clouds began +to thicken, and a rumble dull and low came from the far horizon. Then the +clouds parted, cut squarely down the middle by a flash of lightning, and +for a moment a dazzling glow of light played over the dripping forest. +Everything was revealed by it, every twig and leaf stood out in startling +distinctness, and Paul, by impulse, sank lower to hide himself among the +bushes. + +The glow vanished and Henry had seen nothing; he was sure, too, that no +one had seen them, but he knew that it was only luck; another flash might +reveal them, and he and Paul must now hasten, taking the chances of +discovery by noise. He spoke a word to his comrade, and they plunged more +rapidly through the undergrowth. The thunder kept up an unceasing and +threatening murmur on the far horizon, and the lightning flared fitfully +now and then, but they were still unseen, and Henry hoped that they had +now passed the ring of savages in the forest and the dusk. + +Paul had dropped back from Henry's side, but was following closely behind +him. He was deeply impressed by a situation so extraordinary for one of +his type. The thunder, the lightning, the darkness and the danger +contained for him all the elements of awe and mystery. + +"I think we've shaken them off," said Henry presently, "and unless the +lightning shows us to some stray member of the band they can't pick up our +trail again before morning." + +Paul was grateful for the assurance, and he noticed, too, that the danger +of the lightning's revelation was decreasing, as the flashes were becoming +less frequent and vivid. His breathing now grew easier and his spirits +rose. Much of the gloom departed from the forest. The thunder that had +kept up a continuous low rolling, like a dirge, died away, and the +lightning, after a few more weak and ineffectual flashes, ceased. + +"We won't have any further trouble to-night, that's sure," said Henry. +"They could not possibly find our trail before day, and I think we'd +better push on, as nearly as we can, in the direction of our hidden +powder. You know we still mean to do what we started out to do." + +They traveled all night, with brief periods of rest, through rough and +densely wooded country. Toward morning the rain ceased, and the clouds all +floated away. The stars came out in a clear sky, and a warm wind blew over +the wet forest. Henry looked more than once at Paul, and his look was +always full of sympathy. Paul's face was pale, but his expression was set +in firm resolve, and Henry knew that he would never yield. + +After a while the dark began to lighten, and Henry stopped short in +surprise. Paul was walking in such automatic fashion that he almost ran +against him before he stopped. Henry pointed with a long forefinger to a +red spot deep in the forest. + +"See that?" he said. + +"Yes, I guess it's the sun rising," said Paul, who was staggering a +little, and who saw through a cloud, as it were. + +Henry looked at him and laughed. + +"The sun!" he said. "Well, Paul, it's the first time I ever knew the sun +to rise in the west." + +"The sun's likely to do anything out here where we are," rejoined Paul. + +"That's a fire, a camp fire, Paul," said Henry, "and I'm thinking it must +be made by white men." + +"White men! Friends!" exclaimed Paul. He stood up straight, and his eyes +grew brighter. An hour or two ago it had scarcely seemed possible to him +that they should ever see white faces again. + +"It's only my belief," said Henry. "We've got to make sure. Now, you wait +here, Paul, and I'll do a little bit of scouting. Sit down among those +bushes there and I'll be back soon." + +Paul was fully content to do what Henry said. He found a good place in a +thick clump of underbrush, and sank down easily. He would have been quite +willing to lie down, because he was terribly tired and sleepy, but with an +effort he held himself to a sitting posture and watched Henry. He was +conscious of a vague admiration as the tall form of his comrade went +forward swiftly, making no noise and hiding itself so quickly in the +forest that he could not tell where it had gone. + +Then Paul was conscious of a great peace, and a heavy tugging at his +eyelids. Never in his life before was he so tired and sleepy. The last +raindrop was gone, and the bushes and grass were drying in the gentle +wind. A fine golden sun was bringing with it a silver dawn, and a pleasant +warmth stole all through him. His head sank back a little more and his +elbow found a soft place in the turf. + +The boy, with his half-closed eyes and pale face, was not alone as he lay +there among the bushes. Little neighbors came and looked at the newcomer. +A hare gazed solemnly at him for a moment or two, and then hopped solemnly +away. A bluebird flew down to the very tip of a bough, surveyed him at +leisure, and then flew off in search of food. Neither hare nor bird was +scared. Tiny creeping things scuttled through the grass, but the boy did +not move, and they scuttled on undisturbed. + +Paul was just sinking away into a pleasant unknown land when a shout +brought him back to earth. He sprang to his feet, and there was Henry +returning through the forest. + +"Friends, Paul! Old friends!" he cried. "Up with you and we'll pay 'em a +surprise visit!" + +Paul shook his head to clear his thoughts, and followed Henry. Henry +walked swiftly now, not seeming to care whether or not he made noise, and +Paul followed him toward the fire, which now rapidly grew larger. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE BATTLE ON THE HILL + + +Six men were sitting around a camp fire, and they showed every sign of +comfort and cheerfulness. It was a big fire, a glowing fire, a warm fire, +and it took all trace of damp from the rain or cold of the autumn morning. +They were just having breakfast, and their food was buffalo hump, very +tender as it came from beneath a huge bed of red-hot embers. + +The men seemed to have no fear of an enemy, perhaps because their fire was +in an open space, too far from the forest for the rifle shot of an +ambushed foe to reach them. Perhaps, too, they felt security in their +numbers and valor, because they were certainly a formidable-looking party. +All were stalwart, dressed in wilderness fashion--that is, in tanned +deerskin--and every one carried the long, slender-barreled Kentucky rifle, +with knife and hatchet at his belt. There was Tom Ross, the guide, of +middle years, with a powerful figure and stern, quiet face, and near him +lounged a younger man in an attitude of the most luxurious and indolent +ease, Shif'less Sol Hyde, who had attained a great reputation for laziness +by incessantly claiming it for himself, but who was nevertheless a hunter +and scout of extraordinary skill. Jim Hart, a man of singular height and +thinness, whom Sol disrespectfully called the "Saplin'"--that is, the +sapling, a slim young tree--was doing the cooking. The others were typical +frontiersmen--lean, big of build, and strong. + +The shiftless one curled himself into an easier position against a log, +and regarded with interest a particularly juicy piece of the buffalo hump +that lay on the grass some distance from him. + +"Say, Saplin'," he drawled, "I wish you'd bring me that piece o' hump. I +think it would just suit my teeth." + +"Git it yourself," replied Saplin' indignantly. "Do you think I'm goin' to +cook for a lazy bag o' bones like you, an' then wait on you, too?" + +"Well, I think you might," said Shif'less Sol sorrowfully. "I'm pow'ful +tired." + +"If I wuz to wait on you when you wuz tired, I'd wait on you all my life." + +"Which 'ud he puttin' yourself to a mighty good use," said Sol tolerantly. +"But if you won't bring it to me, I reckon I'll have to go after it." + +He rose, with every appearance of reluctance, and secured the buffalo +meat. But he stood with it in his hand and regarded the forest to the +east, from which two figures were coming. Ross had already seen them, but +he had said nothing. The keen eyes of the shiftless one were not at fault +for a moment. + +"Paul Cotter an' Henry Ware," he said. + +"Yes," said Tom Ross. + +"And Paul's just about done up." + +"Yes," said Tom Ross. + +"Looks like they've had a big fight or a big run, one or t'other or both." + +"Yes," said Tom Ross. + +Then all went forward to meet the two boys, so well known to them. Paul +was staggering a little, and there was a high color, as of fever, in his +face, but Henry showed signs of neither fatigue nor excitement. + +"We're glad to find you," said Henry briefly. + +"We're glad, awful glad!" began Paul, with more fervor; but he suddenly +reeled, and everything grew dim about him. Shif'less Sol caught him. + +"Here, Paul," he said, "stand up. You're a heavy weight for a tired man to +hold." + +His words were rough, but his tone was kindly. Paul, all his pride +aroused, made a great effort and stood straight again. Slowly the world +about him swam back, into its proper position. + +"Who said I wasn't standing up?" he asked. + +"Nobody," replied Shif'less Sol; "but if I'd been through what I reckon +you've been through, I'd fall flop on the ground, an' Jim Hart would have +to come an' feed me or I'd starve to death right before his eyes." + +Paul laughed, and then he felt more like himself. Ross, too, had been +regarding him with sympathy, but he glanced inquiringly at Henry. + +"You've had it hot an' hard?" he said. + +"Yes," replied the boy laconically; "we've run against Shawnees, and about +everything that could has happened to us." + +"Then it's fire, warmth, meat, rest, an' sleep for Paul right away," said +Ross. + +Henry nodded. + +Paul was looking at the fire, which seemed to him the most glorious one +ever built, and he did not notice anything more until he was lying beside +it, stretched on a blanket, and eating the very piece of tender buffalo +meat that Shif'less Sol had coveted for himself. Despite his relaxed and +half-dreamy condition, his imagination leaped up at once to magnificent +heights. All danger and hardship were gone. He was surrounded by a ring +of dauntless friends, and the fire glowed splendidly. + +Shif'less Sol sat down near him, and regarded him with the deepest +sympathy, mingled with a certain amount of envy. + +"Paul," he said, "I wish I wuz in your place for an hour or two. They've +jest got to wait on you. Nobody ever believes me when I say I'm sick, +though I'm took pow'ful bad sometimes, an' they don't care whether I'm +tired or not. Now, Paul, take all the advantages o' your position. Don't +you reach your hand for a thing. Make 'em bring it to you. Ef I can't get +waited on myself, I like to see another fellow waited on. Here, Saplin', +some more o' that buffalo steak for Paul, who is mighty hungry." + +Saplin' cast a look of scorn upon Shif'less Sol, but he brought the steak, +and Paul ate again, for he was voraciously hungry. But one cannot eat +always, and by and by he had enough. Then his restful, dreamy feeling +grew. He saw Henry and the men talking, but he either did not hear what +they said or he was not interested. Soon the whole world faded out, and he +slept soundly. And as he slept the touch of fever left him. Shif'less Sol +looked down at him kindly. + +"I'm tired, too," he said, "but I suppose if I wuz to go to sleep some o' +you 'ud be mean enough to shove me in the side with his foot." + +"I'd try to be the first," said Jim Hart, "an' I'd shove pow'ful hard." + +"It 'ud be jest like you," said Shif'less Sol, "but I suppose you can't +any more help bein' mean, Jim, than I can help bein' tired." + +Jim shrugged his shoulders and returned to his cooking, his tall, lean +form bent over like a hoop. Paul slept peacefully on the blanket, but the +others talked much and earnestly. Henry, as he ate of the buffalo meat, +told them all that had happened to him and Paul in that brief period which +yet looked so long. That the band would pick up the trail, daylight now +come, and follow on, he did not doubt. There he stopped, and left the +conclusion to the others. Shif'less Sol was the first to speak. + +"This gang," he said, "come out to hunt buffalo, an', accordin' to what +Henry says, a war party--he don't know how big--is comin' this way huntin' +him an' Paul. Well, ef it keeps on huntin' him an' Paul, it's bound to run +up agin us, because Paul an' Henry are now a part o' our gang. Ez fur me, +I've done a lot o' trampin' after buffalo, an' I feel too tired to run, I +jest do." + +"I ain't seen no better place for cookin' than this," said Jim Hart, +undoubling himself, "an' I like the looks o' the country round here +pow'ful well. I'd hate to leave it before I got ready," + +"'Tain't healthy to run afore you're ready," said Ike Stebbins, a short, +extremely thick man. "It ain't good for the stomach. Pumps the blood right +up to the heart, an' I ain't feelin' very good just now, noway. Can't +afford to take no more risks to my health." + +A slight smile passed over the stern, bronzed face of Tom Ross. + +"I expected to hear you talk that way, boys," he said, "it's in your +blood; but thar's a better reason still for our not goin'. If this war +band stays around here, it'll be pickin' off settlers, an' it's fur us to +stop it. Now, them Shawnees are comin' a-huntin' us. I jest wish to say +that we don't mean to be the hunted; we're to be the hunters ourselves." + +Sharp exclamations of approval broke from all these fierce spirits of the +border. But the deepest and most dangerous gleam of all was in the eyes of +Henry Ware. All his primeval instincts were alive, and foremost among them +was the desire to fight. He was tired of running, of seeking to escape, +and his warlike blood was up and leaping. Two more men who had been out +ranging the woods for buffalo, or any other worthy game that might happen +in their way, came in presently, and the little army, with the addition +of the two boys, was now raised to the number of ten. And a real little +army it was, fortified with indomitable hearts and all the skill and +knowledge of the wilderness. + +When Paul awoke beneath the pressure of Henry's hand on his shoulder, the +sun was much higher, and the forest swam in limpid light. He noticed at +once that the fire was out, trampled under strong heels, and that all the +men looked as if ready for instant conflict. He rubbed his eyes and sprang +to his feet, half in shame that he should have slept while others watched. +It was Shif'less Sol who came to his rescue. + +"It's all right, Paul," he drawled. "We all know you were pow'ful tired, +an' I'd have slept, too, ef them fellows hadn't been mean enough to keep +me from it. You wuz just nacherally overpowered, an' you had to do it." + +Paul looked around at the little group, and he read the meaning in the eye +of every man. + +"You are going to fight that war band?" he said. + +"It 'pears to me that it's a sight less tirin' than runnin' away," replied +Shif'less Sol, "though we hate to drag you, Paul, into such a fracas." + +The blood flushed into Paul's face. + +"I'm ready for it!" he exclaimed. "I'm as ready as any of you! Do you +think I want to run away?" + +"We know, Paul, that you've got ez much grit ez anybody in the world," +said Tom Ross kindly; "but Sol maybe didn't think a boy that's a big +scholar, an' that kin read an' understand anything, would he as much +interested in a real hair-raisin' fight as the rest o' us." + +Paul was mollified. He knew their minds now, and in a way it was an +unconscious tribute that these wild borderers paid to him. + +"I'm with you to the end of it," he said. And they, too, were satisfied. +Then the entire party moved forward into the deep woods, watching and +listening for the slightest sign of the Shawnee advance. Tom Ross +naturally took command, but Henry Ware, as always, was first scout. No +other eye was so keen as his, nor any other ear. All knew it, and all +admitted it willingly. His form expanded again, and fierce joy surged up +in his heart. As Ross truly said, the hunted had turned into the hunter. + +It was the purpose of the men to circle to the east, and to strike the war +party on the Hank. They knew that the Shawnees had already discovered the +junction of the fugitives with a larger force, but the warriors could not +yet know that the new party intended to stand and fight. Ross, therefore, +like the general of a great army going into battle, intended to seek the +best possible position for his force. + +They traveled in a half circle for perhaps two hours, and then Henry +struck a trail, calling at once to Ross. They examined it carefully, and +judged that it had been made by a force of about twenty warriors, +undoubtedly the band that was following Henry and Paul. + +"We're behind 'em now," said Henry. + +"But they'll soon be coming back on our trail," said Ross. "They know that +they are more than two to one, and they will follow hard." + +"I'm gittin' mighty tired ag'in," said Shif'less Sol. "It 'pears to me +thar's a pow'ful good place fur us to rest over thar among all them big +trees on that little hill." + +Ross and Henry examined the hill, which was not very high, but small, and +crowned with mighty beeches. The great tree-trunks would offer admirable +cover for the wilderness fighter. + +"It does kinder invite us," said Ross meaningly, "so we'll jest go over +thar, Sol, an' set a while longer." + +A few minutes later they were on the hill, each man lying behind a tree of +his own selection. Shif'less Sol had chosen a particularly large one, and +luckily there was some soft turf growing over its roots. He stretched +himself out luxuriously. + +"Now, this jest suits an easy-goin' man like me," he said. "I could lay +here all day jest a-dreamin', never disturbin' nobody, an' nobody +disturbin' me. Paul, you and me ain't got no business here. We wuz cut out +fur scholars, we wuz." + +Nevertheless, lazy and luxurious as he looked, Shif'less Sol watched the +forest with eyes that missed nothing. His rifle lay in such a position +that he could take aim almost instantly. + +There was a long and tense silence, full of strangeness to Paul. He could +never get used to these extraordinary situations. When preparing for +combat, as well as in it, the world seemed unreal to him. He did not see +why men should fly at each other's throats; but the fact was before him, +and he could not escape it. + +The little hill was so situated that they could see to a considerable +distance at all points of the compass, but they yet saw nothing. Shif'less +Sol stretched himself in a new position and grumbled. + +"The wust thing about this bed o' mine here," he said to Paul, "is that +sooner or later I'll be disturbed in it. A fellow never kin make people +let him alone. It's the way here, an' it's the way back in the East, too, +I reckon. Now, I'm only occupyin' a place six feet by two, with the land +rollin' away thousands o' miles on every side; but it's this very spot, +six feet by two, that the Shawnees are a-lookin' fur." + +Paul laughed at the shiftless one's complaint, and the laugh greatly +relieved his tension. Fortunately his tree was very close to Sol's, and +they could carry on a whispered conversation. + +"Do you think the Shawnees will really come?" asked Paul, who was always +incredulous when the forest was so silent. + +"Come! Of course they will!" replied Shif'less Sol. "If for no other +reason, they'll do it jest to make me trouble. I ought to be back thar in +the East, teachin' school or makin' laws fur somebody." + +Paul's eyes wandered from Sol to his comrade, and he saw Henry suddenly +move, ever so little, then fix his gaze on a point in the forest, three or +four hundred yards away. Paul looked, too, and saw nothing, but he knew +well enough that Henry's keener gaze had detected an alien presence in the +bushes. + +Henry whispered something to Ross, who followed his glance and then nodded +in assent. The others, too, soon looked at the same point, Jim Hart +craning his long neck until it arched like a bow. Presently from a dense +clump of bushes came a little puff of white smoke, and then the stillness +was broken by the report of a rifle. A bullet buried itself in one of the +trees on the hill, and Shif'less Sol turned over with a sniff of contempt. + +"If they don't shoot better'n that," he said, "I might ez well go to +sleep." + +But the forest duel had begun, and it was a contest of skill against +skill, of craft against craft. Every device of wilderness warfare known to +the red men was practiced, too, by the white men who confronted them. + +Paul at first felt an intense excitement, but it was soothed by the calm +words of Shif'less Sol. + +"I'd be easy about it, Paul," said the shiftless one. "That wuz jest a +feeler. They've found out that we're ready for 'em. There ain't no chance +of a surprise, an' they shot that bullet merely as a sort o' way o' +tellin' us that they had come. Things won't be movin' fur some time yet." + +Paul found that Shif'less Sol was right. The long waiting customary in +such forest combats endured, but he was now becoming more of a stoic, and +he used the time, at least in part, for rest, although every nerve and +muscle was keyed to attention. It was fully an hour later when a shot came +from behind a tree much nearer to them, and a bullet cut a fragment of +bark from the gigantic beech that sheltered Shif'less Sol. There was a +second report before the sound of the first had died away, and a Shawnee, +uttering a smothered cry, fell forward from his shelter, and lay upon the +ground, quite still. Paul could see the brown figure, and he knew that the +man was dead. + +"It was Tom Ross who did that," said Shif'less Sol. "The savage leaned too +fur forward when he fired at me, an' exposed hisself. Served him right fur +tryin' to hurt me." + +Then Sol, who had raised himself up a little, lay down again in his +comfortable position. He did not seem disturbed at all, but Paul kept +gazing at the figure of the dead warrior. Once more his spirit recoiled at +the need of taking life. Presently came a spatter of rifle fire--a dozen +shots, perhaps--and bullets clipped turf and trees. The Shawnees had crept +much nearer, and were in a wide semicircle, hoping thus to uncover their +foes, at least in part, and they had a little success, as one man, named +Brewer, was hit in the fleshy part of the arm. + +Paul saw nothing but the smoke and the flashes of fire, and he was wise +enough to save his own ammunition--he had long since learned the border +maxim, never to shoot until you saw something to shoot at. + +But the enemy was creeping closer, hiding among rocks and bushes, and a +second and longer spatter of rifle fire began. One man was hit badly, and +then the borderers began to seek targets of their own. Their long, +slender-barreled rifles flashed again and again, and more than one bullet +went straight to the mark. The plumes of white smoke grew more numerous, +united sometimes, and floated away in little clouds among the trees. + +Paul saw that his comrades were firing slowly, but with terrible effect, +as five or six still, brown figures now lay in the open. Shif'less Sol, at +the next tree, only four feet away, was stretched almost perfectly flat on +his face on the ground, and every movement he made seemed to be slow and +deliberate. Yet no one was firing faster or with surer aim than he, and +faint gleams of satisfaction showed now and then in his eyes. Paul could +not restrain speech. + +"It seems to me, Sol, that you are not tired as you said you were," he +said. + +"Perhaps not," replied Sol slowly, "but I will be." + +The savages suddenly began to shout, and kept up a ferocious yelling, as +if they would confuse and terrify their opponents. The woods echoed with +the din, the long-drawn, whining cry, like that of a wolf, and despite +all the efforts of a strong will, Paul shuddered as he had not shuddered +at the sound of the rifle fire. + +"'Tain't no singin' school," said Shif'less Sol, in a clear voice that +Paul could hear above the uproar, "but, then, yellin' don't hurt nobody, +either. I'd be pow'ful tired ef I used my mouth that way. But jest you +remember, Paul, that noise ain't bullets." + +It seemed to Paul that the Shawnees had come to the same conclusion, +because all the yelling suddenly ceased, and with it the firing. Brown +forms that had been flitting about disappeared, too, and all at once there +was silence in the wilderness, and nothing to be seen save the hunters and +the still, brown figures among the rocks and bushes. To Paul it was +wonderful, this melting away of the battle, and this disappearance of the +foe, all in a flash. He rubbed his eyes, and could scarcely believe that +it was real. But there were the still, brown figures, and by a tree near +him lay another still figure, in hunting shirt and leggings, with his face +upturned to the sky. One of the hunters had been shot through the heart, +and had died instantly and without noise. Three others had been wounded, +but they were not complaining. + +Presently a little hum of talk arose, and Shif'less Sol once more moved +comfortably. + +"Bit off more'n they could chaw," he said reflectively. "Will wait a +while before takin' another bite. Guess I'll rest now." + +He stretched himself luxuriously, took out a piece of venison and began to +eat it, at the same time handing a piece to Paul. + +"Atween fights I allus eat," he said. "Better do the same, Paul." + +But Paul had no appetite. He crawled over to Henry, and asked him what he +expected to happen next. + +"They won't give up," replied Henry, "that is sure. They know that they +outnumber us two or three to one, and I've an idea that this is a band of +picked warriors." + +"You think, too, they'll want to revenge their losses?" + +"Of course. And they're likely to attack again before night. It's not noon +yet, and they have lots of time." + +Paul crawled back to his tree, and, knowing that he would have to wait +again, forced himself to eat the venison that Shif'less Sol had given to +him. + +The Shawnees remained silent and hidden in the forest, and the white men, +voiceless, too, lay waiting behind the trees. Between them stretched the +fallen, their brown faces upturned to the red sun, which sailed peacefully +on in a sky of cloudless blue. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +WHAT HAPPENED IN THE DARK + + +Shif'less Sol rose to a sitting position, and carefully cracked his +joints, one by one. + +"I wuz a bit afeard, Paul," he said, "that I had jest petrified, layin' +thar so long. A tired man likes to rest, but thar ain't no sense in +turnin' hisself into a stone image." + +Sol seemed so careless and easy that Paul drew an inference from his +manner. + +"You are not expecting anything more from them just now, Sol?" + +His nod toward the forest indicated the "them." + +"No, not yet a while," replied Shif'less Sol. "I guess they'll lay by +until night." + +His face showed some apprehension as he spoke of night, but it was gone +quickly. Shif'less Sol was not a man who took troubles to heart, else he +never would have earned his name. + +"We'll jest chaw a little more venison, Paul," he said. "I know you think +a drink o' water would go pow'ful well with it, an' so do I; but since it +ain't to be had, we'll jest do without it and say no more." + +The remainder of the day passed undisturbed, but as the first wan shade of +twilight appeared the men began to look closely to their arms. Horns were +held up to the light in order that the powder line might show, bullets +were counted, and flints examined. Paul knew what it all meant. The +Shawnees would attack in the darkness, and there would be all the +confusion of a midnight battle, when one might not be able to tell friend +from friend nor foe from foe. The sense of weirdness and awe overcame him +again. They were but the tiniest of atoms in that vast wilderness, which +would be just the same to-morrow and the next day, no matter who won. + +But Paul had in him the stuff of which heroes are made, and his strong +will brought his mind back to present needs. He, too, measured his powder +and counted his bullets, while he strove also to forget the hot thirst +that tormented him. + +The sun sank in the forest, the wan twilight deepened into shadow, and the +shadow darkened into night. The trees where the Shawnees lay hidden were +gone in the dusk, which hung so close that Paul could see but the nearest +of his comrades. Only the murmur of night insects and the faint rustle of +leaves came to his ears. The feeling of awe returned, and his blood grew +chill. Then it was a relief to him to know that he had a comrade in this +sensation. + +"Ef an owl would only hoot once or twice now," whispered Shif'less Sol, "I +think I'd jump right out o' my huntin' shirt." + +Paul laughed and felt better. + +"Now, Paul," continued Shif'less Sol, very gravely this time, "lemme give +you a piece o' mighty good advice. When the muss comes on, don't move +about much. Lay close. Stick to me an' Henry, an' then thar ain't so much +chance to git mixed up with them that's lookin' fur you here." + +"I'll remember what you say, Sol," replied Paul earnestly, as he girded +his spirit for action. He knew that the attack would come very soon, as +the Indians would choose the darkest period before the moon rose. Nor was +he wrong. The battle in the night began only a half hour later. + +Paul first saw a pink point appear in the darkness, but he knew that it +was the flame from a rifle shot. It came from a place not far away, to +which some Shawnee had crawled; but the hunters paid no attention to it, +nor to a second, nor to a third, as all the bullets flew wild. Paul, +forgetting for the moment that those bullets were sent to kill, became +engrossed in the spectacle of the fireworks. He was always wondering where +the next spurt of blue or pink flame would break through the darkness, +and the popping of the shots formed a not unpleasant sound in the night. + +"Comin' closer, comin' closer, Paul!" whispered Shif'less Sol. "One o' +them bullets flyin' in the dark may hit somethin' putty soon." + +Sol was a prophet. A hunter not far away uttered a low cry. He was struck +in the shoulder, but after the single cry he was silent. Henry was the +first to see one of the creeping brown bodies and fired, and after that +the shots on either side increased fast. It was all confused and terrible +to Paul. The darkness, instead of thinning to accustomed eyes, seemed to +him to grow heavier. The pin points of light from the rifle fire +multiplied themselves into hundreds, and the front of the foe shifted +about, as if they were trying to curve around the defenders. + +Paul could not definitely say that he saw a single savage, but he fired +now and then at the flashes of light, and also tried to obey Sol's +injunction about sticking close to him and Henry. But he was not always +sure that the figures near him were theirs, the darkness remaining so +intense. He heard occasional low cries, the light impact of bullets, and +the shuffling sound of feet, but he was fast losing any ordered view of +the battle. He knew now that the savages were very close, that the combat +was almost hand to hand, but he knew little else. The night enclosed all +the furious border conflict, and hid the loss or gain of either side from +all but the keenest eyes. + +Paul could never tell how long this lasted, but he felt confident that the +area of conflict was shifting. Having first faced one side, they were now +facing another, as the savages wheeled about them. He rose to his feet in +order to keep with his friends. He had been loading and firing more +rapidly than he knew, and the barrel of his rifle was hot to his touch. He +stood a moment listening for the savages, and then turned to two +indistinct figures near him. + +"Sol," he said, "can you and Henry see them?" + +The two indistinct figures suddenly became distinct, and sprang upon him. +He was seized in a powerful grasp and hurled down so violently that he +became unconscious for a little while. Why he was not killed he did not +know that night, nor ever after--probably they wished to show a trophy. +When he gathered his scattered senses he was being dragged away, and his +hands were bound. He was too dazed to cry aloud for rescue, but he +remembered afterwards that the battle behind him was waning at the time. + +He was dragged deeper into the forest, and the shots on the hill became +fainter and fewer. His sight cleared, but the darkness was so great that +he could yet see little except the warrior who pulled him along. Paul made +an effort and gained a better footing. It hurt his pride to be dragged, +and now he walked on in the path that the warrior indicated. + +They stopped after a while in an open space in the forest. The moon was +clearing a little, and Paul saw other warriors standing about. Nearly all +were wounded. Hideous and painted they were, with savage eyes filled with +rage and disappointment, and the looks they gave Paul made him consider +himself as one dead. + +As the moon cleared, more warriors drifted back into the glade. Some of +these, too, bore wounds, and Paul's heart leaped up with fierce joy as he +saw that they had been defeated. The firing had ceased and the wilderness +was returning to silence, broken only by the low words of the savages and +the soft sound of their moccasins on the earth. + +Paul was still in a sort of daze. The warriors were grouped about him, +their sole visible trophy of the battle, and they regarded him with +vengeful eyes. But he had passed through so much that he was not afraid. +His only feeling was that of dull stupefaction, and mingled with it a sort +of lingering pride that his comrades had been the victors, although he +himself was a prisoner. He did not know whether they would kill him or +take him with them, and at that moment his mind was so dulled that he felt +little curiosity about the question. + +A thin, sharp-faced warrior of middle years seemed to be the leader of the +band, and he talked briefly to the others. They nodded toward Paul, and +then, with a warrior on each side of the prisoner, they started northward. +Paul, his brain clearing, judged that they were taking him as a trophy, as +a prize to show in their village before putting him to death. + +They marched silently through the forest, curving far to the left of the +battlefield. The warriors were about a score in number, and Paul thought +they must have lost at least half as many in battle. Their hideous paint +and their savage faces filled him with repulsion. Their wild life and the +mystery of wild nature did not appeal to him as they had once appealed to +Henry in a similar position. To Paul, the chief thing about the wilderness +was the magnificent home it would make in the future for a great white +race. Spared for the present, he expected to live. Henry had saved him +once, and he and his comrades would come again to the rescue. + +He stumbled at first in their rapid flight from weakness, and the warrior +next to him struck him a blow as a reminder. Paul would have struck back, +but his hands were tied, and he could only guard himself against another +stumble. Pride sustained him. + +They did not stop until nearly dawn, when they camped by the bank of a +creek and ate. Paul's arms were unbound, and the hatchet-faced chief +tossed him a piece of venison, which he ate greedily because he was very +hungry. Then, as the warriors seemed in no hurry to move, he sagged slowly +over on his side and went to sleep. Despite his terrible situation, he was +so thoroughly worn out that he could not hold up his head any longer. + +When Paul awoke the sun was high, and he was lying where he had sunk down. +The warriors were about him, some sitting on the grass or lying full +length, but the party seemed more numerous than it was the night before. +He looked again. It was certainly more numerous, and there, too, sitting +near him, was a white youth of nearly his own age. Paul rose up, inspired +with a feeling of sympathy, and perhaps of comradeship, and then, to his +utter amazement, he saw that the youth was Braxton Wyatt, one of the boys +who had come over the mountains with the group that had settled Wareville. + +Braxton Wyatt, a year or two older than Paul, had always been disliked at +Wareville. Of a sarcastic, sneering, unpleasant temperament, he habitually +made enemies, and did not seem to care. Paul disliked him heartily, but in +this moment of sudden meeting he felt only sympathy and fellowship. They +were captives together, and all feeling of hostility was swept from his +mind. + +"Braxton!" he exclaimed. "Have they got you, too?" + +Wyatt rose up, came to Paul, and took his hand in the friendliest manner. + +"Yes, Paul," he said. "I was out hunting, thinking that there were no +savages south of the Ohio, and I was taken last night by a band which +joined yours this morning while you slept." + +"Why haven't they killed us?" asked Paul. + +"I suppose they'd rather show us to the tribe first, or maybe they think +they can adopt us, as Henry Ware was once. They haven't treated me badly." + +"That may be because you were taken without any loss to them," said Paul. +"We've had a big fight, and I'm the only one they got. Henry Ware, Tom +Ross, Shif'less Sol, and the others beat them off." + +"That was grand fighting!" said Braxton. "Tell me about it." + +Wyatt's fellowship and sympathy greatly cheered Paul, and he told in +detail about the battle with the band, and all that preceded it. Braxton +Wyatt listened with attention, but more than once expressed surprise. + +"How many did you say were left back there on the hill?" he asked at last. + +"We were ten when we began the fighting," replied Paul. "One that I know +of was killed, and it is likely that one or two more were. Then I'm gone. +Not more than six or seven can be left, but they are the best men in all +these woods. Twice their number of Indians cannot whip them." + +Paul said the last words proudly, and then he added: + +"Henry and Ross and Shif'less Sol will come for me. They'll be sure to do +it. And they'll rescue you, too." + +Braxton Wyatt looked thoughtful. + +"I think you're right," he said; "but it'll be a very risky thing for +them, especially if the Shawnees expect it. Be sure you don't let the +Indians think you are dreaming of such a thing." + +"Of course not," said Paul. + +The sharp-faced chief now came up, and said something to Wyatt. Braxton +replied in the Indian tongue. + +"I didn't know that you understood any Shawnee," said Paul in surprise, as +the chief turned away. + +"I've picked it up, a word here and a word there," replied Wyatt, "and I +find it very useful now. The Chief--Red Eagle is his name--says that if +you'll give 'em no trouble, he won't bind your hands again, for the +present, anyway. I've followed that plan, and I've found it a heap easier +for myself." + +Paul pondered a little. Braxton Wyatt's advice certainly seemed good, and +he did not wish to be bound again. It would be better to go along in +docile fashion. + +"All right, Braxton," he said, "I'll do as you suggest. We won't make them +any trouble now, but after a while we'll escape." + +"That's the best way," said Wyatt. + +Red Eagle and another warrior, who seemed to be his lieutenant, were +talking earnestly. The chief presently beckoned to Wyatt, who went over to +him and replied to several questions. But Wyatt came back in a few +moments, and took his seat again beside Paul. + +A half hour later they resumed the march, and Paul knew by the sun that +they were going northward. Hence he inferred that they would make no +further attack upon the white hunters, and were bound for what they +called home. Refreshed by his rest and sleep, and relieved by the removal +of the bandages from his wrists, he walked beside Wyatt with a springy +step, and his outlook upon life was fairly cheerful. It was wonderful what +the comradeship of one of his own kind did for him! After all, he had +probably been deceived about Braxton Wyatt. Merely because his ways were +not the ways of Henry and Paul was not proof that he was not the right +kind of fellow. Now he was sympathetic and helpful enough, when sympathy +and help were needed. + +The march northward was leisurely. The Shawnees seemed to have no further +expectation of meeting a foe, and they were not so vigilant. Paul and +Braxton Wyatt were kept in the center of the group, but they were +permitted to talk as much as they pleased, and Paul was not annoyed by any +blow or kick. + +"Have you any idea how far it is to their village, Braxton?" Paul asked. + +"A long distance," replied Wyatt. "We shall not be there under two weeks, +and as the party may turn aside for hunting or something else, it may be +much longer." + +"It will give Henry and Ross and the others more time to rescue us," said +Paul. + +Braxton Wyatt shrugged his shoulders. + +"I wouldn't put much hope in that if I were you, Paul," he said. "This +band is very strong. Since the two parties joined it numbers forty +warriors, and our friends could do nothing. We must pretend to like them, +to fall in with their ways, and to behave as if we liked the wild life as +well as that back in the settlements, and in time would like it better." + +"I could never do that," said Paul. "All kinds of savages repel me." + +Braxton Wyatt shrugged his shoulders again. + +"One must do the best he can," he said briefly. + +The leisurely march proceeded, and they camped the next afternoon in the +midst of a magnificent forest of beech, oak, and hickory, building a great +fire, and lounging about it in apparently careless fashion. But Paul was +enough of a woodsman to know that some of the warriors were on watch, and +he and Braxton, as usual, were compelled to sit in the center of the +group, where there was no shadow of a chance to escape. + +Hunters whom they had sent out presently brought in the bodies of two +deer, and then they had a great feast. The venison was half cooked in +strips and chunks over the coals, and the warriors ate it voraciously, +chattering to each other, meanwhile, as Paul did not know that Indians +ever talked. + +"What are they saying, Braxton?" he asked. + +"I can't catch it very well," replied Wyatt, "but I think they are talking +about a stay near the Ohio--for hunting, I suppose. That ought to be a +good thing for us, because they certainly will not decide about our fate +until we get back to their village, and the more they are used to us the +less likely they are to put us to death." + +Paul watched the warriors eating, and they were more repellent to him than +ever. Savages they were, and nothing could make them anything else. His +ways could never become their ways. But the fresh deer meat looked very +good, and the pleasant aroma filled his nostrils. Braxton Wyatt noticed +his face. + +"Are you hungry, Paul?" he asked. + +"No, not hungry; merely starving to death." + +Wyatt laughed. + +"I'm in the same condition," he said, "but I can soon change it." + +He spoke to Red Eagle, and the thin-faced chief nodded. Then Braxton +picked up two sharpened sticks that the savages had used, and also two +large pieces of venison. One stick and one piece he handed to Paul. + +"Now we also will cook and dine," he said. + +Paul's heart warmed toward Braxton Wyatt. Certainly he had done him wrong +in his thoughts when they lived at Wareville. But he was thinking the +next moment about the pleasant odor of the deer meat as he fried it over +the coals. Then he ate hungrily, and with a full stomach came peace for +the present, and confidence in the future. He slept heavily that night, +stretched on the ground before the fire, near Braxton Wyatt, and he did +not awaken until late the next morning. + +The Indians were very slow and leisurely about departing, and Paul +realized now that, vigilant and wonderful as they were in action, they +were slothful and careless when not on the war path, or busy with the +chase. He saw, also, that the band was entirely too strong to be attacked +by Henry and his friends. + +They marched northward several days more, at the same dawdling pace, and +then they stopped a week at one place for the hunting. Half the warriors +would go into the forest, and the next day the other half would go, the +first remaining. They brought in an abundance of game, and Paul never +before saw men eat as they ate. It seemed to him that they must be trying +to atone for a fast of at least six months, and those who were not hunting +that day would lie around the fire for hours like animals digesting their +food. He and Braxton Wyatt were still treated well, and their hands +remained unbound, although they were never allowed to leave the group of +warriors. + +Paul was glad enough of the rest and delay, but the life of the Shawnees +did not please him. He was too fastidious by nature to like their +alternate fits of laziness and energy, their gluttony and lethargy +afterwards, but he took care not to show his repulsion. He acted upon +Wyatt's advice, and behaved in the friendliest manner that he could assume +toward his captors. Wyatt once spoke his approval. "The Chief, Red Eagle, +thinks of adopting you, if you should fall into their ways," said Wyatt. + +"He may adopt me, but I'll never adopt him," replied Paul sturdily. + +But Wyatt only laughed and shrugged his shoulders, after his fashion. + +A few days later they reached the Ohio. It was running bankful, and where +Paul saw it the stream was a mile wide, a magnificent river, cutting off +the unknown south from the unknown north, and bearing on its yellow bosom +silt from lands hundreds of miles away. The warriors took hidden canoes +from the forest at the shore, and Paul thought they would cross at once +and continue their journey northward, but they did not do so. Instead, +they dawdled about in the thick forest that clothed the southern bank, and +ate more venison and buffalo meat, although they did not kindle any fire. +A day or two passed thus amid glorious sunshine, and Paul still could not +understand why they waited. + +Meanwhile he still clung tenaciously to his great hope. He might escape, +he might be rescued, and then Henry and he would resume their task which +would help so much to save Kentucky. No matter what happened, Paul would +never lose sight of this end. