Chapter 1 - Page 2

the foliage bending before the wind and the chill sheets sent down by the clouds. The somber sky and the desolation would not have made him feel lonely, even had he been without his comrades. He had faced primeval nature too often and he knew it too well to be overcome or to be depressed by any of its dangers. Yet his heart would have leaped had he beheld the shiftless and the silent ones, making their way among the trees, the needed packs on their backs.

"Any sign, Henry?" asked Paul.

"None," replied the tall youth, "but they said they'd be here today."

Paul, who was lying on a great buffalo robe with his feet to the fire, shifted himself into an easier position. His face expressed content and he felt no anxiety about the traveling two.

"If Shif'less Sol promised to be here he'll keep his word," he said, "and Silent Tom will come without making any promises."

"You do talk won'erful well sometimes, Paul," said Long Jim, "an' I reckon you've put the facts jest right. I ain't goin' to be troubled in my mind a-tall, a-tall 'bout them fellers. They'll be here. Tom loves nice tender buffler steak best, an' I'm goin' to have it ready fur him, while Sol dotes most on fat juicy wild turkey, an' that'll be waitin' fur him, too."

He turned to his stores, and producing the delicacies his comrades loved began to fry them over the coals. The pleasant odors filled their rocky home.

"I give them two a half hour more," he said. "I ain't got any gift uv second sight. I don't look into the future--nobody does--but I jest figger on what they are an' what they kin do, an' then I feel shore that a half hour more is enough."

"Henry," asked Paul, "do you think the Miamis and the Shawnees will come back after us?"

"I reckon upon it," replied Henry, still watching the wet forest. "Red Eagle and Yellow Panther are shrewd and thoughtful chiefs, and Braxton Wyatt and Blackstaffe are full of cunning. They are all able to put two and two together, and they know that it was we who destroyed their cannon when they attempted the big attack on the settlements. They'll look upon us as the scouts and sentinels who see everything they do."

"The eyes of the woods," said Paul.

"Yes, that expresses it, and they'll feel that they're bound to destroy us. As soon as the warriors get over their panic they'll come back to put out the eyes that see too much of their deeds. They know, of course, that we hold this hollow and that we've made a home here for a while."

"But as they won't return for some time I mean to take my comfort while I can," said Paul sleepily. "I wouldn't exchange this buffalo robe, the leaves under it, the fire before my feet and the roof of rock over my head for the finest