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +AT THE RIVER BANK + + +The days dragged into a week, and the Shawnees still clung to the banks of +the great river, occasionally hunting, but more often idling away their +time in the deep woods near the shore. Paul's wonder at their actions +increased. He could not see any purpose in it, and he spoke several times +to Braxton Wyatt about it. But Wyatt always shrugged his shoulders. + +"I do not know," he said. "It is true they build no camp fires, at least +no big ones, and they do not seem to be much interested in hunting; but I +cannot guess what they are about, and I should not dare to ask Red Eagle." + +Paul noticed that Red Eagle himself often went down to the bank of the +river, and would watch its surface with the keenest attention. But Paul +observed also that he always looked eastward--that is, up the stream--and +never down it. + +Paul and Wyatt were allowed an increasing amount of liberty, but they were +held nevertheless within a ring through which they could not break; Paul +was shrewd enough to perceive it, and for the present he made no effort, +thinking it a wise thing to appear contented with his situation, or at +least to be making the best of it. Braxton Wyatt commended his policy more +than once. + +On the morning of the seventh day the chief went down to the bank of the +river once more, and began to watch its surface attentively and long, +always looking up the stream. Paul and Braxton Wyatt and some of the +warriors stood among the trees, not fifty feet away. They also could see +the surface of the river for a long distance, and Paul's eyes followed +those of the chief, Red Eagle. + +The Ohio was a great yellow river, flowing slowly on in its wide channel, +the surface breaking into little waves, that crumpled and broke and rose +again. Paul could see the stream for miles, apparently becoming narrower +and narrower, until it ended in a yellow thread under the horizon. Either +shore was overhung with heavy forest red with autumn's touch. Wild fowl +occasionally flew over the current. It was inexpressibly weird and lonely +to Paul, seemingly a silent river flowing on forever through silent +shades. + +He saw nothing on the stream, and his eyes came back to the thin, +hatchet-faced chief, who stood upon the bank looking so intently. Red +Eagle had begun to interest him greatly. He impressed Paul as being a +thorough savage of savages, fairly breathing cruelty and cunning, and Paul +saw now a note of expectation, of cruel expectation, in the fierce black +eyes of the Shawnee. And as he looked, a sudden change came over the face +of the chief. A gleam appeared in the black eyes, and the tall, thin +figure seemed to raise itself a little higher. Paul again looked up the +stream, and lo! a tiny dark spot appeared upon its surface. He watched it +as the chief watched it, and it grew, coming steadily down the river. But +he did not yet know what it was. + +Now the spirit of action descended quickly upon the whole band. The chief +left the shore and gave quick, low orders to the men, who sank back into +the forest, taking Paul and Braxton Wyatt with them. Two warriors, having +Paul between them, crouched in a dense thicket, and one of them tapped the +unarmed boy meaningly with his tomahawk. Paul did not see Braxton Wyatt, +but he supposed that he was held similarly by other warriors, somewhere +near. In truth, he did not see any of the savages except the two who were +with him. All the rest had melted away with the extraordinary facility +that they had for hiding themselves, but Paul knew that they were about +him, pressed close to the earth, blurred with the foliage or sheltered by +tree trunks. + +The boy's eyes turned back to the river, and the black blot floating on +its surface. That blot, he knew, had caused this sudden disappearance of a +whole band of Shawnees, and he wanted to know more. The black blot came +down the stream and grew into shape and outline, and the shape and outline +were those of a boat. An Indian canoe? No; it rapidly grew beyond the size +of any canoe used by the savages, and began to stand up from the water in +broad and stiff fashion. Then Paul's heart thumped, because all at once he +knew. It was a flatboat, and it was certainly loaded with emigrants coming +down the Ohio, women and children as well as men, and the Shawnees had +laid an ambush. This was what the crafty Red Eagle had been waiting for so +long. + +It was the final touch of savagery, and the boy's generous and noble heart +rebelled within him. He started up, propelled by the impulse to warn; but +the two warriors pulled him violently back, one of them again touching him +significantly with his tomahawk. Paul knew that it was useless. Any +movement or cry of his would cause his own death, and would not be +sufficient to warn those on the boat. He sank back again, trembling in +every nerve, not for himself but for the unsuspecting travelers on the +river. + +The boat came steadily on, Paul saw a number of men, some walking about +and others at the huge sweeps with which it was controlled. And--yes, +there was a woman and a child, too; a little girl with long, yellow curls, +who played on the rude deck. Paul put his hand to his face, and it came +back wet. + +Then he remembered, and his heart leaped up. The river was a mile wide, +and the boat was keeping near the middle of the stream. No bullet from the +savages could reach it. Then what was the use of this ambush? It had +merely been a chance hope of the savages that the boat would come near +enough for them to fire into it, but instead it would go steadily on! Paul +looked exultantly at the two warriors beside him, but they were intently +watching the boat, which would soon be opposite them. + +Then a ghastly and horrible thing occurred. A white face suddenly appeared +upon the shore in front of Paul--the face of a white youth whom he knew. +The figure was in rags, the clothing torn and tattered by thorns and +bushes, and the hair hung in wild locks about the white face. Face and +figure alike were the picture of desolation and despair. + +The white youth staggered to the very edge of the water, and, lifting up +a tremulous, weeping voice, cried out to those on the boat: + +"Save me! Save me! In God's name, save me! Don't leave me here to starve +in these dark woods!" + +It was a sight to move all on the boat who saw and heard--this spectacle +of the worn wanderer, alone in that vast wilderness, appealing to +unexpected rescue. Fear, agony, and despair alike were expressed in the +tones of Braxton Wyatt's voice, which carried far over the yellow stream +and was heard distinctly by the emigrants. To hear was also to heed, and +the great flatboat, coming about awkwardly and sluggishly, turned her +square prow toward the southern shore, where the refugee stood. + +Braxton Wyatt never ceased to cry out for help. His voice now ran the +gamut of entreaty, hope, despair, and then hope again. He called upon them +by all sacred names to help him, and he also called down blessings upon +them as the big boat bore steadily toward the land where two score fierce +savages lay among the bushes, ready to slay the moment they came within +reach. + +Paul was dazed at first by what he saw and heard. He could not believe +that it was Braxton Wyatt who was doing this terrible and treacherous +thing. He rubbed away what he thought might be a deceptive film before +his eyes, but it was still Braxton Wyatt. It was the face of the youth +whom he had known so long, and it was his voice that begged and blessed. +And there, too, came the boat, not thirty yards from the land now! In two +more minutes it would be at the bank, and its decks were crowded now with +men, women, and children, regarding with curiosity and pity alike this +lone wanderer in the wilderness whom they had found in such a terrible +case. Paul heard around him a rustling like that of coiled snakes, the +slight movement of the savages preparing to spring. The boat was only ten +yards from the shore! Now the film passed away from his eyes, and his +dazed brain cleared. He sprang up to his full height, reckless of his own +life, and shouted in a voice that was heard far over the yellow waters: + +"Keep off! Keep off, for your lives! It is a renegade who is calling you +into an ambush! Keep off! Keep off!" + +Paul saw a sudden confusion on the boat, a running to and fro of people, +and a bucking of the sweeps. Then he heard a spatter of rifle shots, all +this passing in an instant, and the next moment he felt a heavy +concussion. Fire flashed before his eyes, and he sank away into a darkness +that quickly engulfed him. + +When Paul came back to himself he was lying among the trees where he had +fallen, and his head ached violently. He started to put up his hand to +soothe it, but the hand would not move, and then he realized that both +hands were bound to his side. His whole memory came back in a flash, and +he looked toward the river. Far down the stream, and near the middle of +it, was a black dot that, even as he looked, became smaller, and +disappeared. It was the flatboat with its living freight, and Paul's +heart, despite his own desperate position, leaped up with joy. + +From the river he glanced back at the Indian faces near him, and so far as +he could tell they bore no signs of triumph. Nor could he see any of those +hideous trophies they would have been sure to carry in case the ambush had +been a success. No! the triumph had been his, not theirs. He rolled into +an easier position, shut his eyes again to relieve his head, and when he +opened them once more, Braxton Wyatt stood beside him. At the sight, all +the wrath and indignation in Paul's indomitable nature flared up. + +"You scoundrel! you awful scoundrel! You renegade!" he cried. "Don't you +ever speak to me again! Don't you come near me!" + +Braxton Wyatt did not turn back when those words, surcharged with +passion, met him full in the face, but wore a sad and downcast look. + +"I don't blame you, Paul," he said gently, "for speaking that way when you +don't understand. I'm not a renegade, Paul. I did what I did to save our +lives--yours as well as mine, Paul. The chief, Red Eagle, threatened to +put us both to the most awful tortures at once if I didn't do it." + +"Liar, as well as scoundrel and renegade!" exclaimed Paul fiercely. + +But Braxton Wyatt went on in his gentle, persuading, unabashed manner: + +"It is as true as I stand here. I could not take you, too, Paul, to +torture and death, and all the while I was hoping that the people on the +boat would see, or suspect, and that they would turn back in time. If you +had not cried out--and it was a wonderfully brave thing to do!--I think +that at the last moment I myself should have done so." + +"Liar!" said Paul again, and he turned his back to Braxton Wyatt. + +Wyatt looked fixedly at the bound boy, shrugged his shoulders a little, +and said: + +"I never took you for a fool before, Paul." + +But Paul was silent, and Braxton Wyatt went away. An hour or two later Red +Eagle came to Paul, unbound his arms, and gave him something to eat. As +Paul ate the venison, Braxton Wyatt returned to him and said: + +"It is my influence with the chief, Paul, that has secured you this good +treatment in spite of their rage against you. It is better to pretend to +fall in with their ways, if we are to retain life, and ever to secure +freedom." + +But Paul only turned his back again and remained silent. Yet with the food +and rest the ache died out of his head, and he was permitted to wash off +the blood caused by the heavy blow from the flat of a tomahawk. Then he +crossed the Ohio with the band. + +Paul was in a canoe with Red Eagle and two other warriors, and Braxton +Wyatt was in another canoe not far away. But Paul resolutely ignored him, +and looked only at the great river, and the thick forest on either shore. +He was now more lonely than ever, and the Ohio that he was crossing seemed +to him to be the boundary between the known and the unknown. Below it was +Wareville and Marlowe, tiny settlements in the vast surrounding +wilderness, it was true, but the abodes of white people, nevertheless. +North of it, and he was going northward, stretched the forest that savages +alone haunted. The crossing of the river was to Paul like passing over a +great wall that would divide him forever from his own. All his vivid +imagination was alive, and it painted the picture in its darkest and most +somber colors. + +They reached the northern shore without difficulty, hid the canoes for +future use, and resumed their leisurely journey northward. Braxton Wyatt, +who seemed to Paul to have much freedom, resumed his advances toward a +renewal of the old friendship, but Paul was resolute. He could not +overcome his repulsion, Braxton Wyatt might plead, and make excuses, and +talk about the terror of torture and death, but Paul remained unconvinced. +He himself had not flinched at the crucial moment to undo what Wyatt was +doing, and in his heart he could find no forgiveness for the one whom he +called a renegade. + +Wyatt refused to take offense. He said, and Paul could not but hear, that +Paul some day would be grateful for what he was doing, and that it was +necessary in the forest to meet craft with craft, guile with guile. + +The days passed in hunting, eating, resting, and marching, and Paul lost +count of time, distance, and direction. He had not Henry's wonderful +instinct in the wilderness, and he could not now tell at what point of the +compass Wareville lay. But he kept a brave heart and a brave face, and if +at times he felt despair, he did not let anyone see it. + +They came at last to a place where the forest thinned out, and then broke +away, leaving a little prairie. The warriors, who had previously been +painting themselves in more hideous colors than ever, broke into a long, +loud, wailing chant. It was answered in similar fashion from a point +beyond a swell in the prairie, and Paul knew that they had come to the +Indian village. The wailing chant was a sign that they had returned after +disaster, and now all the old squaws were taking it up in reply. Paul was +filled with curiosity, and he watched everything. + +The warriors emerged from the last fringe of the forest, their faces +blackened, the hideous chant for their lost rising and falling, but never +ceasing. Forward to meet them poured a mongrel throng--old men, old +squaws, children, mangy curs, and a few warriors. Paul was with Red Eagle, +and when the old squaws saw him, they stopped their plaintive howl and +sent up a sudden shrill note of triumph. In a moment Paul was in a ring of +ghastly old faces, in every one of which snapped a pair of cruel black +eyes. Then the old women began to push him about, to pinch him, and to +strike him, and they showed incredible activity. + +Thoroughly angry and in much pain, Paul struck at the hideous hags; but +they leaped away, jabbered and laughed, and returned to the attack. While +he was occupied with those in front of him, others slipped up behind him, +jabbed him in the back, or violently twitched the hair on his neck. Tears +of pain and rage stood in Paul's eyes, and he wheeled about, only to have +the jeering throng wheel with him and continue their torture. At last he +caught one of them a half blow, and she reeled and fell. The others +shouted uproariously, and the warriors standing by joined in their mirth. + +One of the hags finally struck Paul a resounding smack in the face, and as +he turned to pursue her another from behind seized a wisp of hair and +tried to tear it out by the roots. Paul whirled in a frenzy, and so +quickly that she could not escape him. He seized her withered old throat +in both his hands, and then and there he would have choked her to death, +but the warriors interfered, and pulled his hands loose. But they also +drove the old women away, and Paul was let alone for the time. As he stood +on one side, gasping as much with anger as with pain, Braxton Wyatt, who +had not been persecuted at all, came to him again with ironic words and +derisive gesture. + +"It was just as I told you, Paul," he said. "I gave you good advice. If +you had taken it, they would have spared you. What you have just got is +only a taste to what you may suffer." + +Paul felt a dreadful inclination to shudder, but he managed to control +himself. + +"I'd rather die under the torture than do what you have done, you +renegade!" he said. + +This was the first time since they crossed the Ohio that he had replied to +Braxton, but even now he would say no more, and Wyatt, following his +custom, shrugged his shoulders and walked away. Then all, mingled in one +great throng, went forward to the village. Paul saw an irregular +collection of buffalo-skin and deer-skin tepees, and a few pole wigwams, +with some rudely cultivated fields of maize about them. A fine brook +flowed through the village, and the site, on the whole, was well chosen, +well watered, and sheltered by the little hills from cold winds. It was +too far away from those hills to be reached by a marksman in ambush, and +all about hung signs of plenty--drying venison and buffalo meat, and skins +of many kinds. + +When they came within the circle of huts and tents, Paul was again +regarded by many curious eyes, and there might have been more attempts to +persecute him, but the chief, Red Eagle, kept them off. Red Eagle was able +to speak a little English, but Paul was too proud to ask him about his own +fate. Not a stoic by nature, the boy nevertheless had a will that could +control his impulses. + +He was thrust into a small pole hut, and when the door was tightly +fastened he was left alone there. The place was not more than six feet +square, and only a little higher than Paul's head when he stood erect. In +one corner was a couch of skins, but that was its whole equipment. Some of +the poles did not fit closely together, leaving cracks of a quarter of an +inch or so, through which came welcome fresh air, and also the subdued hum +of the village noises. He heard indistinctly the barking of dogs, and the +chatter of old squaws scolding, but he paid little heed to them because he +felt now the sudden rush of a terrible despair. + +The Ohio had been the great wall between Paul and his kind, and with the +steady march northward, through the forests and over the little prairies, +still another wall, equally great, had been reared. It seemed to Paul that +Henry and Shif'less Sol and his other friends could never reach him here, +and whatever fate the Shawnees had in store for him, it would be a hard +one. Wild life he liked in its due proportion, but he had no wish to +become a wild man all his days. He wanted to see the settlements grow and +prosper, and become the basis of a mighty civilization. This was what +appealed to him most. His great task of helping to save Kentucky +continually appealed to him, and now his chance of sharing in it seemed +slender and remote--too slender and remote to be considered. + +The boy lay long on his couch of skins. The hum of the village life still +came to his ears, but he paid little heed to it. Gradually his courage +came back, or rather his will brought it back, and he became conscious +that the day was waning, also that he was growing hungry. Then the door +was opened, and Red Eagle entered. Behind him came a weazened old warrior +and a weazened old squaw, hideous to behold. Red Eagle stepped to one +side, and the old squaw fell on Paul's neck, murmuring words of +endearment. Paul, startled and horrified, pushed her off, but she returned +to the charge. Then Paul pushed her back again with more force. Red Eagle +stepped forward, and lifted a restraining hand. + +"They would adopt you in place of the son they have lost," he said in his +scant and broken English. + +Paul looked at Red Eagle. It seemed to him that he saw on the face of the +chief the trace of a sardonic grin. Then he looked at the weazened and +repulsive old pair. + +"Put me to the torture," he said. + +Now the sardonic grin was unmistakable on die face of the chief. + +"Not yet," he said, "but maybe later." + +Then he and the old pair left the hut, and presently food was brought to +Paul, who, worn out by his trials, ceased to think about his future. When +he had finished eating he threw himself on the couch again, and slept +heavily until the next day. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A CHANGE OF PLACES + + +Now came a time which Paul did not wholly understand, but which seemed to +him a period of test. The repulse of the old couple was not permanent. +They came back again and again, inviting him to be their son, and +patiently endured all his rebuffs until he began to feel a kind of pity +for them. After that he was always gentle to them, but he remained firm in +his resolve that he would not become a savage, either in reality or +pretense. + +After a week he was allowed to walk in the village and to look upon +barbaric life, but he saw not the remotest chance of escape. The place +contained perhaps five hundred souls--men, women, children, and +papooses--and at least fifty mangy curs, every one of whom, including the +papooses and curs, seemed to Paul to be watching him. Black eyes followed +him everywhere. Nothing that he did escaped their attention. Every step +was noted, and he knew that if he went a yard beyond the village he would +bring a throng of warriors, squaws, and dogs upon him. But he was grateful +for this bit of freedom, the escape from the confinement of close walls, +and the forest about them, glowing with autumnal foliage, looked cool and +inviting. He saw nothing of Braxton Wyatt, but Red Eagle told him one day +that he had gone northward with a band, hunting. "He good boy," said Red +Eagle. Paul shuddered with disgust. + +More than two weeks passed thus, and it seemed to Paul that he was not +only lost to his own world, but forgotten by it. Kentucky and all his +friends had dipped down under the horizon, and would never reappear. Henry +and Ross and Shif'less Sol would certainly have come for him if they +could, but perhaps they had fallen, slain in the night battle. His heart +stood still at the thought, but he resolutely put it away. It did not seem +to him that one of such strength and skill as Henry Ware could be killed. + +Paul sat on a rock about the twilight hour one day, and watched the sun +sinking into the dark forest. He was inexpressibly lonely, as if forsaken +of men. Savage life still left him untouched. It made no appeal to him +anywhere, and he longed for Wareville, and his kind, which he was now sure +he would never see again. Behind him rose the usual hum of the +village--the barking of dogs, the chatter of squaws, and the occasional +grunt of a warrior. In their way, these people were cheerful. Unlike Paul, +they were living the only life they knew and liked, and had no thoughts of +a better. + +The lonely boy rose from the rock and walked back toward the pole hut, in +which they fastened him every night. It had become a habit with him now, +and he knew that it saved useless resistance and a lot of trouble. Had he +taken a single step toward the forest instead of his own prison hut, a +score of watchful eyes would have been upon him. + +The twilight melted into the dark, and fires gleamed here and there in the +village. Dusky figures passed before and behind the fires--those of squaws +cooking the suppers. Paul's eyes wandered, idle and unobserving, over the +savage scene, and then he uttered a little cry of impatience as a hulking +warrior lurched against him. The man seemed to have tripped upon a root, +an unusual thing for these sure-footed sons of the forest, and Paul drew +back from him. But the savage recovered himself, and in a low voice said: + +"Paul!" + +Paul Cotter started violently. It was the first word in good English that +he had heard in a time that seemed to be eternity--save those of Braxton +Wyatt, whom he hated--and the effect upon him was overpowering. It was +like a voice of hope coming suddenly from another world. + +"Paul," continued the voice, now warningly, "don't speak. Go on to your +hut. Friends are by." + +Then the hulking and savage figure walked away, and Paul knew enough to +take no apparent notice, but to continue on as if that welcome voice Had +not come out of the darkness. Yet a thousand little pulses within him were +throbbing, throbbing with joy and hope. + +But whose was the voice? In his excitement he had not noticed the tone +except to note that it was a white man's. He glanced back and saw the +hulking form near the outskirts of the village, but the light was too dim +to disclose anything. Henry? No, it was not Henry's figure. Then who was +it? A friend, that was certain, and he had said that other friends were +by. + +Paul walked with a light step to his prison hut, sedulously seeking to +hide the exultation in his face. He was not forgotten in his world! His +friends were ready to risk their lives for him! His heart was leaping as +he looked through the dusk at the smoking camp fires, the dim huts and +tepees, and the shadowy figures that passed and repassed. He would soon be +leaving all that savage life. He never doubted it. + +He came to his prison hut, went calmly inside, and a few minutes later, +the regular time being at hand, the door was fastened on the outside by +Red Eagle or some of his people. He might perhaps have forced the door in +the night, but he had not considered himself a skillful enough woodsman to +slip from the village unobserved, and accordingly he had waited. Now he +was very glad of his restraint. + +Paul lay down on the couch of skins, but he was not seeking sleep. Instead +he was waiting patiently, with something of Indian stoicism. He saw +through the cracks in his hut the Indian fires, yet burning and smoking, +and the dim figures still passing and repassing. There was also the faint +hum to tell him that savage life did not yet sleep, and now and then a +mongrel cur barked. But all things end in time, and after a while these +noises ceased; even the cure barked no more, and the smoking fires sank +low. + +The Indian village lay at peace, but Paul's heart throbbed with +expectation. Nor did it throb in vain. A muffled sound appeared in time at +his door. It was some one at work on the fastenings, and Paul listened +with every nerve a-quiver. Presently the noise ceased, a shaft of pale +night light showed, and then was gone. But the door had been opened, and +then closed, and some one was inside. + +Paul waited without fear. He could barely see a dark, shapeless outline +within the dimness of his hut, but he was sure it was the figure of the +slouching warrior who had bumped against him. The man stood a moment or +two, seeking to pierce the dusk with his own eyes, and then he said in a +low voice: + +"Paul! Paul! Is it you?" + +"Yes," replied Paul, in the same guarded tone, "but I don't know who you +are." + +The figure swayed a little and laughed low, but with much amusement. + +"It 'pears to me that we are forgot purty soon," it said. "An' I've worked +hard fur a tired man." + +Then Paul knew the familiar, whimsical tone. The light had burst upon him +all at once. + +"Shif'less Sol!" he exclaimed. + +"Jest me," said Sol; "an' ain't I about the purtiest Shawnee warrior you +ever saw? Why, Paul, I'm so good at playin' a loafin' savage from some +other village that nary a Shawnee o' them all has dreamed that I am what I +ain't. If ever I go back thar in the East, I'm goin' to be a play-actor, +Paul." + +"You can be anything on earth you want to be, Sol!" said Paul jubilantly. +"It was mighty good of you to come." + +"You'd a-thought Henry would a-come," whispered Sol; "but we decided that +he was too tall an' somehow too strikin'-lookin' to come in here ez a +common, everyday Injun, so it fell to me to loaf in, me bein' a +tired-lookin' sort o' feller, anyway. But they're out thar in the woods +a-waitin', Henry an' Tom Ross an' that ornery cuss, Jim Hart." + +"I knew that you fellows would never desert me!" exclaimed Paul. + +"Why, o' course not!" said Sol. "We never dreamed o' leavin' you. Now, +Paul, we've got to git through this village somehow or other. Lucky it's +purty dark, an' you'll have to do your best to walk an' look like a Red. +Maybe we kin git fur enough to make a good run fur it, and then, with the +woods an' the night helpin' us, we may give them the slip. Here, take +this." + +He pressed something cold and hard into Paul's hand, and Paul slipped the +pistol into his belt, standing erect and feeling himself much of a man. + +"It's time to be goin'," said Shif'less Sol. + +"I'm ready," said Paul. + +But neither took more than a single step forward, stopping together as +they heard a light noise at the door. + +"Thunder an' lightnin'!" said Shif'less Sol, under his breath. "Somebody's +suspectin'." + +"It looks like it," breathed Paul. + +"Lay down on the skins and pretend to be asleep," said Shif'less Sol. + +Paul lay down on the couch at once, in the attitude of one who slumbers, +and closed his eyes--all but a little. Shif'less Sol shoved himself into +the corner, and blotted out his figure against the wall. + +The door opened and Braxton Wyatt stepped in. What decree of fate had +caused him to be spying about that night, and what had caused him to find +the door of Paul's prison hut unfastened? He stood a few moments, trying +to accustom his eyes to the dark, and he plainly heard the regular +breathing of Paul on the bed of skins. Presently he saw the dim, recumbent +figure also. But he was still suspicious, and he took a step nearer. Then +a big form, projected somewhere from the dark, hurled itself upon him, and +he was thrown headlong to the earthen floor. Strong fingers compressed his +throat, and he gasped for breath. + +"Here, Paul," said Sol, "tear off a piece o' that skin an' stuff it into +his mouth." + +Paul, who had leaped to his feet, obeyed at once. + +"An' cut off some stout strips o' the same with this knife o' mine," said +Shif'less Sol. + +Paul again obeyed at once, and in three minutes Braxton Wyatt lay bound +and gagged on the earthen floor. Shif'less Sol Hyde and Paul Cotter stood +over him, and looked down at him, and even in the dark they saw the terror +of all things in his eyes. + +"The Lord has been good to us to-night, Paul," said Shif'less Sol, with a +certain solemnity, "an' He wuz best o' all when He sent this hound here +a-spyin'." + +"You know what he is?" said Paul. + +"Ef I don't know, I've guessed." + +Then the two stood silent for a little space, still gazing down at Braxton +Wyatt, bound and gagged. Paul had never before seen such stark dread in +the eyes of any one, and he shuddered. Despite himself, he felt a certain +amount of pity. + +"He would have lured a boat-load of our people into the hands of the +savages," he said. + +"I'll put this knife in his foul heart, Paul," said Shif'less Sol. + +The bound figure quivered in its bonds, and the eyes became wild and +appealing. + +"No, not that," replied Paul; "I couldn't bear to see anyone helpless put +to death." + +"It was just the thought uv a moment," said Shif'less Sol. "We've got a +better use fur him. It's the one that the Lord sent him here fur. Now, +Paul, help me strip off his huntin' shirt." + +They took off Braxton Wyatt's hunting shirt, leggins, and cap, and Paul +put them on, his own taking their place on the form of the gagged youth. + +"Now, Paul," said Shif'less Sol, "you're Braxton Wyatt--for a little +while, at least, you've got to stand it--an' he's you. Help me roll him up +thar on your bed o' skins, an' he kin sleep in calm an' peace until they +bring him his breakfast in the mornin'." + +They put Wyatt on the couch, and his eyes glared fiercely at them. He +struggled to speak, but they did not care to hear him. Sol took the +weapons from his belt and gave them to Paul. + +"Good-night, Braxton," said Shif'less Sol pleasantly. "Fine dreams to you. +We're glad you came. You happened in jest in time." + +Wyatt quivered convulsively on his bed of skins. Paul was filled with +repugnance, but he would not exult. His nature would not permit him. +Shif'less Sol opened the door, and the two stepped out into the open air +and a dark night. No one was about, and the shiftless one deliberately +fastened the doors on the outside in the usual manner. Then he and Paul +strolled away through the village. + +"Remember that you are Braxton Wyatt," whispered Shif'less Sol. "Walk ez +near like him ez you kin. You've seen him often enough to know." + +The two sauntered lazily forward. An old squaw, crouched by a low and +smoking fire, gave one glance at them, but no more. She went on dreaming +of the days when she was young, and when the braves fought for her. A +mangy cur barked once, and then lay down again at the foot of a deer-skin +lodge. A warrior, smoking a pipe in his own doorway, looked up, but saw +nothing unusual, and then looked down again. + +The coolness of Shif'less Sol was something wonderful to see. He merely +loafed along, as if he had no object in the world but to pass away the +time, and there was nothing in the course he chose to indicate that he +meant to reach the forest. Now and then he spoke apparently casual words +to Paul, and the boy, in the faint light, wearing Braxton Wyatt's clothes, +might easily pass for Braxton Wyatt himself, even to the keen eyes of the +Shawnees. + +Presently they reached the northern end of the village, the one nearest to +the forest, and it was here that Shif'less Sol intended to make the +escape. Paul kept close to him, and he noticed with joy that all the time +the light, already faint, was growing fainter. The friendly forest seemed +to curve very near. Paul's heart throbbed with painful violence. + +Shif'less Sol passed the last wigwam, and he took a step into the open +space that divided them from the forest. Paul stepped with him, but a +gaunt and weazened figure rose up in their path. It was that of the old +squaw who wished a new son, and she stared for a few moments at the +clothes of Braxton Wyatt, and the figure within them. Then she knew, and +she uttered a shrill cry that was at once a lament and a warning. At the +same time she flung her arms around Paul in a gesture that was intended +alike for affection and detention. + +"Run, Paul, run!" exclaimed Shif'less Sol. + +Paul attempted to throw off the old woman, but she clung to him like a +wild cat, showing marvelous strength and tenacity for one so little and +weazened and old. Shif'less Sol saw the difficulty and, seizing her in his +powerful grasp, tore her loose. + +"Don't hurt her, Sol!" cried Paul. + +Shif'less Sol understood, and he cast her from them, but not with +violence. Then the two ran with utmost speed and desperate need toward the +forest, because the village behind them was up and alive. Lights flared, +dogs barked, men shouted, and before the friendly trees were reached +rifles began to crack. + +"Jumpin' Jehoshaphat!" cried Shif'less Sol, as a bullet whistled past his +ear. "Ef that don't put life into a tired man, I don't know what will." + +He ran with amazing swiftness, and Paul, light-footed, kept beside him. +But the alert Shawnee warriors, ever quick to answer an alarm, were +already in fleet pursuit, and only the darkness kept their bullets from +striking true. Paul looked back once--even in the moment of haste and +danger he could not help it--and he saw three warriors in advance of the +others, coming so fast that they must overtake them. He and Sol might beat +them off, but one cannot fight well and at the same time escape from a +multitude. His heart sank. He would be recaptured, and with him the +gallant Shif'less Sol. + +Flashes of fire suddenly appeared in the forest toward which they ran, and +death cries came from the two warriors who pursued. Shif'less Sol uttered +an exultant gasp. + +"The boys!" he said. "They're thar in the woods, a-helpin'." + +Daunted by the sudden covering fire, the pursuing mob fell back for a few +moments, and the two fugitives plunged into the deep and friendly shadows +of the woods. Three figures, all carrying smoking rifles, rose up to meet +them. The figures were those of Henry Ware, Tom Ross, and Jim Hart. Henry +reached out his hand and gave Paul's a strong and joyous grasp. + +"Well, Sol has brought you!" he said. + +"But Sol's not goin' to stop runnin' yet for a long time, tired ez he is," +gasped the shiftless one. + +"Good advice," said Henry, laughing low, and without another word the five +ran swiftly and steadily northward through the deep woods. Henry had on +his shoulder an extra rifle, which he had brought for Paul, so confident +was he that Sol would save him; but he said nothing about it for the +present, preferring to carry the added weight himself. They heard behind +them two or three times the long-drawn, terrible cry with which Paul was +so familiar, but it did not now send any quiver through him. He was with +the ever-gallant comrades who had come for him, and he was ready to defy +any danger. + +Henry Ware, after a while, stopped very suddenly, and the others stopped +with him. + +"I think we'd better turn here," he said, unconsciously assuming his +natural position of leader. "It's not worth while to run ourselves to +death. What we've got to do is to hide." + +"Them's blessed words!" gasped Shif'less Sol. "I wuz never so tired in all +my born days. Seems to me I've been chased by Shawnees all over this here +continent of North Ameriky!" + +Paul laughed low, from pure pleasure--pleasure at his escape and pleasure +in the courage, loyalty, and skill of his comrades. + +"You may be tired, Sol," he said, "but there was never a braver man than +you." + +"It ain't bravery," protested the shiftless one. "I get into these things +afore I know it, an' then I've got to kick like a mule to get out o' 'em." + +But Paul merely laughed low again. + +Henry turned from the north to the west, and led now at a pace that was +little more than a walk. Paul and Sol drew deep breaths, as they felt the +heavenly air flowing back into their lungs and the spring returning to +their muscles. They went in Indian file, five dusky figures in the shadow, +a faint moonlight touching them but wanly, and all silent. Thus they +marched until past midnight, and they heard nothing behind them. Then +their leader stopped, and the others, without a word, stopped with him. + +"I think we've shaken 'em off," said Henry, "and we'd better rest and +sleep. Then we can make up our plans." + +"Good enough," said Shif'less Sol. "An' ef any man wakes me up afore next +week, I'll hev his scalp." + +He sank down at once in his buckskins on a particularly soft piece of +turf, and in an incredibly brief space of time he was sound asleep. Jim +Hart, doubling up his long, thin figure like a jackknife, imitated him, +and Paul was not long in following them to slumberland. Only Henry and +Ross remained awake and watchful, and by and by the moonlight came out and +silvered their keen and anxious faces. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE ISLAND IN THE LAKE + + +When Paul awoke the others were munching the usual breakfast of dried +venison, and Henry handed him a piece, which he ate voraciously. Henry was +sitting on the ground, with his back against a fallen log, and he regarded +Paul contemplatively. + +"Paul," he said, in the dryest possible tones, "I don't see how you could +have been so hard-hearted." + +Paul looked at him, startled. "Why, what do you mean?" + +"To tear yourself away, as you did, from a loving father and mother. Why, +Sol, here, tells me that you actually threw your mother from you." + +"Truth, Gospel truth," put in Shif'less Sol. "I never seen sech a cruel, +keerless person. He gives her jest one fling into the south, an' then he +bolts off into the north, like an arrow out o' the bow. I follows him +lickety-split to bring him back, but he runs so fast I can't ketch him." + +Paul smiled. + +"I've one father and mother already," he said, "and so I have no use for +two. Rather than cause embarrassment, I came away as quickly as I could." + +"You did come fast," said Henry dryly. + +"It was mighty fine of all of you to come after me," said Paul earnestly, +"and to risk your lives to save me from the Shawnees. But I knew you'd do +it." + +"Uv course," said Tom Ross simply. "The rest uv our party would hev come, +too, but they were needed back thar in Kentucky. Besides, we could spare +'em, ez it took cunnin' an' not numbers to do what we had to do." + +"What's our next step?" asked Paul, who was in the highest of spirits--his +imagination, with its usual vivid rebound, now painted everything in +glowing colors. + +"We are going northward," said Henry. + +"Northward?" + +"Yes, it's necessary. There's some great movement on foot among the +tribes. It's not the Shawnees alone, but the Miamis and Wyandots and +others as well, though the Shawnees are leaders. War belts are passing +between all the tribes, and we think they are joining together to destroy +all the white settlements in Kentucky." + +"An' some renegades are helpin' 'em," said Tom Ross. "They may hev better +luck than they did when they attacked Wareville." + +"Yes, an' there's Braxton Wyatt," said Shif'less Sol sorrowfully, "He's +cunnin' an' revengeful, an' he'll do us a power o' harm. Paul, you ought +to a-let me put a knife in atween his ribs when I had the chance. I might +a-saved some good lives an' a power o' sufferin'." + +Paul did not reply, but he was not sorry that he had interfered. He could +not see a bound youth killed. + +"I think we'd better be goin' now," said Tom Ross. "We've got to keep to +the north, to throw the Shawnees off the track, an' then we'll come back +an' spy on 'em." + +"An' me with only ten hours o' rest got to git up an' start to runnin' +ag'in," said Shif'less Sol plaintively. + +"Wa'al, no, you needn't run," said Tom Ross, grinning. "You can jest walk +for about forty hours without stoppin'!" + +Shif'less Sol heaved a deep sigh, but made ready. Jim Hart undoubled +himself, cracked his joints, and said deliberately: + +"Ef I wuz ez lazy ez Shif'less Sol Hyde, I'd a-stayed back thar in the +East, whar a feller might jest sleep hisself to death, an' no Injuns to +torment him." + +"Ef I wuz es mean an' onchristian ez Jim Hart, I'd go an' join Braxton +Wyatt an' become a renegade myself," rejoined Shif'less Sol. + +Paul smiled. He enjoyed the little spats of Sol and Jim, but he knew that +the two were as true as steel, and the best of friends to each other. +Moreover, he was about to take up again the mission which Fate seemed so +constantly to interrupt. The scene of action had been shifted to the great +northern woods, and it now seemed to Paul that perhaps Fortune had been +kind in bringing him there. If a league of the tribes were being attempted +for a new attack upon the settlements, the powder for Marlowe might well +rest, for the present, in its hiding-place in the woods, while his +comrades and he undertook more important action elsewhere. + +Before they started, Henry and Ross took stock of their ammunition, of +which they had a plentiful supply, replenished more than once from their +enemies, and also gave an abundance to Paul. The extra rifle given to him, +one of those taken from the two warriors that Henry had slain, was a fine +weapon, carrying far and true, and he was perfectly satisfied with it. + +Then they started, and they traveled all day northward, through a fine +rolling country, with little prairies and great quantities of game. It was +fully equal to Kentucky, but Paul knew they were in the heart of the +chosen home of the northern Indians, and it behooved them to be cautious. +But there were no signs of pursuit, and they went on all day undisturbed. + +Late in the afternoon they entered a dense forest, and walked through it +about two hours, when Paul saw an opening among the trees. It was a great +flash of silver that all at once greeted his eyes. But as he looked it +turned to gold under the late sun. + +"Another of those little prairies," he said. + +Henry laughed. + +"No, Paul," he said, "that's not a prairie. The sun and the sky together +have fooled you. It's a lake, and we're going to live in it for a little +while." + +"A lake," echoed Paul, "and we're going to live in it? Come on, I want to +see it!" + +Kentucky was not a country of lakes, and Paul did not know much about +them. Hence, as he hastened forward, he was thinking more of the lake +itself than of Henry's somewhat enigmatic words, "We're going to live in +it." + +They soon reached its margin, and Paul uttered a little cry of delight. It +was a splendid sheet of water, shaped like a half moon, seven miles long, +perhaps, and two miles across at the center. But at the widest part stood +a gem of a wooded island, covered with giant trees. High hills, clothed +with magnificent forest, rose all around the lake. + +The beauty of the scene penetrated the souls of all. Uneducated men like +Shif'less Sol and Jim Hart felt it as well as Paul. The five stood in +silence, gazing at the lake and the gem of a wooded island. The light from +the sinking sun gleamed in red and gold flame across the silver waters, +and on the wooded island the boughs of the trees seemed to be touched with +fire. + +"That's where we are to stay," said Henry, pointing to the little island. +"No Indian will ever trouble us there." + +"Why?" asked Paul, looking at him questioningly. + +"Wait and you'll see," replied Henry. + +Henry led the way along the shore, and from a dense thicket at the water's +edge he took a light canoe. + +"I captured this once," he said; "brought it across the woods and hid it +here, thinking it might be useful some day, and now you see I am right. +Get in! Light as it is, it will hold us all." + +Henry and Ross took the paddles, and they pushed out into the lake. +Shif'less Sol uttered a long and deep sigh of satisfaction. + +"Now, this jest suits a tired man," he said. "Henry, you an' Tom can +paddle jest ez long ez you please. I'd like to do all my travelin' this +way." + +"An' you'd get so lazy you'd want somebody to come an' feed you with a +spoon," said Jim Hart. + +"An' it would jest suit me to have you do it. That's jest the kind uv a +job you're fit fur, Jim Hart." + +"Shet up, you two," said Ross. "You hurt my ears, a-buzzin' an' +a-buzzin'." + +Shif'less Sol sank back a little and closed his eyes. An expression of +heavenly luxury and ease came over his face, but it could not last long +because in a few minutes the boat reached the wooded island. Shif'less Sol +opened his eyes, to find that the sun was almost gone, and that the +shadows had come among the great trees. + +"Cur'us kind o' place," he said. "Gives me a sort o' shiver." + +Paul had felt the same sensation, but he said nothing. Before them lay the +little island, a solid, black blot, its trees blended together, and behind +them the lake shone somberly in the growing darkness. + +"All out!" said Henry cheerfully. "This is home for a while, and we need +rest." + +They sprang upon the narrow beach, and Henry and Ross dragged the canoe +into some thick bushes, where they hid it artfully. Paul meanwhile was +looking about him, and trying to keep down the ghostly feeling that would +assail him at times. The island, so far as he could judge, was perhaps two +hundred yards long, half as broad, and thickly covered with forest. But he +could see nothing of the interior. + +"Come," said Henry Ware, in the same tone of cheerful confidence, as he +led the way. + +The others followed, stepping lightly among the great tree trunks, and +Henry did not stop until he came to a small, open space in the very center +of the island, where a spring bubbled up among some rocks, and flowed away +in a tiny brook in a narrow channel to the lake. The open space was almost +circular, and the great trees grew so thickly around that they looked like +a wall. + +"Here is the place to rest," said Henry. "There is no need for anybody to +watch." + +They lay down upon the ground, disposing themselves on the softest spots +that they could find. Paul stared up for a few moments at the great +circular wall of trees, and the weird, chilly sensation came again, but he +was too tired and sleepy to think about it long. In fifteen minutes he +slumbered soundly, and so did all the others. They lay with their faces +showing but faintly in the dusk, and as they lay in the sheltered cove a +soft wind breathed gently over them. + +All were up early in the morning, and Paul was surprised to see Henry +lighting a fire with flint and steel. + +"Why do you do that, Henry?" he said. "Will not the smoke give warning to +our enemies that we are here?" + +"We shall send up but little smoke," replied Henry; "but if they should +see it, they will not come." + +He went on with the fire, and Paul, although mystified, would not ask +anything more, too proud to show ignorance, and confident that anyhow he +would soon learn the cause of these strange proceedings. The fire was +lighted, and burned brightly, but cast off little smoke. Then Henry turned +to Paul. + +"Let's go up to the north end of the island," he said. + +It was a walk of but a few minutes, and Henry, stopping before they +reached the margin of the lake, said: + +"Look up, Paul!" + +Paul did so, and saw many dark objects in the forks of trees about him, or +tied to the boughs. They looked like shapeless bundles, and he did not +know what they were. + +"A burying ground," said Henry, in answer to his inquiring look. + +Paul felt the same weird little shiver that had assailed him the night +before. + +"A burying ground!" + +"Yes, but by some old, old tribe before the Shawnees or Miamis. What you +see are only bundles of sticks and skeletons. No bodies have been left +here in a long time, and the Indians think the island is haunted by the +ghosts of those who died and were left here long, long ago. That is why we +needed to keep no watch last night. I discovered this place on a hunting +trip, and I've always kept it in mind. + +"Let's go back," said Paul, who did not like to look at this burying +ground in the air. + +Henry laughed a little, but he did willingly as Paul requested, and when +they returned to the fire they found that Jim Hart, falling easily into +his natural position, had already cooked the venison. Paul's spirits at +once went up with a bound. The bright fire, the pleasant odor of the +venison, the cheerful faces of his comrades, and assured safety appealed +to his vivid imagination, and made the blood leap in a sparkling torrent +through his veins. + +"Graveyard or no graveyard, I'm glad I'm here," he said energetically. + +They laughed, and Shif'less Sol, who, as usual, had found the softest +place and had stretched himself upon it, said, with drawling emphasis: + +"You're mighty right, Paul, an' I'm a'gin' movin' from here afore cold +weather comes. I'm pow'ful comf'table." + +"If you don't git up an' stir aroun', how do you expect to eat?" said Jim +Hart indignantly. "We ain't got venison enough for more'n ten more meals." + +"Henry an' Tom will shoot it, an' you'll cook it fur me," said Sol +complacently. + +Jim Hart growled, but Henry and Ross were already discussing this question +of a food supply, and Paul listened. + +"The Indians don't come about the lake much," said Henry, "and it will be +easy enough to find deer, but we must hunt at night. We mustn't let the +savages see us, as it might break the island's spell." + +"We'll take the canoe and go out to-night," said Ross. + +"And this lake ought to be full of fish," said Paul. "We might draw on it, +too, for a food supply." + +"Looks likely," said Ross. "But we'd best not try that, either, till +dusk." + +But they worked in the course of the day at the manufacture of their rude +fishing tackle, constructed chiefly of their clothing, the hooks being +nothing more than a rough sort of pin bent to the right shape. This done, +they spent the rest of the day in loafing and lolling about, although Paul +took a half hour for the thorough exploration of the island, which +presented no unusual features beyond those that he had already seen. After +that he came back to the little cove and luxuriated, as the others were +doing. It was the keenest sort of joy now just to rest, to lie at one's +ease, and to feel the freedom from danger. The old burying ground was a +better guard about them than a thousand men. + +But when night came, Henry and Ross took out the canoe again, and Paul +asked to go with them. + +"All right," said Henry, "you come with us, and Sol, you and Jim Hart can +do the fishing and the quarreling, with nobody to bother you." + +"Jest my luck," said Shif'less Sol, "to be left on a desert island with an +ornery cuss like Jim Hart." + +Henry, setting the paddle against the bank, gave the canoe a great shove, +and it shot far out into the lake. Paul looked back. Already their island +was the solid dark blot it had been the night before, while the waters +moved darkly under a light, northern wind. + +"Sit very quiet, Paul," said Henry. "Tom and I will do the paddling." + +Paul was more than content to obey, and he remained very still while the +other two, with long, sweeping strokes, sent the canoe toward a point +where the enclosing bank was lowest. + +"Don't you think we'd better stay in the boat, Henry?" said Ross. + +"Yes; game must be thick hereabouts, and if we wait long enough we're sure +to find a deer coming down to drink." + +They cruised for a while along the shore, keeping well in the darkest +shadow until they reached a point where the keen eyes of Henry Ware saw, +despite the darkness, that many hoofs had trampled. + +"This is a favorite drinking place," he said. "Back us into those bushes, +Tom, and we'll wait." + +Ross pushed the canoe into some bushes until it was hidden, though the +occupants could see through the leaves whatever might come to the water to +drink, and they took up their rifles. They lay a little to the north of +the drinking place, and the wind blew from the south. + +"I don't think we'll have to wait long," said Henry. + +Then they remained absolutely silent, but within fifteen minutes they +heard a heavy trampling in the woods. It steadily grew louder, and was +mingled with snortings and puffings. Whatever animal made it--and it was +undoubtedly a big one--was coming toward them. Paul was filled with +curiosity, but he knew too much to do more just now than breathe. + +A huge bull buffalo stumbled from the trees to the edge of the lake, where +the moonlight had just begun to come. He was a monstrous fellow, and Paul +knew by his snapping red eyes that he was in no good humor. Henry shook +his head to indicate that he was no game for them, and Paul understood. +Whatever they killed they intended to put in the canoe, and then clean and +dress it on the island. The angry monster, an outcast from some herd, was +safe. + +The buffalo drank, puffing and snorting between drinks, and then stamped +his way back into the forest. Still the hunters waited in ambush. Some +other animal, with a long, sinuous body, crept down to the margin and +lapped the water. Paul did not know what it was, and he could not break +the silence to ask the others; but after drinking for a few minutes it +drew its long, lithe body back through the undergrowth, and passed out of +sight. Then nothing came for a while, because this was a ferocious beast +of prey, and to the harmless creatures of the wilderness the air about the +drinking place was filled for a space with poison. + +But as the wind continued to blow lightly from the south, the dread odor +passed away and the air became pure and fresh again. Back in the deeps of +the forest the timid creatures found courage once more, and they crept +down to the water's edge to slake their thirst. But they were small, and +the ambushed marksmen in the boat still waited, silent and motionless. +Paul saw them sometimes, and sometimes he did not. Then his eyes would +wander to the surface of the lake, now pale, heaving silver in the +moonlight, and to the wall of black forest that circled it round. + +A heavier step came again, and a light puff! puff! Paul knew now that a +great animal was approaching, and that the timid little ones would give it +room. He looked with all his eyes, and a magnificent stag stepped into the +moonlight, antlers erect, waiting and listening for a moment before he +bowed his head to drink. Paul almost leaped up in the boat as a rifle +cracked beside him, and he saw the stag spring into the air and fall dead, +with his feet in the water. + +Henry and Ross promptly shoved the boat from the bushes, and the three of +them lifted the body into it, disposing it in the center with infinite +care. Then, with food enough to last for days, they rowed back across the +lake to the haunted island. Shif'less Sol and Jim Hart, with their rude +tackle, had succeeded in catching four fish, of a species unknown to Paul, +but large and to all appearances succulent. + +"We'll eat the fish to-morrow, because they won't keep," said Sol, "but +Jim Hart here kin jerk the venison. It will give him somethin' to do, an' +Jim is a sight better off when he has to work. He ain't got no time fur +foolishness." + +"An' you can tan its hide," growled Jim Hart, "although your own needs +tannin' most." + +A few minutes later the two were amicably dressing the body of the stag, +but Paul was already asleep. He assisted the next morning at a conference, +and then he learned what Henry and Ross intended to do. The powder for +Marlowe, as Paul had surmised, must be left for the present in its hidden +place while they spied upon the great northern confederacy, now being +formed for the destruction of the white settlements, and they would do +what they could to impede it. Henry, Ross, and Sol would leave that night +on an expedition of discovery, while Paul and Jim Hart held the haunted +island. Paul, in this case, did not object to being left behind, because +he had, for the present at least, enough of danger, and he knew that he +was better suited to other tasks than the one on which the three great +woodsmen were now departing. + +Jim Hart was to row them over to the mainland, and they were to signal +their return with three plaintive, long-drawn cries of the whip-poor-will. +They departed at the first coming of the dusk with short good-bys, leaving +Paul alone on the island. He stood near the margin under the foliage of a +great beech and watched them go. The boat, as it left a trailing wake of +melting silver, became a small black dot at the farther shore, and then +vanished. + +Paul turned back toward the center of his island, inexpressibly lonely for +the while. Again he was a solitary being in the vast, encircling +wilderness, and, in feeling at least, no one was nearer than a thousand +miles away. He walked as swiftly as he could to the cove, where the supper +fire still smoldered, and he sought companionship in the light and warmth +that came from the bed of coals. No amount of hardship, no amount of +experience could change Paul's vivid temperament, so responsive to the +influences of time and place. He sat there, his knees drawn up to his +chin, and the ring of darkness came closer and closer; but out of it +presently arose the tread of footsteps, and all the brightness and +cheeriness returned at once to the boy's face. + +Jim Hart walked into the rim of the firelight, and his long, thin, +saplinglike figure looked very consoling to Paul. He doubled into his +usual jackknife formation and, sitting down by the fire, looked into the +coals. + +"Well, Paul," he said, "I've seen 'em off, an' a-tween you and me, I'd +rather be right here on this here haunted islan', a-hobnobbin' with Injun +ghosts an' havin' a good, comfortable, easy time, than be dodgin' braves, +an' feelin' every minute to see ef my scalp is on out thar among the Injun +villages." + +"You don't think they'll be taken?" asked Paul, in some alarm. + +Long Jim Hart laughed scornfully. + +"Them fellers be took?" he said. "Why, they are the best three woodsmen in +North Ameriky, an', fur that, in the hull world. Nobody can take 'em, an' +if they wuz took, nobody could hold 'em. You could have Henry Ware tied to +the stake, with fifty Shawnees holdin' him an' a thousand more standin' +aroun', an' he'd get away, certain sure." + +Paul smiled. It was an extravagant statement, but it restored his +confidence. + +"And meanwhile we are safe here, protected by ghosts," he said. "Do you +believe in ghosts, Jim?" + +Jim Hart looked up at the black rim of the forest, and then edged a little +closer to the fire. + +"No, I don't," he said, "but sometimes I'm afeard of 'em, jest the same." + +Paul laughed. + +"That's about the way I feel, too," he said, "but they're mighty handy +just now, Jim. They're keeping us safe on this island. You won't deny +that?" + +"No, I won't," said Jim; "but at night time I'm goin' to leave 'em all by +themselves in the trees over at their end uv of the island." + +"So am I," said Paul; and ten minutes later both were sound asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A SUDDEN MEETING + + +Paul and queer, long Jim Hart spent a week together on the island, and +they were pleasant days to the boy. He was sure that Henry, Ross, and Sol +could take care of themselves, and he felt little anxiety about them. He +and Hart stayed well in the woods in the day, and they fished and hunted +at night. Hart killed another deer, this time swimming in the water, but +they easily made salvage of the body and took it to land. They also shot a +bear in the edge of the woods, near the south end of the lake, and Hart +quickly tanned both deerskins and the bearskin in a rude fashion. He said +they would need them as covers at night, and as the weather turned a +little colder, Paul found that he could use one of the skins quite +comfortably. + +They built of sticks and brushwood a crude sort of lean-to against one of +the stony sides that enclosed the cove, and when a rain came they were +able to keep quite dry within its shelter. They also found rabbits on the +island, some of which they killed, and thus added further to their +larder. These labors of house-building and housekeeping kept them busy, +and Paul was surprised to find how well content he had become. Hart did +all the cooking, but Paul made amends in other directions, and at night, +when they were not fishing or hunting, they would sit by the little fire +and talk. Once about the noon hour they saw a smoke far to the south, and +both regarded it speculatively. + +"Think likely it's an Injun huntin' party," said Jim Hart, "an' they don't +dream o' any white men bein' about. That's why they are so careless about +their fire, because the different tribes o' these parts are all at peace +with one another." + +"How far away would you say that smoke is?" asked Paul. + +"Three or four miles, anyway, an' I'm pow'ful glad this is a haunted +islan', so they won't come over here." + +"So am I," said Paul devoutly. + +He lay on his back on the soft turf, and watched the smoke rising away in +a thin spire into the heavens. He could picture to himself the savage +party as it sat about the fire, and it gave him a remarkable feeling of +comfort and safety to know that he was so well protected by the ghosts +that haunted the little island. + +The smoke rose there all the morning, but Paul ceased by and by to pay any +attention to it, although he and Jim Hart kept well within the cove, +busying themselves with additions to their lean-to. Paul had found great +strips of bark shed by the trees, and he used these to patch the roof. +More pieces were used for the floor, and, with the bearskin spread over +them, it was quite dry and snug. Then he stood off and regarded it with a +critical and approving eye. + +"You haven't seen a better house than that lately, have you, Jim?" he +said, in a tone of pride. + +"Considerin' the fact that I ain't seen any other uv any kind in a long +time, I kin truthfully say I haven't," replied Jim Hart sardonically. + +"You lack appreciation, Jim," said Paul. "Besides, your imagination is +deficient. Why don't you look at this hut of ours and imagine that it is a +magnificent stone castle?" + +Jim Hart gazed wonderingly at the boy. + +"Paul," he said, "you always wuz a puzzle to me. I can't see no +magnificent stone castle--jest a bark an' brush hut." + +Paul shook his head reprovingly. + +"I am sorry for you, Jim," he said. "I not only see a magnificent stone +castle, but I see a splendid town over there on the mainland." + +"You talk plumb foolish, Paul," said Jim Hart. + +"They are all coming," said Paul. + +But Jim Hart continued to see only the bark and brush hut on the island, +and the vast and unbroken wilderness on the mainland. His eyes roved back, +from the mainland to the hut. + +"Now, ef I had an ax an' a saw," he said regretfully, "I could make that +look like somethin'. I'm a good cook, ef I do say it, Paul, but I'd like +to be a fust-class carpenter. Thar ain't no chance, though, out here, whar +thar ain't nothin' much but cabins, an' every man builds his own hisself." + +"Never mind, Jim," said Paul, "your time will come; and if it doesn't come +to you, it will come to your sons." + +"Paul, you're talkin' foolisher than ever," said Jim indignantly. "You +know that I ain't a married man, an' that I ain't got no sons." + +Paul only smiled. Again he was dreaming, looking far into the future. + +The spire of smoke was still on the horizon line when the twilight came, +but the next morning it was gone, and they did not see it again. Several +days more passed in peace and contentment, and, desiring to secure more +game, Paul and Hart took out the canoe one evening and rowed to the +mainland. + +They watched a while about the mouth of the brook, the favorite drinking +place of the wild animals, but they saw nothing. It seemed likely to Paul +that a warning had been sent to all the tenants of the forest not to drink +there any more, as it was a dangerous place, and he expressed a desire to +go farther into the forest. + +"All right, Paul," said Jim Hart, "but you kain't be too keerful. Don't +git lost out thar in the woods, an' don't furgit your way back to this +spot. I'll wait right here in the boat and watch fur a deer. One may come +yet." + +Paul took his rifle and entered the woods. It was his idea that he might +find game farther up the little stream, and he followed its course, taking +care to make no noise. It was a fine moonlight night, and, keeping well +within the shadow of the trees, he carefully watched the brook. He was so +much absorbed in his task that he forgot the passage of time, and did not +notice how far he had gone. + +Paul had acquired much skill as a hunter, and he was learning to observe +the signs of the forest; but he did not hear a light step behind him, +although he _did_ feel himself seized in a powerful grasp. This particular +warrior was a Miami, and he may have been impelled by pride--that is, a +desire to take a white youth alive, or at least hold him until his +comrades, who were near, could come and secure him. To this circumstance, +and to a fortunate slip of the savage, the boy undoubtedly owed his life. + +Paul was strong, and the grasp of the Indian was like the touch of fire to +him. He made a sudden convulsive effort, far greater than his natural +physical powers, and the arms of the warrior were torn loose. Both +staggered, each away from the other, and while they were yet too close for +Paul to use his rifle, he did, under impulse, what the white man often +does, the red man never. His clenched fist shot out like lightning, and +caught the savage on the point of the jaw. + +The Miami hit the earth with a thud, and lay there stunned. Paul turned +and ran with all his might, and as he ran he heard the war cry behind him, +and then the pattering of feet. But he heard no shots. He judged that the +distance and the darkness kept the savages from firing, and he thanked God +for the night. + +He had sufficient presence of mind to remember the stream, and he kept +closely to its course as he ran back swiftly toward the canoe. + +"Up, Jim, up! The warriors have come!" he shouted, as he ran. + +But Jim Hart, an awkward bean pole of a lion-hearted man, was already +coming to meet him, and fired past him at a dusky, dancing figure that +pursued. The death yell followed, the pursuit wavered for a moment, and +then Jim Hart, turning, ran with Paul to the canoe, into which both leaped +at the same time. But Hart promptly undoubled himself, seized the paddle, +and with one mighty shove sent the boat out into the lake. Paul grasped +the other paddle, and bent to the same task. Their rifles lay at their +feet. + +"Bend low, Paul," said Jim Hart. "We're still within range of the shore." + +Paul almost lay down in the canoe, but he never ceased to make long, +frantic sweeps with the paddle, and he was glad to see the water flashing +behind him. Then he heard a great yell of rage and the crackle of rifles, +and bullets spattered the surface of the lake about them. One chipped a +splinter from the edge of the canoe and whistled by Paul's ear, singing, +as it passed, "Look out! Look out!" But Paul's only reply was to use his +paddle faster, and yet faster. + +The boy did not notice that Jim Hart had turned the course of the canoe, +and that they were running northward, about midway between the island and +the mainland; but the rifle fire ceased presently, and Jim Hart said to +him: + +"You can take it easier now, Paul. We're out uv range, though not uv +sight." + +Paul straightened up, laid his paddle in the boat, and gasped for breath. + +"Look over thar, Paul, ef you want to see a pleasant scene," said Jim Hart +calmly. + +Paul's gaze followed the long man's pointing finger, and he saw at least +twenty warriors gathered on the bank, and regarding them now in dead +silence. + +"Mad!" said Jim Hart. "Mad clean through!" + +"They've chased us on land, and now they are chasing us on water. I wonder +where they will chase us next," said Paul. + +"Not through the air, 'cause they can't fly, nor kin we," said Jim Hart +sagely. + +Paul looked back again at the ferocious band gathered on the shore, and, +while he could not see their faces at the distance, he could imagine the +evil passions pictured there. As he gazed the band broke up, and many of +them came running along the shore. Then Paul noticed that the prow of +their canoe was not turned toward the island, but was bearing steadily +toward the north end of the lake, leaving the island well to the left. He +glanced at Jim Hart, and the long man laughed low, but with deep +satisfaction. + +"Don't you see, Paul," he said, "that we kain't go to the islan' an' show +to them that we've been livin' thar? That might wipe out all the spell uv +the place. We got to let 'em think we're 'fraid uv it, too, an' that we +dassent land thar. We'll paddle up to the head uv the lake, come down on +the other side, an' then, when it's atween us an' them, we'll come across +to our islan'." + +They were still abreast of the island, and yet midway between it and the +mainland. Paul saw the Indians running along the shore, and now and then +taking a shot at the canoe. But the bullets always fell short. + +"Foolish! Plumb foolish," said Jim Hart, "a-wastin' good powder an' good +lead in sech a fashion!" + +"That one struck nearer," said Paul, as a little jet of water spurted up +in the lake. "Keep her off, Jim. A bullet that is not wasted might come +along directly." + +Hart sheered the boat off a little toward the island, and then took a long +look at a warrior who had reached a projecting point of land. + +"That thar feller looks like a chief," he said, "an' I kain't say that his +looks please me a-tall, a-tall. I don't like the set uv his figger one +little bit." + +"What difference does it make?" said Paul. "You can't change it." + +"Wa'al, now, I was a-thinkin' that maybe I could," drawled Jim Hart. +"Hold the boat steady, Paul." + +He laid down his paddle and took up his rifle, which he had reloaded. + +"Them Injuns have guns, but they are not generally ez good ez ours," he +said. "They don't carry ez fur. Now jest watch me change the set uv that +savage's figger. I wouldn't do it, but he's just a-pinin' fur our blood +an' the hair on top uv our heads." + +Up went the long Kentucky rifle, and the moonlight fell clearly along its +polished barrel. Then came the flash, the spurt of smoke, the report +echoing among the hills about the lake, and the chief fell forward with +his face in the water. A yell of rage arose from the others, and again +bullets pattered on the surface of the lake, but all fell short. Jim Hart +calmly reloaded his rifle. + +"That'll teach 'em to be a little more keerful who they're a-follerin'," +he said. "Now, Paul, let's paddle." + +They sent the boat swiftly toward the north end of the lake, and Paul now +and then caught glimpses of the Miamis trying to keep parallel with it, +although out of range; but presently, as they passed the island, and could +swing out into the middle of the lake, the last of them sank permanently +from sight. But the two kept on in the canoe. The moonlight faded a +little, and soon the hills on the shore could be seen only as a black +blur. + +"This is jest too easy, Paul," said Jim Hart, "With them runnin' aroun' +that big outer circle, they couldn't keep up with us even ef they could +see us. Let's rest a while." + +Both put their paddles inside the canoe and drew long breaths. Each had a +feeling of perfect safety, for the time at least, and they let the boat +drift northward under the gentle wind from the south that rippled the +surface of the lake. + +"Water and darkness," said Paul. "They are our friends." + +"The best we could have," said Jim Hart. "Are you rested now, Paul?" + +"I'm fresh again." + +They resumed the paddles, and, curving about, came down on the western +side of the lake until they were opposite the island. Then they paddled +straight for their home, and the word "home," in this case, had its full +meaning for Paul. It gave him a thrill of delight when the prow of the +canoe struck upon the margin of the little island, and the gloom of the +great trees was friendly and protecting. + +"We must hide the canoe good," said Jim Hart. + +They concealed it in a thick clump of bushes, and then Hart carefully +readjusted the bushes so that no one would notice that they had ever been +disturbed, and they took their way to the hut in the glen. They did not +light a fire, but they sat for a little while on the stones, talking. + +"You're sure they won't come over to the Island?" said Paul. + +"They'll never do it," replied Jim Hart confidently. "Besides, they ain't +got the least suspicion that we've come here. Likely, they think we've +landed at the north end uv the lake, an' they'll be prowlin' aroun' thar +three or four days lookin' fur us. Jest think, Paul, uv all the work +they'll hev fur nothin'. I feel like laughin'. I think I _will_ laugh." + +He kept his word and laughed low; but he laughed long, and with the most +intense pleasure. + +"Jest to think, Paul," he continued, "how we're guarded by dead Injuns +theirselves!" + +Presently the two went into the hut, and slept soundly until the next +morning. They did not light a fire then, but ate cold food, and went down +among the trees to watch the lake. They saw nothing. The water rippled and +glowed in alternate gold and silver under the brilliant sunshine, and the +hills about it showed distinctly; but there was no sign of a human being +except themselves. + +"Lookin' fur us among the hills," said Jim Hart. "You an' me will jest +keep close, Paul, an' we won't light no fire." + +The whole day passed without incident, and the following night also, but +about noon the next day, as they watched from the shelter of the trees, +they saw a black dot on the lake, far to the south. + +"A canoe!" said Jim Hart. + +"A canoe? How did they get it?" said Paul--he took it for granted that its +occupants were Miamis. + +"Guess they brought it across country from some river, and thar they are," +replied Jim Hart. "They've shore put a boat on our lake." + +His tone showed traces of anxiety, and Paul, too, felt alarm. The Miamis, +after all, might defy their own superstition and land on the island. +Presently another canoe appeared behind the first, and then a third and a +fourth, until there was a little fleet, which the two watched with silent +apprehension. Had Henry Ware been mistaken? Did the Miamis really believe +it was a haunted island? + +On came the canoes in a straight black file, enough to contain more than a +score of warriors, and the man and the boy nervously fingered their +rifles. If the Indians landed on the island, the result was sure. The two +might make a good fight and slay some of their foes, but in any event +they would certainly be taken or killed. Their lives depended upon the +effect of a superstition. + +The line of canoes lay like a great black arrow across the water. They +were so close together that to the watchers they seemed to blend and +become continuous, and this arrow was headed straight toward the island. +Paul's heart went down with a thump, but a moment later a light leaped +into his eyes. + +"The line is turning!" he exclaimed. "Look, Jim, look! They are afraid of +the island!" + +"Yes," said Jim Hart, "I see! The ghosts are real, an' it's pow'ful lucky +fur us that they are. The Miamis dassent land!" + +It was true. The black arrow suddenly shifted to the right, and the line +of canoes drew into the open water, midway between the island and the +eastern mainland. + +"Lay close, Paul, lay close!" said Jim Hart. "We mustn't let 'em catch a +glimpse uv us, an' they're always pow'ful keen-eyed." + +Both the man and the boy lay flat on their stomachs on the ground, and +peered from the shelter of the bushes. No human eye out on the lake could +have seen them there. The canoes were now abreast of the island, but were +going more slowly, and both could see that the occupants were looking +curiously at their little wooded domain. But they kept at a healthy +distance. + +"I think they're lookin' here because the place is haunted, and not +because we are on it," said Jim Hart. + +It seemed that he spoke the truth, as the Miamis presently swung nearer to +the mainland and began to examine the shores long and critically. + +"I guess they've been huntin' us all through the woods, an' think now we +may be hid somewhar at the edge uv the lake," said Jim Hart. + +It seemed so. The two lay there for hours, watching the little fleet of +canoes as it circled the lake, keeping near the outer rim, and searching +among all the hills and hollows that bordered the shores. Once, when it +was on the western side, the fleet turned its head again toward the +island, and again apprehension arose in the hearts of the boy and the man, +but it was only for a fleeting moment. The line of canoes was quickly +turned away, and bore on down the open water. Paul and Jim Hart were +protected by Manitou. + +The circumnavigation of the lake by the Miamis lasted throughout the +remainder of the day, and when the twilight came, the canoes were lost in +its shade toward the southern end of the sheet of water. + +"We're safe," said Jim Hart, "but we've still got to keep close. They may +hang about here fur days." + +"What about Henry and Ross and Sol?" asked Paul anxiously. "On their way +back they may run right into that wasp's nest." + +"'Tain't likely," replied Jim Hart. "Our boys know what they're a-doin'. +But I wish them Miamis would go away so's I could light a fire an' cook +some fresh meat." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE BELT BEARERS + + +Paul and Jim Hart waited several days, never once venturing from the +protecting shadows of the woods, and they found the burden very great. The +little island was like a cage, and Jim Hart groaned, moreover, because he +could not exercise his skill in the art of cooking. + +"These cold victuals," he said, "besides bein' unpleasant to the inside, +are a disgrace to me. I jest got to cook somethin'." + +Finally, he built up a bed of coals on a very dark night, when it was +impossible for anyone to see either their sheltered glow or the smoke they +sent out, and he broiled juicy steaks from the body of a deer that they +had hung up in a tree. + +"Isn't it fine, Paul?" he said, as they ate hungrily. + +"Fine's no name for it," replied Paul. "It's great, splendid, grand, +magnificent, surpassing, unapproachable! Are those the terms, Jim?" + +"I don't know jest what all uv 'em mean," replied Jim Hart, "but they +shorely sound right to me." + +They saw the Indian canoes on the lake once more, but the Miamis seemed to +be fishing, and did not come anywhere near the island. Paul appreciated +then how great had been their continual need of caution. + +A day or two later there was a magnificent thunder storm, despite the +lateness of the season. The heavenly artillery roared grandly, and lakes, +hills, and forest swam at times in a glare that dazzled Jim Hart. After +that it rained hard, and they clung to the shelter of their hut, which was +fortunately water-tight now. The rain ceased by and by, but the clouds +remained in the sky, and night came very thick and dark. Jim Hart +suggested that it would be a good time to do a little fishing, and Paul +was ready and willing. + +They paddled out silently a short distance from the island, where the +water was not too shallow, and let down the lines. + +They waited some time and received no bites; but as this was nothing +unusual, owing to the crudity of their fishing tackle, they persisted +patiently. The night deepened and darkened, and they could not see the +surface of the lake fifty yards away. The water, moved by a light wind, +bubbled faintly against the sides of the canoe. Neither spoke, but sat in +silence, waiting hopefully for a pull on the lines. + +Presently Paul heard a faint, wailing sound, coming from the mainland, but +at first he paid little attention to it. Then he noticed that Jim Hart had +raised his head and was listening intently. Naturally Paul then listened, +too, with the same eager attention, and the faint wailing sound, +singularly weird and strange in the night, came a second, and presently a +third time. But after that it was not repeated. Long Jim Hart looked at +the boy. + +"You know what that is?" he said. + +"The cry of the whip-poor-will." + +"The cry of the whip-poor-will, given three times! The signal! The boys +are thar, an' we must go fur 'em." + +"Of course," said Paul. "Do we need to return to the island for anything?" + +"No; we have our rifles an' ammunition with us. We got to start right now, +an' Paul, don't you splash any water with your paddle." + +Paul understood as well as Jim Hart the need of extreme caution, as the +Miamis might be abroad, and he made every stroke steady and sure. Jim Hart +emitted the lonesome cry of the whip-poor-will once in return--signal for +signal--and then they cut their way in silence through the dark. + +They laid their course, according to agreement, for the drinking place at +the mouth of the brook, and Paul's heart beat with relief and gladness. +His comrades had come back, safe and sound. It did not occur to him that +any one of them might have fallen in the venture. Half way to the mainland +Jim Hart stopped the canoe, and listened a moment. + +"I thought I heard somethin' down the lake that sounded like a splash," he +said. + +But he did not hear it again, and they resumed their progress. Paul now +saw the loom of the land, a darker outline in the darkness, and his heart, +already beating fast, began to beat faster. Suppose there should be some +trick in the signal! Suppose they should find the Miamis, and not their +comrades, waiting for them! He sought hard to pierce the darkness and see +what might be there on the land before him. + +The outline of the shore rose more distinctly out of the darkness, and the +prow of the boat struck softly on the margin. Then Paul saw a figure rise +from the bushes, and after it another, and then a third, and then no more. +He could not see their faces, but it was the right number, and a vast +relief surged up. The three figures came down confidently to the canoe, +and then the welcome voice of Henry Ware said in a low tone: + +"You are here, Paul! You and Jim are on time to the minute!" + +"An' mighty glad I am, too," said Shif'less Sol, in the same tone. "I wuz +never so tired before in all my life. I think I must have trotted a +thousan' miles, an' now I'm willin' to let Jim Hart paddle me the rest o' +the way in a canoe." + +Tom Ross said nothing, merely showing his white teeth in a smile. + +"The Miamis are about," said Paul. "They have been around the lake, and on +it, for days, looking for something." + +"We know it," said Henry. "In fact, we've seen some of them not so long +since, though none of them saw us. There are big doings afoot, Paul, and +we must have our part in them." + +"Should we go back to the island, then?" + +"For the present, yes. We need a base, and the island is safest and best." + +The five got cautiously into the canoe, disposing their weight carefully, +and Shif'less Sol, who had taken the paddle from Paul, raised it for the +first sweep. But it did not come down into the water. Instead, he stopped +it in its fall, and he and all the others listened. The same splash that +Jim Hart thought he had heard came now to their ears, and it was repeated. +Paul knew that it was made by paddles sweeping through water, and it was +coming nearer. + +"Push back into the bushes," whispered Henry. + +They gently shoved the canoe far among the bushes in the shallow water, +and waited. They were completely hidden, but even if seen they could +spring instantly to the land. They waited, and the splashing steadily grew +louder. Paul felt the pressure of Henry's hand on his arm, and he looked +with all his eyes. The Miami navy was abroad that night! A canoe, a long +one with seven or eight warriors in it, was abreast of them, and behind it +came five others. They were not twenty yards away, and Paul, in fancy at +least, saw the savage eyes and the painted faces. What had brought them +out on the lake, what suspicion or precaution, Paul never knew, but there +they were. All were brave hearts in the hidden canoe, but they held their +breath while that silent file passed by. Then, when the last had gone and +was lost in the darkness, they pushed out a little and listened, with all +the keenness of forest-bred ears. Hearing no splash, they paddled in a +straight course for the haunted island. + +"I think they've gone toward the north end of the lake, and as they are +likely to keep on their way, now is our time," said Henry. + +They pushed farther into the lake, Ross and Shif'less Sol now handling +the paddles with wonderful dexterity. They went very slowly, not wishing +to make the faintest splash, and meanwhile the darkness thickened and +deepened again. It felt very damp to the face, and Paul saw now that fog +from the rain of the day was mingled with it. They could not see the +faintest outline of the island, but held their course from memory. + +They had been out about ten minutes when Ross and Sol, as if by +simultaneous impulse, ceased paddling, and Henry whispered; "Don't anybody +make any noise; it's for our lives!" + +They heard that faint splash, which Paul had learned to hate, coming back. +The Miami navy, from some unknown cause, had turned in its course. How +Paul blessed the thick, fog-charged darkness! + +"It's all chance now," whispered Henry, ever so low, and Paul understood. + +Then they held their breath, and the Miami canoes steadily drew nearer. +Would they come directly upon the white canoe or would they pass? They +passed, but they passed so near that Paul could hear the Indians in the +boats talking to each other. He also heard his heart beating in his body +as the invisible file went by, and the loud beat did not cease until no +more splashing of the paddles was heard. + +"Is all my hair gray?" whispered Shif'less Sol. + +Paul wanted to laugh in a kind of nervous relief, but he did not dare. +Instead he whispered back: + +"I can't see, Sol, but I'm sure mine is." + +Ross and Shif'less Sol took up the paddles again, and now they reached the +island without interruption. The boat was hidden again, and soon all were +in the hut in the sheltered cove. Henry spoke with approval of the +industry and forethought of Paul and Jim in their absence. + +"This hut is a mighty good place on a raw night like this," he said. "Now, +I'm going to sleep, and I'd advise you to do the same, Paul. I'll tell you +to-morrow all that we've done and have seen and know." + +While the others slept, Jim Hart, long-legged and captious, but brave, +faithful, and enduring, watched. He saw the fog and the darkness clear +away, and the moonlight came out, crisp and cold. A light wind blew and +dead leaves fell from the trees, rustling dryly as they fell. Autumn was +waning and cold weather would soon be at hand. When pale dawn showed, Jim +roused his comrades, and they ate breakfast, though no fire was lighted. +Then Henry talked. + +"It's true," he said, "about a great league of all the tribes being formed +to destroy forever the white settlements in Kentucky. They are alarmed +about their hunting grounds, and they think they must all strike together +now, and strike hard. We've spied upon several of their villages, and we +know. Some renegades are with them, pointing the way, and among them is +Braxton Wyatt, the most venomous of them all. I don't see how one who is +born white can do such a thing." + +But Paul had read books, and his mind was always leaping forward to new +knowledge. + +"It is the bad blood of some far-off ancestor showing," he said. "It is +what they call a reversion. You know, Henry, that Braxton was always mean +and sulky. I never saw anybody else so spiteful and jealous as he is, and +maybe he thinks he will be a big man among the Indians." + +"That's so," said Henry. "I can understand why anybody should love a life +in the forest. Ah, it's such a glorious thing!" + +He expanded his chest, and the light leaping into his eyes told that Henry +Ware was living the life he loved. + +"But," he added, "I can't see how anybody could ever turn against his own +people." + +"It's moral perversity," said Paul. + +"Moral perversity," said Jim Hart, stumbling over the syllables. "Them +words sound mighty big, Paul. Would you mind tellin' us what they mean?" + +"They mean, Jim," put in Shif'less Sol, "that you won't be what you ought +to be, an' that you won't, all the time." + +"That's a good enough explanation," laughed Paul. + +"Whatever is the reason," said Tom Ross, who used words as rarely as if +they were precious jewels, "the tribes are comin' together to destroy the +white settlements. Braxton is givin' them all kinds uv useful information, +an' we've got to hinder these doin's, ef we kin." + +The others agreed once more, and talked further of the new league. They +did not go into much detail about their adventures while spying on the +villages, rather looking now to the future. + +"I told you, Paul, we ought to a-put a knife in that Braxton Wyatt when we +had the chance," growled Shif'less Sol. + +"I couldn't do it, Sol," replied Paul. + +Later they held a conference beside a bed of coals that threw out no +smoke, and Paul listened with absorbed attention while Henry stated the +case fully. + +"The Shawnees were somewhat daunted by their repulse at Wareville last +year," he said, "but they hope yet to crush the white settlement before we +grow too strong. They are seeking to draw the Miamis, Wyandottes, and all +the other tribes up here into a league for that purpose, and they want to +have it formed and strike while our people are not expecting it. +Wareville, owing to her victory of last year, thinks she's safe, and it is +not the custom of Indians to raid much in winter. See, cold weather is not +far away." + +Henry looked up, and the eyes of the others followed. The trees were still +clothed in leaves, but the blazing reds and yellows and the dim mist on +the horizon showed that Indian summer was at hand. + +"Any day," continued Henry, "a cold wind may strip off all these leaves, +and winter, which can be very cold up here, will come roaring down. Now, +the Shawnees are more than willing to cross the Ohio again to attack us, +but the Miamis, while ready enough to take white scalps up here, have not +yet made up their minds to go south on the war trail. The Shawnees are +sending war belts to them, because the Miamis are a powerful tribe and +have many warriors. The first thing for us to do is to take the messengers +with the war belts." + +"An' to do that," said Shif'less Sol, "we've got to git off this islan' ez +soon ez we kin, an' shake off the band o' Miamis. Thar is always work fur +a tired man to do." + +Paul laughed at his tone of disgust. The boy's spirits were high now; in +fact, he was exuberant over the safe return of his comrades, and the +entire enterprise appealed with steadily increasing force to him. To +hinder and prevent the Indian alliance until the white settlements were +strong enough to defy all the tribes! This was in truth a deed worth +while! It was foresight, statesmanship, a long step in the founding of a +great state, and he should have a part in it! Already his vivid mind +painted the picture of his comrades and himself triumphant. + +"We must go to-night, if it is dark," said Henry. + +"That's so," said Tom Ross emphatically. + +The three had captured fresh supplies of ammunition while they were gone, +and they replenished the powder-horns and bullet pouches of Paul and Jim +Hart. Moreover, they had taken blankets, of a fine, soft, light but warm +make, probably bought by the Indians from European traders, and they gave +one each to Paul and Jim Hart. + +"It's getting too cold now," said Henry, "to sleep in our clothes only on +the ground in the forest." + +They made up the blankets in tight little rolls, which they fastened on +their backs, and Paul and Jim Hart put in a tanned deerskin with each of +theirs. + +"They're pow'ful light, an' they may come in mighty handy," said Long Jim. + +The night fortunately was dark, as they had hoped, and about eleven +o'clock they embarked in the canoe, paddling straight for the western +shore. Paul looked back with some regret at the island, which at times had +been a snug little home. The ancient, mummified bodies in the trees had +protected them, as if with a circle of steel, and he was grateful to those +dead of long ago. + +They saw no sign of the Indian canoes, and both Henry and Ross were +certain that they were in camp somewhere on the eastern shore. The little +party reached the dense woods on the west without incident whatever, and +there they partly sank the canoe in shallow water among dense bushes. Then +they plunged into the forest, and traveled fast. Shif'less Sol spoke after +a while, and apparently his groaning voice was drawn up from the very +bottom of his chest. + +"Oh, that blessed canoe!" he said. "I wuz so happy when I wuz a-ridin' in +it, an' somebody else wuz a-paddlin'. Now I hev to do all my own work." + +"You wouldn't be truly happy, Sol Hyde," said Jim Hart, "'less you wuz +ridin' in a gilt coach drawed by four white horses, right smack through +the woods here." + +"That's heaven," said the shiftless one, with a deep sigh. "I don't ever +dream o' sech a thing ez that, and please don't call it up to my mind, Jim +Hart; the contras' between that an' footin' it ez I am now is too cruel +an' too great." + +Paul smiled. The little by-play between those two good friends amused and +brightened him, but nothing else was said for a long time. Then it was +Henry who spoke, and he called a halt. + +"The big Miami village is not more than a dozen miles away," he said, "and +the warriors there are expecting messengers from the Shawnees, with war +belts. The messengers will pass near here, and we'll wait for them. The +rest of you will go to sleep, and Tom and I will watch." + +Paul, Jim Hart, and Shif'less Sol rolled themselves in their blankets and +lay down under a tree, the shiftless one murmuring, "Now, this is what I +like," and the others saying nothing. Paul was devoutly grateful for the +blanket, because the air was now quite cold, but in five minutes all +emotions were lost in deep and dreamless sleep. + +When Paul awoke from his slumber he started up in horror. Three powerful, +painted Shawnees stood over him. He was so much overwhelmed by the +catastrophe that he could only utter a kind of gasp. But the blood flowed +back from his heart into his veins when he heard the dry laugh of Long +Jim Hart. + +"Paul," said Jim, "I'd like to introduce you to the three new Shawnee +warriors that you used to know, when they were white, an' that you called +then Henry Ware, Tom Ross, and Sol Hyde." + +"Why, what has happened?" asked Paul, still in the depths of astonishment. + +Then Henry spoke, and he spoke gravely. + +"Sol did not sleep long, Paul," he said, "and when he awoke he joined us. +Then we went to meet the three Shawnee messengers, carrying war belts and +peace belts, for the Miamis to choose. It was not a business for you, +Paul. We met them, there was a fight--well, they will never appear in the +Miami village, and we are here in their place." + +Paul understood, and he shuddered a little at the deadly conflict that +must have raged out there in the forest while he slept. Then he looked +curiously at the three. He never would have known any one of them +anywhere. They were savages in every aspect--painted and garbed like them, +and with their hair drawn up in the defiant scalp lock. + +"What are you going to do?" he asked. + +"Deliver the belts at the Miami village," replied Henry Ware, "but they +will be peace belts, not war belts." + +"It is death," said Paul in protest. + +"It is not death," replied Henry. "We will come back safely, and it is for +a great stake. You and Jim must remain here in the woods, waiting for us +again, and we'll trust to your skill and caution not to be caught. If the +warriors become too thick around here you might retreat to the island. +Anyway, the signal will be as before--three wails of the whip-poor-will." + +Paul was impressed by his words, which were spoken with gravity and +emphasis. + +"Yes, it's in a great cause, Henry," he said, "and we'll wait, expecting +you to come back." + +Five minutes later the three newly made warriors took their path through +the forest, and they never looked back. Yet Henry Ware felt emotion. +Although he regarded Paul Cotter almost as a younger brother, he respected +him as a high type of one kind of being, and they were comrades true as +steel. Moreover, he knew that he and Ross and Sol were engaged upon the +most dangerous of tasks, and the chances were that they would not come +back. Yet he faced them with a high heart and dauntless courage. + +The three walked swiftly and silently in single file, and neither Shawnee +nor Miami eye would have known that they were not Indian. They walked, +toes in, as Indians do, and they had every trick of manner or gesture +that the red men have. All trace of civilization was gone. Henry Ware, +Thomas floss, and Solomon Hyde had disappeared. In their places were Big +Fox, Brown Bear, and The Bat, Shawnee warriors who bore belts to the Miami +village, and who would talk about the war to be made upon the white +intruders far to the south of the Ohio. + +Shortly before noon Big Fox, Brown Bear, and The Bat approached the Miami +village, pitched in a pleasant valley, where wood and water were in +plenty. Then they uttered the long whoop of the Shawnees, and it was +answered from the Miami village; but Big Fox, Brown Bear, and The Bat, +assured of a welcome, never stopped, keeping straight on for the village. +Squaws and children clustered around them, and openly spoke their +admiration of the three stalwart, splendidly proportioned warriors who had +come from the friendly tribe; but Big Fox, Brown Bear, and The Bat, in +accordance with the Indian nature, took no notice. It was only warriors +and chiefs to whom they would condescend to speak, and they were silent +and expressionless until the right moment should come. They passed +straight through the swarm of old men, women, children, and dogs, toward +the center of the village, where a long, low cabin of poles stood. An +ancient and reverend figure stood in the doorway to meet them. It was that +of Gray Beaver, head chief of the Miamis, an old, old man, gray with years +and wise like the beaver, from which he took his name. + +"My Shawnee brethren are welcome to the Council House," he said. "You have +come far, and you shall rest, and the squaws shall bring you food before +we talk." + +"It is sufficient to us to see the great and wise chief, Gray Beaver," +said Henry. "Though we come from a long journey, it makes us strong and +brave again." + +The old chief bowed, but his grave features did not relax. Nevertheless, +he was pleased in his secret soul at the gallant bearing and polite words +of the young warrior who addressed them. He led the way into the Council +House, and a half dozen underchiefs followed them, hiding their interest +beneath their painted masks of faces. + +The Council House was large--fifty warriors could have sat in it--and +robes of the buffalo, beaver, and other animals were spread about. Big +Fox, Brown Bear, and The Bat sat down gravely, each upon a mat of skins, +and were served by the warriors with food and drink, which the squaws had +brought to the door, but beyond which they could not pass. The three +Shawnee belt bearers ate and drank in silence and dignity, and they +appreciated the rest and refreshment so needful to those who had traveled +far. Neither did anyone else speak. The venerable Gray Beaver sat on a +couch of skins a little higher than the others, and his eyes rested +steadily on the belt bearers. The subchiefs, silent and motionless on +their mats of skins, also watched the belt bearers. At one end of the +great room, in a kind of rude chimney, smoldered the council fire, a bed +of coals. + +More than half an hour passed, and when the guests had eaten and drunk +sufficiently, the venerable chief waved his hands, and the remains of the +food and drink were taken away. Then Gray Beaver drew from beneath his +robe a beautifully ornamented pipe, with a curved horn stem and a carven +bowl. He pressed into the bowl a mixture of tobacco and aromatic herbs, +which he also drew from beneath his robe, and lighted it with a coal which +one of the chiefs brought from the fire. Then he took three whiffs and +gravely and silently passed the pipe to the chief of the Shawnee belt +bearers, Big Fox. It was a curious fact, but no one had said that Big Fox +was the chief of the three. Something in his manner made all take it for +granted, and Big Fox, too, unconsciously accepted it as a matter of +course. + +The magnificent young warrior took three whiffs at the pipe of peace, and +passed it to Brown Bear, who, after doing the same, handed it in his turn +to The Bat. Then it was passed on to all the subchiefs, and everyone +smoked it in gravity and silence. The smoke circled up in rings against +the low roof, and every man sat upon his mat of skins, painted, +motionless, and wordless. The young chief, Big Fox, waited. Though his +eyes never turned, he saw every detail of the scene, and he was conscious +of the tense and breathless silence. He was conscious, too, of the immense +dangers that surrounded his comrades and himself, but fear was not in his +heart. + +"My brethren have come to the Miami village with a message from their +friends, the Shawnees," said the ancient chief at last. + +"It is so," said Big Fox. + +"The hearts of the Shawnees are filled with hatred of the white men, who +have come into the hunting grounds beyond the Ohio, and who cut down trees +and build houses there." + +"It is so." + +Big Fox's gaze never wavered. He continued to look straight at the council +fire, and the tense silence came again. Big Fox was conscious that the air +in the Council House was heavy, and that all were watching him with black, +glittering eyes. + +"The Shawnees would destroy the white villages, and would seek the help +of all the tribes that know them," continued Gray Beaver. + +Then Big Fox spoke. + +"It is true," he said gravely and slowly, "that the Shawnees would wish +the white settlements destroyed, every house burned, and every warrior, +squaw, and child killed, that the forest might grow again where they live, +and the deer roam again unafraid." + +Big Fox paused, and for the first time looked away from the council fire. +His piercing gaze swept the circle of the Miamis, and every man among them +drew a deep breath. There was something extraordinary in this belt bearer, +a majesty and magnetism that all of them felt, and they hung upon his +words, listening intently. + +"The Shawnees are warriors," resumed Big Fox, "and they do not fear +battle. They went last year against the white settlements, and they went +alone. The Miamis know that." + +There was a deep murmur of assent. + +"The Shawnees are wise as well as brave," resumed Big Fox. "Their old +chiefs have talked over it long. It is a great war trail upon which we +would go, and he who would travel far and long should prepare well. The +white men are brave. From their wooden walls last year they beat us off, +and many Shawnees fell afterwards in the battle with them in the forest." + +Big Fox paused, and swept the circle again with his glittering eyes. As +before, every man among them drew a deep breath when that hypnotic gaze +fell upon him. But they were hearing words that they had not expected to +hear, and after the tremendous gaze had passed there came a faint murmur +of surprise. But Big Fox did not seem to notice it. Instead he continued: + +"The winter is at hand. Already the dead leaves fall, and soon the bitter +winds will sweep the forests and the prairies. The warrior would go forth +to battle, chilled and stiff. The gun would fall from his frozen hands." + +Again he paused and looked straight at Gray Beaver. The old chief stirred +in his furred robe beneath that piercing gaze. + +"We would not go forth to war until we are ready for war, until the season +is ripe for war," resumed Big Fox. "When we would strike, we would strike +with all the strength of all the allied tribes, that nothing of the white +man might be left. We would send to Canada for more rifles, more powder, +and more bullets, and to do all these things it must be long before we go +on the great war trail. So I bring you, for the present, peace." + +He took from beneath his robe the peace belts, message of the Shawnee +nation, and handed them to the old, old chief, Gray Beaver. The murmur +from the Miamis became deep and long, but Big Fox gazed once more at the +fire, painted, silent, and immovable. + +"It was war when I was in the Shawnee village, a moon ago," said a chief, +Yellow Panther, "and it was war belts that we expected. Why have the +Shawnees changed their minds?" + +Murmurs of approval greeted his words, but Big Fox never stirred. + +"The old men, the wise men of the Shawnees have so decided," he replied. +"It is not for the bearer of the belts to question their wisdom." + +"If the Shawnees wish to wait long to prepare, the Miamis must wait, too," +said the chief, Gray Beaver, in whose veins flowed the cold and languid +blood of old age. + +The younger chiefs murmured again. Big Fox was conscious that a powerful +faction of the Miamis wished to go on a winter war path, and strike the +settlements at once. But Big Fox was still unafraid. He was a forest +diplomatist as well as a forest warrior, and he played for the most +precious of all stakes, the lives of his people. + +"The great chiefs of the Shawnees have lived long," he said. "Their heads +are heavy with age and with wisdom. It is not well to waste our strength +with a blow which will not reach the mark, but it is good to wait until we +can strike true." + +The chief, Yellow Panther, arose. He was a tall and ferocious savage, with +a cunning countenance. + +"The Shawnees change their minds quickly," he said, in tones of subtle and +insulting insinuation. "There is one here who came from their village but +three days since, and then they looked not so kindly upon the peace belts. +It is well to bring him to this council of the Miamis." + +He glanced at Gray Beaver and the ancient chief nodded. Then Yellow +Panther stepped from the Council House. + +The heart of Big Fox stirred within him ever so slightly. What did Yellow +Panther mean by "one who had come but three days since"? A new factor was +entering the terrible game. But he showed no emotion, nor did his +comrades, the other two belt bearers, Brown Bear and The Bat. Neither of +the latter had spoken since he entered the Council House. + +The murmurs ceased, and all sank back on their skin mats. Silence resumed +absolute sway in the long room. The little eddies of smoke still curled +against the roof, and the air was surcharged with suspense. + +The buffalo robe over the entrance was lifted, and Yellow Panther +returned. Behind him came a second figure. + +The eyes of Big Fox turned slowly from the council fire, and looked +straight into those of Braxton Wyatt. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +BRAXTON WYATT'S ORDEAL + + +The blood of Big Fox leaped for a moment in his veins, but it did not show +under the paint of his face. His figure never quivered. He still knew all +the danger, and he knew, moreover, how it had increased since the entrance +of Braxton Wyatt, but he said, in slow, cold tones, full of deadly +meaning: + +"It is the white youth who left his own people to come to our village and +join our people. We have received him, but the eyes of the warriors are +still upon him." + +The insinuation was evident. The renegade could not be trusted. Already, +with the first words spoken, Big Fox was impeaching his character. + +Braxton Wyatt stood with his back to the buffalo robe, which had fallen +again over the entrance, and looked around at the circle of chiefs who had +resumed their seats on the skin mats. Then his eyes met the stern, +accusing gaze of Big Fox, the Shawnee belt bearer, and were held there as +if fascinated. But Braxton Wyatt was not without courage. He wrenched his +eyes away, turned them upon the ancient chief, Gray Beaver, and said: + +"I have been long in the Shawnee lodges, great chief of the Miamis, but I +do not know these belt bearers." + +There was a murmur, and a stir on the skin mats. + +Big Fox scorned to look again at Braxton Wyatt. He gazed steadily at the +council fire, and said in tones of indifference: + +"The white youth who left his own people has been in the lodges, where the +old men and women stay; we have been on the war trail with the warriors. +The day we returned to the village we were chosen to bring the peace belts +to our good friends, the Miamis." + +"The belt bearers are Big Fox, Brown Bear, and The Bat," said Yellow +Panther, looking at Braxton Wyatt. "You have heard of them? The Shawnee +villages are full of their fame." + +"I never saw them, and I never heard of them before," replied Braxton +Wyatt, in a tone of mingled anger and bewilderment, "but I do know that +all the Shawnees wish the Miamis to go south with them at once, on the +great war trail against the white settlements." + +The old chief, Gray Beaver, looked from the belt bearers to Braxton Wyatt +and from Braxton Wyatt to the belt bearers. His aged brain was bewildered +by the conflicting tales, but he put little trust in the white youth. +Already Big Fox had sowed in his mind the seeds of unbelief in the words +of Braxton Wyatt. + +"Scarcely a moon ago the Shawnees, as we all know, wished to go on the +great war trail at once," said Yellow Panther, "but now three come, who +say they are from them, bearing peace belts. Moreover, here is another who +says that the Shawnees would send war belts. What shall the Miamis think?" + +There was another murmur, and then silence. The surcharged air was heavy +in the great lodge. But Big Fox merely shrugged his shoulders slightly, +and answered in tones of lofty indifference: + +"Big Fox, Brown Bear, and The Bat were sent by the old chiefs of the +Shawnees to deliver peace belts to the chiefs of the Miamis, and they have +delivered them." + +Brown Bear and The Bat nodded, but said nothing. Yellow Panther looked at +Braxton Wyatt, who was shaken by varying emotions. As he truly said, he +had long been in the Shawnee villages, but he had never seen or heard of +the three warriors who now sat calmly before him--Big Fox, Brown Bear, +and The Bat. Yet he could not say that no such men existed, because small +parties had roved far and long on the hunt or the war trail. He gazed at +them before answering. He, too, was struck by the splendid figure and pose +of Big Fox, and he was impressed, moreover, by a sense of something +familiar, though he could not name it. It haunted him and troubled him, +but remained a mystery. He collected his shrewd wits and said: + +"As I told you, the warriors who bring the peace belts are strangers to +me. Yet the Shawnees, when I left the head village, but a few days ago, +wished war at once against the white settlements, and the Shawnees do not +change their minds quickly." + +"Is the word of a renegade, of one who would slay his own people, to be +weighed against that of a warrior?" + +Big Fox spoke with lofty contempt, not gazing at Braxton Wyatt, but +straight into the eyes of Gray Beaver. The old chief felt the power of +that look, and wavered under it. + +"It is true," he said, "that the Shawnees, a moon ago, were for war; but +Big Fox, Brown Bear, and The Bat have come, bearing peace belts from them, +and what our eyes see must be true." + +There was a murmur again, but it was very faint now. The authority of +Gray Beaver, in his time a mighty warrior, and now wise with years and +experience, was great, and the under chiefs were impressed--all but Yellow +Panther, whose eyes flashed vindictively at the belt bearers. Angry blood +also flushed Braxton Wyatt's face, and he did not know at the moment what +to say or do. + +"It is true that I was born white," he said, "but I have become one of the +Shawnees, and I shall be faithful to them. I have spoken no lies. The +Shawnees were for war, and I believe they are so yet." + +"The Shawnees from whom I have come," said Big Fox, in his grave tones, +wholly ignoring Braxton Wyatt, "expect peace belts in return. Will the +messengers depart with them to-morrow?" + +He spoke directly to Gray Beaver, and his powerful gaze still rested upon +him. The withered frame of the old chief trembled a little within his +furred robe, and then he yielded to the spell. + +"The Miami messengers will start to-morrow with peace belts for the +Shawnees," he said. + +A thrill of triumph ran through the frame of Big Fox, but he said nothing. +The eyes of both Braxton Wyatt and Yellow Panther flashed vindictively, +but they, too, said nothing. Big Fox judged that they were not yet wholly +beaten, but he had accomplished much; if each tribe received peace belts +from the others, it would take a long time to untangle the snarl, and +unite them for war. Meanwhile, the white settlements were steadily growing +stronger. + +"Our Shawnee brethren, the belt bearers, will stay with us a while," said +the crafty Yellow Panther. "They have traveled far, and they need rest." + +Big Fox knew that it would not do to be too hasty; a desire to depart at +once would only arouse suspicion, and he and his comrades, moreover, had +further work to do in the Miami village. So he gravely accepted the offer +of hospitality, and he and Brown Bear and The Bat were conducted to a +lodge in the center of the village, where they ate again, and reclined +luxuriously upon buffalo robes and deerskins. Yellow Panther followed them +there, and was very solicitous for their comfort. All his attentions they +received with grave courtesy, and when there was nothing more that he +could do or say he withdrew, letting the covering of the lodge door fall +behind him. Then the three belt bearers, putting their ears against the +skin walls of the lodge, listened intently. Nothing was stirring without. +If any person was at hand, or listened there, they would have known it; so +they spoke to each other in low tones. + +"Your plan seems to have worked so far, Henry," said Ross, "even if +Braxton Wyatt did come." + +"Yes--so far," replied Henry Ware; "but Braxton is sure that something is +wrong, and so is that cunning wolf, Yellow Panther. They want to hold us +here in the village until they find out the truth; but we are willing to +stay, that we may checkmate what they do. I can work on old Gray Beaver, +whose age makes him favor caution and peace." + +"An' while you are thinkin' it over," said Shif'less Sol, "jest remember +that I'm a belt bearer who has traveled a long way, an' that I'm pow'ful +tired; so I guess I'll take a nap." + +He rolled over on the softest of the skins, and was as good as his word. +In five minutes he was sound asleep. Tom Ross leaned back against the skin +wall and meditated. Henry Ware arose and walked in the village; but the +moment he stepped from the lodge, all trace of the white youth was gone, +and he was again Big Fox, the chief of the belt bearers from the Shawnees. + +The village was the scene of an active savage life. It had been a season +of plenty. Game and fish abounded, and, according to the Indian nature, +they ate and overate of that plenty, thinking little of the morrow. Hence +this life, besides being active, was also happy in its wild way. Big Fox +noticed the fact, with those keen eyes of his that nothing escaped. + +And all in their turn noticed Big Fox here, as he had been noticed in the +Council House. Old and young alike admired him. They thought that no such +splendid warrior had ever before entered their village. Surely the +Shawnees were a nation of men when they could produce such as he. His +height, his straight, commanding glance, the wonderful, careless strength +and majesty of his figure, all impressed them. He looked to them like one +without fear, and moreover, with such strength and quickness as his, he +seemed one who had little to fear. But as he walked there, Yellow Panther +came again, and spoke to him with sly, insinuating manner: + +"The belt bearer is not weary, though he has traveled far." + +"No," replied Big Fox. "Manitou has been kind to me, and has given me +strong limbs and muscles that do not tire." + +"Did Big Fox, in his journey from the Shawnee village, hear of white men? +It is said that a band of them have been in this region about the lake, +there to the southward. One of our warriors was slain, but we could not +find those whom we pursued." + +Big Fox wondered if it was a chance shot, but he looked straight into the +eyes of Yellow Panther, which fell before the gaze of his, and replied: + +"I came bearing belts, and I thought only of them. If there are white men +in the Miami woods, the Miamis are warriors enough to take them." + + + +Yellow Panther turned aside, but he followed the tall figure with a look +of the most vindictive hate. Like Braxton Wyatt, he felt that something +was wrong, but what it was he did not yet know. Big Fox mingled freely in +the village life throughout the day, and never once did he make a mistake. +All the Indian ways were familiar to him, and when he talked with the +warriors about the Northwestern tribes, he showed full knowledge. Old Gray +Beaver was delighted with him. The deference of this splendid young +warrior was grateful to his heart. + +That night the three belt bearers, calm and unconcerned, lay down in the +great lodge that had been assigned to them, and slept peacefully. Far in +the darkness, Yellow Panther and Braxton Wyatt crept to the side of the +lodge and listened. They heard nothing from within, and at last the Miami +carefully lifted the buffalo hide over the entrance. His sharp eyes, +peering into the shadows, saw the three belt bearers lying upon their +backs and sleeping soundly. Apparently they were men without fear, men +without the cause of fear, and Yellow Panther, letting the tent flap fall +softly back, walked away with Braxton Wyatt, both deeply disappointed. + +They did not know that a pair of hands had lifted the tent flap ever so +little, and that a pair of keen eyes were following them. The wonderful +instinct of Henry Ware had warned him, and he had awakened the moment they +looked in. But his eyes had not opened. He had merely felt their presence +with the swish of cold air on his face, and now, after they had +disappeared among the lodges, he wished to deepen the impression the belt +bearers had made. Then he and his comrades must go back to Paul and Jim +Hart, who lay out there in the forest, patiently waiting. + +The next morning Big Fox, Brown Bear, and The Bat saw three Miami belt +bearers depart with peace belts for the Shawnee village, but as for +themselves, they would remain a while longer, enjoying the Miami +hospitality. + +In an open space just north of the village, Miami boys were practicing +with the bow and arrow, shooting at the bodies of some owls tied on the +low boughs of trees. Warriors were looking on, and the belt bearers, Big +Fox, Brown Bear, and The Bat, joined them. By and by some of the warriors +began to take a share in the sport and practice, using great war bows and +sending the arrows whistling to the mark. At last the chief, Yellow +Panther, himself handled a bow and surpassed all who had preceded him in +skill. Then, turning with a malicious eye to Big Fox, he said: + +"Perhaps the Shawnee belt bearers would like to show how well they can use +the bow. Surely they are not less in skill than the Miamis?" + +His look was full of venom. Shawnees, though armed now with rifles, were +good bowmen, and whatever he suspected might be confirmed by the failure +of the belt bearers to show skill, or not to shoot at all. He held in his +hand the great bow that he had used, and, barring the malice of his eyes, +his gesture was full of politeness. + +Big Fox did not hesitate a moment. He stepped forward, took the bow and +arrow from the hand of Yellow Panther, glanced at the great owl at which +the chief had shot, and then walked back fifteen yards farther from it. A +murmur of applause came from the crowd. He would shoot at a much greater +distance than Yellow Panther had shot, and the chief and Braxton Wyatt, +too, who had drawn near, frowned. + +Big Fox glanced once more at the body of the great owl, and then, fitting +the arrow to the string, he bent the bow. An involuntary cry of admiration +came from a people who valued physical strength and skill when they saw +the ease and grace with which he bent the tough wood. Not in vain had +nature given Big Fox a figure of power and muscles of steel! Not in vain +had nature given him an eye the like of which was not to be found on all +the border! Not in vain had he achieved surpassing skill with the bow in +his life among the Northwestern Indians! + +There was silence as the bow bent and the arrow was drawn back to the +head. Then that silence was broken only by the whizz of the feathered +shaft as it shot through the air. But a universal shout arose as the arrow +struck fairly in the center of the owl, pierced it like a bullet, and flew +far beyond. + +Big Fox turned and handed back the bow to Yellow Panther. + +"Is it enough?" he asked gravely. "Can the Shawnee belt bearers use the +bow and arrow?" + +"It is enough," replied the chief, seeking in vain to hide his chagrin. + +"It wuz great luck," whispered The Bat to Brown Bear, a little later, +"that the challenge to the bow an' arrow should a-been made to perhaps the +only white in all the West who could a-done sech a thing." + +The belt bearers spent a second night in the same lodge, and on the +morning of the third day they announced that they must depart for their +own village. Gray Beaver hospitably, and Yellow Panther craftily, urged +them to stay longer, but Big Fox replied that the Shawnees were going on a +great hunt into the Northwest before the winter came, and the belt bearers +would be needed. Braxton Wyatt knew nothing of the projected hunt, but for +the present he was silent. Throughout the contest he had shown at a +disadvantage against the diplomacy of Big Fox. Now the belt bearers +courteously invited him to return home with them, but he declined, +replying that he would not depart for some days. He did not say it aloud, +but nothing could have induced him to go with the belt bearers. + +Big Fox noticed that neither Yellow Panther nor Braxton Wyatt made any +opposition to their going, and it was a fact that he did not forget, +drawing from it his own inference. His power to read the faces of men was +scarcely inferior to his wonderful skill in reading every sign of the +forest. + +Gray Beaver, and behind him a rabble, accompanied the Shawnee belt bearers +to the edge of the woods, and there the aged chief said graciously to Big +Fox: + +"My son, my heart is warm toward you, and I am glad to have seen you in +the lodges of the Miamis." + +"Farewell, Gray Beaver," said Big Fox. + +Then he and his two comrades turned, and disappeared like phantoms in the +forest, so swiftly they went. + +Autumn had made further advance. The dying leaves were falling fast, and +the wilderness was more open. A crisp wind blew in the faces of the three +belt bearers--now belt bearers no longer, but Henry Ware, Tom Ross, and +Solomon Hyde, white of skin and white of heart. They sped forward on fleet +foot many miles, and it was Shif'less Sol who spoke first. + +"Shall we stop at this spring," he said, "an' wash the paint off our +faces? I want to look like a white man agin, jest ez I am. I don't feel +nat'ral at all ez an Injun." + +"Neither do I," said Tom Ross, "I don't like to change faces, an' right +here I wash mine." + +The three stooped down to the spring, and as they rubbed off the paint +they felt their right natures returning. + +"I'm thankful I wuz born white," said Shif'less Sol. "Why, what is it, +Henry?" + +Henry Ware had raised his head in the attitude of one who listens. His +eyes were intent and nostrils distended like those of a deer that suspects +an enemy. + +"We're followed," he said. "I thought we would be." + +"Yellow Panther, uv course!" said Tom Ross, with emphasis. + +"Of course! And like as not Braxton Wyatt is among those who are with +him." + +Sol Hyde looked at Henry. There was a queer light in the eyes of the +shiftless one. + +"Do we want 'em to ketch us?" he asked. + +"I think we'd better wait and see." + +It was in no tone of boasting that either spoke. Three borderers such as +they could shake off the pursuit of any men who lived. + +"S'pose we lead 'em on a while," said Tom Ross. + +Henry nodded, and the three ran in a sort of easy trot toward the +southeast. They took no trouble to hide their trail, and as the forest at +this point was free from undergrowth, they were visible at a considerable +distance. This easy trot they kept up for hours, and the extraordinary +powers, or intuition, of Henry Ware told him that the Miamis were always +there, a quarter of a mile, perhaps, behind. But the three men were never +troubled. There was no fear in their minds. This was only sport to them. + +They crossed brooks and little creeks, and at last, when they came to one +of the latter a little larger than the others, Henry Ware said: + +"I think it's time to bother 'em now. We'll wade here." + +They entered the creek, which had a hard, pebbly bed, and walked rapidly +against the stream for at least a quarter of a mile. Then they emerged in +dense undergrowth, and turned backward in a course parallel to that by +which they had come. But before going far they sank down in a dense +thicket, and lay quite still. Then they saw the Miami band pass--fifteen +or sixteen warriors, led by Yellow Panther, with Braxton Wyatt trailing at +the rear. "The renegade!" said Shif'less Sol savagely, under his breath. + +The band passed on, but the three borderers did not stir. They knew that +the trail would be lost presently, and some, at least, of the warriors +would come back seeking it. + +Fifteen minutes, a half hour, passed, and then they heard distant +footsteps. Henry Ware, peering above the bushes, saw a face that belonged +to a white youth, and suddenly a daring project formed itself in his mind. +Braxton Wyatt was alone! Other members of the Miami band must be near, but +they were not in sight, and, above all, Braxton Wyatt was for the present +alone! Only a few minutes were needed! + +"Watch what I do!" whispered Henry Ware to his comrades--he knew that +their keen minds would need no other hint. + +Braxton Wyatt came back, looking on the ground, his rifle lying loosely +across his shoulder. He dreamed of no danger. The three suspected belt +bearers must be fleeing fast. Moreover, Yellow Panther and his Miami +friends were near. He walked on, and the fiend he served gave him no +warning. + +He came to a dense clump of bushes, and turned to go around it. There was +a sudden rustling in those bushes, and he looked up. A terrifying form +threw itself upon him and bore him to the ground. A heavy hand was clapped +upon his mouth, and the cry that had risen to his lips died in his throat. +He looked up and saw the face of Henry Ware. Beside him stood two others +whom he knew--Tom Ross and Shif'less Sol. He became blue about the lips, +and expected a quick death. + +"Listen!" said Henry Ware, and every word that he said was burned into +Braxton Wyatt's wretched soul. "You are not to die, not at this time. But +you are to do what we say. Go back there, under those trees by the big +rock, and when Yellow Panther and the other Miamis come up, tell them that +you have lied! We were the belt bearers, and you are to say to Yellow +Panther that you knew us as real Shawnees, but you were so anxious for +the war that you denied us. Tell it as if it were true. Don't tremble! +Don't look once at these bushes! Our three rifles will be aimed at you all +the time, and if you say a single word that will make them suspect, we +fire, and you know that no one of us ever misses. Do as we say!" + +He was released, the heavy hand was taken away from his mouth, and his +captors disappeared so suddenly and silently in the bushes that it was +almost unbelievable. Then Braxton Wyatt rose to his feet and trembled +violently. Though he could not see them now, he must believe. He could +feel that powerful grasp yet upon his arms, and that heavy hand yet upon +his mouth. He knew, too, as well as he knew that he was living, that the +unseen muzzles were there, trained upon him. As Henry Ware truly said, no +one of the three ever missed, and he had no chance. + +He stopped his trembling with an effort of the will and walked to the rock +under the trees, thirty or forty yards away. Already he saw Yellow Panther +and the other Miamis coming, and he rebelled at the deadly menace from the +bushes. But the love of life was strong within him. He looked at Yellow +Panther, who was approaching with five or six warriors, and then he tried +to form a rapid plan. He would talk with the chief, saying at first what +his terrible enemies wished, and then, gradually drawing him away, he +would tell the truth, and thus achieve the destruction of the three whom +he hated and feared so horribly. + +Braxton Wyatt raised one hand and wiped the perspiration from his face. +Then, when a deadly fear struck him, he composed his features. Henry Ware +had said he must tell a tale that seemed true. There must be no suspicion. +The fatal muzzles were trained on him, he well knew, and the sharpest of +eyes and ears were watching. He longed to cast one look at the bushes, +only one, but he dared not for his life. It was forbidden! + +Yellow Panther was at hand now, plainly showing annoyance. The lost trail +could not be found, and wrath possessed him. He looked at the renegade, +and uttered his discontent. + +Braxton Wyatt longed more than ever to tell; they were there so near, it +seemed he must tell; but the deadly rifles held him back. No one of their +bullets would miss! + +"Yellow Panther," he said, and his voice faltered, "let us abandon the +trail and go back." + +Yellow Panther looked at him, astonished by words and manner alike. + +"Go back!" he said. "Did you not tell me that they were false, that there +were no such warriors in the Shawnee village?" + +Braxton Wyatt trembled, and the cold sweat came again on his forehead. If +only those rifles were not there in the thicket! A mighty power seemed to +draw him about for one look, only one! But he did not dare--it was +death!--and with a supreme effort he wrenched himself away. + +"I was wrong," he said. "I was eager for war, eager to see the Shawnees +and Miamis go together against the white settlements in the south--so +eager that I forgot the men. But I remember them now." + +"Have you a crooked tongue?" asked Yellow Panther. + +"No, no!" cried Braxton Wyatt, in mortal terror of the three rifles. "I +had, but I have not now! I am telling you the truth! As I live I am, +Yellow Panther! I was anxious for the war, anxious as you are, and it +brought a cloud before my eyes. I could not remember then, but I remember +now! The men were true Shawnees, and the Shawnee nation does not wish to +go on the great war trail this year." + +Yellow Panther looked at him with indignation and contempt, and hesitated. +Braxton Wyatt trembled once more. Would the chief believe? He must +believe! He must make him believe, or he would die! + +"I wished to tell you before we started, Yellow Panther," he said, "but I +feared then your just anger. Now we have lost the trail, and I must save +you from further trouble. Why should I tell you this now if it is not +true? Why else should I avow that I have spoken false words?" + +Yellow Panther looked at the unhappy figure and face, and believed. + +"It is enough," he said. "We will go back to our own village. Come!" + +He spoke to his warriors, and they returned swiftly on their own tracks to +the Miami village. Braxton Wyatt went with them, and he dared not look +back once at that fateful clump of bushes. + +When they were gone far beyond sight, Henry Ware, Tom Ross, and Shif'less +Sol rose up, looked at each other, and laughed. + +"That wuz well done, Henry," said Shif'less Sol lazily. "I never knowed a +purtier trick to be told. He's clean caught in his own net. If he wuz to +tell the truth now to the chief, Yellow Panther wouldn't believe him." + +"And if he were to believe him, Yellow Panther, in his anger, would +tomahawk him," said Henry Ware, "No, Braxton Wyatt will not dare to +tell." + +"And now we may take it easy," said Tom Ross. "But I wouldn't like to be +in your place, Henry, ef ever you wuz to fall into the hands uv Yellow +Panther an' that renegade." + +"I'll take care that I don't have any such bad luck," said Henry. "And now +we must find Paul and Jim." + +Serenely satisfied, they resumed their journey, but now they went at a +slower gait. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +IN WINTER QUARTERS + + +The three walked slowly on for a long time, curving about gradually to the +region in which Paul and Jim Hart remained hidden. They did not say much, +but Shif'less Sol was slowly swelling with an admiration which was bound +to find a vent some time or other. + +"Henry," he burst out at last, "this whole scheme o' yours has been worked +in the most beautiful way, an' that last trick with Braxton Wyatt wuz the +finest I ever saw." + +"There were three of us," said Henry briefly and modestly. + +"It's a great thing to use your brain," said the shiftless one sagely. +"I'm thinkin' o' doin' it hereafter myself." + +Tom Ross laughed deeply and said: + +"I'd make a beginning before it wuz too late, ef I wuz you, Sol." + +"How long do you think it will take the Shawnees an' the Miamis to +straighten out that tangle about the great war trail?" asked the +shiftless one of Henry. + +"Not before snow flies," replied the youth; "and then there will be so +much mutual anger and disgust that they will not be able to get together +for months. But we must stop up here, Sol, and watch, and egg on the +misunderstanding. Don't you think so, Tom?" + +"Of course!" replied Ross briefly, but with emphasis. "We've got to hang +on the Injun flanks." + +Late in the afternoon they reached familiar ground, or at least it was so +to the sharp eyes of these three, although they had seen it but once. Here +they had left Paul and Jim Hart, and they knew that they must be somewhere +near. Henry gave forth the whip-poor-will cry--the long, wailing note, +inexpressibly plaintive and echoing far through the autumn woods. It was +repeated once and twice, and presently came the answering note. + +The three walked with confidence toward the point from which the answer +had come, and soon they saw Paul and Jim Hart advancing joyously to meet +them. + +Paul listened with amazement to the story of their wonderful adventure, +told in a few brief phrases. Not many words were needed for him. His vivid +imagination at once pictured it all--the deadly play of words in the +Council House, the ambushing of Braxton Wyatt, and the triumphant result. + +"That was diplomacy, statesmanship, Henry," he said. + +"We're going to stay up here a while longer, Paul," said Henry. "We think +our presence is needed in these parts." + +"I'm willing," said Paul, wishing to have assurances, "but what about the +powder for Marlowe, and what will our people at Wareville think has become +of us?" + +"As long as we can keep back these tribes, Marlowe will not need the +powder, and some of the buffalo hunters have taken word to Wareville that +we have come into the North." + +"I purpose," said Shif'less Sol, "that so long ez we're goin' to stay in +these parts that we go back to the haunted islan' in the lake. It's in the +heart o' the Injun country, but it's the safest spot within five hundred +miles o' us." + +"I think with Sol," said Henry. "We can prepare there for winter quarters. +In fact, we've got a hut already." + +"An' I won't have nothin' to do," said the shiftless one, "but lay aroun' +an' hev Jim Hart cook fur me." + +"You'll hev to be runnin' through the frozen woods all the time fur game +fur me to cook, that's what you'll hev to do, Sol Hyde," retorted Jim +Hart. + +The idea of going into winter quarters on the island appealed to Paul. He +had grown attached to the little hollow in which he and Jim Hart had built +the hut, and he thought they could be very snug and warm. So he favored +Sol's proposition with ardor, and about twilight they brought the hidden +canoe again from the bushes, paddling boldly across the lake for the +island. The place did not now have an uncanny look to Paul. Instead, it +bore certain aspects of home, and he forgot all about the mummies in the +trees, which were their protection from invasion. + +"It's good to get back again," he said. + +They landed on the island, hid the canoe, and went straight to the hollow, +finding everything there absolutely undisturbed. + +"We'll sleep to-night," said Henry, "and in the morning we'll plan." + +Paul noticed, when he rose early the next day, that the whole earth was +silver with frost, and he felt they were particularly fortunate in having +found some sort of shelter. The others shared his satisfaction, and they +worked all day, enlarging the hut, and strengthening it against the wind +and cold with more bark and brush. At night Henry and Ross took the canoe, +went to the mainland, and came back with a deer. The next day Jim Hart and +Shif'less Sol were busy drying the venison, and Paul spent his time +fishing with considerable success. + +Several days passed thus, and they accumulated more meat and more skins. +The latter were particularly valuable for warmth. Paul draped them about +their hut, arranging them with an artistic eye, while Jim Hart and +Shif'less Sol, with a similar satisfaction, watched their larder grow. + +"This is the finest winter camp in all the wilderness," said Shif'less +Sol. + +"You couldn't beat it," said Jim Hart. + +These were happy days to Paul. Knowing now that a message had been sent +hack to Wareville, he was released from worry over the possible anxiety of +his people on his account, and he was living a life brimful of interest. +Everyone fell almost unconsciously into his place. Henry Ware, Ross, and +Shif'less Sol scouted and hunted far and wide, and Paul and Jim Hart were +fishermen, house builders, and, as Paul called it, "decorators." + +The hut in the hollow began to have a cozy look. Henry and Ross brought in +three buffalo skins, which Jim promptly tanned, and which Paul then used +as wall coverings. Wolfskins, deerskins, and one beautiful panther hide +were spread upon the floor. This floor was made mainly of boughs, broken +up fine, and dead leaves, but it did not admit water, and the furs and +skins were warm. In one corner of the place grew up a store of dried +venison and buffalo meat, over which Jim Hart watched jealously. + +All of the cooking was done at night, but in the open, in a kind of rude +oven that Jim Hart built of loose stones, and never did food taste better +in the mouth of a hungry youth than it did in that of Paul. The air was +growing much colder. Paul, who was in the habit of taking a dip in the +lake every night, found the waters so chill now that he could not stay in +long, although the bath was wonderfully invigorating. Whenever the wind +blew the dead leaves fell in showers, and Paul knew he would soon be +deeply thankful they had the hut as a retreat. + +About ten days after their return Henry came back from a scout around the +Miami village, and he brought news of interest. + +"Braxton Wyatt is still there," he said, "and he is so mixed up that he +does not know just what to do for the present. After saying one thing and +then denying himself, he is in the bad graces of both parties of the +Miamis. For the same reason he doesn't dare to go back for a while to the +Shawnees, so he is waiting for things to straighten themselves out, which +they won't do for a long time. The Miami belt bearers have not yet +returned from the Shawnee village, and then belts will have to go back and +forth a dozen times each before either tribe can find out what the other +means." + +"An' if we kin keep 'em misunderstandin' each other," said Shif'less Sol, +"they can't make any attack on the white settlements until away next +spring, an' by that time a lot more white people will arrive from over the +mountains. We'll be at least twice ez strong then." + +"That's so," said Henry; "and the greatest work we five can do is to stay +here and put as many spokes as we can in the Indian alliance." + +"And I am glad to be here with all of you," said Paul earnestly. It seemed +to him the greatest work in the world, this holding back of the tribes +until their intended victim should acquire strength to beat them off, and +his eyes shone. Besides the mere physical happiness that he felt, there +was a great mental exhilaration, an exaltation, even, and he looked +forward to the winter of a warrior and a statesman. + +Paul's body flourished apace in the cold, nipping air and the wild life. +There were discomforts, it is true, but he did not think of them. He +looked only at the comforts and the joys. He knew that his muscles were +growing and hardening, that eye, ear, all the five senses, in truth, were +growing keener, and he felt within him a courage that could dare anything. + +Henry made another expedition, to discover, if he could, whether the +Miamis suspected that the haunted island harbored their foes. They did not +ask him what means he used, how he disguised himself anew, or whether he +disguised himself at all, but he returned with the news that they had no +suspicion. The island was still sacred to the spirits--a place where they +dare not land. This was satisfying news to all, and they rested for a +while. + +Three or four days after Henry's return a strong wind stripped the last +leaves from the trees. All the reds and yellows and browns were gone, and +the gusts whistled fiercely among the gray branches. The surface of the +lake was broken into cold waves, that chased each other until they died +away at the shore. + +The next day heavy rolling clouds were drawn across the sky, and all the +world was somber and dark. Paul stood at the entrance to the hut, and now, +indeed, he was thankful that they had that shelter, and that they had furs +and skins to reinforce their clothing. As he looked, something cold and +wet came out of the sky and struck him upon the face. Another came, and +then another, and in a few moments the air was full of flakes whirled by +the wind. + +"The first snow," said Paul. + +"Yes," said Henry, "and let us pray for snows--many, hard, and deep. The +fiercer the winter the easier it will be to hold back the allied tribes." + +It was not a heavy snow, but it gave an earnest of what might come. The +bare boughs were whipped about in the gale, and creaked dismally. The +ground was covered with white to the depth of about two inches, and dark, +rolling waves, looking very chill, chased one another across the lake. Jim +Hart and Paul had managed to build of stones, in one corner of their hut, +a rude oven or furnace, with an exterior vent. They had plastered the +stones together with mud, which hardened into a sort of cement, and in +this furnace they kindled a little fire. They did not dare to make it +large, because of the smoke, but they had enough coals to give out a warm +and pleasant glow. + +All of them retreated for a while to the "mansion," as Paul rather proudly +called it, and Henry. Ross, and Shif'less Sol busied themselves with +making new and stout moccasins of deerskin, fastened with sinews and +lined with fur. Shif'less Sol was especially skillful at this work; in +fact, the shiftless one was a wonderfully handy man at any sort of task, +and with only his hunting knife, a wooden needle of his own manufacture, +and deer sinews, he actually made Paul a fur-lined hunting shirt, which +seemed to the boy's imaginative fancy about the finest garment ever worn +in the wilderness. All of them also put fur flaps on their raccoon-skin +caps, and Shif'less Sol even managed to fashion an imitation of gloves out +of deerskin. + +"I wouldn't advise you to try to use your hands much with these gloves +on," he said; "leastways, not to shoot at anything till you took 'em off; +but I do say that so long ez your hands are idle, they'll be pow'ful +warmin' to the fingers." + +"We don't have to go out very much just now," said Paul, "and if we only +had two or three books here, we could pass the time very pleasantly." + +"That's so," said Shif'less Sol musingly. "You an' me, Paul, wuz intended +to be eddicated men. Ez fur Jim Hart here, he's that dull he'd take more +pride in cookin' in a stone furnace than in writin' the finest book in the +world." + +"When I cook I git's somethin' that I kin see," said Jim Hart. "I never +read but one book in my life, an' I didn't find it very sustainin'. I +guess if you wuz starvin' to death here in the wilderness, you'd ruther +hev a hot hoe cake than all the books in the world." + +"'Tain't worth while, Paul, to talk to Jim Hart," said Shif'less Sol +sadly. "He ain't got no soul above a hoe cake. I've allus told you, Paul, +that you an' me wuz superior to our surroundings. Ef Jim Hart wuz locked +up in a schoolhouse all his life he'd never be an eddicated man, while ez +fur me, I'm one without ever gittin' a chance, jest because it's in my +natur'." + +Paul laughed at them both, and drew a little closer to the bed of red +coals. The warmth within and the cold without appealed to all the elements +of his vivid and imaginative nature. Not for worlds would he have missed +being on this great adventure with these daring men. + +"I'm a-thinkin'," said Ross, as he lifted the buffalo robe over their door +and looked out, "that ez soon ez the wind dies the lake will freeze over." + +"An' it will be harder than ever then," said Paul, "to catch fish." + +"I guess we kin do about ez well through holes in the ice," said Ross. + +Ross's prediction soon came true. When they awoke on the morning two days +afterwards the lake curved about them in a white and glittering sheet, +reflecting back a brilliant sun in a million dazzling rays. + +"I'm glad all of our party are here on the island together," said Henry, +"because the ice isn't thick enough to support a man's weight, and it +isn't thin enough to let a canoe be pushed through it. We're clean cut off +from the world for a little while." + +"An' this is whar poor old Long Jim becomes the most vallyble uv us all," +said Jim Hart. "It's a lucky thing that I've got a kind uv stove an' +buffalo meat an' venison an' other kinds uv game. I'm jest willin' to bet +that you four hulkin' fellers will want to lay aroun' an' eat all the +time." + +"I wouldn't be surprised, Jim, if we didn't get hungry once in a while," +said Henry, with a smile. + +Two more days passed, and the ice on the lake neither melted nor grew +thicker, and they were as well shut in and others were as well shut out as +if they had been on a lone island in the Pacific Ocean. Once they saw a +thin column of smoke, only a faint blue spire very far away, which Henry +said rose from an Indian camp fire. + +"It's several miles from here," he said, "and it's just chance that they +are there. They don't dream that we are here." + +Nevertheless, they did not light the fire in their furnace again for two +days. Then, when the skies grew too dark and somber for a faint smoke to +show against its background, they kindled it up again, and once more +enjoyed warm food. + +"Ef I jest had a little coffee, an' somethin' to b'il it in, I'd be +pow'ful happy," said Jim Hart. "I'd jest enjoy b'ilin' a gallon or two +apiece fur you fellers an' me." + +"Wa'al, ez you ain't got any coffee an' you ain't got anythin' to b'il it +in, I reckon we'll hev to be jest ez happy without it," said Shif'less +Sol. + +The night after this conversation Paul was awakened by a patter upon their +skin and thatch roof. It must have been two or three o'clock in the +morning, and he had been sleeping very comfortably. He lay on furs, and +the soft side of a buffalo robe was wrapped close about him. He could not +remember any time in his life when he felt snugger, and he wanted to go +back to sleep, but that patter upon the roof was insistent. He raised +himself up a little, and he heard along with the patter the breathing of +his four comrades. But it was pitch dark in the hut, and, rolling over to +the doorway, he pulled aside a few inches the stout buffalo hide that +covered it. Something hard and white struck him in the face and stung like +shot. + +It was hailing, pouring hard and driven fiercely by the wind. Moreover, it +was bitterly cold, and Paul quickly shut down the buffalo flap, fastening +it tightly. "We're snowed in and hailed in, too," he murmured to himself. +Then he drew his buffalo robe around his body more closely than ever, and +went back to sleep. The next morning it rained on top of the hail for +about an hour, but after that it quickly froze again, the air turning +intensely cold. Then Paul beheld the whole world sheathed in glittering +ice. The sight was so dazzling that his eyes were almost blinded, but it +was wonderfully beautiful, too. The frozen surface of the lake threw back +the light in myriads of golden sheaves, and every tree, down to the last +twig, gleamed in a silvery polished sheath. + +"It 'pears to me," said Shif'less Sol lazily, "that we ain't on an islan' +no longer. The Superior Powers hev built a drawbridge, on which anything +can pass." + +"That's so," said Paul. "The ice must be thick enough now to bear a war +party." + +"Ef that war party didn't slip up an' break its neck," said Shif less Sol. +"All that meltin' stuff froze hard, an' it's like glass now. Jest you try +it, Paul." + +Paul went out in the hollow, and at his very first step his feet flew from +under him and he landed on his back. Everywhere it was the same way--ice +like glass, that no one could tread on and yet feel secure. + +"We have our drawbridge," said Paul, "but it doesn't seem to me to be very +safe walking on it." + +Nevertheless, Henry and Ross slipped away two nights later, and were gone +all the next day and another night. When they returned they reported that +the Miami village was pretty well snowed up, and that the hunters even +were not out. Braxton Wyatt was still there, and they believed he would +soon be up to some sort of mischief--it was impossible for him to remain +quiet and behave himself very long. + +"Meanwhile what are we to do?" asked Paul. + +"Just stay quiet," said Henry. "We'll wait for Braxton and his savages to +act first." + +But the ice did not remain long, all melting away as the fickle +northwestern weather turned comparatively warm again, and the five once +more began to move about freely. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +WORK AND PLAY + + +Henry and Ross were gone to the mainland, and Paul, Shif'less Sol, and Jim +Hart were left on the island. Shif'less Sol stood at the edge of the +hollow, hands on hips, admiring the hut. + +"Paul," he said, "I think that thar house is jest about the finest I ever +built." + +"You built!" exclaimed Jim Hart indignantly. "Mighty little you had to do +with it, Sol Hyde, but eat in it an' sleep in it, which two things you are +willin' enough to do any time! It's me an' Paul who have reared that gran' +structure." + +"It appeals to my instincts as an eddicated man," went on Sol, calmly +disregarding Jim. "We've got up the house without sp'ilin' the +surroundin's. It jest blends with rock an' bush, an' we've helped natur' +without tryin' to improve it." + +"I believe you've got the truth of it, Sol," said Paul. "I'm getting fond +of this place. How long do you think we'll stay here, Sol?" + +Shif'less Sol cocked up his weather eye, and a look of surpassing wisdom +came over his face. + +"When the ground hog come out o' his hole in the fall an' saw his shadder, +he went right back ag'in," he replied, "an' that means a hard winter. +Besides, we're pretty far north, an' all the hunters say they have lot o' +snow hereabouts. We're goin' to have cold an' snow right along. That's the +opinion o' me, Solomon Hyde. Jim Hart may say somethin' else, but he ain't +worth listenin' to." + +"I said this mornin' that it wuz goin' to be a hard winter," growled Jim +Hart. "You heard me sayin' so, an' that's the reason you're sayin' so +now." + +"Oh, Jim, Jim! Whatever will become o' you?" exclaimed Shif'less Sol +sadly. "An' I've always tried to teach you that the truth wuz the right +thing." + +Paul laughed. + +"Sol," he asked, "did you ever see a game of chess?" + +"Chess? What's that? Is it a mark you shoot at?" + +"No; you play it on a board with little figures made of wood, if you +haven't got anything else. My father has a set of chessmen, and he plays +often with Mr. Pennypacker, our school teacher. He's played with me, too, +and I can show you how to make the things and to play." + +A look of interest came into Sol's eyes. + +"We've got lots o' time," he said. "S'pose you do it, Paul. I know I kin +learn. I ain't so sure o' Jim Hart thar." + +Jim was also interested, so much so that he forgot to reply to Shif'less +Sol. + +"How'll you do it?" he asked. + +Paul's reply was to begin at once. He cut a big square piece of white +fanned deerskin, and upon this he marked the little squares with +coal-black. Then the three of them went to work with their sharp hunting +knives, carving out the wooden figures. The results were crude, but they +had enough shape for identification, and then Paul began to teach the game +itself. + +Sol and Jim were really men of strong intellect, and they had plenty of +patience. Paul was surprised at their progress. They were soon thinking +for themselves, and when Paul himself did not want to play, the two would +fight it out over the deerskin. + +"It's a slow game, but good," said Shif'less Sol. "It 'pears to me that a +man to be at the head o' 'em all in this would hev to do nothin' else all +his life." + +"That is so," said Paul. + +"Jim, thar ain't no earthly chance for you," said Shif'less Sol. + +"I guess I've got you this time, anyhow," said Jim, with a deep chuckle of +satisfaction. "Jest look at that thar board, Sol Hyde. Ef you ain't druv +into a corner so you can't move this way nor that, then you can hev the +huntin' shirt right off my back." + +Shif'less Sol examined the deerskin square attentively. + +"Blamed ef it ain't so," he said in a tone of deep disgust. "It wuz an +accident, nuthin' but an accident, or else I've been talkin' too much." + +"That's what you're always doin', Sol Hyde--talkin' too much." + +"Then we'll jest try it over ag'in, an' I'll show you what it is to play +ag'inst a real smart man." + +They were deep in a fresh game a few moments later, and Paul went outside. +He was glad to see them so interested, because he knew that otherwise the +curse of dullness might fall upon them. + +The air was raw and chill, and, although the snow and ice were gone, the +lake and the hills beyond looked singularly cold. But Paul was neither +uncomfortable nor unhappy. He was clothed warmly, and he had food in +abundance and variety. Trusty comrades, too, surrounded him. Life at +present seemed very pleasant. + +He strolled up the island toward the trees that contained the Indian +bodies, and after a while returned toward the home in the hollow. A warm, +mellow light gleamed from its rude window, and Paul's heart throbbed with +something of the feeling that one has only toward "home." + +He opened the door and entered, just in time to hear Shif'less Sol's cry +of triumph: + +"Thar, Jim Hart, ef that don't settle you, I'd like to know what will! +Now, who's doin' too much talkin'?" + +"I can't see jest how it happened," said Jim Hart ruefully. + +"No, an' you never will. Them things are too deep fur you. It's only +eddicated men, like me an' Paul, that kin see to the bottom o' 'em." + +"You're even, as it's game and game," said Paul, "so let's rest now. Henry +and Tom ought to be coming pretty soon." + +"An' they'll be ez hungry ez a hull pack uv wolves," said Jim Hart, "so I +guess I'd better be cookin'. Here, Sol, give me them strips uv deer meat +an' buffalo." + +"I shorely will," said Shif'less Sol. "Thar is one thing, ef it is only +one, that you kin do well, Jim Hart, an' it's cook." + +The two, in the most friendly fashion, went about preparing the supper. +They had many kinds of game to choose from, and once Ross had brought a +bag of ground corn, perhaps taken by stealth from an Indian village, and +now and then Jim made from it a kind of bread. He was to bake some +to-night, in honor of the returning two, and soon the place was filled +with pleasant odors. + +Twilight was deepening, the supper was almost ready, and Paul went forth +to see if Henry and Tom were yet in sight. Presently he saw them +coming--two black figures against the setting sun, with the body of a deer +that they had killed and dressed. He hastened to meet them and give them a +helping hand, and together they approached the house. + +First they swung the body of the deer from a bough, and then they opened +the door. Deep silence reigned within. No friendly voice greeted them. The +heads of Jim Hart and Shif'less Sol almost touched over a square of +deerskin, at which both were looking intently. With the supper ready, and +nothing else to do, they had got out the chessmen, and were playing the +rubber. So absorbed were they that they neither heard nor saw. + +"Now what under the sun is this?" exclaimed Tom Ross. + +"It's a game I taught 'em while you and Henry were gone," explained Paul. +"It's called chess." + +Shif'less Sol and Jim sprang up, but Sol quickly recovered his presence of +mind. + +"I jest about had him cornered, an' your comin' saved him," he said. + +"Cornered!" said Jim Hart. "He ain't even seed the day when he kin beat +me!" + +The chessmen were put aside for the time, and five hungry beings ate as +only borderers could eat. Then Tom Ross demanded a look at the game. After +the look he asked for instruction. + +"I saw a set uv them fellers once when I wuz at Fort Pitt," he said, "but +I never thought the time would come when I'd play with 'em. Push up the +fire thar a little, will you, Jim, so I kin see better." + +Paul and Henry looked at each other and smiled. Soon Tom himself, the +senior of the party, was absorbed in the new game, and it was a happy +thought of Paul's to introduce it, even with the rude figures which were +the best that they could make. + +Paul brought up again the next morning the subject of their weather +prospects, and Tom and Henry agreed with the others in predicting a great +deal of snow and cold. + +"All signs show it," said Henry. "The rabbits are burrowing deeper than +usual under the bushes, and I notice that the birds have built their nests +uncommonly thick. I don't understand how they know what's coming, but they +do." + +"Instinct," said Paul. + +"We know that a hound kin follow by smell the track of a man who has +passed hours before," said Shif'less Sol, "when no man in the world kin +smell anything at all o' that track. So it ain't any more strange that +birds an' beasts kin feel in their bones what's comin' when we can't." + +"Ef you'll imitate them squirrels an' rabbits an' birds an' things," said +Jim Hart, "an' lay up lots uv things good to eat fur the winter, it'll +give me pleasure to cook it ez it's needed." + +"I've noticed something besides the forethought of the animals," added +Henry. "The moss on the north side of the trees seems to me to be thicker +than usual. I suppose that nature, too, is getting ready for a long, hard +winter." + +"When nature and the animals concur," said Paul, "it is not left to man to +doubt; so we'd better be providing the things Jim promises to cook so +well." + +They had learned the border habit of acting promptly, and Henry Ross and +Sol were to depart the very next morning for the mainland on a hunt for +deer, while Long Jim was to keep house. Paul otherwise would have been +anxious to go with the hunters, but he had an idea of his own, and when +Henry suggested that he accompany them, he replied that he expected to +make a contribution of a different kind. + +All these plans were made in the evening, and then every member of the +five, wrapping himself in his buffalo robe, fell asleep. The fire in Jim +Hart's furnace had been permitted to die down to a bed of coals, and the +glow from them barely disclosed the five figures lying, dark and silent, +on the floor. They slept, clean in conscience and without fear. + +Henry, Shif'less Sol, and Ross were off at dawn, and Paul, using a rude +wooden needle that he had shaped with his own pocketknife, and the tendon +of a deer as thread, made a large bag of buckskin. Then he threw it +triumphantly over his shoulder. + +"Now what under the sun, Paul, are you goin' to do with that?" asked Jim +Hart. + +"I'm going to add variety to our winter store. Just you wait, Jim Hart, +and see." + +Bearing the bag, he left the house and took his way to the north end of +the island. He had not been above learning more than one thing from the +squirrels, and he had recalled a grove of great hickory trees growing +almost to the water's edge. Now the ground was thickly covered with the +nuts which had fallen when the severe frosts and the snow and ice came. +There were several varieties, including large ones two inches long, and +the fine little ones known to boys throughout the Mississippi Valley as +the scaly bark. Paul procured two stones, and, cracking several of them, +found them delicious to the taste. Already in his Kentucky home he had +become familiar with them all. The hogs of the settlers, running through +the forest and fattening upon these nuts and acorns, known collectively as +"mast," acquired a delicious flavor. Boys and grown people loved the nuts, +too. + +The nuts lay about in great quantities, and the thick, barky coverings, +known to the boys as "hulls," almost fell off at a touch. Soon the ground +was littered with these hulls, while the big buckskin bag was filled with +the clean nuts. Then, lifting it to his shoulder, Paul marched off proudly +to the house. + +"Now, why didn't I think uv that?" said Jim Hart, as Paul threw down the +bag before him and disclosed its contents. "An' all them hick'ry nuts jest +layin' thar on the ground an' waitin' fur me." + +"It's because you had so much else to do, Jim," said Paul; "and as I'm +idle a good deal of the time, the thought occurred to me." + +"You shorely do have the gift uv sayin' nice things, an' makin' a feller +feel good, Paul," said Jim admiringly. + +Paul laughed. Jim's words pleased him. + +"I told nothing but the truth," he said. "Now, Jim, I'm going back for +more, and I'd like to do this job all by myself. I think I can gather at +least six bagfuls, and we'll heap them here by the wall." + +"An' mighty good seas'nin' they'll be to deer an' buffalo an' b'ar meat," +said Jim Hart. "It wuz a good thought uv yours, Paul." + +Paul worked the whole morning, and when he had gathered all the nuts in +the house he estimated the quantity at several bushels. Although he sought +to conceal his pride, he cast more than one triumphant look at the great +heap by the wall. + +He and Jim went forth together in the afternoon with rude spades, made of +wood and hardened at the edges in the fire, to dig for Indian turnip. + +"It ain't much of a veg'table," said Jim, "but we might find it useful to +give a new taste to our meat, or it might be uv some help doctorin', in +case any uv us fell sick." + +They found two or three of the roots, and the remainder of the afternoon +they devoted to strengthening their house. They did this with huge slabs +of bark lying everywhere on the ground, fallen in former seasons. Some +they put on the roof, thatching in between with dry grass and leaves, and +others they fastened on the sides. + +"It ain't purty," said Jim, "but it turns rain an' snow, an' that's what +we're after." + +"I take another view," said Paul. "It does look well. It blends with the +wilderness, and so it has a beauty of its own." + +The three hunters were not to return that night, and Paul and Jim kept +house. Jim slept lightly, and just before the dawn he rolled over in his +buffalo robe and pushed Paul's shoulder. + +Paul awoke instantly, and sat up. + +"What is it, Jim?" he asked anxiously. It was his natural thought that +some danger threatened, and it was so dark in the cabin that he could not +see Jim's face. + +"Do you hear that hoo-hooing sound?" asked Jim Hart. + +Paul listened and heard faintly a low, mellow note. + +"What is it, Jim?" he asked. + +"The call of the wild turkey." + +"What, Indians again?" + +"No, it's the real bird, talkin'. An old gobbler is tellin' his hens that +day is comin'. It's a plumb waste on his part, because they know it +theirselves, but he must jest let 'em know what a smart bird he is. An' +it's that pride uv his that will be his ruin. Git up, Paul; we must have +him an' one uv his hens to eat." + +"Where do you think they are?" asked Paul. + +"In the hick'ry grove. I guess they lighted thar fur the night, when +flyin' 'cross the lake." + +The two hurried on their clothes, took their rifles, and stole out. A +faint tinge of light was just showing under the horizon in the east, but +the air was not yet gray. It was very cold at that early hour, and Paul +shivered, but he soon forgot it in the ardor of the chase. + +"Slip along softer nor a cat, Paul," said Jim. "We don't want to give old +Mr. Gobbler any warnin' that his time hez come. Thar, hear him? The tarnal +fool! He's jest bound to show us where he is." + +The mellow call arose again, very clear and distinct in the silent air, +and as they approached the edge of the hickory grove, Jim pointed upward. + +"See him thar on the limb," he said, "the big feller with the feathers all +shinin' an' glistenin'? That's the gobbler, an' the littler ones with the +gray feathers are the hens. I'm goin' to take the gobbler. He may be old, +but he's so fat he's bound to be tender; an' s'pose, Paul, you take that +hen next to him. When I say 'Now,' fire." + +The two raised their guns, took careful aim, and Jim said "Now." They +fired together, aiming at the necks or heads. The big gobbler fell like a +stone from the bough and lay still. The hen fell, too, but she fluttered +about on the ground. The rest flew away on whirring wings. Paul ran +forward and finished his bird with a stick, but Jim lifted the great +gobbler and looked at him with admiring eyes. + +"Did you ever see a finer turkey?" he said. "He must weigh all uv forty +pounds, an' he's as fat as he can be with the good food uv the wilderness. +An' he's a beauty, too! Jest look at them glossy blue-black feathers. No +wonder so many hens wuz in love with him. I could be pop'lar with the +women folks, too, ef I wuz ez handsome ez Mr. Gobbler here." + +They picked and cleaned the turkeys, and then hung the dressed bodies from +the boughs of a tree near the hut, where they would be frozen, and thus +keep. + +The hunters returned that afternoon with two deer, and were delighted with +Jim and Paul's zeal and success. + +"Ef things go on this swimmin' way," said Shif'less Sol, "we'd be able to +feed an army this winter, ef it wuz needed." + +It was very cold that evening, and they built the fire higher than usual. +Great mellow rays of heat fell over all the five, and lighted up the whole +interior of the cabin with its rich store of skins and nuts and dressed +meats, and other spoil of the wilderness. The five, though no one of them +ever for a moment forgot their great mission of saving Kentucky, had a +feeling of content. Affairs were going well. + +"Paul," said Shif'less Sol, "you've read books. Tell us about some o' them +old fellers that lived a long time ago. I like to hear about the big +ones." + +"Well," said Paul, "there was Alexander. Did you ever hear of him, Sol?" + +Shif'less Sol shook his head and sighed. + +"I can't truly call myself an eddicated man," he replied, "though I have +the instincks o' one. But I ain't had the proper chance. No, Paul, me an' +Alexander is strangers." + +"Then I'll make you acquainted," said Paul. He settled himself more +comfortably before the fire, and the others did likewise. + +"Alexander lived a long, long time ago," said Paul. "He was a Greek--that +is, he was a Macedonian with Greek blood in him--I suppose it comes to the +same thing--and he led the Greeks and Macedonians over into Asia, and +whipped the Persians every time, though the Persians were always twenty to +one." + +"Who writ the accounts o' them thar battles?" asked Shif'less Sol. + +"Why, the Greeks, of course." + +"I thought so. Why, Jim Hart here must be a Greek, then. To hear him tell +it, he's always whippin' twenty men at a time. But it ain't in natur' for +one man to whip twenty." + +"I never said once in my life that I whipped twenty men at a time," +protested Jim Hart. + +"We'll let it pass," said Paul, "and Sol may be right about the Greeks +piling it up for themselves; but so they wrote it, and so we have to take +it. Well, Alexander, although he wasn't much more than a boy, kept on +whipping the Persians until at last their king, Darius, ran away with his +wives." + +Shif'less Sol whistled. + +"Do you mean to tell me, Paul," he said, "that any white man ever had more +than one wife! I thought only Injun chiefs had 'em?" + +"Why, it was common a long time ago," replied Paul. + +"What a waste!" said Shif'less Sol. "One man havin' a lot uv wives, an' +Jim Hart here ain't ever been able to get a single one." + +"An' you ain't, either, Sol Hyde," said Jim Hart. + +"Oh, me!" replied Shif'less Sol carelessly. "I'm too young to marry." + +"Let him go on about Alexander, the fightin' feller," interrupted Tom +Ross. + +"Alexander conquered all Asia," resumed Paul, "but it didn't agree with +him. The more he conquered the more he wanted to conquer." + +"Jest like a little boy eatin' turkey," said Shif'less Sol. "Can't hold +enough to suit him. Stummick ain't ez big ez his appetite, an' he hez to +cry about it. I don't think your Alexander wuz such a big man, after all." + +"He was not, from one point of view, Sol, but he was certainly a general. +After conquering all the world, he fell to drinking too much, and +quarreling with his best friends. One day he got raging drunk, which made +him hot all over, and he jumped into an icy river to cool off. That gave +him a fever, and he died right away. He was only thirty-two." + +Shif'less Sol sniffed in disgust. + +"Dead at thirty-two!" he said. "Now, I call him a plumb failure. With +fightin' goin' on all the time, an' fevers layin' aroun' fur you, I call +it somethin' jest to live, an' I mean to stay in these parts till I'm a +hundred. Why, that Alexander never had time, Paul, to think over what he'd +done. I wouldn't change places with him, I think I'm a heap sight better +off." + +"I agrees with Sol ag'in," said Tom Ross, who had been in deep thought. +"In dang'rous times it's doin' a heap jest to live, an' a man who dies +off at thirty-two, all through his own foolishness, ain't much to brag +about." + +Henry laughed. + +"Paul," he said, "you'll have to bring out better examples of greatness to +satisfy Sol and Tom." + +Paul laughed, too. + +"I just tell things as they are," he said. "Maybe they are right." + +Henry went to the door and looked out. The air was full of raw chill, and +he heard the leafless boughs rustling in the winter wind. All around him +was the dark wilderness, and, natural hunter and warrior though he was, he +was glad to have the shelter, the fire, and his comrades. He turned back +and closed the door tightly, in order to shut out any stray gust that +might be of an unusually penetrating quality. + +"I'm thinking that we'd better start away hunting again very early in the +morning," he said. "The big snows are bound to come soon. That first +little one was only a taste of what we're going to get." + +They were off again at daybreak, and this time Paul went with them. The +party turned to the southward, in order to avoid the chance of meeting +Shawnees or Miamis, and soon had the luck to run into a small buffalo +herd. They killed only what they could carry, and then returned with it +toward the island. Henry continually watched the skies as they traveled, +and he uttered an exclamation of relief when they landed. The heavens all +the while had been leaden and somber, and there was no wind stirring. + +"See," he said, "the great snow comes!" + +The sullen skies opened, and big white flakes dropped down as they hurried +with their fresh supplies to the cabin. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +NOEL + + +The snow fell three days and nights without ceasing, and they rejoiced +greatly over their foresight in preparing so well for it, because it was a +big snow, a very big snow. "It ain't jest snowin'," said Shif'less Sol; +"the bottom o' the sky hez dropped out, an' all the snow's tumblin' down." + +The great flakes never ceased for a moment to fall. The sun did not get a +single chance to shine, and as fast as one cloud was emptied, another, +huge and black, was drawn in its place across the sky. The island ceased +to be an island, because the snow heaped up on the frozen surface of the +lake, and it was impossible to tell where land ended and water began. The +boughs of the trees bent and cracked beneath their load, and some fell to +the ground. At times the sound of snapping boughs was like stray rifle +shots. + +Paul watched the snow deepen before their door. First an inch, then two, +then four, then six, and on and on. The roof began to strain and creak +ominously beneath the great weight. All rushed forth at once into the +storm, and with poles and their rude shovels they thrust the great mass of +accumulated snow from the roof. This task they repeated at intervals +throughout the three days, but they had little else to do, except cook, +eat, and sleep. They had recourse again to the chessmen and Paul's +stories, and they reverted often to their friends and relatives at +Wareville. + +"At any rate," said Henry, "Kentucky is safe so long as this great snow +lasts. What holds us holds the Shawnees and the Miamis, too; they can't go +south through it." + +"That's so," said Paul, with intense satisfaction, as he ran over all the +chances of success or failure in their great task. + +At the end of the third day the snow ceased. It lay three feet deep on the +level, and deeper in the hollows and gullies. Then all the clouds floated +away, the sun came out, and the whole world was a dazzling globe of white, +so intense that it hurt Paul's eyes. + +"We've got to guard against snow-blindness," said Shif'less Sol, "an' I'm +thinkin' o' a plan that'll keep us from sufferin'." + +He procured small pieces of wood, and fitted them together so there would +be only a narrow slit between. These were placed over the eyes like +spectacles, and fastened with deerskin string, tied behind the head. The +range of vision was then very narrow, but all the glare from the snow was +shut out. Shif'less Sol unconsciously had imitated a device employed by +the Esquimaux of the far north to protect their eyesight. Sets were made +for all, and they used them a few days until their eyes grew accustomed to +the glare. + +All had a great sense of coziness and warmth. The snow pushed from the +roof had gone to reinforce that on the ground, and it now lay heaped up +beside the house to a depth of five or six feet, adding to the snugness +and security of their walls. They had gathered an ample supply of +firewood, and a deep bed of coals always threw out a mellow and satisfying +glow. + +They did not spend their time in idleness. The narrow confines of their +house would soon grow irksome to five able-bodied boys and men, and every +one of them knew it. They went forth with rude wooden shovels, and began +to clear paths in the snow--one to a point among the trees where the +fallen brushwood lay thickest, another to the edge of the lake, where they +broke holes in the ice and caught pickerel, and two or three more to +various points around their little domain. This task gave them healthy +occupation for two or three days, and on the fourth day, while Henry, +Ross, and Jim Hart were fishing, Paul and Shif'less Sol sat together in +the house. + +"This snow is goin' to last a long time, Paul," said Sol, "an' we've got +to stay here till at least most o' it's gone. The warriors won't be +movin', nor will we. While we're idlin', I wish we had three or four o' +them books that your father an' Mr. Pennypacker brought over the mountains +with 'em." + +"So do I," said Paul, with a sigh. He was thinking of an interminable +romance, translated from the French of a certain Mademoiselle de Scudery, +which his teacher, Mr. Pennypacker, had among his possessions, and which +he had once secretly shown to Paul, who was his favorite pupil. But he +added, resignedly: "You'd never find a book in all this region up here, +Sol. We'd better make up our minds to some monotonous days." + +Shif'less Sol had been leaning lazily against a heap of firewood, and +suddenly he sat up with a look of interest in his eyes. His acute ear had +detected a sound on the hill above them--a faint crunching in the snow. + +"It's one o' the boys, I s'pose," he said. "Now, I wonder what he wants +to be tramping around in the deep snow up thar fur." + +"Yes, I hear him," said Paul, "and he's lumbering about queerly." + +"He's comin' down toward the house," said Shif'less Sol. "Now, what in +thunder is that?" + +There was the sound of an angry "snuff!" a sudden, wild threshing in the +snow, and the next instant a tremendous weight struck the roof of their +house. A rending of bark and thatch followed, and a massive black form +shot down into the center of the room and lay there a moment, stunned. +Paul, too, was dizzy. He had been struck a glancing blow on the shoulder +by the big black body in its fall, and hurled into a heap of furs. +Shif'less Sol had been sent spinning in another direction. + +When both rose to their feet the big black body also rose, growling +savagely and extending long, powerful paws, armed with cruel claws. A +bear, prowling in the snow, had fallen through the roof of their house, +and it was furiously angry. + +"Jump back, Paul, jump back!" shouted Shif'less Sol, "an' get to the door, +ef you kin!" + +Paul obeyed a part of his command instinctively and sprang away, just in +time to escape the cruel claws. But he was compelled to press against the +wall. The enraged animal was between him and the door. Shif'less Sol +himself was darting here and there in an effort to keep out of the way. +Both Paul's rifle and Shif'less Sol's stood in a corner far from reach. + +The bear, blind with rage, fright, and astonishment, whirled around +ripping into the air with his long claws. The man and the boy not able to +reach the door, hopped about like jumping jacks, and the cold air poured +down upon them from the huge hole in their damaged roof. The bear suddenly +ran into Jim Hart's furnace and uttered a roar of pain. He stopped for a +moment to lick his singed flank, and Shif'less Sol, seizing the +opportunity, leaped for his rifle. He grasped it, and the next instant the +cabin roared with the rifle shot. The great bear uttered a whining cry, +plucked once or twice at his breast, and then stretched himself out in +front of Jim Hart's furnace, quite dead. Paul stopped dancing to and fro, +and uttered a gasp of relief. + +"You got that rifle just in time, Sol," he said. + +"We shorely did need a gun," Shif'less Sol said. "I guess nobody ever had +a more sudden or unwelcome visitor than you an' me did, Paul. But I +believe that thar b'ar wuz ez bad skeered ez we wuz." + +"And just look at our house," said Paul ruefully. "Half the roof smashed +in, our furs and our food supplies thrown in every direction, and a big +bear stretched out in front of our fire." + +They heard the patter of swift footsteps outside, and the three fishing at +the lake, who had heard the shot, came in, running. + +"It's nothin', boys," said Shif'less Sol carelessly. "A gentleman livin' +in these parts, but a stranger to us, came into our house uninvited. He +wouldn't go away when we axed him to, most earnest, so we've jest put him +to sleep." + +Ross pushed the bear with his foot. + +"He's fat yet," he said, "an' he ought to be in winter quarters right now. +Somethin' must have driv him out uv his hole an' have sent him wanderin' +across the lake on the ice an' snow. That's what anybody gits fur not +stayin' whar he belongs." + +"An' ef Jim Hart had stayed whar he belongs--that is, right here in this +house, cookin'--he'd have got that b'ar on his back, an' not me," said +Shif'less Sol, rubbing the bruised place. + +"That's once I wuz luckier than you wuz, Sol Hyde," said Jim Hart, +chuckling. + +"We've got a lot of fresh bear steak," said Henry Ware, "but we'll have to +clean up all this mess, and rebuild our house, just as soon as we can." + +They set to work at once. All, through forest life, had become skillful in +such tasks, and it did not take them long to rethatch the roof. But they +made it stronger than ever with cross-poles. Ingenious Sol cut up the bear +hide, and made of it stout leggings for them all, which would serve in the +place of boots for wading in the deep snow. + +Then the camp returned to its wonted calm. But a few days later, Shif'less +Sol, who had been unusually grave, called Paul aside and asked him to walk +with him up the path to the hickory trees. When they arrived there, far +out of hearing of the others, Shif'less Sol said: + +"Do you know what day this is, Paul?" + +"Why, no, Sol," replied Paul. "What does it matter?" + +"It matters a heap," said Shif'less Sol, not departing one whit from his +grave manner. "I know what day it is. I've kept count. See here!" + +He pointed to a hickory tree. Clear and smooth was gash after gash, cut in +the bark, one above another, by Sol with his stout knife. + +"Every one o' them is a day," said Shif'less Sol, "an' to-day is the 24th +of December. Now, what is to-morrow, Paul Cotter?" + +"The 25th of December--Christmas Day." + +"An' oughtn't we to hev Christmas, too, even ef we are up here in the wild +woods, all by ourselves? Don't this look like Christmas?" + +Paul looked around at the glittering and magnificent expanse of white +wilderness. There was snow, snow everywhere. The trees were robed in it, +unstained. It was a world of peace and beauty, and it _did_ look like +Christmas. They were preparing for it at Wareville at this very +moment--the settlers were a religious people, and from the first they +celebrated the great religious festival. + +"Yes, Sol," he replied, "it does look like Christmas, and we ought to +celebrate it, too." + +"I'm glad you think ez I do," said Sol, in a tone of relief. "I wanted to +hear what you thought o' it, Paul, afore I broached it to the other boys. +We've got a lot to be glad about. We're all here, sound an' well, an' +though we've been through a power o' dangers, we ain't sufferin' now." + +"That's so," said Paul. + +"Then we'll tell the boys right now." + +They walked back to the cabin, and Shif'less Sol announced the date to the +others, who agreed at once that Christmas should be celebrated by them +there on their little island in the wilderness. All were touched in a way +by the solemnity of the event, and they began to feel how strong was the +tie that united them. + +"We must have a big Christmas dinner," said Jim Hart, "an' I'll cook it." + +"An' I'll help you," said Shif'less Sol. + +"And I," added Paul. + +That evening they sat around the fire, talking in the mellow glow; but +their talk was not of the Indians, nor of the chase, nor of themselves, +but of those behind at Wareville. Paul shut his eyes and looked dreamily +into the fire. He could see the people at the settlement getting ready for +the great festival, preparing little gifts, and the children crawling +reluctantly into their homemade trundle, or box beds. He felt at that +moment a deep kindness toward all things. + +They covered up the ashes after a while, and then, in the darkness, every +one in his turn laid out some little gift for the others--a clasp knife, a +powderhorn, a prized deerskin, or something else that counted among his +possessions. But no one was to look until the morning, and soon all fell +asleep. + +They were up the next day at the first sight of dawn, and compared their +gifts with great rejoicings. Shif'less Sol had presented to Jim Hart a +splendid clasp knife, a valuable possession in the wilderness, as a token +of his great friendship and exceeding high regard, and Jim was like a +child in his delight. In fact, there was something of the child, or rather +of the child's simplicity, in all of them. + +The Christmas dinner was a signal triumph in Jim Hart's life. Capably +assisted by Paul and Shif'less Sol, he labored on it most of the day, and +at last they sat down to a magnificent wilderness table of buffalo hump, +venison, squirrel, rabbit, fish, wild turkey, and other kinds of game, +flanked by bread baked of the Indian meal, and finished off with the nuts +Paul had gathered. Forest and lake had yielded bounteously, and they ate +long and happily. + +"Why anybody wants to live back thar in the East in the towns is more'n I +can understand," said Shif'less Sol. "You've got room to breathe here, an' +the fat game is runnin' roun' in the woods, jest beggin' you to stick a +knife in its back an' eat it." + +Paul laughed. + +"How about the danger from the Indians, Sol?" asked Paul. + +"You don't expect to have a perfect world here below, do you, Paul?" +replied Shif'less Sol. "Thar ain't never nothin' without a thorn in it, +but our thorn is about ez little a one ez you could think of. The Injuns +give us a kind o' excitin' variety, an' don't we always get away from +'em?" + +No more work was done that day, and in the evening they went to sleep +earlier than usual, and slept very soundly. A moon of pure silver came +out, and bathed all the vast wilderness in its light. A huge, yellow +panther, lean and fierce with hunger, wandered in the snow across the +frozen lake, and put foot upon the island. There the pleasant odor of food +came to his nostrils, and he lifted up his ears. As the pleasant odor came +again his tawny eyes became more ferocious, and the lips curled back from +the rows of cruel, white teeth. He drew his long, lithe body over the +snow, and came to one of the paths. He might have turned back because the +path was strong with the odor of a strange and perhaps powerful creature; +but he was a very hungry, a very large, and a very bold panther, and he +went on. + +The path led straight to the cabin, and the panther trod it on noiseless +pads, his eyes glowing, and hunger attacking him all the more fiercely +because, mingled with the strange, new odor now came many odors that he +knew, and all pleasant--odor of buffalo and deer and others--and he was +very, very hungry. + +He went down the path to the door of the cabin, and halted a moment there. +A red gleam, a glow from the bed of coals, came through a chink beside the +door, and it filled his heart with terror. He shivered, and fear drew a +low growl from him. + +One of the five sleepers inside stirred and sat up. He listened and heard +a heavy breathing at the door. Then he arose, took a brand from the fire, +stepped noiselessly to the door, and, opening it, rushed out, waving the +burning brand in front of him. The panther, stricken with frightful panic, +fled down the path, and then over the lake into the woods on the mainland. +Henry Ware, laughing silently, returned to the cabin and lay down to sleep +again beside his comrades, who had slept on, undisturbed. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +FOOTPRINTS IN THE SNOW + + +The singular existence of the five in the little hollow in the haunted +island endured much longer. The great cold had come early, and it held the +earth fast in its grasp. The ice grew thicker on the lake beneath the +snow, and winds that would freeze one to the marrow swept over its +surface. Fortunately, there was plenty of fallen wood on the island, and +they never allowed the fire in Hart's furnace to go out. They never built +it up high, but a bed of coals was always smoldering there, sending out +grateful light and heat. + +Henry and Ross scouted at intervals, but only as a matter of habit rather +than necessary precaution. They knew that the danger of an attack at such +a time had decreased to the vanishing point. Now Paul became for a while +the central figure of what he called their little colony. His mental +resources were in great demand, and for the sake of his comrades he drew +willingly upon his stores of learning. In the evening, when they were all +sitting before the coals, and could just see one another's faces in the +faint light, Paul would tell what he had read about other times and other +lands. He knew the outlines of ancient history, and the victories of +Hannibal, Alexander, and Caesar suffered nothing at his hands, though +Alexander, as before, was condemned by Shif'less Sol and Ross. Paul, +moreover, had both the dramatic and poetic sense, and he made these +far-away heroes, of whom Jim Hart had never heard before, actually live in +the little cabin. + +"It 'pears to me," said Shif'less Sol reflectively, "that that feller +Hannibal wuz jest about the finest fighter o' them all. Ef, ez you say, +Paul, he had to hire all kinds o' strangers an' barbarians, too, like the +red Injuns out thar in the woods, an' lead sech a mixed lot up ag'in the +Romans, who were no slouches in a fracas, an' whip 'em over an' over +ag'in, on thar own groun', too, then I call him about the smartest o' all +them old fellers. But he shore had the luck ag'in' him, an' I admire the +man who kin stan' up an' fight the odds." + +"He has my sympathy," said Paul. + +"What did them old-time fellers eat?" asked Jim Hart. + +"Mostly vegetables and grain," replied Paul. + +"No wonder they're dead," said Jim Hart solemnly. "I can't fight an' I +can't march good on anything but buffalo steak an' venison an' things uv +that kind. I has to have meat." + +Then Jim rose gravely, and looked at what he called his kitchen. + +"'Nough to last three or four weeks," he said. "We'll shorely get fat an' +lazy layin' roun' here an' doin' nothin' but eatin' an' sleepin' an' +listenin' to Paul's tales." + +"You ought to appreciate your chance, Jim Hart," said Shif'less Sol. "Ef +me an' Paul wuz to work on you about a hundred years, maybe we might make +you into a sort o' imitation o' a eddicated man. But I reckon we'd have to +work all the time." + +"You an eddicated man!" said Jim Hart indignantly. "Why, readin' a book is +harder work to you than choppin' wood, an' they say you won't chop wood +'less two big, strong men stand by you an' make you." + +"Never min'," said Shif'less Sol complacently; "I know I ain't had much +chances to become eddicated, but I hev the natur' o' an eddicated man. My +mind jest glows at the idea uv learnin', an' I respecks eddication with a +deep an' lastin' respeck." + +Then both stopped to hear Paul begin the story of Troy for the second +time, but when he came to the death of Hector he would have to stop to let +Shif'less Sol utter what he called a "few cuss words." Hector, like +Hannibal, had the sympathy of everyone, and Sol spoke for them all when he +said: "'Twa'n't fair o' that air goddess Minerver hoppin' in an' helpin' +A-Killus when Hector might hev a-slew him in a fair battle. Women ain't +got no business mixin' in a fight. Whenever they do they allus help the +wrong feller. I've no doubt that ef me an' Jim Hart was a-hittin' an' +a-wrastlin', an' hevin' the terriblest fight you ever heard on, ef any +woman wuz to come along she'd pull me off the ornery, long-legged, +knock-kneed, ugly Jim Hart--an' me a handsome man, too." + +"I wonder all the ice on the lake don't melt when it sees your face, Sol +Hyde," retorted Jim Hart scornfully. + +"I don't think much uv them old Greeks an' Trojans," said Tom Ross, who +seldom delivered himself at length. "'Pears to me they had pow'ful cur'us +ways uv fightin'. Think uv a feller, when he feels like takin' a scalp, +comin' out before the hull army an' beatin' a big brass shield till it +rattled like a tin pan, an' then, when he got 'em all to lookin' an' +listenin', hollerin' at the top uv his voice, 'I'm A-Killus, Defyer uv the +Lightnin', Slayer uv the Trojans, the terriblest fighter the world ever +seed! I pick up a ship in my right ban', an' throw it, with all the +sailors in it, over a hill! When I look at the sun, it goes out, skeered +to death! I've made more widders an' orphans than any other ten thousan' +men that ever lived.' 'Pears to me them wuz the pow'fullest boasters that +ever wuz born. Why, what they said wuz mostly lies. 'Twas bound to be so, +an' their ways uv fightin' wuz plumb foolishness. Why, ef A-Killus wuz to +come along nowadays, beatin' his brass shield in the face an' hollerin' +out his big words, some Shawnee layin' behind a rock would send a bullet +through his head, jest ez easy ez knockin' over a rabbit, an' thet would +be the end uv Mr. A-Killus, an' a good thing fur all, too." + +"But there were no Shawnees and no rifles on the plains of Troy, Tom," +said Paul. + +"What uv it?" exclaimed Ross in hot indignation. "They didn't fight fair, +anyway. It's jest ez Sol sez--whut did all them women goddesses mean by +interferin' an' allus sp'ilin' a good stan'-up fight? Now, ez Paul tells +it, Ole Jupe, a-settin' up on his golden throne, wuz willin' to tote fair +an' let the Greeks an' Trojans fight it out among theirselves, but the +women critters, whut had more power than wuz good fur 'em, couldn't keep +their hands off. Every one uv 'em hed a fav'rite either among the Greeks +or the Trojans, an' she had to go snoopin' 'roun', makin' his enemy see +double, or throwin' a cloud over him so he couldn't see at all, or +pumpin' all the blood out uv his veins an' fillin' 'em full uv water in +the place. Why, there ain't a Shawnee or Miami in all these woods thet +would he mean enough to take sech an' advantage ez askin' to be helped out +by a squaw thet knowed witchcraft. Ez fur thet Paris feller, he wouldn't +a-lived a week down in Kain-tuck-ee!" + +"But all this happened a long, long time ago, Tom, when ways were +different," said Paul. + +Henry always listened with attention to these stories, and the sight of +Paul's flushed face and vivid eyes, as he talked, would please him. He +understood Paul. He knew that his comrade's mind ranged over not only the +wilderness in which they dwelt, but over the whole world, and far into +past and future times. Hence he respected Paul with a deep respect. + +Presently the cold abated a little--just enough to let the surface of the +ice and snow soften a bit, and make walking easier. Then Henry and Ross +crossed once more to the mainland, partly to scout and partly to hunt. +They easily killed a large deer which was half-imbedded in a snowdrift, +and might have taken a fine cow buffalo in the same way; but, as the deer +was enough, they spared her. They dressed the body of the deer where it +had fallen, and, carrying it between them, started back. With instinctive +caution they kept to the thickest part of the forest, wishing to be hidden +as much as possible by the tree trunks, and they plodded along in silence, +carrying their burden easily, because the two were very, very strong. Near +the edge of the lake, but still in dense forest, Henry paused and looked +down. Tom Ross also paused and looked down, his glance following Henry's. +It was never necessary for these two to say much to each other. They did +not talk about things, they saw them. + +"Tracks of two Indians and one white," said Henry. + +"Yes," said Tom Ross. "White is Braxton Wyatt, uv course. He's still +hangin' about the Miami village." + +"And perhaps suspecting that we are yet in these parts." + +"Uv course. An' maybe thar will be trouble." + +They said no more, but each understood. Their own trail would be left in +the snow, and the sight of it would confirm all the suspicions of Wyatt +and the savages. Some such chance as this they had always expected, and +now they prepared to deal with it. They turned back into the forest, +carrying with them the body of the deer, as they were resolved not to +abandon it. Both had noticed that the slight abatement of the cold was +not lasting. In an hour or two it would be as chill as ever, and once more +the surface of the snow would be icy. + +They stayed several hours in a dense clump of trees and bushes, and then, +half walking, half sliding, they resumed their journey, but now they left +no trail. Each also had every sense alert, and nothing could come within +sound or sight and not be perceived first by these two wonderful trailers, +masters of their craft. They reached the edge of the lake in the twilight, +and then they sped swiftly over the ice to their island home. + +"I'm thinking," said Henry Ware, at a council a little later, "that +Braxton Wyatt suspects we're here. He, of course, does not believe in the +Indian superstitions, and maybe he'll persuade them to search the island." + +"An' since they kin come over the ice, we can't beat 'em off ez easy ez we +could ef they came in canoes in the water," said Shif'less Sol. "I see +trouble ahead fur a tired man." + +Paul had been saying nothing, only sitting in a corner of the hut and +listening intently to the others. Now his face flushed and his eyes +sparkled with light, as they would always do whenever a great idea +suddenly came to him. + +"If Braxton Wyatt undertakes to persuade them there are no ghosts," he +said, "it is for us to persuade them that there are." + +"What do you mean, Paul?" asked Henry. + +"We must show the ghosts to them." + +Silence for a half minute followed. Then Shif'less Sol spoke up. + +"Meanin' ourselves?" he said. + +"Yes," said Paul. + +The others looked at his glowing face, and they were impressed. + +"Just how?" said Henry. + +"If the Miamis come at all, they will come in the night, and that is when +ghosts should appear. I'll be a ghost and Jim Hart will be another. The +rest of you can lay hidden, ready to use the rifles if they are needed." + +"Well planned!" said Henry Ware. "We'll do it." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +WHAT THE WARRIORS SAW + + +A few nights later a strong band of warriors left the Miami village, led +by the bold chief, Yellow Panther, and the renegade, Braxton Wyatt. The +party was about thirty in number, and it included the most daring spirits +among them. They were going against the wishes of the aged Gray Beaver, +who foresaw only disaster from such a desecration; but Yellow Panther +favored the venture, and Braxton Wyatt had urged it for a long time. + +Wyatt was no coward, and he did not believe in spirits. They had seen +tracks, white tracks, in the snow, and the sight confirmed him in his +suspicion that those whom he hated were hiding on the island in the lake. +He burned for revenge upon Henry Ware and his friends, but he had to fight +all the influence of Gray Beaver and the power of Indian superstition. He +was about to despair of moving them when they saw the tracks--tracks that +led almost to the edge of the water. He considered this proof of his +theory, and he urged it incessantly. He called attention to the encounter +in the woods near the lake, and the later affair with the belt bearers. +The latter had particular weight, as enough messengers had now passed +between the Miamis and Shawnees to show that both had been the victims of +a clever and daring trick. Wyatt, therefore, was reinstated in the good +graces of the savages, and his words had meaning to them. At last, with +the aid of Yellow Panther and the more daring spirits among the younger +warriors, he prevailed, and the expedition started. + +It was a really formidable war party, thirty warriors or more, all well +armed with rifles and ammunition bought from the Canadian traders, all +hideous with paint, and all skilled in the lore and devices of the +wilderness. Braxton Wyatt had talked to them so much, he had told them so +often that their superstitions were mere moonshine, that they began to +believe, and they thrilled, moreover, with the hope of securing white +scalps. + +The cold was intense, and the frozen surface of the snow was very smooth; +but the warriors, in thick moccasins of buffalo hide, with the hair +underneath, sped with sure step toward the lake. As Henry and Ross had +done, they kept in the thickest of the forest, passing from tree trunk to +tree trunk, because the Indian loves a surprise, an easy victory being +the greatest of triumphs to him. It was such that they expected now, and +the blood of every one of them was inflamed by the logic and eloquence of +Braxton Wyatt and Yellow Panther. + +They reached the shores of the lake when the twilight had merged into the +night and the darkness was deep. They had foreseen that it would be such a +night, otherwise they would have waited; but all seemed admirably suited +now to their purpose. They paused on the bank, and gathered in a close +group. Across the white gleam of the snow they could barely see the dusky +outline of the island, and, despite the courageous frame of mind into +which they had lashed themselves, despite the boldness of their leaders, +they felt a tremor. The savage mind is prone to superstitions, and it is +not easy to cure it of them. That dim, dark outline out there in the +middle of the lake, now that they beheld it again with their own eyes, +still had its unknown and mysterious terrors for them. + +But Braxton Wyatt and Yellow Panther knew too well to let them hesitate at +the very margin of their great exploit. They urged them forward, and the +two themselves led the way, stepping upon the frozen surface of the lake, +and advancing directly toward the island. Then the warriors came after +them in a close cluster, their fur-shod feet making no sound, and their +forms invisible thirty yards away. Before them the black bulk of the +island, with its great trees, now loomed more distinctly, and they +gathered courage as nothing happened. + +All knew that the ancient burying ground was on the north end of the +island, and so Braxton Wyatt and Yellow Panther led the way to the south +end, intending to make a gradual approach to the other portion. + +Braxton Wyatt half expected, as he came near, that he might see a light +among the trees. In weather so cold one must have a fire, and, relying +upon the ghostly protection, Henry Ware and his band would light it. But +he saw nothing, and he began to fear that he might be mistaken. If there +was nobody on the island his credit with the Indians would be shaken, and +he was anxious to establish his power among his red friends. But he and +Yellow Panther pressed boldly on, and they could now see dimly the +outlines of individual tree trunks standing up in rows. + +The low shores of the island rose before them only thirty yards away, then +twenty, then ten, then they were there. But another moment of hesitation +came. Not in a generation had a Miami or any other Indian, so far as they +knew, set foot upon this haunted island, and the beliefs of many years +are not to be swept away in a breath. + +It was Braxton Wyatt who took the lead again, and he boldly stepped upon +the haunted soil. Then a terrible thing happened. Every warrior all at +once saw two white figures perched upon the low bough of an oak. They were +shaped like men, but the outlines of arms and legs could not be seen. +Rather they were the bodies of warriors completely enclosed in buffalo +robes or deerskins for the grave, and these figures, swaying back and +forth in the moonlight, and bearing all the aspects of supernatural +visitors, filled the superstitious hearts of the Miamis with the terrors +of the unknown and invincible. The two shapes showed a ghostly white in +the pale rays, and the Miamis, in fancy at least, saw fiery and accusing +eyes looking down at the sacrilegious men who had presumed to put foot on +the island dedicated to Manitou and the departed. + +A gentle wind brought a low groan to the ears of every man among them. + +The blood of the warriors chilled quickly in their veins. All their +superstitions, all the inherited beliefs of many generations, all the lore +of the old squaws, told about innumerable camp fires, came crashing back +upon them as those two ghostly white shapes, hovering there in the +darkness, continued to transfix them with an accusing gaze. There was an +involuntary shudder, a sudden clustering together of the whole party, and +then, with a simultaneous cry of horror, they broke and fled in a wild +pellmell far out upon the icy surface of the lake, and then on, bearing +with them in the rout both Yellow Panther and Braxton Wyatt. Nor did they +dare to look back, because they knew that the terrible eyes of the long +departed, upon whose territory they had intended to commit sacrilege, were +boring into their backs. The island was haunted, and would remain so for +many a year, despite all that Braxton Wyatt and Yellow Panther had said. + +About the time the Miamis reached the mainland, and darted among the trees +in the race for their own village, Paul Cotter and Long Jim Hart leaped +lightly from the low bough of the oak, took off the enfolding robes of +white tanned deerskin, with holes for the eyes. + +"Jehoshaphat!" said Long Jim, as he threw the robes on the ground, "I'm +glad that's over. Bein' a ghost jest about a minute is enough fur me. I +wuz scared to death lest I didn't groan good an' horrible." + +"But you never did a better job in your life, Jim," said Henry, as he came +from behind a tree. "You and Paul were the finest ghosts I ever saw, and +no Indian will dare to set foot on this island in the next hundred years." + +"It shorely was a sight to see them braves run," said Shif'less Sol. +"Thar's many a tired man in that lot now. I think some o' 'em didn't hit +the ice an' snow more'n twice between here an' the lan'." + +"Paul's made the islan' ez safe fur us ez a stone fort ez long ez we want +to stay," said Tom Ross. + +"It was a great plan, well done," said Henry. + +Paul's face shone with the most intense delight. His imagination, leaping +forward to meet a crisis, had served them all greatly, and he was happy. +He had fought not with rifle and knife, but with the weapon of the +intellect. + +"Now that this job is over, an' we're the big winners," said Shif'less +Sol, "I'm goin' to do what a tired man ought to do: go to sleep, wrapped +up in buffalo robes, an' sleep about forty hours." + +"We'll all sleep," said Henry. "As Tom says, we're as safe as if we were +in a stone fort, and we don't need any guard." + +An hour later all of the valiant five were slumbering peacefully within +their warm walls, and when they ate a good hot breakfast the next morning, +cooked in Jim Hart's best fashion, they laughed heartily and often over +the night's great event. + +"I guess Mr. Braxton Wyatt will hev to work hard ag'in to prove to them +savages that he's real smart," said Shif'less Sol. "This is another time +that he's led 'em right out o' the little end o' the horn." + +They luxuriated that day, resting most of the time In the hut, but on the +following day Henry and Ross went on a longer scouting expedition than +usual, this time in the direction of the Shawnee villages. The three who +were left behind broke fresh holes in the thick ice, and by the use of +much patience succeeded in catching several fine fish, which made a +pleasant addition to their daily diet. + +Henry and Ross were gone nearly a week, but their comrades did not become +alarmed over their long absence. When they returned they brought with them +a budget of news from the Shawnee villages. Braxton Wyatt had returned to +the Shawnees, much disgusted with his stay among the Miamis, but still +resolved to form the great Indian alliance, and send it in the spring +against the white settlements in Kentucky. + +"It's too late for them to do anything this winter," said Henry, and a +little exultation showed in his tone, "we've put that spoke in their +wheel; but they mean to hit us a terrible blow on the flank when warm +weather comes." + +"What do you mean by 'on the flank'?" asked Paul. + +"They've learned in some manner, maybe by way of Canada, that a big wagon +train is coming up through the Wilderness Road in the spring, to join our +settlements. If it gets there it will double our strength, but the Indians +mean to make a great curve to the south and east and strike it just as it +leaves the mountains." + +"They're smart in that," said Shif'less Sol. "They'd be sure to hit them +wagons when they ain't expected." + +"Yes," said Henry Ware, "if the train is not warned." + +Paul looked at him and saw that his eyes were full of meaning. + +"Then we are to warn that train," said Paul. + +"Yes, when the time comes." + +"It's the greatest work that we can do," said Paul, with emphasis, and the +others nodded their agreement. It was all that was needed to bind the five +together in the mighty task that they had begun. + +Nothing more was said upon the subject for days, but Paul's mind was full +of it. His comrades and he had impeded the making of the great war trail, +and now they were to see that reenforcements safely reached their own. It +was a continuing task, and it appealed powerfully to the statesman so +strong in Paul. + +A very cold winter moved slowly along, and they remained on the island, +though Henry and Ross ranged far and wide. On one of these expeditions the +two scouts met a wandering trapper, by whom they sent word again to their +people in the south that they were safe. + +Henry and Ross also learned that Yellow Panther would lead the Miamis, Red +Eagle the Shawnees, and there would be detachments of Wyandots and others. +They would fall like a thunderbolt upon the wagon train, and destroy it +utterly. + +"And Braxton Wyatt will be with them?" said Paul indignantly. + +"Of course," replied Henry. + +"Henry, we've got to save that wagon train, if every one of us dies +trying!" exclaimed Paul, with the greatest possible emphasis. + +"Of course," said Henry again, quietly, but with the stern determination +that meant with him do or die. + +"It's a part o' our job," drawled Shif'less Sol, "but it must be nigh a +thousand miles to the place whar the Wilderness Road comes out o' the +mountains. I see a terrible long journey ahead fur a tired man." + +Henry smiled. They all knew that none would be more zealous on the march, +none more lion-hearted in battle, than this same Solomon Hyde, nicknamed +the shiftless one. + +"When do we start?" asked Jim Hart. + +"Not before the cold weather passes," replied Henry. "It wouldn't be worth +while. The emigrant train won't come through the mountains until spring, +and we can do better work here, watching the savages." + +So they abode long in the hut on the haunted island, and had food and +warmth in plenty. But in the Indian villages there was the stir of +preparation for the great war trail in the spring, and also the sense of +mystery and oppression. Yellow Panther, the Miami, and Red Eagle, the +Shawnee, both felt in some strange, unaccountable way that they were +watched. Half-lost tracks of unknown feet were seen in the snow; strange +trails that ended nowhere were struck; three warriors, every one at a +different time, claimed to have seen a gigantic figure speeding in a pale +moonlight through the leafless forest; one of the bravest of the Shawnee +warriors was found dead, his head cleft so deep that they knew a mighty +hand, one of almost marvelous strength, had wielded the tomahawk. There +were signs of a terrible struggle in the snow, but who had attacked and +who defended they did not know, and the trail of the survivor was soon +lost. A mysterious dread filled both Shawnees and Miamis. + +Braxton Wyatt raged at heart in the Shawnee village, and had theories of +his own, but he dared not tell them. It was known there that it was he who +had led the Miamis into the sacrilegious invasion of the haunted island, +and it would take his credit some time to recover from such a blow. To +reestablish himself thoroughly he must do valuable work for his red +friends on the coming great war trail. So he remained discreetly silent +about the haunted island, and told all he knew of the white settlements, +the Wilderness Road, and the way to trap the emigrant train. Here he could +really be of great assistance to the alliance, and he told the chiefs all +about the emigrants, how they marched, and how they would be encumbered +with women and children. + +Meanwhile, the five never ceased their vigilance. Henry and Ross bought a +large quantity of ammunition from a Canadian trader whom they met on a +trip far to the north, and however much they used in the winter, they were +now assured of an abundance when they started southeast in the spring. + +The winter was long and very cold. One snow fell upon another; one freeze +after another thickened the ice upon the lake; and when the wind blew, it +had the edge of a knife. But this could not last forever. One day the wind +shifted around and blew from the south. Paul, who was outside the hut +helping Jim Hart, felt a soft, warm breath on his face. + +"Why, Jim!" he said, "the cold seems to be going away." + +"So it is," said Jim Hart, "or at least it's gittin' ready. Spring ain't +far off, an' I'm glad, Paul. I'm tired uv winter, an' I want to be +strikin' out on the great war trail." + +"So do I," said Paul. + +"Wa'al, fur the matter o' that," said Shif'less Sol, "we've been on the +great war trail fur three or four months now. There ain't to be no change +except in the shiftin' o' the trail." + +The warm wind continued to blow for days, the surface of the ice on the +lake softened, and the snow began to melt. Still it blew, and the melted +snow ran in rivers, the ice broke up into great sheets and chunks, and +these, too, rapidly dissolved. Then a warm rain came, pouring for a day +and a night, and the ice and snow were swept away entirely. But the whole +earth ran water. Lakes stood in the forest, and every brook and creek, +rushing in torrents, leaped its banks. + +The five had remained in their hut when the rain came down, but two days +later Henry and Ross were rowed over in the canoe, and went away to spy +out the country. When they returned they said that the great war party of +the allied tribes would soon be in motion, and it was time for the five to +take their flight. + +A warm sun had been shining for days, and the earth had dried again. The +turbulent brooks and creeks had withdrawn to their accustomed beds, and +faint touches of green were beginning to show in the wilderness. + +"We'll leave our house just as we have built it," said Henry. + +"Unless a white man should come wandering here, and that isn't likely, it +won't be disturbed. It's been a good place for us." + +"Yes," said Paul, "it has been a good home to us. I've spent a happy +winter here, and I want to see it again." + +But they had little time for sentiment. They were making the fast touches +of preparation for the second stage of the great war trail--arranging +clothing, light supplies of food, and, above all, ammunition. Then they +left at night in their canoe. As they approached the mainland, all, as if +by involuntary impulse, looked back at the haunted island, looming darkly +in the night. + +"It was no haunted island for us," said Paul. + +"No," said Henry. + +They landed, hid the canoe, and then, plunging into the forest, sped far +to the south and east on tireless feet. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE WARNING + + +Meanwhile war belts were passing through all the forest, from tribe to +tribe, to Shawnee, Miami, Ottawa, Wyandot--to every band, large or small. +Another great effort would be made to drive back the thin white vanguard +that was now entering the finest hunting ground savages had ever +known--the vast green wilderness of the Mississippi Valley, where the +warriors had roamed and killed game for unknown generations. Northern and +southern tribes had often met and fought in _Kain-tuck-ee_, but always +each retreated after the conflict to north or to south, leaving +_Kain-tuck-ee_ as it was before--a land of forest and canebrake, inhabited +only by the wild beast. + +Now, every warrior felt that the coming of the white stream over the +mountains, however slender it might be at first, threatened a change, +great and disastrous to them, unless checked at once. These white men cut +down the forest, built houses that were meant to stay in one place--houses +of logs--and plowed up the fields where the forest had been. They felt in +some dim, but none the less certain, way that not only their favorite +hunting grounds, but they and their own existence, were threatened. + +They had failed the year before in a direct attack upon the new +settlements, but these little oases in the wilderness must in time perish +unless the white stream coming over the mountains still reached them, +nourishing them with fresh bone and sinew, and making them grow. A great +wagon train was coming, and this they would strike, surprising it in the +vast, dark wilderness when it was not dreaming that even a single warrior +was near. + +A great defeat they had suffered at Wareville the year before still stung, +and the spur of revenge was added to the spur of need. What they felt they +ought to do was exactly what they wanted to do, and they were full of +hope. They did not know that the stream flowing over the mountains, now so +small, was propelled by a tremendous force behind it, the great white race +always moving onward, and they expected nothing less than a complete +triumph. + +Active warriors passed through the deep woods, bearing belts and messages. +Their faces were eager, and always they urged war. A long journey lay +before them, but the blow would be a master stroke. They were received +everywhere with joy and approval. The tomahawks were dug up, the war +dances were danced, the war songs sung, and the men began to paint their +faces and bodies for battle. A hum and a murmur ran through the +northwestern forests, the hum and murmur of preparation and hope. Only the +five, on their little island in the lake, yet heard this hum and murmur, +so ominous to the border, but they were ready to carry the message through +the wilderness to those to whom the warning meant the most. + + * * * * * + +The largest wagon train that had yet crossed the mountains into +_Kain-tuck-ee_ toiled slowly along the Wilderness Road among the +foothills, bearing steadily toward the Northwest. The line of canvas +covers stretched away more than a hundred in number, and contained five +hundred souls, of whom, perhaps, half were men and boys capable of bearing +arms, the rest women and children. + +They looked upon mountain, hill and forest, river and brook, with much the +same eyes as those with which Henry and Paul had beheld them not so very +long before, but they were not seeking at random in the wilderness as the +Wareville people had done. No, they moved forward now to a certain mark. +They were to join their brethren at Wareville and Marlowe, and double the +strength of the settlements. Word had come to them over the mountains +that the little outposts in the vast wilderness lived and flourished, and +the country was good. Moreover, they and their strength were needed. +Wareville and Marlowe looked for them as eagerly as they looked for +Wareville and Marlowe. + +Spring was deepening, and already had drawn its robe of green over all the +earth, but Daniel Poe, the commander of the wagon train, paid little +attention to its beauty. He was nearly sixty years of age, but in the very +prime of his strength--a great, square-shouldered man, his head and face +covered with thick, black beard. His eyes had their habitual look of +watchful care. They had seen no Indian sign as they crossed the mountains, +but he knew now that they were on the Dark and Bloody Ground, and the +lives of five hundred human beings were a heavy responsibility. + +"You are sure the country is entirely safe?" he said to Dick Salter, one +of his guides. + +"I don't know no reason to doubt it," replied Salter. "The savages don't +often get down here. The villages uv the northwestern tribes must be close +on to a thousand miles from here, an' besides they were beat off last +year, an' beat badly, when they tried to rush Wareville." + +"That is so," said Daniel Poe thoughtfully; "we had word of it. But, +Dick, we can't afford to take all these people into danger here in the +woods. Look at the women and children." + +They had just begun to stop for the night, and to draw the wagons into a +circle in a convenient, slightly hollowed, open place. The women and +children were trooping about upon the grass, and the air was filled with +the sound of merry voices. All were browned by the sun, but they were +healthy and joyous, and they looked forward with keen delight to meeting +kin who had gone on before at Wareville. They had no fear of the mighty +forests, when more than two hundred pairs of strong arms fenced them +about. + +"That is shorely a pleasant sight," said Dick Salter. "I've seed the same +many evenin's, an' I hope to see it many more evenin's. We'll get 'em +through, Mr. Poe, we'll get 'em through!" + +"I hope so," said Daniel Poe earnestly. + +They had begun to light the evening fires, and in the west a great red sun +blazed just above the hills. Daniel Poe suddenly put his hand upon Dick +Salter's arm. + +"Dick, what is that?" he said, pointing with a long forefinger. + +A black silhouette had appeared on the crest of a hill in the very eye of +the sun, and Dick Salter, shading his brow with his hand, gazed long and +anxiously. + +"It's a man," he said at last, "an' ef I'm any judge uv a human bein' it's +about the finest specimen uv a man that ever trod green grass. Look, Mr. +Poe!" + +The figure, outlined against its brilliant background, seemed to grow and +come nearer. Others had seen now, and the whole wagon train gazed with +intent and curious eyes. They saw in the blazing light every detail of an +erect and splendid figure, evidently that of a youth, but tall beyond the +average of men. He was clad in forest garb--fringed hunting shirt and +leggings and raccoon-skin cap. He stood erect, but easily, holding by the +muzzle a long, slender-barreled rifle, which rested, stock upon the +ground. Seen there in all the gorgeous redness of the evening sunlight, +there was something majestic, something perhaps weird and unreal, in the +grand and silent figure. + +"He's white, that's shore!" said Dick Salter. + +"He looks like a wilderness god," murmured Daniel Poe, in his beard. + +"Look!" exclaimed Dick Salter. "There's another!" + +A second figure appeared suddenly beside the first, that of a youth, also, +not so tall as the first; but he, too, stood erect, silent and +motionless, gazing at the wagon train. + +"And a third!" exclaimed Daniel Poe. + +"And a fourth and fifth!" added Dick Salter. "See, there are five uv 'em!" + +Three other figures had appeared, seeming to arise in the sunlight as if +by Arabian magic; and now all five stood there in a row, side by side, +everyone silent and motionless, and everyone holding by the muzzle a long, +slender-barreled rifle, its stock upon the ground, as he gazed at the +train. + +A deep breath ran through the crowd of emigrants, and all--men, women, and +children--moved forward for a better look. There was something mysterious +and uncanny in this sudden apparition of the five there in the blazing +light of the setting sun, which outlined their figures in every detail and +raised them to gigantic proportions. On those hills only was light; +everywhere else the mighty curving wilderness, full of unknown terrors, +was already dark with the coming night. + +"It is our omen of danger. I feel it, I feel it In every bone of me," +murmured Daniel Poe into his great black beard. + +"We must find out what this means, that's shore," said Dick Salter. + +But as he spoke, the first figure, that of the great, splendid youth, +stepped right out of the eye of the sun, and he was followed in single +file by the four others, all stepping in unison. They came down the hill, +and directly toward the travelers. Again that deep breath ran through the +crowd of emigrants, and the chief note of it was admiration, mingled with +an intense curiosity. + +All the five figures were strange and wild, sinewy, powerful, almost as +dark as Indians, their eyes watchful and wary and roving from side to +side, their clothing wholly of skins and furs, singular and picturesque. +They seemed almost to have come from another world. But Daniel Poe was +never lacking either in the qualities of hospitality or leadership. + +"Friends," he said, "as white men--for such I take you to be--you are +welcome to our camp." + +The first of the five, the great, tall youth with the magnificent +shoulders, smiled, and it seemed to Daniel Poe that the smile was +wonderfully frank and winning. + +"Yes, we are white, though we may not look it," he said in a clear, deep +voice, "and we have come near a thousand miles to meet you." + +"To meet us?" repeated Daniel Poe, in surprise, while Dick Salter, beside +him, was saying to himself, as he looked at one of the five: "Ef that +ain't Tom Ross, then I'll eat my cap." + +"Yes," repeated Henry Ware, with the most convincing emphasis, "it's you +that we've come to meet. We belong at Wareville, although we've been far +in the North throughout the winter. My name is Henry Ware, this is Paul +Cotter, and these are Tom Ross, Sol Hyde, and Jim Hart. We must have a +word with you at once, where the others cannot hear." + +Tom Ross and Dick Salter, old friends, were already shaking hands. Henry +Ware glanced at the emigrants pressing forward in a great crowd, and +sympathy and tenderness showed in his eyes as he looked at the eager, +childish faces so numerous among them. + +"Will you keep them back?" he said to Daniel Poe. "I must speak to you +where none of those can hear." + +Daniel Poe waved away the crowd, and then took a step forward. + +"We have come," said Henry Ware, in low, intense tones, "to warn you that +you are going to be attacked by a great force of warriors, furnished by +the league of the northwestern tribes. They mean that you shall never +reach Wareville or Marlowe, to double the strength of those settlements. +They would have laid an ambush for you, but we have been among them and we +know their plans." + +A shiver ran through the stalwart frame of Daniel Poe--a shiver of +apprehension, not for himself, but for the five hundred human lives +intrusted to his care. Then he steadied himself. + +"We can fight," he said, "and I thank you for your warning; I cannot doubt +its truth." + +"We will stay with you," said Henry Ware. "We know the signs of the +forest, and we can help in the battle that is sure to come, and also +before and after." + +His voice was full of confidence and courage, and it sent an electric +thrill through the veins of Daniel Poe. Henry Ware was one of those +extraordinary human beings whose very presence seems to communicate +strength to others. + +"We'll beat 'em off," said Daniel Poe sanguinely. + +"Yes, we'll beat 'em off," said Henry Ware. Then he continued: "You must +tell all the men, and of course the women and children will hear of if, +but it's best to let the news spread gradually." + +Daniel Poe went back with the messengers to the wagons, and soon it was +known to everybody that the Indians were laying an ambush for them all. +Some wails broke forth from the women, but they were quickly suppressed, +and all labored together to put the camp in posture of defense. The +strangers were among them, cheering them, and predicting victory if +battle should come. Paul, in particular, quickly endeared himself to them. +He was so hearty, so full of jests, and he quoted all sorts of scraps of +old history bearing particularly upon their case, and showing that they +must win if attacked. + +"There was a race of very valiant people living a very long, long time +ago," he said, "who always made their armies intrench at night. Nobody +could take a Roman camp, and we've got to imitate those old fellows." + +Under the guidance of Paul and his friends, the Roman principle was +followed, at least in part. The wagons were drawn up in a great circle in +an open space, where they could not be reached by a rifle shot from the +trees, and then more than two hundred men, using pick and spade, speedily +threw up an earthwork three feet high that inclosed the wagons. Henry Ware +regarded it with the greatest satisfaction. + +"I don't know any Indian force," he said, "that will rush such a barrier +in the face of two or three hundred rifles. Now, Mr. Poe, you post guards +at convenient intervals, and the rest of you can take it easy inside." + +The guards were stationed, but inside the ring of wagons many fires burned +brightly, and around them was a crowd that talked much, but talked low. +The women could not sleep, nor could the children, whose curiosity was +intensely aroused by the coming of these extraordinary-looking strangers. +The larger of the children understood the danger, but the smaller did not, +and their spirits were not dampened at all. + +The night came down, a great blanket of darkness, in the center of which +the camp fires were now fused together into a cone of light. A few stars +came out in the dusky heavens, and twinkled feebly. The spring wind sighed +gently among the new leaves of the forest. The voices of women and +children gradually died. Some slept in blankets before the fires, and +others in the wagons, whose stout oak sides would turn any bullet. + +Daniel Poe walked just outside the circle of the wagons, and his heart was +heavy with care. Yet he was upborne by the magnetic personality of Henry +Ware, who walked beside him. + +"How far from us do you think they are now?" he asked. + +"Fifty miles, perhaps, and they are at least a thousand strong. It was +their object to fall suddenly upon you in the dark, but when their scouts +find that you fortify every night, they will wait to ambush you on the +day's march." + +"Undoubtedly," said Daniel Poe, "and we've got to guard against it as best +we can." + +"But my comrades and I and Dick Salter will be your eyes," said Henry. +"We'll be around you in the woods, watching all the time." + +"Thank God that you have come," said Daniel Poe devoutly. "I think that +Providence must have sent you and your friends to save us. Think what +might have happened if you had not come." + +He shuddered. Before him came a swift vision of red slaughter--women and +children massacred in the darkness. Then his brave heart swelled to meet +the coming danger. The night passed without alarm, but Henry, Ross, and +Shif'less Sol, roaming far in the forest, saw signs that told them +infallibly where warriors had passed. + +"The attack will come," said Henry. + +"As sure as night follows day," said Ross, "an' it's our business to know +when it's about to come." + +Henry nodded, and the three sped on in their great circle about the camp, +not coming in until a little before day, when they slept briefly before +one of the fires. When the people arose and found that nothing had +happened, they were light-hearted. Nothing had happened, so nothing would +happen, they said to themselves; they were too strong for the danger that +had threatened, and it would pass them by. Day was so much more cheerful +than night. + +They ate breakfast, their appetites brisk in the crisp morning air, and +resumed the march. But they advanced slowly, the wagons in a close, triple +file, with riflemen on either side. But Daniel Poe knew that their chief +reliance now was the eyes of the five strangers, who were in the forest on +either side and in front. They had made a deep impression upon him, as +they had upon every other person with whom they came into contact. He had +the most implicit confidence in their courage, skill, and faith. + +The wagons went slowly on through the virgin wilderness, Daniel Poe and +Dick Salter at their head, the riflemen all along the flanks. + +"We'll strike a river some time to-morrow," said Salter. "It's narrow and +deep, and the ford will be hard." + +"I wish we were safely on the other side," said Daniel Poe. + +"So do I," said Dick Salter, and his tone was full of meaning. + +Yet the day passed as the night had passed, and nothing happened. They had +safely crossed the mountains, and before them were gentle, rolling hills +and open forest. The country steadily grew more fertile, and often game +sprang up from the way, showing that man trod there but little. The day +was of unrivaled beauty, a cloudless blue sky overhead, green grass under +foot, and a warm, gentle wind always blowing from the south. How could +danger be threatening under such a smiling guise? But the "eyes" of the +train, which nothing escaped, the five who watched on every side, saw the +Indian sign again and again, and always their faces were grave. + +"The train carries many brave men," said Henry, "but it will need every +one of them." + +"Yes," said Tom Ross; "an' ef the women, too, kin shoot, so much the +better." + +That night they encamped again in one of the openings so numerous +throughout the country, and, as before, they fortified; but the women and +children were getting over their fear. They were too strong. The Indians +would not dare to attack a train defended by three hundred marksmen--two +hundred and fifty men and at least fifty women who could and would shoot +well. So their voices were no longer subdued, and jest and laughter passed +within the circle of the wagons. + +Paul remained by one of the fires, Henry and Shif'less Sol suggesting that +he do so because he was already a huge favorite with everybody. He was +sitting comfortably before the coals, leaning against a wagon wheel, and +at least a score of little boys and girls were gathered about him. They +wanted to know about the great wilderness, and the fights of himself and +his comrades with the red warriors. Paul, though modest, had the gift of +vivid narrative. He described Wareville, that snug nest there in the +forest, and the great battle before its wooden walls; how the women, led +by a girl, had gone forth for water; how the savages had been beaten off, +and the dreadful combat afterward in the forest through the darkness and +the rain. He told how he had been struck down by a bullet, only to be +carried off and saved by his comrade, Henry Ware--the bravest, the most +skillful, and the strongest hunter, scout, and warrior in all the West. +Then he told them something of their life in the winter just closed, +although he kept the secret of the haunted island, which was to remain the +property of his comrades and himself. + +The children hung upon his words. They liked this boy with the brilliant +eyes, the vivid imagination, and the wonderful gift of narrative, that +could make everything he told pass before their very eyes. + +"And now that's enough," said Paul at last. "You must all go to sleep, as +you are to start on your journey again early in the morning. Now, off with +you, every one of you!" + +He rose, despite their protests, this prince of story tellers, and, +bidding them good-night, strolled with affected carelessness outside the +circle of wagons. The night was dark, like the one preceding, but the +riflemen were on guard within the shadows of the wagons. + +"Do you see anything?" Paul asked of one. + +"Nothing but the forest," he replied. + +Paul strolled farther, and saw a dark figure among the trees. As he +approached he recognized Shif'less Sol. + +"Any news, Sol?" he asked. + +"Yes," replied the shiftless one, "we've crossed trails of bands three +times, but the main force ain't come up yet. I guess it means to wait a +little, Paul. I'm awful glad we've come to help out these poor women an' +children." + +"So am I," said Paul, glancing at the black forest. "They've got to go +through a terrible thing, Sol." + +"Yes, an' it's comin' fast," said the shiftless one. + +But nothing happened that night, at least so far as the camp was +concerned. The sentinels walked up and down outside, and were not +disturbed. The women and children slept peacefully in the wagons, or in +their blankets before the fires, and the clear dawn came, silver at first +and then gold under a sky of blue. + +The "eyes" of the train had come in as before, and taken their nap, and +now were up and watching once more. Breakfast over, the drivers swung +their whips, called cheerfully to their horses, and the wagons, again in +three close files, resumed the march. + +"We'll strike the ford about noon to-day," said Dick Salter to Daniel Poe. + +"I wish we were safely on the other side," said Daniel Poe, in the exact +words of the day before. + +"So do I," repeated Dick Salter. + +The wagons moved forward undisturbed, their wheels rolling easily over the +soft turf, and some of the women, forgetting their alarms, softly sang +songs of their old homes in the East. The children, eager to see +everything in this mighty, unknown land, called to each other; but all the +time, as they marched through the pleasant greenwood, danger was coming +closer and closer. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE TERRIBLE FORD + + +"The ford ain't much more than an hour's march farther on," said Dick +Salter to Daniel Poe, "an' the way to it leads over purty smooth groun'." + +"And we have not seen anything of the warriors yet, except the trails of +small bands," said Daniel Poe hopefully. "It may be that our new friends +are mistaken." + +Dick Salter shook his head. + +"Tom Ross never makes a mistake in matters uv that kind," he said, "an' +that boy, Henry Ware, couldn't ef he tried. He's wonderful, Mr. Poe." + +"Yes," said Daniel Poe. "Nobody else ever made such an impression upon me. +And the one they call Paul is a fine fellow, too. I wish I had a son like +that." + +"He's the most popular fellow in the train already," said Dick Salter. + +Both looked admiringly at Paul, who was walking near the head of the line, +a group of lithe, strong-limbed boys and girls surrounding him and +begging him for stories of the wilderness. Paul remained with the train by +arrangement. It was his business to cheer, invigorate, and hearten for a +great task, while his comrades roamed the forest and looked for the danger +that they knew would surely come. Never did youth succeed better at his +chosen task, as confidence spread from him like a contagion. + +Paul presently quickened his steps, and came quite to the head of the +line, where Daniel Poe and Dick Salter were walking, both circling the +forest ahead of them with anxious eyes. They and Paul at the same time saw +a figure emerge from the woods in front. It was Henry, and he was coming +on swift foot. In an instant he was before them, and Paul knew by his look +that he had news. + +"They are waiting?" said Paul. + +"Yes," replied Henry. "They are in the thickets at the ford, less than two +miles ahead." + +Daniel Poe shuddered again--for the five hundred lives in his charge--and +then his heart rose. The waiting, the terrible suspense, were over, and it +was battle now. The fact contained relief. + +"Shall we halt?" he said to Henry. Unconsciously, he, too, was submitting +to the generalship of this king of forest runners. + +"No," replied Henry; "we've got to go on some time or other, and they can +wait as long as we can. We must force the passage of the ford. We can do +it." + +He spoke with confidence, and courage seemed to leap like sparks from him +and set fire to the others. + +"Then it's go ahead," said Daniel Poe grimly. "We'll force the passage." + +"Put all the little children, and all the women who don't fight, in the +wagons, and make them lie down," said Henry. "The men must swarm on either +flank. My comrades will remain in the front, watching until we reach the +river." + +Then a great bustle and the chatter of many voices arose; but it soon died +away before stern commands and equally stern preparations, because they +were preparing to run as terrible a gantlet as human beings ever face, +these dauntless pioneers of the wilderness. The children were quickly +loaded in the wagons, and all the weaker of the women; but with the men on +the flanks marched at least two-score grim Amazons, rifle in hand. + +Then the train resumed its slow march, and nothing was heard but the +rolling of the wheels and the low cluck of the drivers to their horses. +The way still led through an open, parklike country, and the road was +easy. Soon those in front saw a faint streak cutting across the forest. +The streak was silvery at first, and then blue, and it curved away to +north and south among low hills. + +"The river!" said Daniel Poe, and he shut his teeth hard. + +All the men and the Amazons drew a long, deep breath, like a sigh; but +they said nothing, and continued to march steadily forward. The river +broadened, the blue of its waters deepened, and from the high ground on +which they marched they could see the low banks on the farther shore, +crowned by clustering thickets. + +Three men emerged from the undergrowth. They were Tom Ross, Shif'less Sol, +and Long Jim Hart. The shiftless one looked lazy and careless, and Jim +Hart, stretching himself, looked longer and thinner than ever. + +"We found it, Henry," said Ross. "Little more'n a mile to the south, men +wadin' to the waist kin cross." + +"Good!" said Henry. "We're lucky!" + +He began to give rapid, incisive commands, and everyone obeyed as a matter +of course, and without jealousy. Daniel Poe was the leader of the wagon +train, but Henry Ware, whom they had known but a few days, was its leader +in battle. + +"Take fifty men," he said to Ross, "the best marksmen and the stanchest +fighters, and cross there. Then come silently among the thickets up the +bank, to strike them when they strike us." + +Paul listened with admiration. He knew Henry's genius for battle, and, +like the others, he was inspired by his comrade's confidence. The fifty +men were quickly told off behind the wagons, and, headed by Tom Ross and +Jim Hart, they disappeared at once in the woods. Shif'less Sol remained +with Henry and Paul. + +"Now, forward!" said Henry Ware, and the terrible, grim march was begun +again. There was the river, growing broader and broader and bluer and +bluer as they came closer. The children and women--except the Amazons--saw +nothing because they were crouched upon the floors of the wagon beds, but +the drivers, every one of whom had a rifle lying upon the seat beside him, +were at that moment the bravest of them all, because they faced the +greatest danger. + +"Slowly!" said Henry, to the leading wagons. "We must give Sol and his men +time for their circuit." + +He noted with deep joy that the ford was wide. At least five wagons could +enter it abreast, and he made them advance in five close lines. + +"When you reach the water," he said to the drivers, "lie down behind the +front of the wagon beds, and drive any way you can. Now, Sol, you and I +and Dick Salter must rouse them from the thickets." + +The three crept forward, and looked at the peaceful river under the +peaceful sky. So far as the ordinary eye could see, there was no human +being on its shores. The bushes waved a little in the gentle wind, and the +water broke in brilliant bubbles on the shallows. + +But Henry Ware's eyes were not ordinary. There was not a keener pair on +the continent, and among the thickets on the farther bank he saw a stir +that was not natural. The wind blew north, and now and then a bush would +bend a little toward the south. He crept closer, and at last he saw a +coppery face here and there, and savage, gleaming eyes staring through the +bushes. + +"Tell the wagons to come on boldly," he said to Shif'less Sol, and the +shiftless one obeyed. + +"Now, Sol," he said, when the man returned, "take fifty more riflemen, and +hide in that thicket, at the highest part of the bank. Stay there. You +will know what else to do." + +"I think I will," said the shiftless one, and every trace of indifference +or laziness was gone from him. He was the forester, alert and +indomitable--a fit second to Henry Ware. Then Henry and Jim Hart alone +were left near the river's brink. Henry did not look back. + +"Are the wagons coming fast?" he asked. + +"Yes," said Jim Hart, "but I'm beckonin' to 'em to come still faster. +They'll be in the water in three minutes. Listen! The drivers are whippin' +up the horses!" + +The loud cracking of whips arose, and the horses advanced at a trot toward +the ford. At the same instant Henry Ware raised his rifle, and fired like +a flash of lightning at one of the coppery faces in the thicket on the +opposite shore. The death cry of the savage rose, but far above it rose +the taunting shout of the white youth, louder and more terrible than their +own. The savages, surprised, abandoned their ambush. The leading wagons +dashed into the water, and down upon them dashed the picked power of the +allied western tribes. + +In an instant the far edge of the water was swarming with coppery bodies +and savage faces, and the war whoop, given again and again, echoed far up +and down the stream, and through the thickets and forest. Rifles cracked +rapidly, and then blazed into volleys. Bullets sighed as they struck on +human flesh or the wood of wagons, and now and then they spattered on the +water. Cries of pain or shouts of defiance rose, and the furious conflict +between white man and red rapidly thickened and deepened, becoming a +confused and terrible medley. + +Henry Ware and Jim Hart ran down into the stream by the side of the +leading wagons, and loaded and fired swiftly into the dense brown mass +before them. Nor did they send a bullet amiss. Henry Ware was conscious at +that moment of a fierce desire to see the face of Braxton Wyatt amid the +brown horde. He knew he was there, somewhere, and in the rage of conflict +he would gladly have sent a bullet through the renegade's black heart. He +did not see him, but the dauntless youth pressed steadily forward, +continually shouting encouragement and showing the boldest example of them +all. + +A bank of blue and white smoke arose over the stream, shot through by the +flashes of the rifle firing, and out of this bank came the defiant shouts +of the combatants. Suddenly, from the high bank, on the shore that they +had just left, burst a tremendous volley--fifty rifles fired at once. A +yell of pain and rage burst from the savages. Those rifles had mowed a +perfect swath of death among them. + +"Good old Sol! Good old Sol!" exclaimed Henry, twice through his shut +teeth. "On, men, on! Trample them down! Drive the wagons into them!" + +A second time the unexpected volley burst from the hill, and a storm of +bullets beat upon the packed mass of the savages at the edge of the water. +Henry Ware had been a true general that day. Shif'less Sol and his men, +from their height and hid among the bushes, poured volley after volley +into the savages below, spurred on by their own success and the +desperation of the cause. + +The front wagons advanced deeper into the water and the smoke bank, and +the others came, closely packed behind in a huddle. Unearthly screams +arose--the cries of wounded or dying horses, shot by the savages. + +"Cut them loose from the gear," cried Henry, "and on! always on!" + +Swift and skillful hands obeyed him, and some of the wagons, in the wild +energy of the moment, were carried on, partly by a single horse and partly +by the weight of those behind them. The shouts of the savages never +ceased, but above them rose the cry of the dauntless soul that now led the +wagon train. More than one savage fired at the splendid figure, never more +splendid than when in battle; but always the circling smoke or the hand of +Providence protected him, and he still led on, unhurt. They were now near +the middle of the river, and Shif'less Sol and his men never ceased to +pour their fire over their heads and into the red ranks. + +"Now! Now!" muttered Henry, through his shut teeth. He was praying for Tom +Ross and the first fifty, and as he prayed his prayer was answered. + +A great burst of fire came from the thickets on their own side of the +river, and the savages were smitten on the flanks, as if by a bolt of +lightning. It seemed to them at the same moment as if the fire of the men +with the wagon train, and of those on the high bluff, doubled. They +recoiled. They gave back and they shivered as that terrible fire smote +them a second and a third time on the flank. The soul of Shawnee, Miami, +and Wyandot alike filled with dread. In vain Yellow Panther and Red Eagle, +great war chiefs, raged back and forth, and encouraged their warriors to +go on. In vain they risked their lives again and again. The great bulk of +the wagons bore steadily down upon them, and they were continually lashed +by an unerring fire from three points. Well for the people of the wagon +train that a born leader had planned their crossing and had led them that +day! + +"They give, they give!" shouted Henry Ware. "We win, we win!" + +"They give, they give! We win, we win!" shouted the brave riflemen, and +they pressed forward more strongly than ever. By their side waded the bold +Amazons, fighting with the best. + +The wagons themselves offered great shelter for the pioneers. As Henry had +foreseen, they were driven forward in a mass, which was carried partly by +its own impetus. If the Indians had thought to fire chiefly upon the +horses they would have accomplished more, but the few of these that were +slain did not check the progress of the others. Meanwhile, the riflemen +lurked amid the wheels and behind the wagon beds, incessantly pouring +their deadly hail of bullets upon the exposed savages, and the drivers +from sheltered places did the same. The train became a moving fort, +belching forth fire and death upon its enemies. + +The defenders did not advance without loss. Now and then a man sank and +died in the stream, many others suffered wounds, and even the women and +children did not escape; but through it all, through all the roar and +tumult, all the shouting and cries, the train drew steadily closer to the +western bank. + +"Now, boys," shouted Shif'less Sol to his faithful fifty, "they're about +to run! Pour it into 'em!" + +At the same time Tom Ross was giving a similar command to his own equally +faithful fifty, and they closed up on the flank of the allied tribes, and +stung and stung. Henry Ware, through the drifting clouds of smoke and +vapor, saw the savages waver again, and, shouting to the boldest to +follow, he rushed forward. Then Shawnees, Miamis, and Wyandots, despite +the fierce commands of Yellow Panther and Red Eagle, broke and fled from +the water to the shore. There Tom Ross stung them more fiercely than ever +on the flank, and the fire of Shif'less Sol from the high bluff reached +them with deadly aim. They broke again, and, filled with superstitious +terror at their awful losses, fled, a panic horde, into the woods. + +"On, on!" shouted Henry Ware, in tremendous tones. "They run, they run!" + +The whole train seemed to heave forward, as if by one convulsive but +triumphant movement. Shif'less Sol and his men came down from the bluff +and dashed into the water behind them; Ross and his fifty came forward +from the thicket to meet them; and thus, dripping with water, smoke, +blood, and sweat, the whole train passed up the western bank. The terrible +ford had been won! + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE FLIGHT OF LONG JIM + + +Although the terrible ford had been won, Henry Ware knew that the danger +was far from over. The savages, caught on the flank and shot down from +above, had yielded to momentary panic, but they would come again. To any +souls less daring than this band of pioneers, the situation would have +been truly appalling. They were in the vast and unknown wilderness, +surrounded everywhere by the black forest, with the horde, hungry for +slaughter, still hanging upon their flanks; but among them all, scarce one +woman or child showed a craven heart. + +Led by Henry Ware, the wagons filed into an open space--a plain or little +prairie--about a quarter of a mile beyond the ford, and there, still +following his instructions, they drew up in a circle. He considered this +open space a godsend, as no marksmen hidden in the woods could reach them +there with a bullet. As soon as the circle was completed, the women and +children poured forth from the wagons, and began to join the men in +fortifying. There was mingled joy for victory and grief for loss. They had +left dead behind in the river, and they had brought more with them; of +wounds, except those that threatened to be mortal, they took little count. +Even as they worked, scattering shots were fired from the forest, but they +paid no heed to them, as all the bullets fell short. + +Right in the center of the circle, inclosed by the wagons, a half dozen +chosen spademen dug a deep hole, and then the dead were brought forth, +ready for burial. A minister prayed and the women sang. Overhead, the late +sun burned brilliant and red, and from the forest, as a kind of stern +chorus, came the pattering rifle shots. But the last ceremony, all the +more solemn and impressive because of these sights and sounds, went on +unbroken. The dead were buried deep, then covered over, and the ground +trodden that none might disturb their rest. Then all turned to the living +need. + +The five, barring slight scratches suffered by Ross and Shif'less Sol, had +escaped unhurt, and now they labored with the others to throw up the wall +of earth about the wagons. A spring took its rise in the center of the +plain, and flowed down to the river. This spring was within the circle of +the wagons, and they were assured of plenty of water. + +Henry Ware looked over the crowd, and he rejoiced at their spirits, which +had not been dampened by the sight of their dead. They had fought +magnificently, and they were ready to fight again. Already fires were +burning within the circle of the wagons, and the women were cooking +supper. The pleasant odor of food arose, and men began to eat. Daniel Poe, +as usual, turned to Henry. + +"You are sure that they will make a new attack?" he said. + +"Yes," replied Henry. "They have not come so far to retire after one +repulse. We outflanked them there at the river, but they think that they +will certainly get us, burdened as we are with the women and children. +It's still a long road to Wareville." + +"We can never repay the debt we owe to you and your comrades," said Daniel +Poe. + +"Don't think of it. It's the thing that we were bound to do." + +Daniel Poe looked at the setting sun, now red like blood. Far over the +western forest twilight shadows were coming. + +"I wish this night was over," he said. + +"If they attack we'll beat them off," said Henry confidently. + +"But the cost, the cost!" murmured Daniel Poe. + +Paul meanwhile was within the circle of wagons, in his great role of +sustainer. He had fought like a paladin in the battle, and now he was +telling what a great fight they had made, and what a greater one they +could make, if need be. High spirits seemed to flow spontaneously from +him, and the others caught the infection. More than one Amazon looked at +him affectionately, as she would have looked at a son. Shif'less Sol +joined him as he stood by one of the fires. + +"I've been workin' out thar with a spade more'n an hour," said the +shiftless one in a tone of deep disgust, "an' I'm tired plumb to death. +I'll lay down before that fire an' sleep till mornin', ef every one uv you +will promise not to say a word an' won't disturb me." + +A laugh arose. + +"Why, Mr. Hyde," exclaimed one of the Amazons, "they say there was not a +more industrious man in the battle than you." + +"Wa'al," said Shif'less Sol, slowly and reflectively, "a man, ef he's +crowded into a corner, will fight ef his life depends on it, but I kin +come purty near to livin' without work." + +"You deserve your sleep, Mr. Hyde," said the woman. "Just stretch out +there before the fire." + +"I'll stretch out, but I won't sleep," said the shiftless one. + +He was as good as his word, and admiring hands brought him food, which he +ate contentedly. Presently he said in a low voice to Paul: + +"That's right, Paul, hearten 'em up. They've got a lot to stand yet, an' +it's courage that counts." + +Paul knew this truth full well, and he went back and forth in the circle, +ever performing his chosen task, while Henry outside planned and labored +incessantly for the defense against a new attack. Fifty men, sharp of eye +and ear, were selected to watch through half the night, when fifty more, +also sharp of eye and ear, were to take their places. All the others were +to sleep, if they could, in order that they might be strong and fresh for +what the next day would bring forth. + +The scattering fire from the forest ceased, and everything there became +silent. No dusky forms were visible to the defenders. The sun dropped +behind the hills, and night, thick and dark, came over the earth. The +peace of the world was strange and solemn, and those in the beleaguered +camp felt oppressed by the darkness and the mystery. They could not see +any enemies or hear any, and after a while they began to argue that since +the savages could no longer be seen or heard, they must have gone away. +But Henry Ware only laughed as they told him so. + +"They have not gone," he said to Daniel Poe, "nor will they go to-night +nor to-morrow nor the next night. This train, when it starts in the +morning, must be a moving fort." + +Daniel Poe sighed. As always, he believed what Henry Ware said, and the +prospect did not invite. + +The darkness and the silence endured. The keenest of the watchers saw and +heard nothing. The moon came out and the earth lightened, then darkened +again as clouds rolled across the heavens; the camp fires sank, and, +despite their alarms, many slept. The wounded, all of whom had received +the rude but effective surgery of the border, were quiet, and the whole +camp bore the aspect of peace. Paul slipped from the circle, and joined +Henry outside the earthwork. + +"Do you see anything, Henry?" he said. + +"No, but I've heard," replied Henry, who had just come out of the +darkness. "The Shawnees are before us, the Miamis behind us, and the +warriors of the smaller tribes on either side. The night may pass without +anything happening, or it may not. But we have good watchers." + +Paul stayed with him a little while, but, at Henry's urgent request, he +went back inside the circle, wrapped himself in a blanket and lay down, +his face upturned to the cloudy skies which he did not see. He did not +think he could sleep. His brain throbbed with excitement, and his vivid +imagination was wide awake. Despite the danger, he rejoiced to be there; +rejoiced that he and his comrades should help in the saving of all these +people. The spiritual exaltation that he felt at times swept over him. +Nevertheless, all the pictures faded, his excited nerves sank to rest, +and, with his face still upturned to the cloudy skies, he slept. + +Far after midnight a sudden ring of fire burst from the dark forest, and +women and children leaped up at the crash of many rifles. Shouting their +war whoop, the tribesmen rushed upon the camp; but the fifty sentinels, +sheltered by the earthwork, met them with a fire more deadly than their +own, and in a moment the fifty became more than two hundred. + +Red Eagle and Yellow Panther had hoped for a surprise, but when the +unerring volleys met them, they sank back again into the forest, carrying +their dead with them. + +"You were right," said Daniel Poe to Henry Ware; "they will not leave us." + +"Not while they think there is a chance to overpower us. But we've shown +'em they can't count on a surprise." + +The camp, except the watchers, went back to sleep, and the night passed +away without a second alarm. Dawn came, gray and cloudy, and the people +of the train awoke to their needs, which they faced bravely. Breakfast was +cooked and eaten, and then the wagons, in a file of four, took up their +march, a cloud of keen-eyed and brave skirmishers on every side. The train +had truly become what Henry said it must be, a moving fort; and, though +the savages opened fire in the woods, they dared not attack in force, so +resolute and sure-eyed were the skirmishers and so strong a defense were +the heavy wagons. + +All day long this terrible march proceeded, the women and children +sheltered in the wagons, and the savages, from the shelter of the forest, +keeping up an irregular but unceasing fire on the flanks. The white +skirmishers replied often with deadly effect, but it grew galling, almost +unbearable. The Indians, who were accustomed either to rapid success or +rapid retreat, showed an extraordinary persistence, and Henry suspected +that Braxton Wyatt was urging them on. As he thought of the effect of +these continued attacks upon the train, he grew anxious. The bravest +spirit could be worn down by them, and he sought in vain for a remedy. + +They camped the second night in an open place, and fortified, as before, +with a circular earthwork; but they were harried throughout all the hours +of darkness by irregular firing and occasional war whoops. Fewer people +slept that night than had slept the night before. Nerves were raw and +suffering, and Paul found his chosen task a hard one. But he worked +faithfully, going up and down within the fortified circle, cheering, +heartening, and predicting a better day for the morrow. + +That day came, cloudless and brilliant above, but to the accompaniment of +shouts, shots, and alarms below. Once more the terrible march was resumed, +and the savages still hung mercilessly on their flanks. Henry, with +anxious heart, noticed a waning of spirit, though not of courage, in the +train. The raw nerves grew rawer. This incessant marching forward between +the very walls of death could not be endured forever. Again he sought a +way out. Such a way they must have, and at last he believed that he had +found it. But he said nothing at present, and the train, edged on either +side with fire and smoke, went on through the woods. + +A third time they camped in an open space, a third time they fortified; +but now, after the supper was over, Henry called a council of the leaders. + +"We cannot go on as we have been going," he said. "The savages hang to us +with uncommon tenacity, and there are limits to human endurance." + +Daniel Poe shook his head sadly. The awful lacerating process had never +ceased. More men were wounded, and the spirits of all grew heavier and +heavier. Paul still walked among the fires, seeking to cheer and inspire, +but he could do little. Dread oppressed the women and children, and they +sat mostly in silence. Outside, an occasional whoop came from the depths +of the forest, and now and then a rifle was fired. The night was coming +on, thick and ominous. The air had been heavy all the day, and now somber +clouds were rolling across the sky. At intervals flashes of lightning +flared low down on the black forest. Heavy and somber, like the skies, +were the spirits of all the people. A wounded horse neighed shrilly, and +in an almost human voice, as he died. + +"We must take a new step," said Henry; "things cannot go on this way. It +is yet a hundred and fifty miles, perhaps, to Wareville, and if the +savages continue to hang on, we can never reach it." + +"What do you propose?" asked Daniel Poe. + +Henry Ware stood erect. The light of the council fire flared upon his +splendid, indomitable face. All relied upon him, and he knew it. + +"I have a plan," he said. "To-morrow we can reach an unforested hill that +I know of, with a spring flowing out of the side. It is easy to hold, and +we shall have plenty of water. We will stop there and make our stand. +Meanwhile, we will send to Wareville for help. The messenger must leave +to-night. Jim Hart, are you ready?" + +Jim Hart had been sitting on a fallen tree, all humped together. Now he +unfolded himself and stood up, stretched out to his complete length, six +feet four inches of long, slim man, knotted and jointed, but as tough as +wire--the swiftest runner in all the West. Long Jim, ugly, honest, and +brave, said nothing, but his movement showed that he was ready. + +"Jim Hart was made for speed," continued Henry. "At his best he is like +the wind, and he can run all the way to Wareville. He'll leave in a half +hour, before the moon has a chance to rise." + +"He'll never get through!" exclaimed Daniel Poe. + +"Oh, yes, he will!" said Henry confidently. "Bring all the men Wareville +can spare, Jim, and fall upon them while they are besieging us at the +Table Rock." + +Little more was said. Had the train afforded paint, they would have +stained Jim's face in the Indian way; but the utmost that they could do +was to draw up his hair and tie it in a scalp lock, like those of the +Shawnees. Fortunately, his hair was dark, and his face was so thoroughly +tanned by weather that it might be mistaken in the night for an Indian's. +Then Long Jim was ready. He merely shook the hands of his four comrades +and of Daniel Poe, and without another word went forth. + +The night was at its darkest when Jim Hart slipped under one of the wagons +and crept across the open space. The heavy clouds had grown heavier, and +now and then low thunder muttered on the horizon. The fitful lightning +ceased, and this was occasion for thanks. + +Jim Hart crept about twenty yards from the circle of the wagons, and then +he lay flat upon the earth. He could see nothing in the surrounding rim of +forest, nor could he hear anything. A light hum from the camp behind him +was all that came to his ears. He slipped forward again in a stooping +position, stopped a moment when he heard a rifle shot from the other side +of the camp, and then resumed his shambling, but swift, journey. Now he +passed the open space and gained the edge of the woods. Here the danger +lay, but the brave soul of Long Jim never faltered. + +He plunged into the gloom of the bushes and trees, slipping silently among +them. Two warriors glanced curiously at him in the dark, but in a moment +he was gone; a third farther on spoke to him, but he shook his head +impatiently, as if he bore some message, and only walked the faster. Now +his keen eyes saw savages all around him, some talking, others standing or +lying down, quite silent. He was sorry now that he was so tall, as his was +a figure that would cause remark anywhere; but he stooped over, trying to +hide his great height as much as possible. He passed one group, then two, +then three, and now he was a full four hundred yards from the camp. His +curving flight presently brought him near three men who were talking +earnestly together. They noticed Hart at the same time, and one of them +beckoned to him. Long Jim pretended not to see, and went on. Then one of +them called to him angrily, and Jim recognized the voice of Braxton Wyatt. + +Long Jim stopped a moment, uncertain what to do at that critical juncture, +and Braxton Wyatt, stepping forward, seized him by the arm. It was dark in +the woods, but the renegade, looking up, recognized the face and figure. + +"Jim Hart!" he cried. + +Long Jim's right hand was grasping the stock of his rifle, but his left +suddenly flashed out and smote Braxton Wyatt full in the face. The +renegade gasped and went down unconscious, and then Long Jim turned, and +ran with all the speed that was in him, leaping over the low bushes and +racing among the tree trunks more like a phantom than a human being. A +shout arose behind him, and a dozen rifle shots were fired. He felt a +sting in his arm, and then blood dripped down; but it was only a flesh +wound, and he was spurred to greater speed. + +A terrible yell arose, and many warriors, trained runners of the forest, +with muscles of steel and a spirit that never tired, darted after him. But +Long Jim, bending his head a little lower, raced on through the dark, his +strength growing with every leap and his brain on fire with energy. He +passed two or three savages--far-flung outposts--but before they could +recover from their surprise he was by them and gone. Bullets sang past +him, but the long, slim figure cut the air like an arrow in the wind. +After him came the savages, but now he was beyond the last outposts, and +the footsteps of his pursuers were growing fainter behind. Now he opened +his mouth, and emitted a long, quavering, defiant yell--answer to their +own. After that he was silent, and sped on, never relaxing, tireless like +some powerful machine. The pursuit died away behind him, and though some +might hang on his trail, none could ever overtake him. + +The low thunder still muttered, and the fitful lightning began to flare +again. Now and then there were gusts of rain, swept by the wind; but +through all the hours of rain and dark the runner sped on, mile upon +mile. + +Day dawns and finds him still flitting! But now there is full need of thy +speed, Jim Hart! Five hundred lives hang upon it! + +Speed ye, Long Jim, speed ye! + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE LAST STAND + + +Henry Ware and the others, listening at the circle of the wagons, heard +the flare of shots, and then, a little later, a lone but long and defiant +cry, that seemed to be an answer to the others. + +"That's Jim Hart, and he's through!" exclaimed Henry exultantly. "Now +he'll fairly eat up the ground between here and Wareville." + +That night another attack, or rather feint, was made upon the train; but +it was easily beaten off, and then morning came, raw and wet. The woods +and grass were dripping with the showers, and a sodden, gray sky chilled +and discouraged. The fires were lighted with difficulty and burned weakly. +The women and children ate but little, casting fearful glances at the +rain-soaked forest that circled about them. But Paul, as usual, with his +bright face and brighter words, walked among them, and he told them a good +tale. Long Jim Hart, with muscles and a soul of steel, had gone forth that +night, and he would bring help. They were to march to a place called the +Table Rock, where they would stay until the relief came. Gradually +downcast heads were lifted and sunken spirits rose. + +The gantlet began in the usual fashion an hour later, and throughout all +that long, dismal morning it was a continual skirmish. The savages pressed +closer than ever, and all the vigilance and accuracy of the riflemen were +needed to drive them off. One man was killed and several were wounded, but +the borderers merely shut their teeth down the harder and marched on. + +Toward noon they saw a flat-topped hill, with a stony surface, a little +stream running down its side, and Henry uttered a cheerful shout. + +"The Table Rock!" he said. "Here we can hold off all the savages in the +West!" + +The train increased its slow gait, and all hearts grew lighter. The +savages, as if determined that the wagons should not gain the shelter, +pressed forward, but after a short but fierce combat were driven off, and +the train circled triumphantly up the slope. + +It was indeed all that Henry had claimed for it--an ideal place for a +protected camp, easy to defend, difficult to take. Not all the surface was +stone, and there was abundant grazing ground for the horses. The spring +that gushed from the side of the hill was inside the lines, and neither +horse nor man lacked for pure water. + +Now they fortified more strongly than ever, throwing up earthworks higher +than before and doubling the sentinels. Fallen wood was plentiful, and at +Henry's direction the fires were built high and large in order that they +might drive away discouragement. Then a semblance of cheerfulness made its +appearance, and the women and children began to talk once more. + +"Long Jim will go through if any mortal man can," said Henry Ware to +Daniel Poe. + +"Pray God that he succeeds," said Daniel Poe. "Surely, no wagon train ever +before ran the deadly gantlet that ours has run." + +Shif'less Sol strolled into the circle of fires, and sat down with Paul. + +"Now, this is what I call true comfort fur a tired man," he said. "Here we +are with nuthin' to do but set here an' rest, until somebody comes an' +takes us to Wareville. Them savages out thar might save theirselves a heap +o' trouble by goin' peacefully away. Makes me think o' that siege o' Troy +you wuz talkin' about, Paul, only we won't let any wooden horse in." + +"Maybe there is some likeness," said Paul. + +"Maybe thar is," continued Shif'less Sol, in his cheerful tones; "but Tom +Ross wuz right when he said the way them Greeks an' Trojans fought was +plumb foolish. Do you think that me, Sol Hyde, is goin' to take a tin pan +an' go beatin' on it down thar among the bushes, an' callin' on the +biggest boaster o' all the savages to come out an' fight me? No, sir; I +wouldn't go fifty yards before I'd tumble over, with a bullet through me." + +Most of the people laughed, and the shiftless one continued with random, +cheery talk, helping Paul to hearten them. The two succeeded to a great +degree. There was mourning for the dead, but it was usually silent. The +borderers were too much accustomed to hardship and death to grieve long +over the past. They turned themselves to present needs. + +The night was rainy, and unusually cold for that time of the year, and +Henry Ware rejoiced because of it. The savages in the thickets, despite +their hardiness, would suffer more than the emigrants in the shelter of +the wagons. Henry himself, although he caught little naps here and there, +seemed to the others able to do without sleep. He kept up an incessant +watch, and his vigilance defeated two attempts of the warriors to creep up +in the darkness and pour a fire into the train. + +A second day came, and then a third, and the savages resumed their +continuous skirmishing. A single warrior would creep up, fire a shot, and +then spring away. They did little damage, but they showed that no one was +safe for a moment outside the circle of wagons. If help did not come, they +would never leave their rock. + +Time wore on, and the beleaguered camp became again a prey to gloom. Women +and children fell sick, and the hearts of the men were heavy. The ring of +savages drew closer, and more than once bullets fell inside the circle of +the wagons. It was hard work now for Paul and Shif'less Sol to keep up the +spirits of the women and children, and once, at a council, some one talked +of surrender. They might at least get good treatment. + +"Never think of such a thing!" said Henry Ware. "All the men would be +killed, tortured to death, and all the women and children would be taken +away into slavery. Hold on! Jim Hart will surely get through." + +But the warriors steadily grew bolder. They seemed to be animated by the +certainty of triumph. Often through the day and night they uttered +taunting shouts, and now and then, in the day time, they would appear at +the edge of the woods and make derisive gestures. Daniel Poe grew gloomy, +and sadly shook his head. + +"Help must come soon," he said, "or our people will not have spirit to +beat back the savages the next time they try to rush the camp." + +"It will come, it will surely come!" said Henry confidently. + +The worst night of all arrived. More of the women and children fell sick, +and they did not have the energy to build up bright fires. It was to Ross +and Shif'less Sol that this task fell; but, though they kept the fires +high, they accomplished little else. Paul lay down about midnight and +slept several hours, but it was a troubled night. The savages did not +rest. They were continually flitting about among the trees at the foot of +the hill, and firing at the sentinels. Little flashes of flame burst out +here and there in the undergrowth, and the crackle of the Indian rifles +vexed continually. + +Paul rose at the first coming of the dawn, pale, unrested, and anxious. He +walked to the earthwork, and saw Henry there, watching as always, +seemingly tireless. The sun was just shooting above the hills, and Paul +knew that a brilliant day was at hand. + +"At any rate, Henry," Paul said, "I prefer the day to the night while we +are here." + +Henry did not reply. A sudden light had leaped into his eye, and he was +bent slightly forward, in the attitude of one who listens intently. + +"What is it, Henry?" asked Paul. + +Henry lifted his hand for silence. His attitude did not change. Every +nerve was strained, but the light remained in his eye. + +"Paul," he cried, "don't you hear them? Rifle shots, far away and very +faint, but they are coming toward us! Long Jim is here, and Wareville with +him!" + +Then Paul heard it--the faint, distant patter, as welcome sounds as ever +reached human ears. He could not mistake it now, as he was too much used +to the crackle of rifle shots to take it for anything else. His face was +transfigured, his eyes shone with vivid light. He sprang upon the +earthwork, and cried in tones that rang through all the camp: + +"Up, up, men! Long Jim and the Wareville riflemen are coming!" + +The train blazed into action. Forth poured the hardy borderers in scores, +surcharged now with courage and energy. The firing in front of them had +risen into a furious battle, and above the roar and the tumult rose the +cheering of white men. + +"Long Jim has surprised them, and he is half way through already!" cried +Henry exultantly. "Now, men, we'll smite 'em on the flank!" + +In a moment the whole force of the train, the Amazons included, were into +the very thick of it, while Long Jim and two hundred riflemen, dealing +out death on every side, were coming to meet them. The battle was short. +Surprised, caught on both flanks, the savages gave way. There was a +tremendous firing, a medley of shouts and cries for a few minutes, and +then the warriors of the allied tribes fled deep into the woods, not to +stop this time until they were on the other side of the Ohio River. + +Forth from the smoke and flame burst a tall, gaunt frame. + +"Long Jim!" cried Henry, seizing his hand. "It's you that's saved us, +Jim!" + +After him came a fine, ascetic face--the Reverend Silas Pennypacker--and +he fairly threw himself upon his beloved pupil, Paul. And then the brave +men from Wareville pressed forward, and some from Marlowe, too, welcoming +these new people, whom they needed so badly, and who had needed them. But +Daniel Poe said solemnly, in the presence of all: + +"It is these who saved us in the first instance!" + +He indicated the valiant five--Henry Ware, Paul Cotter, Tom Ross, +Shif'less Sol Hyde, and Long Jim Hart. And the whole camp, seeing and +hearing him, burst into a roar of applause. + +The next morning the train resumed its march in peace and safety. + + * * * * * + +It was a month later, and spring had fully come. Once more the vast +wilderness was in deep green, and little wild flowers sprang up here and +there where the sun could reach them. Two youths, unusually alert in face +and figure, were loading pack horses with heavy brown sacks filled to +bursting. + +"This powder has kept dry and good all through the winter," said the +larger of the youths. + +"Yes, Henry," replied the other, "and we are lucky to come back here and +be able to take it into Marlowe, after all." + +Henry Ware laughed. It was a low, satisfied laugh. + +"We have certainly been through many trials, Paul," he said; "but, with +Tom, Sol, and Jim, we bore our part in turning the allied tribes back from +the great war trail." + +Paul Cotter's face was illumined. + +"Kentucky is saved," he said, "and I shall be happy all my life because of +the knowledge that we helped." + +"It is surely a pleasant thought," said Henry. + +Then they whistled to their loaded horses, and marched away through the +greenwood, this time to reach Marlowe in safety. + + +THE END + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Forest Runners, by Joseph A. 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